Bio

I have lived, taught, and written in Tokyo for over twenty years but was born in Kansas City, a very different world from Tokyo. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in philosophy, I hit the road. I traveled around the world for two years, working odd jobs, and finally returned to school. After an MA in Education, I got a call from Beijing at five a.m. one morning offering me a teaching position. I took it and lived in Beijing for two years, teaching English, traveling the country, and writing.

After that, I spent more time traveling, taught in Japan, and finished an MA in Comparative Literature in Madison, Wisconsin. Eventually, I got a full-time job in Tokyo and completed a PhD in English at the University of Kent at Canterbury, focusing on Dickens and film adaptations.

My first novel, The Last Train, was published in 2017. Since then, the Detective Hiroshi series has rolled forward like an express train: The Moving Blade in 2018, Tokyo Traffic in 2020, Tokyo Zangyo, in 2021, Azabu Getaway in 2022, and Shitamachi Scam in 2023. More in the series are slated for the coming years. Each of the novels can be read as standalones.

I have also published three award-winning collections of essays: Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo (Raked Gravel Press 2015), Tokyo’s Mystery Deepens (Raked Gravel Press 2014), and Beauty and Chaos: Essays on Tokyo (Raked Gravel Press 2014). Those collections are also available in Japanese. My most recent textbook for English students is based on my Tokyo essays. It’s called Inbound/Outbound.

Over the years in Tokyo, I have written regular columns for many publications: The Japan Times, Newsweek Japan, Jazznin, ST Shukan, Jazz Colo[u]rs, and Artscape Japan. I currently run a website Jazz in Japan (www.jazzinjapan.com) about the vibrant jazz scene in Tokyo. I also continue to publish academic articles and help run a conference on teaching literature (www.liberlit.com). It feels good to focus mainly on three genres–music, memoir, and murder.

For a day job, I work as a professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuin University. My seminars focus on contemporary novels and film adaptations, and I also teach American music, film, and art. After talking with my students about Jackson Pollock, Bessie Smith, or Kurt Vonnegut all day, I head out to wander through Tokyo. I live with my wife, also a professor, in western Tokyo, where we have an old Japanese home and a small Japanese-style garden.

You can get in touch with me at: michaelpronko@gmail.com