Here comes Sushi san

No, wait, it was sushi cam.

Blog that gathers English speakers gaijins, at least English writing. Was started by Jeff Laitila to who you can contact trough (yes here it is again) mtfuji@gmail.com.
The main topic of this blog is to share the experience of being in Japan, the themes of the post varies depending on the situations that each of them have lived.

“How does it feel to live in Japan?
Exciting…frustrating…fun…difficult…enlightening…humbling…interesting…I could go on for some time trying to capture the experience in words. (which is exactly the reason why I have built this site!)”

Is frecuent the usage of images in the posts, although they don’t occupy the central place. Most of the times the pictures are playing an aesthetical role, rather than documenting events. in the gallery of the blog one can see all the images which mostly were taken by the creator of the blog.
The members of this community have spent some time experiencing Japan, so this blog in a way is good to see how the gaijin view in a way lost its very first impression about what is Japan, and starts approaching different objects. One of the members of this blog is an ex Kansai Gaidai Student: Patrick . Who has his own blog but at the same time shares his posts in this space.

Mayu Mayu Mayu

This is not a gaijin living in Japan, is a Japanese actually, but… she writes her blog in Japanese and English, sometimes only in English. Why?
Thinking about the audience… may be the first answer. Who is going to read this blog then? English speakers interested in Japanese culture.
So what things a “native anthropologist”
would show, analyze about her own culture?

Mayu’s view is reflected in almost every post: what a Japanese Maid is, or about the Hanbi or about special Ramen in Fukuoka… Other kind of post are about her working life, which makes the blog more interesting in terms of human relations in working environment. One of her comments makes me think about the importance and power of image, and of image related to anthropology. She is in Tokyo, the big city, ready to board the train. Suddenly she see this couple that is not wearing normal clothes and behaving in a weird way. “Oh I wish I could show you guys their picture. I wanted to take one with my cell but since there were many people standing behind me so I couldn't:(” the proof of the event is lost.

Josh in Japan

From the simple mind of a lost foreigner

Josh (Florida) is in Japan and the image in the title of the blog tries to prove this. The Mt. Fuji is in the center, as a god controlling the view. Vending Machine Gun had a post about Mt. Fuji, too , it seems that is a popular Japanese symbol. It is interesting that the comments to VMG post they discuss about Mt. Fuji visibility, and how close they where and different experiences about specially the view.

Another coincidence with VMG is the post of pictures of vending machines. It seems that Japan is full of them! Interesting in Josh in Japan is the small gallery of sounds. Recordings such as: Riding a train, being in a pachinko parlor, riding a bus, problems ordering at Mc Donalds…

This 日本人 says

“Two middle-aged American couples came back from the dinning car and, as soon as they could see Mt,. Fuji, past Namazu, stood at the windows eagerly taking photographs. By the time Fuji was completely visible, down to the fields at its base, they seemed tired of photographing and had turned their backs to it.”

(Beauty and Sadness, Kawabata Yasunari)

Vending Machine GUN!!!

Yu once told me, “Foreigners come to Japan for three main reasons: Anime and Manga, Visual Bands and Business…” I reply that is maybe ちょっと。。。a simplification, there should be other reasons. (Maybe vending machines??)

Vending Machine Gun!! Is a space hold by three Spanish persons, that are not actually living in, but that have made two trips to Japan in the last years. The blog is full of photos and videos, which makes it interesting in visual way. The main topics about Japan are anime and video games, but also about the trips that they have made.


An important section of the blog is about what is happening in Spain, especially in Barcelona about the movement of people around Anime and Manga. There are videos in which is shown a cosplay contest hold last October in the context of a Manga event, in which participated around 58000 persons. In a way, anthropologically speaking here is the richest part, watching especially about how people gather around the construction of what Japan is, many signs of this are noticeable in the video.

The images that are shown in the upper space of the blog change constantly, and show different representations of what it is supposed to be Japanese: a vending machine, a bowl of Ramen, some Power Ranger-like thing in a wall. The feedback of the reader show most of the time messages saying thanks for showing Japan, and making it more accessible and tangible specially trough the video.