The Creative Gene by Hideo Kojima is one of my favourite books (reviewed on this site) for the same reasons why I immediately connected with Mondo Tokyo by Patrick Macias, as they’re both collections of deeply personal reflections on the author’s pop culture experiences. That style of writing resonates with me on a personal level, as come December 2025 I’d have been a video game critic for 20 years. Below is an actual conversation I had with another writer:
Me “As of this year I’ve been writing about games for 20 years!”
Them “Aren’t you like 36?”
Me “Yes! I was 16! It was a Shadow of the Colossus review” (and I still have that review laminated with me all these years later)
Tokyo Mondo captivated me because it’s exactly the kind of writing I’ve done in the last two decades, and to see another deeply reflective pop culture critic find success in the publishing world is really cool to see. Patrick Macias fell in love with Japanese pop culture from a young age after a fated encounter with Godzilla which, by the way, was a post-war novel (also reviewed on this site) before it became a major film franchise. The effect Godzilla had on him was profound, completely changing the course of his life. He ended up fulfilling a dream when he relocated to Tokyo, where he immersed himself into all of the sub-cultures that existed in Tokyo’s zeitgeist, everything from robot restaurant to toy gun enthusiasts. Tokyo Mondo is essentially a collection of essays and blogposts from his lived experiences in Japan, the book is similar in structure and layout as Kojima’s The Creative Gene.
The book is divided into five sections: 1) Lifestyle, where he covers various Tokyo districts and their establishments while making a special note on their post-COVID survival, 2) Anime, where he talks about his favourite Japanese animation works, their creators, and the diehard fandom, 3) Clothing, where he gets into various fashion subcultures in Tokyo even though he himself has gotten by simply wearing jeans and t-shirts, 4) Music, a deep dive into some rare records that were formative in Japan’s pop music scene, and finally 5) Cinema, where he almost-exclusively writes about Godzilla and kaiju films. Speaking of kaiju, I’m keen to read We Call It Monster by Lachlan Walter (reviewed on this site, by the way).
Tokyo Mondo covers a lot of ground, and yet it somehow avoids talking about the usual suspects, instead it dives deeper into some rare cuts and novel insights, at times he is even fortunate enough to speak with individuals who otherwise would never have their story known outside of Japan. There’s next to no desktop research here, as all the information and facts come straight from the author, and these are the stories and perspectives that will become increasingly rare and valuable as we lose a lot of the nuanced subtext to internet encyclopaedias.
Macias immerses himself into each of these fandoms and sub-cultures, and yet he never ‘reviews’ a particular piece of media, he explores it and documents it as a vivid firsthand experience. I was gushing about this book at my Book Swap club last month and someone commented how this reminded them of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (it’s also a film too, and no this book hasn’t been reviewed on this site… yet).
As much as these sub-cultures inspired his writing and career choices, they never really moulded him as a person. No costumes, no special ink, no robot phase, through it all Patrick somehow remained the same old Patrick, a Godzilla nerd who wanted to live in the same city that was destroyed time and time again by his giant lizard hero. Through all these essays one thing becomes clear, there is a profound sense of loneliness in losing yourself into any one sub-culture. There is a whole world out there, and like Patrick it’s worth being in a place where you can admire everything without losing your sense of self to any particular thing. I remember sensing this profound loneliness as I walked through video game arcades and manga shops in Tokyo during my own travels.
Surprisingly, I didn’t agree with any of his Godzilla hot-takes at all, but that’s OK. Differing opinions are fine and it’s perfectly fine for him to be wrong. Thanks to him, though, I have gotten back into Japanese sci-fi animation again, and I’m talking golden age classics like Macross (Robotech) and Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers), these media really evoked a sense of adventure and wonder. That’s probably it, really, a sense of wonder which can inspire you to take on the world. Pop culture should be inspiring art, not something to consume to the point of no-return.
Tokyo Mondo is a brilliant book, and I do see eye-to-eye with Patrick Macias on many things in the end, just not on the important stuff like the top five Godzilla films (Invasion of Astro Monster? Really?)
Jahanzeb Khan
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