Rob Goss

Rob Goss is a multi-award-winning author and writer based in Tokyo. He is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including multiple Lonely Planet guides, the Japanese Inn and, most recently, Another Japan, a book with photographer Irwin Wong that looks at community, rejuvenation, cultural preservation, and innovation in non-urban Japan. He has also updated and contributed to another 30 books on Japan for Lonely Planet, Fodors and others.

Whether book, feature or short, Rob likes to tell stories. In the past that has meant spending time with farmers on the remote Oki Islands to learn about bull sumo, looking into Okinawan longevity, traditional washi and the old Tokaido road for National Geographic, and long-form historical writing for Narratively/Smithsonian about the island of Dejima during Japan’s isolationist era: the only story he’ll likely ever write that begins with a mass crucifixion and ends with a family torn apart by scandal.

Rob also writes short-form poetry, microfiction, and scripts. His current long-term projects include a collection of haiku and haibun and a book about historical journeys in Japan.