This headline, which reads jouhou hasshin – dare demo kantan, translates roughly to “Transmitting Information: Easy for Everybody”. It was clipped from an article appearing in the evening edition of yesterday’s Yomiuri Shinbun (February 18th), the most widely read newspaper in Japan (actually, according to some, the paper with the highest daily circulation in the world). If you haven’t guessed it already, the article is about blogging. (Click on the image at left for a partial scan of the article). I wrote before about how it seemed that the introduction of a Japanese language pack for Movable Type really seemed to spur things on, and certainly there must be legions of Japanese blogs out there now that unfortunately are existing out of the eyes of those like me who can’t (yet?) read the language. From what I gather, this article is fairly rudimentary and focuses on the software like Blogger and Movable Type that makes these sites (and this one) run, and on the “anyone can do it” aspect.
Hi Kurt,
I do not live in Japan, but I’ve been reading your site for awhile and this is the first time that I have posted. I use to live in Japan (91′- 96′).
Great site!
You’re right blogging is everywhere and anyone can make one. That’s why, I created a blog. I needed an outlet to say what’s on mind. It’s mainly about a family guy and my surrounding type stuff. Please check it out http://photoreid.blogspot.com.
I hope everything goes well, for you and your wife on having a baby.
Interesting. I was just asking people about Japanese bloggers some Japan-related mailing lists not long ago.
I will definitely be watching for the Japanese bloggers that show promise. If you learn of any, please let me know!
Michael-
thanks for de-lurking (it’s sad “lurker” comes with such bad connotations), glad you’ve found something of interest here to stick around. Enjoyed your site, especially your writing about your recent can’t do anything right spat with wife and daughter.
Sako-
unfortunately I’m not in much of a position to recommend Japanese blogs, not being able to actually read them well enough to really understand them, just bits and pieces. One blog off the top of my head you might be interested in is by Ken Loo, here. Ken has an English blog, which is linked in my Japan blogroll, but maintains a Japanese one as well, which from what I gather is not a direct translation of his English one (or vice-versa), but rather a separate one altogether. He’s from Malaysia, writes well in English, and I suspect writes even better in Japanese.
Also, you probably already know that Joi Ito maintains a blog in Japanese. Other than that, you might want to try running that “slide show” I linked to in my previous post (which is referenced in this new post), and see if anything strikes your fancy.
I downloaded the latest version of Safari yesterday and am happy to report that I can read your site again without switching browsers. (Sometimes I could read individual entries if you didn’t post a photo as the first item). But now the main page seems fine, too.
this article is fairly rudimentary and focuses on the software like Blogger and Movable Type
That’s great! I know there are a lot more articles in the US about blogging, but they still need a lot of “rudimentary” articles.
It’s easy to think that blogging is taking the US by storm if you are a techy guy. I always get that impression. Especailly when I compare it to Japan, but the fact is, not even ONE of my friends back home (or in Japan) knows waht a “blog” is. They skip over those articles or just don’t care. It really does still seem like a play thing for geeks, internet savvy journalists, and Internet savvy writers.
Despite the fact that I make a living out of doing web-stuff. I myself didn’t even know what a blog was until I started studying about css. It just so happens that a lot of pure css sites are also blogs.
Anyway, the point is I still have not seen any data to suggest that it is mainstream in US either. And the wording “fairly rudimentry” triggerd this thought.
The article will help to explain it to my Japanese friends too. A lot of them seem to think I am the first and only one crazy enough to write personal thoughts and doings on the web for anyone to see. This will be good to show them that I’m not.
You also reminded me to look up that Japanese plugin… I looked a long while ago, but didn’t find anything. When did it come out?
My Japan blog, Sushicam, has been active since early 2000. Check it out and let me know what you think.