Simon Rowe on Muck Rack

Simon Rowe

  • Freelance Writer and Book Author, Freelance
Australia, Japan, Melbourne, New Zealand
As seen in: LinkedIn, Medium, The Independent (UK), TIME, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Brisbane Times, WAtoday
Covers:  Travel, culture, literature, Japan
Antipodean author in Japan | Mami Suzuki: Private Eye (Penguin Random 2023) | Repped by Priya Doraswamy @ Lotus Lane Literary

Get in touch with Simon

Contact Simon, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.

Learn more about Muck Rack

Actions

Share this page

Simon Rowe’s Biography

Read Full Bio →

Simon Rowe has lived in Japan for more than twenty-five years, winning numerous awards for his short fiction and screenplays, including Good Night Papa (2013 Asian Short Screenplay Contest) and Pearl City: Stories from Japan and Elsewhere (2021 Best Indie Book Award), a collection of short fiction that explores themes of memory, identity, and belonging. His stories about Japanese life and culture have appeared in The Paris Review, the New York Times, TIME (Asia), the South China Morning Post, T…

Simon Rowe’s Journalist Portfolio

See all →
In Search of the Sublime - A Journey through Western Japan

In Search of the Sublime - A Journey through Western Japan

Far from the urban crush and madding crowds of Japan's great metropolises, the rural hinterland of Honshu bec…

View article →
Pirates and Pearls: Adventures in Japan's Deep South

Pirates and Pearls: Adventures in Japan's Deep South

The helmsman has a scar on his forehead and his "Welcome aboard" is as worn as the seat of his canvas shorts.…

View article →
Windows on the World: The View from Himeji City, Japan

Windows on the World: The View from Himeji City, Japan

In the final entry of our long-running "Windows on the World" series, Matteo Pericoli illustrates Simon Rowe'…

View article →
Truth by the Barrel: In Search of Kobe’s Finest Sake

Truth by the Barrel: In Search of Kobe’s Finest Sake

A look into Nada Gogo’s centuries-old rustic wood warehouses that have turned into museums, shops and restaur…

View article →
Peak Performance

Peak Performance

Mention mountain climbing, and most people envisage an exhausting clamber up sheer rock faces or dangling fro…

View article →
Snakes, Squalls, and Doctor Seuss

Snakes, Squalls, and Doctor Seuss

Midnight on Fish Town Street in Himeji city is no place for a sober young person. Which explains why Lars and…

View article →

Articles

Once Upon a Time in Little Tokyo

|
By Simon Rowe
| writersinkyoto.com
Ali picked January fifth for our reunion in Little Tokyo. I’m sure he wouldn’t have if he’d known it was going to be 95 degrees. The heat roared down from the Great Basin on one of those Santa Ana gales — the kind that sucks the saliva from your mouth and dries the sweat before it reaches your pores. Ken, Mia, and I were in L.A. for Christmas, one of the hottest on record, and Ali wanted us all to get together for old times’ sake.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

One Dog Day in Summer

|
By Simon Rowe
| Medium
On the sixteenth day of August, two men wearing Hawaiian print shirts and dark sunglasses crossed a bridge over the Kamo River. They wore shorts, white socks and sports shoes, and both carried identical blue backpacks. In any other Japanese city, the two foreigners — one short and stocky, the other tall and rangy — might have looked like an amateur comedy duo hurrying to a gig.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?

Sea Kayaking Japan: A Salty Dog’s Tale

|
By Simon Rowe
| Medium
Take three officers of the Japanese Coast Guard, four members of the Tottori Prefectural Fire Brigade, one San’in Kaigan National Park ranger, two plain-clothes detectives, and two uniformed officers from Tottori Prefectural Police Department, and what do you have? You have a posse worthy of netting the wiliest gang of boat diesel thieves, jet ski-jackers, or shellfish pilferers.
Open in Who Shared Issue with article?
See all 16 licensed articles (144 Total)

Interview

See all →

What was your first job as a journalist?

On a Quest for the Quetzal

Have you ever used a typewriter?

Weekly (Princess 300)

How is social media changing news?

Immediacy
 •  Privacy  •  Terms  •  Security and Legal  •   •   •   • 

© 2026 Muck Rack

SOC 2® Certified