Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Daimajin slash and burn electric dragon gaijin tonic
On November 20, 2007 in On the J-web, Uncategorized
Self-proclaimed worst title ever. 
What’s this all about? I promise it will all make sense, but first some pictures:
More confused you say?
Gaijin Tonic.com blogged about a couple of Japanese films so I when over to Slash and Burn to see if Adam had reviewed them.
Here they are:
http://gaijintonic.com/2007/11/12/more-mad-japanese-dvds/
Electric Dragon 80000V
http://slashandburn.typepad.com/slash_and_burn/2006/10/index.html
Daimajin
http://slashandburn.typepad.com/slash_and_burn/2006/09/daimajin_trilog.html
uh oh. a little delay
On November 02, 2007 in Uncategorized
Sorry folks. I know that I promised to post that Kintaro Walks Japan interview today, but things have been busy (fighting technical difficulties) and I don’t want to rush the writing of the post. I want it to be truly entertaining and informative, with fun links and all.
So in lieu of that post I give you KWJ photos:
And check out Tyler’s page on Wikipedia.
Oxygen Bars… for Dogs?!
On September 21, 2007 in Uncategorized
That last article was posted much later in the day than I had planned. I’ve been so busy handling all of these interviews. I could have definitely used the “pick me up” of a good oxygen bar.
The good news is, Japan not only has oxygen bars and canned oxygen available at convenience stores, it also has oxygen bars for man’s best friend. I know, I can’t believe it either! And yet…
Thanks to RisingSunofNihon for pointing this out.
Japan, are foreigners stupid?
On September 20, 2007 in Uncategorized
I think this video is:
xenophobic
ridiculous
frustrating
condescending
Not to mention that the production must have cost tens of dollars 
Don’t want to be fingerprinted?
KeepingPaceinJapan is doing something about it
Random idea and a word about goals
On September 18, 2007 in DailyJ Mission, Uncategorized
Word about goals …
Japan-Enthusiasts:
This blog, and everything Nipponster, has been built with the “Japan-Enthusiast” in mind. I figure that term (Japan-enthusiast) is likely confusing to some. To be fair, it is ambiguous. We use it as a blanket term for anyone with an interest or vested interest (ex: expats, etc.) in Japan.
Why we care about Japan-enthusiasts (and my background):
I was an exchange student and later an international student in a Japanese university (Jouchi “Sophia” U.). I was the typical culture-shocked/mesmerised foreigner. It was a great experience. But I was also overwhelmed (like many are) by the difficulties of trying to live/succeed as a foreigner at any level in Japanese society. It was that frustration which led to the desire to try to make things a little easier for others. Eventually that turned into Nipponster and its mission. I do not know if we are succeeding at making things easier for Japan-enthusiasts, but we definitely want to.
Random idea - Why we may start a mailing list
We will send out short clips of interesting content so that you can keep up with what we are doing.
We will also share interesting Japan-related content that we find for you. We’ve spent countless hours scouring the net for interesting but hard to find content and we want to share it with you.
(SIDENOTE: No interview post today. Needed a break. Stay tuned tomorrow for KeepingPaceWithJapan.com)
Cute girls vs. Business and Culture - Which will win on RisingSunofNihon?
On September 17, 2007 in Interviews, Uncategorized
As promised, today we are continuing our discussion with Bill Belew of RisingSunofNihon. It’s time to find out a little more about RSON, its most popular posts, and aspirations.
So without further ado, here is the interview:
Daily J: what motivated you to start your site?
Bill: Long story…the short version is I get paid to maintain the site www.risingsunofnihon.com
Can’t argue with money! Wish I was getting some. Btw, here is the “long story”
Daily J: What was the most difficult thing starting out with RSON?
Finding my rythym…finding good sources to read then write/comment about.
Daily J: What part of running RSON is the most fun for you?
Trying to come up with creative ways to say something and still be understood.
Daily J: What is the most interesting project, etc. that you are current working on for RSON?
Still trying to find that ‘pillar’…that might distinguish me from all others.
Daily J: Where do you see RSON in the future?
I want people to think…I wonder what/if RSON has anything to say about this topic.
Daily J: What would you say is RSON’s mission?
Bill: Covering the economic and industrial might of Japan…and getting off topic quite often, because I think understanding the culture will help a person do better business there.
We asked Bill about his favourite / most popular posts. Like most Japan-related sites there is the struggle between getting readership through “cute girl” content and staying true to the focus of the site.
Sadly…the most popular topics are when I touch on the stars, think girls of Japan. Kind of lets us know what most/many people on the Net are looking for. I am happy to say that I have not compromised my content for the sake of readership…though at one point I did have to reel myself back in a bit.
My all time most read post is Miss Universe - Riyo Mori If you look at the date, I wrote it several months before she won. Then when she won… I had some 99,000 visitors in one day.
I wrote follow ups
Miss Universe Japan - Ballet Dancer, Mori Riyo - Learns Lessons …
Miss Universe Japan - Ballet Dancer, Mori Riyo
Riyo Mori’s 10 Steps to Becoming Miss Universe
As I mentioned above….I have an incentive…the more page views the better. So, I will try to ‘milk’ a hot topic for all its worth. Make sense?
We’ve decided never to compromise here at Daily J. So sorry guys, no cute J-girls. Wait, where are you all going?!!! No!!! 
Daily J: You mentioned that one obstacle at the start was “Finding [your] rythym…finding good sources to read then write/comment about”. I think I understand what you mean but could you elaborate a little more on that?
Bill: I now have a quite a few Japanese news sources bookmarked. I read though them every morning and tab what I want to write about. Until I hit on the idea of using Mainichi News, Yomiuri News, Asahi News and some of the other news aggregators, I struggled a bit to come up with topics, 5-6, each day to write about. Now I have more to write and say than I have time or post allotment for. ( I am limited to 150 posts per blog per month.)
As a last note, we have an inside scoop for you about a new blog, kind of a Bill Belew Unplugged. (I’m sure that if there will be any Dancing Bill video clips they will show up there )
I have just started a new blog…a personal one that I own and I can control the content…..you can see it at www.wispid.com
I enjoy this blog and in less than three weeks, I have had several days with more than 1,000 page views…I’m just getting warmed up.
What I like to write about is…look what’s going on here…is that interesting/stupid/great/fun/ridiculous…what can we learn from it? That is the style I prefer and to a great extent the style I use in my blog at RSON, PAB, TBOK and especially at WISPID.
A BIG thank you to Bill and RisingSunofNihon for letting us interview (and poke fun at) you.
I hope you, loyal reader, have found these posts fun and useful. Be sure to check out RisingSunofNihon and say “hi” to Bill.
And remember, we always appreciate feedback or a little comment below, so “give us some love.” (hey, we’ll even settle for hate)
As always,
A good day
From Daily J
oops
On September 17, 2007 in Uncategorized
Earlier today I forgot the <div> tags around that youtube video in the previous post, which jumbled up the blog’s layout pretty badly. Luckily I noticed, and only 2 hours after the fact. *hazukashii*
Interviews with websites offering free Japanese language lessons
On September 17, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do, Uncategorized
Like we mentioned before we are working on interview series each focused on different topics.
One of the topics on the list was Japanese language lessons sites.
We have contacted two and are waiting for a reply.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org
and
learn-japanese-kanji-hiragana-katakana.com
The latter is one of many language sites that post short video lessons on youtube, which seems pretty commendable (we love it when people do things for free).
A J-list of our own… I hope we don’t get sued…
On September 15, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do, Uncategorized
As mentioned in a previous post it was time for a list.
A J-list
But no, we are not going to be competing with Peter’s J-list.
That’s not what this is about. It is about an ongoing list of the topical websites that we want to interview (and ones you want us to interview).
The list is below. I mentioned the first two in previous posts. The rest are one’s we came up with after that. But, as you can see, we are not that smart or creative so we need your help. Please give us your suggestions in the comments! (topics and specific websites welcome)
English language teaching in Japan
Japanese language lessons
Japan Photo Blogs
Being a foreign student in Japan
Japan Travel Blogs
What do you think?
When I tried this I got fired…
On September 14, 2007 in Interviews we'd like to do, Uncategorized
(This post is kind of all over the place but bear with me…)
Over the next couple of days I plan to post short bits about some interview series that Daily J will feature.
But I am going to jump the gun a little and let you in on one of them now:
English Language Teaching in Japan.
Our next few interviewees will share some of their experiences about English teaching (but that is not the bulk of their interviews). I also was an English teacher while in university and I know that MANY foreigners in Japan have at least dabbled in language teaching at some point in their stay.
I “taught” English for two years and with three different companies, all part time. Actually, it was more like two companies and a random old Japanese lady who organised a “school” at a municipal center in Chiba. It was a dream! I was assigned to teach two fun groups of children and I was being paid 100USD an hour!
It lasted three weeks. 
Then she “Donald Trump-ed” me (for the Americans out there ).
Why did I get fired? I did what these guys did…
I play games, I get fired. These guys play games and they get famous. Where’s the justice?! *urayamashii*
Contacting them for an interview,… now.
