Archive for the ‘Interviews we’d like to do’ Category
What do you think of Taka and Mana?
On December 11, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do, Rights of foreigners, Uncategorized
As an aside, a few days ago I posted a video about Taka and Mana. I didn’t say much about it in that previous post or ask your opinions so I wanted to talk about it again. Taka and Mana are two young children who were abducted by their Japanese mother from their Canadian father.
Basically, under Japanese law there is little recourse in these disputes for the non-Japanese parent. Japan is one of the few major countries where this is the case. From what I have gathered, even in a normal divorce/custody battle (w/o an abduction), custody is given exclusively to the Japanese parent. Taka and Mana’s father is making a documentary about the issue and there is an article with more details on Debito.org.
Here is the trailer to the documentary:
What do you think about this? Leave a comment.
Thank you RockingInHakata, Hello interview with a Wikipedian?
On December 10, 2007 in Announcements, Interviews we'd like to do, Suggestions Please
I had been wanting to interview a major contributor to Japan-related articles on Wikipedia for awhile now. I really respect what these people are doing.
And it looks like I may get my wish because Deas from Rocking In Hakata just emailed me some great info about one of the top contributors on Wikipedia, a Mr. Charles Ainsworth. He lives in Japan and is the 7th largest contributer to Wikipedia! Hopefully he can spare us a bit of his time.
If you have any questions you would like to ask him feel free to leave them in the comments section. Here are some I have:
- What motivated you to start contributing to Wikipedia?
- What advice would you give to anyone wanting to join WikiProject Japan and contribute to writing Japan-related Wikipedia articles?
- As a blogger and website owner, how can I and others like me help support the project?
- Which articles on Japan are your favourite and why?
Can you think of any others?
They have your fingerprint and your photograph, now is your chance to be famous
On December 09, 2007 in Announcements, Interviews we'd like to do, Rights of foreigners
\\Breaking News from the J-web //
Turner at Keeping Pace In Japan is interviewing any foreigners who have gone through immigration to ask them about their experience. AND in collaboration with him, Daily J will also run the interviews. It should make for some interesting interviews I think.
Here is a clip from the original “Call for Interviews“
With the fingerprinting and photographing system in place at all ports of entry, I would like to hear from people over Skype or email about their experiences. Everyone is welcome to voice their opinions, but in particular, I’m looking for:
1. Permanent residents who were separated from their families
2. Anyone who registered for and used the automated gate system
3. People who were mistakenly directed into the “foreign guests” line by immigration officials, despite being exempt
4. Those who had trouble with the scanning equipment
5. Foreign visitors to Japan who have Japanese ancestry, or look “Japanese”
お願いします.
His email address, in case you didn’t catch it, is realtome05 [att] yahoo.com
So please contact him today for an interview and let us hear your story!
Have a great day
Daily J
Do YOU want to be interviewed?
On December 08, 2007 in Announcements, Interviews we'd like to do
It is rough chasing down bloggers, twisting their arms and squeezing interviews out of them while they squirm about kicking you in the shins 
Seriously, it is a lot of work contacting Japan bloggers and webmasters and interviewing them. It is work, but fun work. So I definitely like doing it and will keep on doing it.
But one person alone cannot collect all the great news and behind the scenes motivation and aspirations of the Japan-related web. We (the Japan-related web) are too big and too active for that, and that is a good thing.
So how can we create a place where all of this information can be reported? And how can I interview ALL of the people who are making the web a better place for Japan-enthusiasts?
I’m not exactly sure so I would love to hear if you have any ideas!
Here are some things I think will help (are helping):
- Contacting me if you want an interview or if you have news
- If there is someone you want Daily J to interview let me know, or tell them to contact me.
- Whenever you give feedback, suggestions and comment it REALLY helps. Thank you guys so much!
I want to talk more about that first one:
Contact me if you want an interview or if you have news!
Daily J reports on the Japan-related web. Bloggers, if you blog about Japan, that means YOU! Webmasters, have a cool site about Japan? Daily J wants to report about YOU!
We are obsessed with the Japan-related web. We don’t want to do an interview once and that is it, we want to talk about what you are up to. If you update something on your site, we want to talk about it. If you are doing a new series on Why Chicken Ramen Rocks, we want to report it. We are 100% absolutely positively interested in you! Tell us your story.
For everyone (blogger or not): I am sure you know some great Japan-related sites and blogs. And I bet that you have wondered: how did they start? who is behind the site and what are they like? You can find out if you tell them do an interview with Daily J. And best of all, if you do that Daily J will be your friend and fan forever 
Ok. Some practicals.
Here are starter questions that you can use (answer the ones you like and send them to us for an interview!) :
- What is the mission/vision of your site? What is your site all about?
- What motivated you to start it?
- What part of running your site do you like the best?
- Where do you see your site going in the future?
- What projects/etc. are you working on?
- How can others best interact with your site and contribute?
- What makes your site unique and how can readers get the most from your site?
- What posts/content are your favourites?
- And, if there is anything else you want to say, feel free to say it.
(send them to eaglelandgrace [att] gmail [dott] com)
What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Your feedback is alway appreciated.
Have a great day!
Daily J
More sites we’d like to interview and an endless sea of Japan-related sites
On December 01, 2007 in DailyJ Mission, Interviews we'd like to do
Here are two sites that are very close to my heart:
#1 Stippy.com
Stippy is a website written by graduates of the Monbusho Scholarship (foreign students in Japan) for foreigners in Japan. As a former foreign student (and monbusho stipend “stippy” receiver) I would love to interview the people behind this site.
#2 Piqniq.jp (A social networking website for foreign families.)
“Piqniq is a social network for English-speaking families living in Japan. Our goal is to create a Japan-specific online community and information resource to help you and your family get things done in a country where simple tasks can easily become complicated.”
“A Japan-specific online community”? How could I pass up interviewing them?!
An Endless Sea of Japan-related sites…
In 2003 I decided to build a website were foreigners in Japan, especially students, could share their stories about Japan with the world and possibly help and inspire future foreign students. I started it with the help of a friend and without any tech skills. It didn’t go anywhere but it forced me to learn the ins and outs of creating websites.
From that time up to now I have been building websites (with help from my friends) that chase that dream of helping foreigners in Japan. That dream is what led us to the idea of Nipponster, Japan-related search, and the quest “to better organise and enhance all of the Japan-related content online.”
Since we were determined (crazy enough) to try to organise and enhance everything, we had to do a lot of research and chronicling of websites. I have seen sites about Japan that I would probably never have seen if I were not working on this project and each has something slightly unique to offer. I’m sure that you have seen plenty of sites too that I might not know about and vice versa.
So the question came to my mind “How can we all make sense of all of this information?” I would always like to hear your opinion on that. So let me know.
Some bloggers and webmasters have proposed to me the idea of creating an open and transparent wiki-based encyclopedia (like wikipedia) of everything Japanese, that all could contribute to but no one person would control or own. Inside of that wiki we could create the largest directory (list) of Japan-related sites on the whole web. With everyone contributing a little of their effort, time and info on sites that they like, the directory would have the potential to grow larger than anything a webmaster could do individually.
I think their idea has merit, and I have been thinking about the details of the idea for awhile, but I want to hear what you guys think. So let me know.
Some fun sites and people we would like to interview
On November 30, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do
If you or someone you know would like to be interviewed by Daily J, let me know!
Also If you have a suggestion for a website or person that you think would make a fun interview be sure to mention it in the comments or send an email to:
eaglelandgrace (atto) gmail (dotto) com
Here are two interesting sites that I will be contacting about interviews
#1
Brendon and Robert founders of theflyingpig.com
I love Costco Japan. And I love TheFlyingPig even more!
Costco Japan is the Japanese branch of the American wholesale supermarket Costco and home to all of the Western goodies you miss. The only problem: for most it is a bit of a commute. Not to worry, Flying Pig to the rescue!
TheFlyingPig is a website that let’s you order Costco goods online and then they ship them to you anywhere in Japan!! What an idea! These two must be some real dreamers. Must interview.
#2
I was reading an article over on SeekJapan.jp about foreigners with jobs that are not ESL (personally I think ESL can be very rewarding, but some grow tired. And of course there are A LOT of expats that come to Japan for completely non-ESL-related work. but I digress…). I noticed above the article an interesting ad that read “Don’t just teach English.” Okay. So I had a look and I found this brilliant site that helps people find gigs teaching other things. Good idea! I have a similar idea for a website, but that is super top secret 
. I think that a site MyClass is a great way to help foreigners in Japan.
How to hack Japan
On October 29, 2007 in Announcements, Interviews we'd like to do
Imagine a site that hacks Japan and gives you all of the efficient living tips you need to get by…
But first what is a “hack?”
Wikipedia defines a “hack” as:
“… a modification of a program or device to give the user access to features that were otherwise unavailable to them. “
From “hacks” came the idea of “Life-hacks,” which today can be defined as anything that solves an everyday problem in a clever way.
What does this have to do with making life easier in Japan?
Enter NihonHacks.com, a site dedicated to giving you tips to save time and money whilst living in Japan.
We will be interviewing this site soon. But I just could not help myself (or wait) because I believe that for the average foreigner living in Japan this site is a must. It is such a good idea.
NihonHacks is a pretty new site, but it is so well focused on what it uniquely provides.
So please check it out. It is definitely worth it. Nihonhacks.com <– do it now
And maybe even help Thomas out by sending in your own hacks
Up and Coming
On October 04, 2007 in Announcements, Interviews we'd like to do
Hieverybody,
No interview for today, but there will be one tomorrow.
In the meantime…
lets take a look at what’s coming up!
We mentioned before that we would interview:
One ole time J-blogger (he has been blogging since 02)
One Japanesewoman who blogs about her life in Tokyo
And we did. So be sure to click the links above and read those.
Nowwe still have to interview:
One media project presenting alternative J-news
One online Japanese language teacher
And after that we have some news for you.
We are also chasing interviews with:
HerroFlomJapan and KintaroWalksJapan
plus the SupaGaijin, Firefly,and TvInJapan. Hopefully those will materialise.
And we have a few interview posts(not mentioned here)that we are already working on.
The point?
Stay tuned!
And I hope we are bringing you useful resources.
As always we welcome and love your feedback, good, bad, and ugly (especially ugly, it helps us improve).
We want to helpmake the web a better place for Japan-enthusiasts!
Another drunken interview?
On September 29, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do
One of my favourite story-tellers
On September 28, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do, Suggestions Please
Firefly. @ yourjapan
This guy did a great series of posts on his life in Japan.
I’ve talkedwith him before. I’mplanning to contact him for aninterview.
He has worked in IT in Japan (and had a few crazy experiences with that) and he does martial arts. He also has a HILARIOUS post aboutone of hislanguage mistakes.
I think most of my questions are going to center around those topics. If you have any questions you are dying to ask him let us know in the comments below!
