Blogging is Hot in Japan!
Blogging is relatively new to
Insights-out – What is Unique about Japanese Blogs?
1. Many free-of-charge blog providers
There are many blogging services that the Japanese can use. In addition to global blog providers such as Bloggers and Wordpress, there are domestic providers such as Livedoors, Nifty, and Biglobe, who offer free-of-charge blog services with easy-to-use guidelines for new bloggers.
2. Ranking the popularity of blogs
Most domestic blog providers show popular blog rankings in addition to blogging services, which is similar to what Technorati offers. They have a blog page on their website showing blog rankings in total, as well as by category, and the most popular articles, of which layouts are different depending on the provider. Japanese bloggers see the rankings as a measure of their blog’s popularity, in addition to providing details on the number of visitors they receive. Such ranking encourages the Japanese to write even more blogs. I have seen several Japanese bloggers who ask readers to frequently visit their blog, saying the likes of: “Thank you! My blog has received 10, 000 visitors in total! Please visit here again!”
3. Many private bloggers writing personal diaries
There are many Japanese bloggers who write about private matters in their daily life or about their own experiences. For instance, if you would like to get ideas about how to save money, you can just Google “Okaneno tamekata” (how to increase your saving money). By doing this you can get a lot of advice about how to save money from Japanese bloggers.
Reading Japanese blogs gives Japanese consumers a rich insight into markets. They may also be useful for international companies, as long as issues of language can be dealt with.
April 04 2008 08:57 am | Culture and Weekly Articles
