Trails to the Rising Sun

I enjoy blogging.  It's an outlet for the random chaos in my mind.  As such I hope that it clears the chaos from my mind and gives me enough clarity to accomplish something.

Anyway, I like blogging and I like reading blogs.  Photoblogs tend to be my favorite.  The high quality and artistic value of some of these photos astonishes me sometimes.

Beyond photoblogs there is another type of blog that I enjoy reading.  Those are the blogs from people residing in Japan.  For the last 6 years I've been reading dozens of blogs on a regular basis regarding the lives people are living in that foreign land.  It's been my only contact with that country of my dreams.  I've been forced to live vicariously through the blogs of these expats and English teachers.  I basically started with a very limited number of blogs and checked all of their links which led me to literally hundreds of others.

I've got more to say on the issue.  Not right now though.  Here's a short list of Japan blogs that I've really liked at one time or another.

Avoidinglife - Jamie-san's (heh, wCw ref) blog.  While it has degenerated into a blog that is mostly trains and wrestling (yay!) it was basically the top blog about Japan in the day.  Plus this motherfucker has been to live M-Pro shows, the lucky bastard.  He touched on the everyday life of living in Japan, which made it a unique experience for living vicariously.

Shanzig in Japanzig - Totally stumbled on this blog waaaay back in the day.  She had a quirky way of describing her experience in Japan.  Plus it was through her blog that I learned about purikura, which I have since totally experienced the greatness of while in London!

Mike's Blender - This guy's blog is quite cool.  Good pictures, good write ups.  Plus it was through this Mike that I found the blog of the other Mike.  His blog was, and still is, one that I enjoy following.

A Gaijin in Japan - Neil Duckett's excellent site.  While it's one that I came upon rather recently, it's still a favorite.  His JR Yamanote line series does a really cool job capturing all aspects of Tokyo.  For a total outsider, this blog continues to make me feel like I'm in touch with Japan.

Kirai: A geek in Japan - Originally a Spanish language blog.  This is another one that I've come across more recently.  It's sorta all over the place but that's what makes it such a good read.  His posts draw me into little tidbits of Japanese culture.  I get just a little glimpse of his Japanese experience, which adds to my vicarious experience.

Photokyo.com - Long dead, now gone completely.  This was a site that focused on photos, oviously.  It had pictures of random Japanese people, pictures of Japanese events, and pictures from the life of the site owner.  I wouldn't call it a blog exactly, but it updated often with new pictures and journal updates. It was well kept during its run, and kept me dreaming of that foreign land.

Sushicam - The original, the first, and still a favorite.  It was the first Japan blog that I followed on a regular basis.  The emphasis was on photography, but the blog posts were really nice as well.  Though it's gone through several format changes, it still holds up strong.  With the focus shifting back to the original owner, it is again redeeming itself.  A classic.

There's another one that I've completely forgotten the name of and the author.  It was a JET blog written by an Asian-american.  I remember he worked in a special-ed school or classroom.  It was basically insane, but that's how I learned about the JET program (of which I will seemingly never be accepted).  Any insight?

Those are some of my favorites, former and current.  I've seen a lot of blogs, the big and the small, but if anybody knows of anymore please feel free to leave a comment.  I'll read any of them, from small personal blogs to catch-all websites about Japan.