Episode Details

Podcast host Amy Chavez talks with Michael Pronko, a Tokyo-based writer of murder, memoir, and music. He is professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuen University. During his over 20 years in the country, he has written for Newsweek Japan, The Japan Times, and Artscape Japan, and has been featured on NHK TV and Nippon television. He also runs the website Jazz in Japan, which covers the vibrant jazz scene in Tokyo and Yokohama. Today, we're going to talk about Pronko's fiction, as well as his nonfiction books, including his most recently released Tokyo Tempos.

Pronko's "Detective Hiroshi" series includes:

• The Last Train
• The Moving Blade
• Tokyo Traffic
• Tokyo Zangyo
• Azabu Getaway
• Shitamachi Scam (which we talk about on the podcast today)

Pronko's "Tokyo Moments" series includes:

• Beauty and Chaos
• Tokyo's Mystery Deepens
• Motions and Moments
• Tokyo Tempos (which we talk about on the podcast today)

Pronko's favorite books on Japan are:

• Empire of Signs by Roland Barthes
• The Anatomy of Dependence by Takeo Doi
• You Gotta Have Wa and Tokyo Junkie by Robert Whiting
• The Zen books by D.T. Suzuki, and anything by Donald Richie

You can find Michael Pronko online at his website (http://www.michaelpronko.com) and at the following links on social media:

• Amazon
• Instagram
• Goodreads
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter (X)