selected work
reporting
features and profiles
Inconvenient art (The Japan Times, 2024)
/ Feature on Japan's remote art.
The story of sitting (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Cultural history of sitting in Japan. Recipient of an honorable mention for Excellence in Arts and Culture Reporting from the Society of Publishers in Asia.
Big Forecast (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Feature on the sakura forecast.
DJ Nobu on breaking free (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Profile of the Japanese techno musician.
Theaster Gates on Afro-mingei (The Japan Times, 2022)
/ Interview with the American artist about his installation "The Listening House."
Sayaka Murata on being an alien (Wired, 2022)
/ Profile of the Japanese writer, author of Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings.
What's not in a name? (The Believer, 2022)
/ An historical inquiry into the weight of a name in America.
Freddy Mamani on design as decolonization (Quartz, 2019)
/ Profile of the Bolivian architect, whose buildings have become status symbols in El Alto.
Emotional self-defense (Quartz, 2018)
/ Feature on a gender-based violence prevention program that teaches boundary setting and hug avoidance.
Bogus bestsellers (Quartz, 2017)
/ Mini-investigation on a no-name author who gamed the NYT bestsellers list.
How do you draw a circle? (Quartz, 2017)
/ With Nikhil Sonnad, a look into the relationship between language, culture, and drawing. Recipient of a bronze Malofiej Award and a gold award from Kantar’s Information Is Beautiful Awards.
Maverick romance writers (Quartz, 2016)
/ Feature on self-published romance writers making bank. Recipient of the Veritas Media Award from Romance Writers of America.
appraising
reviews and criticism
teamLab Borderless (The Japan Times, 2024)
/ Critical essay on the digital art collective's reopened museum.
Marina Abramović's "Dream House" (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Sixteen hours in an overnight installation in rural Niigata.
Yayoi Kusama's legacy (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Critical essay on the artist's Louis Vuitton takeover.
Junko Takase’s Oishii Gohan ga Taberaremasu Yōni (The Japan Times, 2022)
/ Review of the Akutagawa prize-winning novel about food and feminism.
Ghibli Park (The Japan Times, 2022)
/ Critical essay on the Aichi park and what it means for Studio Ghibli's legacy.
Walter De Maria's "The Lightning Field" (The Believer, 2021)
/ Review-essay on the New Mexico land work.
Christian Marclay's "Found in Odawara" (ArtReview, 2021)
/ Review of the artist's sound performance at the Enoura Observatory in Kanagawa.
Mieko Kawakami’s Heaven (The Washington Post, 2021)
/ Review of the author's novel about bullying.
Diane Nguyen on Netflix's Bojack Horseman (Slate, 2020)
/ Critical essay on the development of the show's essential wet blanket.
R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries (The New York Times, 2018)
/ Review of the author's debut novel about cults and first love.
Benesse Art Site Naoshima and Teshima (TED Ideas, 2014)
/ Essay on destination art based on a visit to the Setouchi art islands.
waxing
essays
Measure by measure (the weekly grief, 2024)
/ The language of scale.
Lucky strike (the weekly grief, 2024)
/ In hope and fear of dragon year.
Losing and finding my cool (The Japan Times, 2023)
/ Essay on art and Dao set at the Gwangju Biennale.
The iro's journey (the weekly grief, 2022)
/ The eroticism of autumn and the human endeavor to make.
A test of character (the weekly grief, 2022)
/ Continued failure to understand personality.
Peak women (the weekly grief, 2022)
/ Scenes from walking the Kohechi route of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail.
/ Essay on how to see the world.
On my family's escape from South Vietnam (Quartz, 2016)
/ Family history.
inventing
fiction
/ Pilot episode of an original comedy about the internet news industry. Semi-finalist for Finish Line Script Competition for original TV pilot script.
Hail Caesar (Scholastic/PUSH, 2007)
/ YA novel. Manuscript was the winner of the Scholastic Art and Writing Gold Award for Novel Writing. Named an NYPL Book for the Teen Age. Edited by David Levithan.
casting
audio
Hayao Miyazaki's Kimi-tachi wa Do Ikeru Ka (Deep Dive from The Japan Times, 2023)
/ As host, conversation with Matt Schley about the film "The Boy and the Heron."
Marina Abramović's "Dream House" (Deep Dive from The Japan Times, 2023)
/ As guest, conversation with Shaun McKenna on "Dream House" and the 2023 Gwangju Biennale.
Yayoi Kusama's legacy (Deep Dive from The Japan Times, 2023)
/ As guest, conversation with Jason Jenkins on the artist-as-brand.
/ With David Webber, full-day conference that included talks from Chris Jackson, Ian Bremmer, and Jo Firestone.
TEDxNewYork (2014)
/ With David Webber and Adam Kroopnick, full-day conference that included talks from Lam Thuy Vo, Starlee Kine, and Will Stephen.
TED Salon: The Fiction Issue (2013)
/ Evening event that included talks from Parul Sehgal and Téa Obreht.
