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About culture, travel, the joys of slow life, and all things Japanese, of course.

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Gianni Simone

Sep 28, 2022

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Welcome to Tokyo Calling

Tokyo Calling is a newsletter about culture, travel, urban exploration, the joys of slow life, and all things Japanese, of course.

Here you will find interviews, original articles and essays by me, Gianni Simone.

I am a Japan-based writer from Italy who regularly contributes to many English, Italian and French publications including The Japan Times, Zoom Japon, Vogue Italia and Playboy Italia.

Tokyo Calling content

From politics to sports, travels and culture in all its forms, I regularly cover every aspect of Japanese society. I also blog about otaku culture at Otaku Tokyo.

So far, Tokyo Calling has featured, among other things, stories and interviews about Japanese music

Tokyo Calling

La La La Love Song

In 1996, I had been living in Tokyo for four years, was working as a full-time Italian teacher, and life was great. For Japan, however, it wasn’t such a great time. The country had entered a long period of severe recession known as Employment Ice Age…

a year ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Gianni Simone

immigration and refugees

Tokyo Calling

Keep Out

On March 2, Nikkei Asia reported that Japan would take in “people fleeing Ukraine amid Russia's invasion and consider options to work around stringent coronavirus-related entry curbs.” By mid-April, Japan had accepted more than 500 evacuees fleeing the war…

a year ago · 3 likes · 1 comment · Gianni Simone

Tokyo cinemas

Tokyo Calling

The last picture show

A few weeks ago I read this sad, shocking news on the internet: After more than 50 years, Iwanami Hall in Kanda-Jinbocho is screening its very last film on July 29 due to the impact of the pandemic. This mini-cinema is a favorite haunt of Tokyoites who love indie films that you just won’t find at bigger multiplexes. The theatre is still screening movies …

2 years ago · 5 likes · 9 comments · Gianni Simone

interesting Tokyo neighborhoods

Tokyo Calling

Geisha eating croissants

On a sunny morning in May I visited Kagurazaka, one of the many Tokyo slopes and arguably one of the most stylish districts in central Tokyo. In ever-changing Tokyo, the few remaining vestiges of the past are being bulldozed out of the way to make space for new steal-and-glass structures. However, there is a place in the heart of the city where traditio…

2 years ago · 2 likes · Gianni Simone

the sex industry

Tokyo Calling

The water margin

Look for Yoshiwara on the map and you won’t find it. Officially, the name does not exist anymore, the Taito Ward district having been renamed Senzoku 4 Chome. The area itself, though located in central Tokyo (not very far from Asakusa’s tourist attractions), is cut off from th…

a year ago · 4 likes · 4 comments · Gianni Simone

and even my close encounter with COVID-19

Tokyo Calling

Coronation Street

Dear readers, you know the story of the guy who thought nothing could touch him, and he was safe in his little corner of the world? Well, that’s me. Since COVID-19 reached Japan, I mostly teleworked and kept to myself. I rarely went to central Tokyo or Yokohama, did all my interviews on Zoom, only made a couple of work-related trips (to places in Japan …

2 years ago · 3 likes · 14 comments · Gianni Simone

All these articles are free.

Premium content for paid subscribers

If you like what I do and would like to support my newsletter, please consider choosing a paid subscription. Apart from earning bonus Karma points and my everlasting gratitude, you will be rewarded will exclusive access to special content. Not only that: paying subscribers can download free PDFs of books related to the subjects I cover in Tokyo Calling.

1. Premium Articles

The following are the projects that I’m going to share with my paid subscribers:

Greetings, dispatches from my home and surroundings in the deep Yokohama suburbs, with plenty of photos, diary entries, quotes, excerpts, and social commentary. Here’s a unique chance to learn about Japan not from academic essays but “frontline” posts that show you what it’s like to live here.
The Great Indoors, inspired by Xavier de Maistre’s Voyage around My Room and the COVID-19 pandemic, is a travelogue of sorts where instead of travelling to exotic countries or engaging in urban exploration, I explore my house. This project is part domestic travelogue, part memoir (I look back at my life and the path I’ve walked so far) and part pop sociology (I discuss what in my opinion is good and bad about life in Japan).
Faraway, So Close, on the other hand, is a classic travelogue where I chronicle my “circumnavigation” of Japan. This is an ongoing project as every year I’m taking about 7-10 days to explore a different region. I started in 2019 and will hopefully finish my travels in 2023, after which I’m going to share my findings with you.

2. PDFs

You can also download subscriber-only PDFs:

My works:

Made of This
Tokyo Calling: Year One

On Japan:

A Companion to Japanese History
Multiethnic Japan

Otaku Special:

Introduction to Japanese Horror Film
Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts
The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture
Tokyo Geek’s Guide (by Gianni Simone)
Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke
Monster Attack Team issue 11
Game Traders Live November 2014 issue (Nintendo Special)

Depending on your subscription plan, you can get two, four, or seven books for free.

For more details, check out this post (scroll down to the free book sections).

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In addition to accessing interesting content, you are directly supporting my efforts to run this newsletter, fund my research trips, develop content for several publications, and ideally provide support to other writers.

Thank you for your support! It truly means the world to me, and I will do my best to provide you with as much high value content as possible.

Until next time,

Gianni