Why interest in Japan is cool again - an exclusive interview with Tofugu

On February 01, 2008 in Interviews

Hello everyone. Today we are back with Koichi, the panda hat wearing blogger from Tofugu.com. If you missed it, yesterday we had a fun time watching Koichi’s video on Segat Sanshiro (the Chuck Norris of Japan).

DailyJ: What is the mission/vision of your site? What is Tofugu all about?

The overarching goal (I suppose our mission statement) is to make interest in Japan cool again. We don’t hate otakus or anything, but we want to encourage people to be interested in Japan for the “right” reasons … not because they love seeing Naruto and Sasuke make out.

Other than that, we really go for quality articles. We don’t try to come out with a post every day; rather, we want to bring original content to the table, and even if we find something off of another blog, we are going to research it better.

DailyJ: I’m not big on anime either (I had to look up Sasuke if that is any indication), but what would you say are “right” reasons for people to be interested in Japan?

Oh man, that’s a tough one. I can’t go and say that there are any “right” and “wrong” reasons to learn Japanese, because sometimes some of the “wrong” reasons lead people to the “right” ones. I think people should learn another language because they are genuinely interested in the culture (and meeting new people that are a part of it). I think a lot of people think they know about Japanese culture because they watch a lot of anime, and think that is a good reason to learn Japanese. I mostly just get irritated when people watch a ton of anime and try to learn Japanese solely because of it. EVERY language should be learned because because you respect their culture, not because you are obsessed with their TV shows … though drama might be a teeny-tiny exception (jk).

HaHa. Didn’t know we play hardball here at DailyJ did, ya?

Join us again tomorrow (or subscribe) to hear what Koichi has to say about Tofugu being crowned Japan humour blog of the year 2007!

And be sure to give your comments on the interview. Let us know what you think, what you like and what we can improve.

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