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.
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And...we're back.
Wow, it's been about a year and half since my last update to MONDO TOKYO, but I guess I have a decent excuse for once.
I official moved to Tokyo for the long haul in April 2018, so that sort of took a lot of time and energy: securing the visa, getting packed up, moving into a new place, doing the dozens with the local ward office and the HR department at work. But I guess I am settled now? Settled as I'll ever be, I guess.
Since arriving here, I have tried to step up my photography game with a new lens (although I still use my camera phone so people can take selfies with it), a few more location shoots, and more time hanging out in the streets on the weekend.
There's a pretty substantial back wload of images and stories to share, so I'll try and keep it up the MONDO TOKYO project if anyone out there is still interested.
Other life updates:
I started writing short fiction. Two of my stories are available on Wattpad to read now. Both are set in Tokyo and feature more photos:
GOD LOVE WORLD PEOPLE
Dual Citizenship (You Are Here)
I also have a third story in progress now and about 50 rough pages of a novel (my first). I might start serializing the latter once I do another draft of the first few chapters...
My collaboration with artist Uchiyama Yunico, PARANOIA GIRLS, is continuing over on Tumblr. It has been going on since 2014 and I think we might just finish it this year. I have sort of stopped updating the revised text version hosted on Wattpad – it's likely to be revised yet again once the story is complete (is that the story of my life?).
Either way, Tokyo is no longer somewhere I come to visit several times a year, but a permanent state I finally managed to find myself in. Although everything else still feels like a work in progress, I can walk outside now and immediately find myself in a MONDO TOKYO state of mind. I'm happy to share the view if you're willing to look.
