Simon Bartz

Background

About Simon Bartz

I share my time between my current base in Cardiff (UK) and my adopted hometown in the old neighbourhoods of the 'Lower East Side'(shitamachi) of Tokyo. I'm represented by a literary agent based in London. I was born in the UK. I have permanent resident status in Japan. My partner is Japanese, and I speak Japanese. I have also lived in Portugal and Hong Kong. I started my career as a court reporter (criminal and civil cases) in the UK and Hong Kong, then wrote about arts/culture in Tokyo, and I now work-from-home for a charity, as well as doing a lot of writing. Interests/likes: history, mystery, traditional Japanese culture, Kabuki, Kurosawa, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Junichiro Tanizaki, Ogai Mori (esp. The Wild Geese), soba noodles with tempura prawn, hanging out at Shinobazu Pond, sitting beside the Kamo River in Kyoto and the Sumida river in Tokyo, fried egg sandwiches, Bob Dylan, dandelions, Hector of Troy, Hector of Cardiff, Christmastime, BBC Radio 3, the Gospel of John, St Augustine, theistic evolution, Van Gogh, Turner (esp. Dolbadarn Castle), Edvard Munch, John Berger, Anthony Burgess, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, surrealism, cosmology, philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion, William Lane Craig, Richard Swinburne, Tadanori Yokoo, Crazy Horse (Native American), Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Jamaican ska, old traditional hymns (esp. Charles Wesley), Philip Glass, the Stones, The Smiths, Factotums (my Tokyo band), Orange Juice, The Strokes, The Libertines. and some other stuff.