Being a Samurai only pays, like, 5 bucks an hour.

June 6, 2007 7:13 AM

Kawarime: Being the adventures of a skinny white dude from America who decides to move to Japan and document his travels there with oddly-annotated photos.
posted by 40 Watt (29 comments total)

Note: Flash interface. Pretty simple, though.
posted by 40 Watt at 7:14 AM on June 6, 2007

That's almost as good as a Flickr slideshow!
posted by surplus at 7:21 AM on June 6, 2007

Where are all the Japanese dudes who decide to move to America and document the strange goings-on?
posted by anthill at 7:27 AM on June 6, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

the adventures of a skinny white dude from America who decides to move to Japan and document his travels there with oddly-annotated painfully slow-loading photos.

But then, the flood of our collective attention is a mighty force. I'll check it out tomorrow.
posted by hermitosis at 7:28 AM on June 6, 2007

Mrmph.

Eye of the beholder and all that, but I found the captions painfully unfunny. Maybe just my mood. Not a terribly big photo set either. We talking something like 32 photos, here, total, including some fairly common shots of himself, flowers, etc?
posted by dreamsign at 7:34 AM on June 6, 2007

That is one awful archive UI. Blech.
posted by GuyZero at 7:38 AM on June 6, 2007

But then, the flood of our collective attention is a mighty force. I'll check it out tomorrow.

Don't bother.
posted by The Bellman at 7:44 AM on June 6, 2007

*shrug*

To each his/her own, I guess. I liked 'em.
posted by 40 Watt at 7:55 AM on June 6, 2007

Seriously, "Archive" has two months' worth with a total of 32 photos.

My digital holds close to a thousand 5-megapixel photos at one time and I empty it every other weekend in and around Japan. They're not all stellar shots, but this? Every gaijin I know has a better blog than this.
posted by dreamsign at 7:57 AM on June 6, 2007

Whoa, tough audience. I think all that "best of the web" stuff has made some a tad jaded.

I loved it and am looking forward to seeing more. He captures the catch as catch can abstraction and disorientation of being a traveler in an alien place. (and the interface rocks IMHO).
posted by Skygazer at 8:00 AM on June 6, 2007

Maybe in a few months, 40 Watt, if this guy does some travelling, learns to snap that shutter a bit more often, and sharpen his commentary a bit. As is it's brand new and they guy may not have found his pace yet.

That's a bit generous, though. I mean it's JAPAN. Something freaky and wonderful is actually, in fact, around every corner. And I'm in the burbs.
posted by dreamsign at 8:00 AM on June 6, 2007

Well, I liked the photos. The captions started out as kind of charming. Then after I read more of them I started to get bored with their wacky preciousness & wonder if the guy is that annoying in person.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:01 AM on June 6, 2007

Seriously, "Archive" has two months' worth with a total of 32 photos.

Well, if you look, he DID just move there last month, and there's only one photo posted per day. You do the math.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:10 AM on June 6, 2007

I agree with everyone who says this sucks.
posted by delmoi at 8:12 AM on June 6, 2007

Your favorite blog sucks.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:16 AM on June 6, 2007

I think the photos are fine and the comments, while somewhat forced, are also fine. The creator of that navigation interface, on the other hand, needs to be boiled in oil.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:16 AM on June 6, 2007

Your favorite *insert photo blog here* sucks, yeah yeah. Thanks for sharing, delmoi.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:17 AM on June 6, 2007

A digital camera does not equal a unique perspective on the world.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:18 AM on June 6, 2007 [2 favorites has favorites]

Hey, I just got caught up pondering why you wouldn't use "an" in front of "unique". What a crazy mixed up language we swim in.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:20 AM on June 6, 2007

And thank you for sharing, 40 watt. I guess he might be wondering what a lot of of us must be wondering: are you bestest of buddies with this guy, or what? You didn't find him randomly through the intarwebs, that's for sure. I mean, my blog sucks about this bad but I don't think anyone should post it to Metafilter.
posted by Deathalicious at 8:27 AM on June 6, 2007

in the interest of disclosure, yeah, I know this guy a little, but it's not like we're BFF or anything. Former co-worker from an old job, I liked his photos, asked him if I could post 'em up, end of story. He's not looking for promotion or anything, and in fact was somewhat skeptical about the post. I guess I can see why now.

You soulless bastards.
posted by 40 Watt at 8:34 AM on June 6, 2007

Aha, so you're outed.

This post was deleted for the following reason: Please don't link to your friend's unwieldy and sparse photoblog.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:36 AM on June 6, 2007

You soulless bastards.

lol. Dude, look. I said give him a few months. Maybe he'll find his stride. But it's a ridiculously target-rich environment for photography and storytelling. Even great sites that are just starting out are often given the same treatment on MeFi -- ie: once it collects some decent material, worth a return. But this is not a great site. So far.
posted by dreamsign at 8:38 AM on June 6, 2007

Hard vowel, Burhanistan.
A euphemism.
A ukelele.

Those who say "an historical" need to be glassed.
posted by dreamsign at 8:40 AM on June 6, 2007

I may be jaded from years of living in Japan, but this is the most painfully generic photoset evar. He even took the same photo of Okayama Castle that I did. Of course, with the flash interface, I can't link to his, so I win!They're well shot and all that, but just not interesting.
posted by donkeymon at 8:46 AM on June 6, 2007

He even took the same photo of Okayama Castle that I did.

How do we know you're not actually the same person?
posted by 40 Watt at 8:49 AM on June 6, 2007

I hit refresh and see this comment "I may be jaded from years of living in Japan" - I had written almost the exact same words myself!

The pics are ok - but the comments - meh. Maybe he'll develop further the longer he is here. Possibly go back and change things.

Running the Japanbloggers portal I come across a lot of new blogs. I admit find it difficult to appreciate this "oooh new! shiny! exotic!" discussion of Japan. I don't think I blogged myself like that - but hey it's probably cool for their family and friends. Rock on.

However there are some people out there taking amazing photographs around of this place. Check out the JapanBloggers flickr group for example. Or if I can be indulgent and just name a few people whose photos I like:

planetkyoto
Jim O'Connell
lil
posted by gomichild at 8:59 AM on June 6, 2007

MeTa
posted by The Bellman at 9:04 AM on June 6, 2007

Check out the JapanBloggers flickr group for example.

Hey, cool.
posted by dreamsign at 9:06 AM on June 6, 2007