Set Up A JapanBlogger Blogroll in WordPress

JapanBlogger is the perfect complement to JapanSoc. While the latter promotes individual articles and pages from the Japan-related web, JapanBlogger serves to promote entire sites. This is done by a blogger submitting his or her site, and watching people vote for it and leave feedback. Harnessing the power of JapanBlogger Since JapanBlogger sorts its database of blogs according to popularity (i.e. the number of votes each site receives), I thought […]

Japan It Up Before You Leave

Before I talk about Japan It Up, a new blog that has already made its mark in the Japan bloggers’ community, I have to get something off my chest… How anonymous should an anonymous blog be? Recently, I’ve come across a number of bloggers who choose to use codenames to hide their identity. Two that come to mind are JDonuts blogger, Contamination, and the author of Japan It Up, Smoother. […]

A Typical Life… In Japan

Shane was one of the first people to register at JapanSoc, and has been active in the community ever since. Some of the many articles she’s submitted come from her own blog, A Typical Life. This is a site she started in November of last year, but Shane has been working hard to fill it with meaningful content, mostly related to Japan, as that is where she will be spending […]

Get ESL Tips from Chris’ English School

One of the more recent blogs I’ve subscribed to is that of ESL teacher, Chris Ballard. Born in Hawaii, but now residing in Yanai city in Yamaguchi, Chris runs his own English school out of his own home. Another disgruntled English teacher? NO! What makes this blog so unique is that instead of criticising the ESL industry, or even writing articles on “how to teach English”, Chris shows us exactly […]

Tips and Tricks for Survival in Japan

One of the first blogs I ever subscribed to was LifeHacker, a blog jammed with tips and tricks to increase productivity. When it comes to living in Japan, the equivalent blog would be NihonHacks, a collection of time and money-saving tips for foreign students, visitors or “lifers”. Top Tips and Tricks from NihonHacks NihonHacks is the work of Thomas Hjelm, a former exchange student and current JET teacher in Hyogo. […]

JapanSoc Voting Button for Blogs

By now you’ll know that I’ve started a social bookmarking site for everything Japan-related. If you’ve registered for JapanSoc and write about Japan on your own blog, then you’ll probably want this Digg-style voting button on your site. Update: The WordPress plugin for this button is now available directly from WordPress. Read about the updates here: New JapanSoc it! Button. April 14th, 2009. What does the button do? It allows […]

Japan Exposed Through Opinion Poll Translations

Foreign perception of Japan is often tarnished by sweeping generalizations made by people who lack the language skills and tools necessary to understand the real thoughts and actions of Japan’s general public. What Japan Thinks Introducing Ken Y-N, a legend among Japan bloggers and the face behind What Japan Thinks, a blog full of English translations of Japanese opinion polls and surveys. A keen statistician and Japan enthusiast, Ken has […]