I’ve been surprised by the positive response to my upcoming move to Tokyo. It seems like there is a lot of love out there for my soon-to-be hometown. Amongst the usual well-wishes there’s been some heartfelt expressions of passion for Tokyo and plenty of stories shared from friends and colleagues about their experiences in Japan. [...] Read full article
Number Seven – Tokyo
As I mentioned yesterday, my time in Singapore is now drawing to a close. When I moved to Singapore in 2011, it was at end of the of a long process of thinking about which city would be the best place in Asia to grow my music and photography business. I was expecting to be [...] Read full article
Doctor Who
“Why are you so dressed up?” My daughter hit me with this question as we met after school recently. I had been at an event and was wearing a slim-fit black shirt, dark jeans and boots. I reminded my daughter that I often picked her from school dressed like this when we lived in Hong [...] Read full article
The Disappearing Box
If you live in a culture long enough, some things just seep in. Change and adaptation is inevitable. This past week we celebrated Chinese New Year. This was my seventh Chinese New Year in East Asia (five in Hong Kong, two in Singapore). One tradition associated with Chinese New Year involves giving your home a [...] Read full article
How We Now Watch Sport
I posted this image online during this week’s SuperBowl. This is how I watched the game, on a computer, in my home office. It might well be indicative of a bigger trend in the way many of us enjoy sports and television these days. My Brief SuperBowl History Since childhood I’ve had a fascination with [...] Read full article
Hong Kong Revisited
This time tomorrow I will be heading to the airport to board a flight back to Hong Kong, almost eighteen months to the day since I moved away. This will be my second journey back since leaving and I’m really looking forward to it. My last visit was a rushed working trip over a year [...] Read full article
Is Expatriate A Dirty Word
I am an expatriate. Although I’m an Australian citizen, I left Australia (where I grew up) in early 1999 and since then I’ve lived in the UK, India, Hong Kong and now Singapore. I believe life tastes better when mixed with a little adventure and my big adventure is trying to figure out how to [...] Read full article
One Year In Singapore
Thirteen months ago, to the day, I closed the book on five years in Hong Kong and took a one-way flight to Singapore. Since then I’ve tried to resist the urge to compare Singapore to Hong Kong or become too critical of my new hometown. But, anniversaries do have a way of teasing out critical [...] Read full article