Archive for the ‘On the J-web’ 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” :
update:
On March 18, 2009 in On the J-web
Going once, going twice, gone!
Jamaipanese.com snatched up Gaijinbook.com
And I decided to keep Japanopedia.
I have one more Japan-related domain name that I might be willing to part with if you have a good plan for it. “Japandigger.com”
Email me if you are interested.
Rikai Widgets on the Nipponster Japan Toolbar
On October 23, 2008 in Announcements, Japanese Toolbar, On the J-web, Resources, Suggestions Please
Working on too many things…
Thankfully I made time for things that matter too.
I have caught up with my email (inbox zero!) and replied to all comments (hopefully).
I also added some goodies to the Nipponster Japan Toolbar for you.
They are from Rikai’s “syndicate me” page.
By putting them on the Japan Toolbar users like you can access them right from your browser! (good for extra laziness)
Here is what it looks like:
Of course you have to download/install the Japan Toolbar if you haven’t already (it’s easy).
Here are the rikai widgets in action (of course with the toolbar you don’t have to come here to use them):
Kanji of the day -
Kanji recall quiz -
Japanese phrase of the day -
Japan photo of the day -
I have the sneaky suspicion that I have set these up on the toolbar wrong (they may not update daily), I will check them later to see if they update. If you notice any problems let me know, yeah?
And if you have any suggestions for the Japan Toolbar just let me know. I’m at your service.
Have a great day
DailyJ
One small step for JapanSoc…
On October 08, 2008 in #The Japan-related Web Debate, Community building, Future of the J-web, On the J-web
One small step for JapanSoc, one giant leap for the J-web!
From its start DailyJ has been a huge fan and support of the site because of its ability to bring the Japan-related web into a tight-knit community. I have said before (guest blogging on RisingSunOfNihon) that I think JapanSoc will be very significant in the future of the Japan-related web, and I think this latest feature was a step in that direction.
And perhaps, although it was just a small step (as far as difficulty) for JapanSoc, it will have a giant effect on the Japan-related web.
It seems that the way we interact, and perhaps help others, on the J-web is changing; becoming more sophisticated. And it seems that the idea of community is spreading.
I hope so! Ganbarou Jsoc!
Busy, busy, busy
On October 02, 2008 in On the J-web
I’ve been off catching up with conversations here and there, on other blogs and JapanSoc. So just a quick post today.
As some already know, JapanBlogger.net had technical problems and is down 
I hope Billy will be able to rebuild it soon
JLPT not worth it? Rather likely. And All Japanese All The Time
On October 01, 2008 in Interviews we'd like to do, On the J-web, Resources
As a hater of standardised testing this post on AllJapaneseAllTheTime about the JLPT makes a lot sense.
Khatzu is another amazing writer (like yesterday’s firefly). I’ve always liked Khatzu’s blog but haven’t spent as much time on it as I probably should (I wish I had 48hrs in a day. Of course, I’d only give you 24 
), so I thought I’d make up for that with a little post.
My favourite part of the post is that is a really cool rant (which I’m also known for. ok, maybe mine aren’t as cool) and at the same time very informative.
Khatzu, if you are reading, keep up the great work!
Firefly - the novel
On September 30, 2008 in On the J-web, fun
One of my favourite Japan stories is Firefly at your-japan.com’s “sagaâ€
A post over at the JapanSoc blog reminded me of it so I went again to his site and noticed that he has released a prequel to his Japan novel (Firefly wants to publish a book).
It’s available for free download: Firefly Short Novel - The Prequel
Let’s hope Firefly realises his dream of being published. He can tell a good story!
But don’t take my word for it, read his “The worst language mistake in history”
And have a great day
DailyJ
Nipponster Web Search Widget. and Video Search Widget
On September 26, 2008 in Announcements, On the J-web, fun
For anyone interested, there are some new widgets for you on Nipponster. I removed the logo off of the top of the widget code so that you can label them as you like.
The goal is to give you a widget that gives your readers/users Japan-specific search results. As always I am all ears for you feedback. Let me know what you think!
The old one looked like this (with the Nipponster branding on it):
The new web search widget:
Here’s the code:
And here is the video search widget
Here is the code:
Jim Breen. Japan-related tools
On September 24, 2008 in Nerd Rant, On the J-web, Resources
Warning: Nerdy content to follow
Hopefully, you know who that man in the title is. Yes, I am going on another rant about Jim Breen.
To me, he is one of the most interesting characters on the J-web.
His was one of the first Japan-related websites I ever visited (all of my Japanese teachers recommended him). And his wwwjdic (J/E dictionary) and Japanese page are two of my favourite www resources.
But more than that, I love his interest in Japan-related tools.
I think that tools have been overlooked some lately on the J-web (Nihonhacks’ post about rikaichan is a pleasant exception). Or maybe they are just taking new forms (like JapanSoc as an example of a tool). Either way, I am excited to see what tools we dream up next.
Anyway (before I get off topic here), what I really want to mention are some interesting articles and lecture notes from Jim Breen’s past classes at Monash University.
Two of my favourite subjects are Japan and computer technology (especially web tech). I would have loved to have taken one of Jim’s classes!
There is an archive of Jim Breen’s papers. Now these are some high quality Japan-related web rants!
I found a few interesting ones that the nerds amongst us might also like (see the end of this post), but I will only highlight one. It relates some to Nipponster and the way Japan-related information (and information in Japanese) is organised and searched.
WWW Search Engines and Japanese Text
An interesting quote from the article:
“…it is known that both Google and Yahoo use Basis Technology Corp’s Rosette Language Analyzer software”
I had never heard of that software. I know that Google is currently working on one of the largest translation software projects in history. It will be interesting to see what this technology brings about. I wonder who at Google Japan is in charge of this type of research and what they have to say about it.
What do you think about all of this? I always look forward to seeing what others have to say about these things, so please comment!
And have a great day,
DailyJ
p.s. Koichi has a good post about using Jim Breen’s Japanese dictionary on the iphone.
p.p.s. More interesting Jim Breen articles:
Japanese translation and the computer - the past, the present and the future
Computing in Japanese; what are the frontiers now?
Rajio No Jikan
On September 19, 2008 in On the J-web, fun
I was taking a look at the OTR (old time radio) podcasts over on Trans-Pacific Radio and there is a series called “Rod Serling’s Zero Hour” on there that reminded me of a very funny Japanese movie:
Rajio no Jikan!
I watched it with my Japanese family (a family that I used to spend time with) when I was in uni. Good times.
If you haven’t seen it you should! But until you do, there is a clip of Rajio no Jikan on imbd <– check it out
