Japanese pop culture expert Patrick Macias takes you on a illustrated tour of astonishing people, places, and things found inside Tokyo's underground art, music, fashion, and otaku scenes.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
First of all, I think I'm probably using Wattpad wrong... from what I've read on the tin, this is supposed to be a place where you primarily write and share fiction, imaginary stories, stuff that's all made up....
But here – in MONDO TOKYO – you will find here are pictures I've taken mostly over the last five years (2012-2017), along with detailed explanations thereof, documenting a patch of time I've been travelling back and forth between the US and Japan for work (spoilers: I work for Crunchyroll and edit Otaku USA magazine).
All the images come from my Instagram feed... and in no way do I consider myself a photographer. The evidence is on my side: expect a master class in high contrast overdose, sharpness filter abuse, and blown-out colors galore. Any aesthetic I have is purely accidental. Given a toy like Instagram (and now, Wattpad), I'm clearly going to march off in the wrong direction with it. But at least this time, there might actually be a goal in mind...
I'm going to embark on a long fiction project soon (which Wattpad will likely play a big role in) and I need the exercise of writing and posting my own stuff real bad. A decade ago, this would have meant just keeping up my blog, but there's no denying that time and digital media have moved on. Still, I need a place to play.
Then there's Tokyo and Japan...
I first went over there in 1999 and have been ping-ponging back and forth ever since, living there several months out of the year now. Like a lot of people, I sort of fell in love with a place I'd been dreaming about since I was a little kid whose life was taken over by anime, manga, and especially Godzilla movies. Visiting the city was a rare case of the reality living up to the dream, but I don't want to romanticize it too much. Every dream is different. Or maybe every reality is different (just adjust the contrast, sharpness, and saturation and make your own). I really don't know anymore, but I am actually OK with that. I hope you are, too.
