Hi, I'm Donny 👋🏻
As you might have gathered by now, I am a travel writer and digital marketer who blogs about the sides of Japan that you rarely see in the mainstream media. Since the spring of 2016, I’ve been authoring works here and putting out helpful content on social media. Both on this blog and elsewhere, my objective is to bridge the awareness gap between places in Japan that people would love if they only knew they existed.
Originally, I started writing as a bit of an experiment. After launching many multinationals like Spotify, Tinder and Calm into the Japanese market, I sought to create something for myself that would serve as an external portfolio. My thinking was that I could “show” my marketing prowess rather than “tell” people about it and in doing so, better convince prospects to work with me.
Over the years, I’ve focused on using what I know about SEO on Google and the various social media platforms to bring more attention to off-the-beaten-path locales like Kyoto’s Mt. Oe that would have otherwise never gotten their time in the limelight. As a result, I’ve helped countless souls escape from the common and often overcrowded tourist traps and connect more deeply with Japan and its culture.
Through working to promote Japan to international travelers, I’ve since fallen irrevocably in love with Japan. What started as a one-off experiment by an exhausted employee has now grown into my very sense of meaning and purpose. While I still do a lot of work as a digital marketer, it is my role as a storyteller that really gets me out of bed in the morning.
At the end of the day though, everything on social media and on my blog is nothing but a passion project for me. Thus, content is not really something that I am looking to monetize. While I will happily take any and all donations (and throw those funds right back into promoting Japan), I am not looking to make any money off of what I do.
Thus, unlike almost anywhere else on the internet, I’ve really got nothing to sell you and nothing but Japan itself to advertise. Instead, it is just my sincere hope that you take a look at some of the many area guides and travel tips that I’ve authored over the years and find somewhere that resonates with you. That way, you can have a more authentic experience of the country that I so dearly love.
If all of this sounds interesting to you, I highly suggest that you subscribe to my weekly newsletter. With the rise of all of these social media algorithms and now AI, it’s becoming increasingly hard to connect with you readers who want to see my work. So that you don’t miss out, sign up today and get my articles delivered right to your inbox along with a handful of insider travel tips!
Until next time travelers…
