Gaijin Steel is a collection of field notes, reflections, photography, and video from life between two northern worlds: rural Japan and Alaska. Written from the mountains and farming communities of Iwate in northern Japan, the site follows the slower rhythms of life shaped by weather, distance, work, and the passing of seasons. Hunting seasons, traplines, back roads, village traditions, deep forests, and long winters all find their place here alongside stories and memories carried from the North Pacific and Alaska.
Before settling into life in Japan, I served in the U.S. Navy and spent years shaped by the landscapes and culture of Alaska and the West Coast. Over time, I began to notice the quiet similarities between these distant northern places: small communities tied to the land, respect for hard seasons, practical skills passed down through generations, and the slower rhythm that comes from living close to weather and distance. Gaijin Steel grew out of that connection.
Part journal and part documentary, the site explores a side of Japan rarely seen beyond the postcard while also reflecting on northern life more broadly — the kind built around early mornings, seasonal work, solitude, language learning, old roads, and the steady process of making a life far from where you began. At its core, Gaijin Steel is about rhythm: the pace of the north, the pull of distant places, and the stories found somewhere between them.
