What do you get when you combine more than a decade’s worth of notes and rough drafts, expand on them, and edit down the final result? A book! In this case, a travel book.

My first visit to Japan was in 2009, and I’ve been living here since 2015. Over the years, I’ve put down a lot of miscellaneous thoughts on travelling well in Japan, based on my own experience as well as that of others.

Back when I first visited Japan, I had a few of the standard travel guide books—Fodor’s, Lonely Planet, and another I can’t recall. Within the first week, I had given them all away.

It’s not that they were bad, they just weren’t what I wanted. I didn’t want recommendations for destinations, hotels, or restaurants—I wasn’t interested in them. I didn’t need to be walked through most of the practical things like how to buy a train ticket at the station—I enjoyed figuring those things out.

In retrospect, I suppose what I really wanted was more of a travel philosophy book, something that would help me get more out of the trip, regardless of where I went or what I did.

Though I visited a handful of famous places on that trip, I ended up spending most of my time wandering around residential back streets with a camera and notebook, eating supermarket takeout food and drinking convenience-store beers in deserted neighborhood parks.

And it was fantastic.

As it turns out, this was how I began to develop my own approach to travel, which has since served me well everywhere I’ve gone, whether it’s another country or just a few towns over.

My approach to travel and my guiding philosophy are at the core of the book that I’m writing now. I won’t try to tell you that it’s anything revolutionary or anything you can’t figure out yourself. My intent is simply to provide ideas and information that will help you get more out of a trip to Japan. Or to anywhere else, for that matter. I’m focusing on Japan, but the principles apply pretty much universally.

Essentially, what I’m writing now is the sort of book I wish I’d had back when I first went abroad. Had I started out with certain key ideas already in place, I would have learned, experienced, and enjoyed much more on my early trips.

It’s not all philosophy, though. It’s also about how to be a good guest in Japan. I’ll provide practical information on select topics, as well.

I have set myself a deadline of March 31, 2025, and a target manuscript length of 50,000 words. If I can get a publisher interested, great, but if not I’ll just self-publish.

If you’re interested in what I’m putting together, head over to davidwroteabook.com for more information. I’m offering the book and audiobook as a pre-sale bundle until the end of the year, and the more people who support it, the more time I can afford to put into getting everything done well and on time.

You can also help by sharing the project on social media, getting it in front of as many eyes as possible.

Thanks for reading!