The Asia Diaries is the true story of the author’s account of Asia and Oceania during the three years of his life from 2006 to 2009. Written in journal form, it describes his adventures with drunk Japanese fishermen, being pestered and hounded at 4 a.m. on the streets of Sasebo by prostitutes, building villages in India for tsunami victims, and rolling around Sydney and Omaha with crystal meth addicts. Different excerpts of original poetry are also included. The Asia Diaries shows how truly random the world, and all of us, can be. 

About the Author

Joseph William Simmons was born in Omaha in 1981. He graduated from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln with a Bachelor’s in Film Studies with minors in Asian Studies, Japanese, and Theatre in 2004.  In 2006, he received a teaching job in Japan and lived there for three years, traveling to South Korea, Taiwan, India, China, and Australia. Upon his return to the United States in 2009 he wrote and published his first memoir, The Asia Diaries. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Nebraska's MFA Creative Writing program, with an emphasis in Literary Non-fiction. His second memoir, Memories of Turtle, was published in 2015. As a gonzo journalist, every non-fiction piece he has written is true - the names of non-public persons involved have been changed for privacy and legal concerns, as well as the names of business entities being slightly changed for legal concerns. 

Joseph is heavily involved with the Omaha and Council Bluffs independent film scene.