Dan Tochen was born on the U.S. West Coast in Portland, Oregon. With a few breaks for international travel with his parents, he lived there until he went to college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He started studying Japanese in college, and went to work in Japan after graduating. After a two-year stint in Sapporo, he returned to the U.S. and got his start writing about Japanese tech firms and market developments at a dotcom that provided market intelligence on the Japanese Internet industry.

All good things must come to an end. When his employer proved that truism by restructuring, Dan took advantage of the opportunity to return to school. He is currently in his second year of the MBA program at the University of Washington, and studying at Waseda University for the fall term as an exchange student. Though he is pleased to have learned how to read a financial statement, the constant proximity to business English hasn’t done his prose style any favors. He’s currently a “regular freelancer” for Gamespot.com, a position that gives him a much-appreciated chance to research and write about an area of special interest: Japan’s gaming industry.