Welcome to (Big in Japan)

Rusty's Electric Dreams :: Sub-Substack Intro

Konnichiwa! (← The only way I know how to greet Japanese people right now without fumbling over my words.) This new section of my main inbox zine** Rusty’s Electric Dreams is called (Big in Japan) and is my attempt at capturing the quirky, cool, and kawaii aspects of Japanese customs and culture from my POV as a gaijin (a foreigner, kind of like a “gringo”).

This was my first visit to Japan and I thought I knew a fair amount about Japanese culture, but it turns out that passively observing it from a sushi boat restaurant in Oakland or a gashapon store (awesome storefronts where you exchange coins for surprise capsule toys from vending machines) in L.A.'s Little Tokyo doesn’t exactly prepare you for being fully immersed in it thousands of miles away from California with nearly zero local language skills. Who knew?

The title of this sub-Substack, (Big in Japan), isn’t just about things that are popular there. It also reflects how I felt as a tall, blue-eyed American woman in a place where I couldn’t help but stand out. I love quietly observing culture, blending into the background, but in Japan, I stood out like a sumo wrestler at a tea ceremony in a country where everything’s smaller, more refined, and impeccably polite.

Japan lit up my brain much in the same way that Burning Man did when I first went in 1995, filling me with an overwhelming sense of joy, possibility, and magic. I’m excited to share my photos and observations with you, and I can’t wait to go back. I get what all the fuss is about now and definitely left wanting more.

My travel companion was SJ, my amazing and curious 20-year-old college sophomore who had never been out of the United States before this trip. We experienced the wonders of Japan together for the first time, and it was an absolute joy. I’m hoping she’ll join me as a guest correspondent and share her perspective too. 🤞

Arigatō gozaimasu (learn this one: it’s the polite and respectful way to say “thank you,” and trust me, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of it) for being part of this journey! 🙏

— Rusty Blazenhoff

**While there isn’t a direct translation for the word “zine,” they do use ジン —pronounced “jin”— which is how it’s represented in katakana (a way they write words borrowed from other languages).

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We’re not above a silly social media trend:

Yes, that’s the Family Mart tune. It’s all about the #KonbiniLife. More on that later.

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Stop this crazy thing!

Rusty’s Electric Dreams, my main inbox zine, is still cruising along (about) once a month. But since I’ll now be posting more often in my sub-Substack (Big in Japan), you may be wondering, “Can I stop getting all these dang emails from Rusty?”

Well, the answer is yes. You can make the fix yourself.

Go to your Substack profile (top right corner).

Click Settings. Scroll down a little until you find your Subscriptions.

Find Rusty’s Electric Dreams and click on that. Under Notifications, you can uncheck the box next to (Big in Japan) if you want to stop getting my quirky, cool, and kawaii Japan discoveries via email.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to access all the content online whenever you want. Just no more (Big in Japan) emails, if that’s what you prefer.

(Side note: I’ll admit, I’ll feel a little sad for you if you do, but I’ll respect your decision. No hard feelings.)

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