I'm M.R. Lucas, a writer living in Japan. I write long-form travel pieces, reported journalism, and literary nonfiction, work that begins with something small and specific and follows it until it opens into something larger.

I'm the sole editorial contributor and researcher for MK Guide, a premium travel platform. I write every long-form essay and destination guide on the site and personally research, curate, and verify its catalog of 2,000-plus listings across eight cities. I also write reported features for Japan Today, covering subcultures and communities that most coverage of Japan overlooks.

I founded and write for MysteriousJapan.jp, a literary travel site about the country's cursed, sacred, and forgotten places, part historical investigation, part personal essay, and part field reporting.

My interest isn't in spectacle. It's in what a place holds onto after the obvious version of its story has already been told.

I'm available for editorial assignments, feature reporting, and commissioned essays.