Japan from the Driver's Seat

July 29, 2008 2:34 PM

Japan from the Driver's Seat -- American truck driver in Japan keeps a photo blog.

Mr Cash is also on flickr, and has answered questions about his occupation at this site, and an archive of his columns on Japanese society is available via the web archive.

posted by yort (13 comments total)

ah, even more at the original blog.
posted by yort at 2:36 PM on July 29, 2008

The third link is a great read. Thanks for the post!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:44 PM on July 29, 2008

Good!
posted by Sk4n at 2:44 PM on July 29, 2008

cause we got a little convoy
Rockin through the night.
Yeah, we got a little convoy,
Aint she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy
Aint nothin gonna get in our way.
We gonna roll this truckin convoy
cross the U-S-A Japan.

Convoy!
posted by Science! at 2:47 PM on July 29, 2008

Wonderful pictures. Thanks.
posted by LarryC at 2:51 PM on July 29, 2008

Very interesting, thanks yort!
posted by amyms at 3:03 PM on July 29, 2008

Associated Press reported an escape from the Tokyo zoo Tuesday. Zookeepers were seen all over town rounding up escaped cherubs. Film at 11.
posted by netbros at 3:35 PM on July 29, 2008

The American part comes through on the title of picture #26 "Death Wish Idiots" - if they were in the US, the scooter riders may well fit that description; but in my experience the traditional Japanese politeness even extends to it's drivers, and therefore they may be much less idiotic than the blogger's cultural filter describes...
posted by fairmettle at 5:09 PM on July 29, 2008

fairmettle--you're right, that's quite the cultural bias with that name. If you did that with your scooter in the U.S., it very well might be a death wish. In Tokyo, doing that with your scooter is one of the main benefits of having a scooter--getting ahead of all those damn cars. The car drivers know this; it's all a part of driving on the road.
posted by zardoz at 6:48 PM on July 29, 2008

wow-ow good art
posted by humannaire at 9:07 PM on July 29, 2008

The name had me expecting all imagestaken from teh drivers seat... probably a good thing he's not doing that. ;)
posted by dabitch at 2:44 AM on July 30, 2008

Some lovely photos here, obviously the product of a really good eye. Thanks for linking.
posted by Wolof at 3:38 AM on July 30, 2008

fairmettle and zardoz: Hah. You guys need to drive out where I live (30 miles NE of Tokyo). The drivers are truly, generally, numbnuts. I haven't seen any motorbike accidents yet, but motorbikes are pretty scarce here. The cars are thick, erratic, and often try to occupy the same physical space at the same time.
posted by whatzit at 4:40 AM on July 30, 2008