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BIO

Mark was born in Glasgow, but grew up in Kilwinning and Irvine, 30 miles south of Glasgow, Scotland.  Mary grew up in Uddingston, a village near Glasgow. They met on the first day of studying Manufacturing Sciences and Engineering at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.

Mark came to Japan in 1989 and was an English teacher and an Editor of financial reports before working as a computer Network Administrator for a securities company. After working while at University for Ford as a management trainee, Mary joined Andersen Consulting, where she was a Strategy Consultant. On arriving in Tokyo in 1990 she worked as an information Technology Consultant for Union Bank of Switzerland.

In September 1993 Mark and Mary started Crisscross with a friend, who later left the business. Crisscross published the first four-page issue of Tokyo Classified on February 26, 1994.

Renamed as Metropolis in 2000, the magazine now has 80 pages every week made by a team of 35 staff from all over the world. It is Japan's No 1 English magazine in distribution and sales. A brief history of Metropolis is here.

In September 2000,  Mark and Mary started Japan Today, which has become the most popular news site about Japan in the world.

In September 2007 they sold Metropolis to Japan Inc Communications, and sold Japan Today to GPlus Media.

In December 2007 they moved to Sarasota, Florida. They opened Kroaky's Karaoke, Florida's first private room karaoke business in November 2008. The best way to follow Kroaky's is to join its Facebook group.

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Mark and Mary were married in Hawaii in 1995. They have two children, Aran (7) and Kara (5)

Mark has written two screenplays: Tom Cruise: Missing in Action: A light comedy about what happens to Tom Cruise when he crash lands on a remote Scottish Island and loses his memory.

The Mishima Incident: A drama about the final years of Yukio Mishima, one of Japan's foremost writers, who turned to Emperor worship and committed ritual suicide in 1970 (see sidebar for more details).