Substacks recommended by Gianni Simone

Recommended by Gianni Simone

Luke Honey's WEEKEND FLICKS.

Cinema for Grown Ups.

For film lovers, obviously, but the real pleasure is reading Luke's brilliant prose.

- Gianni Simone

Frog's Glen

By Jack

Profiles of real Japan

Dispatches from Chiba's deep country. Interesting, informative, funny. Jack has a way with words.

- Gianni Simone

Hidden Japan

By Leon

Understand the Japanese Psyche with a local English speaker's perspective

Deeply researched stories about Japan, with a predilection for the weird side.

- Gianni Simone

Japan and the World

By Chris Harding

Weekly essays exploring Japan’s history, culture and global connections.

From history, politics and food to film, sport and culture, here you'll find a treasure trove of information about Japan.

- Gianni Simone

The Ambient City

By Caroline Howard

A notebook of London wanderings

Caroline writes beautifully yet with architectural and topographical precision about atmospheric parts of London. This is a treat for walkers, and urban explorers.

- Gianni Simone

Bruno & Taro's Newsletter

By Rey Ventura

The practice and art of photo-video journalism, independent filmmaking, travel writing, occasional gardening, and everything in between.

Poetry in photographic form. Simple, essential, enchanting.

- Gianni Simone

JAPAN ORDINARY -photos-

By Japan Ordinary

I photograph ordinary moments in Japan. Streets, light, silence, and small details of everyday life. Nothing special — and that is exactly what I want to share.

For lovers of photography and Japan.

- Gianni Simone

Old Photos of Japan

By Kjeld Duits

Your personal museum for Japan’s visual heritage of daily life between the 1850s and 1960s.

A treasure trove of old photos. A must for lovers of Japanese history, culture and society.

- Gianni Simone

Gabor’s Lens

By Gabor Koros

Meditations and reflections on photography. A subjective photography journal.

On Substack there are many good photo newsletters. I like Gabor's mostly b/w pictures. Interesting subjects, beautiful images.

- Gianni Simone

The Matterhorn: truth in fiction

By Kathleen Clare Waller

Writing on the Margins of Fiction and Life

Kate leads us into deep-dive investigations of the endless interactions of literature and art across times, cultures, mediums, and genres. This is some serious food for thought, always engaging, always full of surprises.

- Gianni Simone

Japan A to Z

By Hideo Tanikawa

Small tips for traveling in Japan delivered to your inbox every Sunday.

Great resource about traveling in Japan from a local guide.

- Gianni Simone

Japanica

By Eleonora Zocca

Una newsletter sulla politica e la società giapponese.

The Retirement Newsletter

By Nick

How am I approaching my retirement? News, stories and tips from a recently retired academic. What could possibly go wrong?

Witty musings and helpful advice and ideas from a British guy approaching retirement.

- Gianni Simone

The Global Jigsaw

By Pallavi Aiyar

Global travel, culture and politics

Writing about some of the special places where she has lived, from Beijing and Brussels to Jakarta and Tokyo, she makes you look at these cities with new lenses.

- Gianni Simone

Time Travel Kitchen

By Jolene Handy

Food, History, Chicago, New York and Beyond.

Professional baker Jolene writes beautifully about the food she loves, adding some of the history of the times when the recipes were popular along with her own reflections.

- Gianni Simone

Bite-Sized Japanese History

By Cristiano Suriani

Bite-Sized Japanese History offers short, engaging insights into key moments and lesser-known stories from Japan’s past, one episode at a time.

Interesting tidbits about Japanese history and the author's life in Hokkaido. I like his fresh perspective on life in Japan.

- Gianni Simone

RetireJapan

By Ben

Personal finance, investing, retirement, and life in Japan

Hanashi by Curious Ordinary

By Curious Ordinary ~ Hanashi

Curious Ordinary is digging a bit deeper into Japanese folklore, religion and culture and sharing discoveries and stories along the way.

Animation Obsessive

Exploring the best in animation from all around the world — part investigation, part treasure hunt.

There's some serious writing about animation here. An indispensable guide for animation lovers.

- Gianni Simone

Budo Journeyman

By Tim Shaw

• Wado karate, Budo and general martial arts, both technical and theoretical.

Everything you would like to know about martial arts, and then some.

- Gianni Simone

English Republic of Letters

By Jeffrey Streeter

A glimpse of distant horizons via "beautifully crafted essays and observations" covering literature, memoir, and faraway cities from a recovering cultural bureaucrat joining up the dots of an international life.

Literature, language, culture... whatever subject Jeffrey writes about, reading his essays is always an uplifting, thought-provoking experience.

- Gianni Simone

Suburban Notebook

By Margaret River

Poetry and musings from an ordinary suburban gal

From BK to TK

By Baye McNeil

Stories and commentary from a Brooklyn-born writer navigating life in Japan—exploring race, identity, education, and everything in between with wit, depth, and connection.

Real stories from a long-time Japan resident. Always engaging, always funny.

- Gianni Simone

Secrets from Japan and Beyond

Stories of nature, travel, and culture from Japan

Deeply researched, well-written newsletter about places and subjects you don't usually see online. I learn something new every time.

- Gianni Simone

Baseball in Japan

By Thomas Love Seagull

Writing about Japanese baseball, the Chiba Lotte Marines, and life in between.

I’ve just started reading this substack about Japanese baseball (and life in Japan) and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. Its secret? Top-notch writing.

- Gianni Simone

Bricolage

By Patrick Patterson

Historian, Bricoleur, Music Lover

Focusing on the Taisho period (1912-1926), this is a must read for anyone interested in Japanese history, culture and society.

- Gianni Simone

Dispatches from Post-growth Japan

By Sam Holden

Urbanism and stories from my renovation projects and research in Tokyo and Onomichi, Japan

For city lovers and urban explorers. You will learn how to see Japan with different eyes.

- Gianni Simone

Hungry for travel by Igor

Asia and Japan. Impressions, emotions and practical advice.

For Asia and Japan lovers, with excellent walk reports and interesting thoughts on how to enjoy life in the slow lane.

- Gianni Simone

Kiwi Yamabushi

By Tim Bunting

Your deep dive into rural Japan from a modern-day mountain monk.

I like Tim's dive into rural Japan. It offers a refreshing change after so many stories about the same usual things.

- Gianni Simone

Real Gaijin

By Mark Kennedy

Unveiling the Real Japan: An American Expat's Inside Look | Hot takes, commentary, and unfiltered insights on life as a foreigner in Japan.

Deep-dive presentation of interesting social and economic aspects of life in Japan. I always learn something new.

- Gianni Simone

Animenomics

By Richardson Handjaja

Get unique insights and timely data on the business and market forces driving the anime and manga industries in Japan and around the world.

Japanomics

By Julian Smith

A weekly newsletter about economics in Japan, arguably the country at the forefront of economic changes that will affect all developed countries in the near future.

I like Julian's easy-to-understand, non-nonsense take on Japanese economy.

- Gianni Simone

UnPhiltered

By Philip Charter

A retrospective of the first 20 years of my writing life.

Philip is a short story author who writes insightful essays on different aspects of the world of short fiction. He also shares recommendations and posts his own stories.

- Gianni Simone

One Photograph

By Les Longino

One photograph with my thoughts, per post. Nothing more. All photographs are my own.

Each post, one photo and Les's comment on where, when, how, and why she took it. Brilliantly simple, to the point, thought-provoking.

- Gianni Simone

Jimmy R’s Substack

Focused on bringing the key environment issues in Japan to a wider audience - Buy me a coffee! coff.ee/shionhararyland

Excellent newsletter on the less palatable aspect of life in Japan. I learn something new every time.

- Gianni Simone

Less Known Japan

By Francis Turner

Visiting the less well known areas of Japan for foreigners

Forget Kyoto, Osaka and other famous tourist spots. Francis shows you beautiful, equally interesting, and less crowded places to visit.

- Gianni Simone

I00 Real People : Where words meet images

By Richard Partridge

Trying to bring words and images together in new and interesting ways. Short stories, Poems, Visual Poems. All words and images my own. A newsletter every week and photos to Notes daily.