Archive for the ‘DailyJ Mission’ Category

On the Importance of a Sustainable J-web Economy - An Open Letter

On May 26, 2010 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, On the J-web, Suggestions Please

“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.” — Samuel Adams

If you have any part in the J-web I beg you to suffer through this long letter. If I have done my job well it will be worth it for your time.

The Need for a Sustainable J-web Economy

A little while ago Nick was talking about revenue sharing on JapanSoc and basically summed up the conclusion that all of us who have started projects eventually come to:

Do we need ads? Yeah. Some kind of income would keep me sane when checking the daily batch of spammer registrations. I’ve got a dozen sites, but spend way too much time maintaining this one.

Today we need to talk sustainability. But first let’s talk about “why;” why is sustainability important? The answer will be very personal and different for each individual, but here is my “why” :

Read the rest of this entry »

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A year, decade in review. And what I have been up to

On January 03, 2010 in Announcements, DailyJ Mission

I’ve started using my middle name online as it is more unique and therefore easier to find.

My new profile site with some explanation of what I have been doing recently (i.e. not much Japan-related) is TaiyoJohnson.com

I am a big fan of PersonalMBA.com, and in answer to his challenge I posted “A year and decade in the life of Taiyo Johnson” for anyone bored or interested.

I am secretly working on some interesting Japan-related things.

What have you been up to?

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Questions - to myself and to the community

On July 15, 2009 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers, Suggestions Please

Reformulating.

Rethinking.

Lurking.

It seems to me that a sustained and useful Japan-related web community requires soul searching.

I know that for myself, for me to be a useful and long-term contributor, I have to do soul searching. I have to know what really drives and motivates me; what will really sustain my enthusiasm for this activity.

For me it is about Japan and it is about the web. But it is also bigger/more than just Japan and more than just the web.

It is about people, passion, mission.

So I have been rethinking and reformulating in the shadows. It’s not quite time yet; the ideas aren’t solid yet.

But the questions are firm and universal.

Why Japan?

Why are we interested in Japan? What exactly is the nature of our interest in Japan? (ex: living there, want to live there, etc.) How can we satisfy that interest?

Why the web?

Why do we blog? Why do we build websites? Why do we write, podcast, videocast?

and perhaps even…

Why a community?

Why the need to organise? Why the need/desire to connect with others? How does the community benefit the whole?

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The DailyJ Interview Recipe: 1 part Japan-enthusiasm, 2 parts love

On October 07, 2008 in Community building, DailyJ Mission, Suggestions Please

 
Recently I had a quick exchange with Tony from TheSoulOfJapan:

1. Tony Said,Would like to have my site added to your blogroll
   thank you
2. The Chemist Said,Hi Tony,
   Thanks for the comment. You have a good looking J-blog. I like sites that have a niche (in your case, onsen and sake).I actually don’t have a blogroll…
   I have an interviewee roll. So as you can imagine the only way on there is through an interview. Luck for you, I would be more than happy to interview you
   What do you say?
3. Tony Said,Sounds good. I am ready for your interview anytime.

I love receiving requests for interviews! (Btw, thanks Tony for stopping by and commenting and sharing your site with me). I love going out and contacting J-sites for interviews too.  But I hate not having the time to do more interviews and to do them better.

I give every interview my all, but with limited time it is hard to interact with the interviewee (sending emails back in forth) in a timely manner and give them the attention they deserve.

I want to interview everyone, the problem is time. (If anyone has a possible solution, or even a silly one for laughs , I’m all ears)

The idea for this post (a post explaining what goes into a DailyJ interview) came to me a little over a week ago. I must have been think about DailyJ and my other projects that day because I woke up in the middle of the night with a dozen ideas in my head. So I grabbed my trusty notebook and wrote down this post. 

My reasons for writing it are twofold: 1) to try to justify my often horrible reply speed with the excuse that I put in a lot of work :)  and 2) to show how I feel about everyone I interview and doing interviews in general (i.e. my slowness is not out of disinterest or disrespect).

  

The Secret Sauce: the DailyJ interview process

Make The Shopping List
1. Go out and find interesting Japan-related sites; Sites are recommended by readers
2. Research the sites; see what they are doing and why it is cool, unique, etc.
3. Formulate specific questions related to their site (to send along with general questions)

Shop

4. Contact with questions, excitement, and interest!
5. Wait/hope for a reply
6. Yay! They replied!
7. (maybe)  Ask some additional questions/questions about their answers, if they have time for it.

Examine Ingredients

8. Digest the answers; Try to get a feel for who they are and (if applicable) what their message is.
9. Return to the site and find any extra content that compliments the answers; Go deep; Love the site; what makes it unique from all others? Why cool/interesting?



Chop, Mix, Bake

10. Group the answers to create the best possible flow.
11. Try to make the mission or uniqueness of the site clear through attention grabbing titles and short but informative introductions.
12. Never edit out what interviewees say (except maybe to “bleep” over a few “sentence enhancers” :), hey DailyJ is PG 13 at most)
13. Always ask (sometimes force <– in jest) readers to take specific actions related to the interviewee site. For example: “go read this; check this out; subscribe to this or I’ll break your arm; etc.”
14. Review/ proofread/ make it pretty : add more pics, edit things here and there.

 

voilà. bon appétit!

15. Post! (maybe in parts, to the chagrin of some )
16. Promote (maybe the most important part). Promoting the interviewee, not necessarily the interview
    1. Find ways to help them get the word out. Nowdays this is easier because of JapanSoc, our nifty community watercooler.
    2. Also if I see a connection between two interviewees (or just an interviewee and a site I know of) I might mention it to them. Connections are key (<–see posts that start with “Connections”).

残り物

17. Maintaining the relationship (I have much room for improvement ): Keeping up with past interviewees blog posts; commenting; seeing if there are any new developments. This is the hardest part because of the time invovled, but it is one of the most important.

So that’s the DailyJ interview process!

It is actually a lot of work. I suppose I must be crazy to put in the effort. But I love doing it. It is one of those things that I would glad do forever for free (since none of you cheapskates will pay me  j/k).

I really enjoy learning about other people’s sites and projects. And communicating with other Japan-bloggers keeps me from being a lonely J-blogger. Plus I desperately want people to be interested in Nipponster and my pet projects so I want to show that kind of interest first.

Well, I hope that I’ve interested you in a DailyJ interview (if you haven’t had one already). Or maybe I’ve just made you hungry. I know I am (stupid pictures!). On that note, I’m off to find some sushi.

Have a great day!

DailyJ

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Supporting JapanSoc

On September 29, 2008 in Announcements, Blog Improvements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Future of the J-web, Helping Japan Bloggers

Just a quick but important post today.
I (finally) put up a JapanSoc widget on DailyJ to help spread the idea of JapanSoc and a J-blogger community.

on the bottom of it you can click “get widget” and get one for your site. Go for it!

and check out the Jsoc toolbox

Let’s support our community-driven Japan-related news source.

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Launch! Slash! Burn! Repeat! - DailyJ turns 1 !

On September 16, 2008 in Announcements, DailyJ Mission, Interview Highlights

It was one year ago this month that DailyJ was launched.

I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all of the generous people who took the time to give interviews. You rock!

In the pre-launch build up dozens of J-bloggers and webmasters were contacted for interviews and once the first ten (or so) interviews were initiated DailyJ was ready to, as its first post declared, “Launch! Slash! Burn!”

To boldly go where no blog has gone before….

ok, maybe not.

But we’re still really excited!!

Welcome!

This blog is a place for us to showcase some great j-blogs and j-sites.
These are the sites that are bringing you unique views of Japan, amazing experiences, solid advice, great language tools and materials, and all the wonders a J-enthusiast could ever ask for!

But most importantly we will talk to the people behind these sites and projects.

Yes sir! This blog will not only feature information about great j-sites. Oh No. It will be full of behind the scenes, exclusive interviews with the people themselves!

To get the ball rolling…
To start it all off…
This week we will take a stroll with Adam Douglas from Slash And Burn and find out what makes him tick and what makes his site cool.

So now it is time….

to Launch! Slash! Burn!

Enjoy!

My favourite part was “This blog will not only feature information about great j-sites. Oh No. It will be full of behind the scenes, exclusive interviews with the people themselves”

And DailyJ has definitely had a lot of fun with “the people behind the scenes.” Here are all of the interviews from year 1! :

Adam Douglas from Slash And Burn

1. The Humble “Slash And Burn” - an exclusive interview
2. Slash And Burn - exclusive interview part II

Raof from GaijinTonic

1. Gaijin Tonic - A drunken I mean, exclusive interview
2. Gaijin Tonic - exclusive interview part duo: “an invigorating, tequila-laced chicken soup for the soul of the adventurous drunkard”

Jamaipanese

1. Jamaipanese - Interview with an “otaku”
2. Jamaipanese - exclusive interview part II, with a twist

 Rising Sun Of Nihon’s Bill Belew

1. RisingSunofNihon - Find out why Bill Belew is my hero
2. RisingSunofNihon - an exclusive interview with Bill Belew: why his posts should be at an ESL school near you..
3. Who’s the real Bill Belew?
4. Cute girls vs. Business and Culture - Which will win on RisingSunofNihon?

Turner from KeepingPaceInJapan

1. A great interview coming up! Why this rocket scientist needs your support
2. Why KeepingPaceinJapan is a perfect site for Japan-enthusiasts
3. “The truth about AEON” - interview with KeepingPaceInJapan
4. Keeping Pace with Japan IN SPACE! - interview with an aerospace engineer
5. Finish line - interview with KeepingPaceInJapan

Mari from Watashi To Tokyo

1. You, Me, and Mari - Interview with “Watashi to Tokyo”

Harvey from JapanNewbie

1. Chatting with JapanNewbie - an exclusive interview
2. Harvey on housing, travel, and skinny girls - an exclusive interview with JapanNewbie

Takanori sensei from learn-japanese-kanji-hiragana-katakana.com

1. Learn Japanese With Takanori Sensei! - an exclusive interview with learn-japanese-kanji-hiragana-katakana.com

Shioyama from Gyaku.jp

1. Alternative perspectives on Japan - an interview with Gyaku.jp
2. What translated documents on gyaku.jp have to do with you and the fingerprinting of all foreigners in Japan

Mark from Digital World Tokyo

1. “Alright Kids, Who Wants to Write for DigitalWorldTokyo?” “I do, I do!”
2. Mothers, lock up your USB ports… Digital World Tokyo has let the dogs out
3. Interview with Digital World Tokyo
4. The Good Stuff, from Japan - an exclusive interview with Digital World Tokyo

Deas from Rocking In Hakata

1. Rock Out! Why this site is one of my favourites - an exclusive interview with Rocking In Hakata
2. Bloggers, Let’s Make Sure the Next Japan Blog Matsuri Rocks! - an interview with Rocking In Hakata

Tyler MacNiven star of “Kintaro Walks Japan”

1. Kintaro Goes Geisha - a teaser from our exclusive interview with Kintaro Walks Japan
2. The Making of the Film - an interview with Kintaro Walks Japan
3. Wrestling 100 Mongolians! - an exclusive interview with Tyler from hit film Kintaro Walks Japan (and a bit of breaking news)
4. When Harvey met Tyler - an update to our interview with Tyler MacNiven

(This interview for me was just great because I had been a huge fan of Tyler even before starting DailyJ)

Chris from Waikiki2Yanai

1. Total Control - an interview with Chris from Waikiki2Yanai
2. What makes Chris Ballard a serious language teacher - an interview with Waikiki2Yanai
3. Why Daily J may need more pictures and widgets - an interview with Chris from Waikiki2Yanai

(Chris is also one of the most active and beloved commentors on DailyJ - a good way to get an interview . Or maybe not, since Nick from Longcountdown comments all the time now and still no interview . But I plan on an interview and I know it will be spectacular)

Thomas from NihonHacks

1. Baby Noah vs. The Elephant - an interview with Thomas, proud father and blogger @ Nihonhacks
2. Why I want every Japan-related blogger to blogroll NihonHacks, right now! - an exclusive interview with NihonHacks.com
3. How we can all help ourselves by helping NihonHacks - an exclusive interview with NihonHacks.com
4. How the NihonHacks idea was born - an exclusive interview

Japan Blog of 2007 (Not an interview but definitely a highlight of the year)

1. Japan blogs of the year 2007

Gerry of JapanBlogList

1. A simple bloglist, a powerful mission - an exclusive interview with JapanBlogList
2. How you can contribute to amassing the greatest list of Japan Blogs in the world! - an interview with JapanBlogList
3. When Japan-bloggers put their minds together beautiful things happen - follow up to our interview with JapanBlogList

“The Japan-related Web” Guest blogging on Rising Sun Of Nihon (not an interview but still good.)

Gaba Teachers Association

1. Why this site is the onion.com of ESL news- an exclusive interview with Gaba Teachers Association
2. What GTA has to say about Gaba and ESL in Japan - an interview with “Gaba Teacher’s Association”
3. How you can make GTA happy - an interview with Gaba Teachers Association

SouthOfReality

1. A blogger with too much time on his hands? - an exclusive interview with South of Reality
2. What South Of Reality has to say about ESL and Nova - an exclusive interview
3. “Remember, this is Japan” - an intervew with South Of Reality

Koichi of Tofugu

1. Submit or suffer the wrath of Segata Sanshiro! - the official Tofugu world domination interview
2. Why interest in Japan is cool again - an exclusive interview with Tofugu
3. Why Koichi is embarrassed about the Japan Humour Blog of the Year Victory - an interview with Tofugu
4. How Tofugu was born - an exclusive interview

Smoother from JapanItUp

1. Why Japan It Up? - find out in this exclusive interview
2. Why Smoother loves Japan - an interview with JapanItUp
3. How you can Japan It Up with the man behind the site - an exclusive interview with JapanItUp.com
4. When in Japan… an interview with JapanItUp

Jim Breen, the creator of the famous Jim Breen online Japanese dictionary

1. Words Jim Breen wrote to me.

Garrett and Ken from Trans-Pacific Radio

1. Finally some grown-up Japan content! - The Message Garrett & Ken are broadcasting about Japan and why you, J-blogger, should listen - An exclusive interview with Trans-Pacific Radio

Wow!

My math is not so great but that is a lot of interviews! It was a great journey and yet it has just started.

There are still plenty of amazing interviews just waiting to be initiated (see interviews we’d like to do). So…

Stay Tuned!

And Have a great day,

DailyJ

Comments (7)

Words of wisdom for any J-blogger

On September 11, 2008 in Blog Improvements, Community building, DailyJ Mission, Helping Japan Bloggers

A few days ago I was feeling tired, and I posted about it.

Nick, my J-web champion, from Longcountdown replied and gave me some much needed encouragement and advice. It is advice that every Japan-blogger should probably take to heart.

Nick said: …you can “meet the needs” of Japan bloggers (or anybody for that matter) by making them feel important, and being sincere about it in the process. Here are a few things that bloggers like:

- receiving positive comments on their blog posts
- being linked to or mentioned in a positive context on another blog.
- having a post dugg, stumbled, soc’ed or otherwise shared without needing to ask for it.
- getting new subscribers
- getting added to someone’s blogroll
- being followed on Twitter

Etc. All these things make bloggers feel good about themselves. Now, this is just a suggestion, but it’s really very similar to what the Daily J has always been about - community building:

Everyday, make an effort to do one of the things listed above, and on the Daily J, write a quick paragraph about why you did it. So, if you stumbled someone’s article, tell your Daily J readers about it. The person who got the Daily J “Stumble, Backlink, and Recommendation” package will be buzzing all day… because you made them feel important.

Do that with five different J-bloggers per week and you’ll have indirectly affected each of those bloggers in a positive way. As you do this week after week, your actions will have given the whole community a boost, and if you’re lucky, your generosity will rub off on others who may feel energized to be more active in the community themselves.

And you can do all this in just five minutes a day!

I have said similar things in the past but I am guilt as charged of not practising what I preach.

It is time to change that. Thanks Nick.

Comments (1)

Tired

On September 04, 2008 in DailyJ Mission, Suggestions Please

I am worn out today.

So this post might be less than inspired.

I have been thinking a lot about DailyJ and Nipponster and the other sites on the J-web.

I feel like I am losing focus. Or maybe the need that DailyJ was originally created to fill, is no longer important.

I don’t know.

When I created my first Japan-related website (now defunct) back in 2003 I wanted to create a website that would help people interested in studying at universities in Japan (foreign students).

It was supposed to be a site where current students could submit stories about their experiences. Then interested students could learn about student life in Japan from them.

It failed, the site I built after it failed, and the social networking site I built after that failed (but gave birth to Nipponster).

I learnt a lot from each of those failures, so maybe I am becoming more savvy.

On the other hand maybe I am not really adequately solving problems/ meeting needs.

hmmm…

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Imitating Google

On August 20, 2008 in DailyJ Mission

One of the things that I admire the most about Google is their drive to give new tools to webmasters and bloggers. (Of course I admire even more their “Don’t Be Evil” policy)

As I build on Nipponster and DailyJ (and help out with other Japan-related projects) I want to do the same. I want to give tools and help to j-sites and blogs.

So, I have a little secret for you. But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow

!

hehehe

Have an anxious day,

DailyJ

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Wish your blog was a forum? I do

On August 14, 2008 in Blog Improvements, DailyJ Mission

If I could do it all over again with DailyJ I don’t think I would change a thing (except for my 4 month disappearing act).

Interviewing all kinds of interesting J-bloggers, having fun conversations, having the chance to share ideas, and spreading awareness that we are part of a Japan-related web - it has been great.

But I guess I would change one thing…

The blog.

The bad part about blogging is that at the end of the day it is you, alone.

Sure there are commenters and others around. But they can only interact with the site so much. They don’t have much control and input.

*Sigh*

I want a forum…

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