An Alaskan Trapper in Japan

🔥 Welcome to Gaijin Steel: A New Chapter Begins

Some of you may remember this blog under a different name — A Father’s Education. Back then, it was a journal of sorts — a journey through fatherhood, homeschooling, and outdoor life between Alaska and Japan.

But time marches on, and so do I.

What started as a family-focused chronicle is evolving into something… a bit harder. a bit Wilder. a bit Grimmer. And, honestly, more me.

Welcome to Gaijin Steel.

Why the Change?

Because life changed.

I’m still a father. Still outdoors. Still bouncing between Alaska’s rivers and Japan’s snow-covered ridgelines. But these days I’m also:

• Running traplines in Northern Japan.
• Fighting bureaucracy to hunt and trap in a foreign land.
• Skinning wild boar and boiling traps over a fire.
• Filming sumo training camps and cage-trap standoffs.
• Getting bear-breath audio from trail cams I set by hand.

Gaijin Steel isn’t about being an expat. It’s about earning your place in a world that wasn’t built for you — with grit, scars, and steel.

What You’ll Find Here

This isn’t a lifestyle blog. It’s a survival record. A backchannel into the parts of Japan most foreigners — and most Japanese — never see.

Expect posts on:

• Trapping & Hunting: Tactics, stories, regulations, and gear.
• Bushcraft & Homestead Skills: From kei trucks to hand-built traps.
• Japanese Life Off the Grid: Festivals, sumo, bull-fighting
• Language & Bureaucracy: The real grind of living rural without fluent Japanese – and the struggle to correct that!
• Alaska Connection: When the snow melts, the salmon run.
• Rural Heritage: teaching these skills to our children. Passing the torch to the next generation.

Some posts will be raw. Some reflective. All honest.

If You’re New Here…

Start wherever you want. But if you’re looking for a window in, check out the YouTube channel: Gaijin Steel for boots-on-the-ground footage. I don’t do tourist shots. I do blood, mud, and the quiet moments in between.

The Future?

Who knows.

Right now, I’m rebuilding this site from scratch. There will be more photos, better resources, tactics and techniques when I find something worth your time.

But for now, I’m glad you found your way here.

Welcome to the edge of the ridge. Welcome to the ring.
Welcome to Gaijin Steel.

—Eric

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