Pencil Louis began writing fiction for the Tokyo-based magazine, Uncommon Scents in April, 1992 and immediately created a series of characters who offered various viewpoints on life in Japan. These characters included Beth Crawley, Ted Cronkite, Rosemary Bede, Bull Shitzey and Vince Patchwork.
The first Vince Patchwork story, "The Japanese Experience", appeared in Uncommon Scents in January, 1993. "Love Hotels" and "Xenophobia and Sport" followed in the same year. In these stories and the ones included in Patchwork Yokohama, Vince Patchwork represents the best in an Australian abroad. He is more than just a sightseer. He has learned Japanese. He eats Japanese food. He socialises with Japanese friends. In short, he participates in the local culture. He does this not through any preconceived ideas about Japan or the Japanese, but because he finds himself here in this country.
In spite of all this, Vince is incapable of denying his own past. Wherever he goes and whatever he does, he carries his own cultural baggage with him. Because of his obvious interest in Japan, Vince gives us a unique perspective on Japan and the foreigner's place in it.