I was once a huge Japanophile being very heavy into anime and manga and just being fascinated with the country itself. I even entertained for awhile in my younger days the idea of moving there and becoming an expatriate. As I grew older and actually learned more about the country and its culture I realized that I’d probably make a pretty lousy expatriate in part because I wasn’t motivated enough to actually learn Japanese no matter how much I kept telling myself I was going to do so and being able to speak the language would be only one of many hurdles I’d have to overcome.
Still the country captures my imagination and there’s more than a few blogs in my RSS reader that are written by expatriates living in Japan. One of the folks I used to read quite often was a fellow who went by the nickname Zach who as I recall did a lot of work in Japanese to English translations, but he shut his blog down awhile ago. Now he’s back with an all new photo blog called Zach awry in Japan and he dropped me an email to let me know about it. Here’s one of my favorites which I hope Zach won’t mind I’m reproducing here:
© Zach awry in Japan. Click to embiggen!
I wish I could shoot such amazing photographs. Photography being another thing I keep telling myself I’m going to learn how to do properly some day.
Anyway, his new photo blog is just getting started and I’m looking forward to seeing more small peeks into a life I once thought of trying to live myself. Good stuff. Go check it out.
Do you read blogd.com? That guy, his name is Luis, takes some really good pictures too.
Why the fascination with japan?
When I was younger I had a similar fascination with India. I was infatuated with its culture, people, traditions, religion, food, etc. etc. Having gone there, I can say with absolute certainty that it’s one of the world’s most amazing locales, but I can’t see me living there permanently. Now my sights are set on permanent residence in England or Scotland. One of these days…
Bahamat, I couldn’t give you a definitive reason, but I suspect it’s a mixture of the contrasts between how reserved and traditional Japanese society seems to be versus how outlandish and hyperactive their pop culture is.