Interesting searches

Just approved some new hot searches: Japanese to English copy machines and Tokyo time lapse

And here are some more fun searches we found:

dance vader

and

learn japanese from gundam

Enjoy!

"Stay Hungry; Keep searching!"

Japan on the moon and more

Changing a hot search.

Seems Japan Aerospace (JAXA) launched a lunar mission.

Some other recommendations are:


JAXA to privatize

google x-prize Jaxa

sino-japan space race


"Stay Hungry; Keep searching!"

New hot search and some interesting related searches

Just changed another hot search.
Trying t0 at least switch them twice a week.

Some other interesting hot searches are:

Accenture the dodgy company behind the new fingerprinting s

abolition of fingerprinting

opposition of fingerprinting

Giving the "hot search archive" a makeover

The rest of this week we'll be working on giving the hot search archive a new look.

We plan to change the template to something that better matches the rest of Nipponster.

Going Crazy

Have you ever had way too much to do?

I feel like my head is going to explode.
My nature is to take on more than I can chew, try to pack more than 24 hours worth into a day, or whatever other cliche is fitting here.

There are so many things we would like to do.

I think that the key going forward it to focus on doing a few things really well.

I also worry that we don't really understand our users very well.
How can we best serve you? What do you like, dislike about our services? What would you like that currently doesn't exist?

PLEASE GIVE US FEEDBACK

I am brainstorming with the other crazy dreamers about how we can get more user feedback.
Maybe a user comments page. Maybe one on each tool page (ex: one on the toolbar download page).

Tori

Noooooooooo!

We are having technical problems...

The problem is affecting the database for Daily J and the Hot Search Archive.

Both are down :(

I hate technical problems!

Some new hot searches and some fun suggestions

Yeh!

Some new hot searches finally! We have got to get better at quickly changing the hot searches.

Of course there are a few that we know people love and we feel obligated to leave up, which causes a problem (and we need your feedback) <-- blog post about that problem

We thought that, in addition to the hot searches, these might be interesting search terms too:
Shinzo Abe scandals

English teaching that doesn't suck - Unfortunately this did not bring up many useful links. I had been hoping that someone had written a page on this, but oh well. At least I found this funny video:



There is another related video. But I am going to make you look through the results yourself and find it (don't worry it's in the first results page).

Behind a little on archiving old hot searches...

Our new goal, which really is an old goal revisited, is to change a hot search every day.

That way there is always something new to see for those who come for the hot searches.

Right now we have gotten it to about one or two new hot searches a week.

Archiving them is a bit of work. Maybe there is a way we could automate it.

Anyway, just thinking out loud...

So how are we doing?

Our goal is "to make the web a better place for Japan-enthusiasts."

That statement is the standard we use to make decisions.

Ex: Like when we started the Nipponster Japan Project - Japanopedia.org. There are many sites that have directories of Japan-related websites. But those directories are put together by their respective webmasters. Instead, keeping our standard in mind, we decided to give the power to create to everyone. We don't own the Japanopedia wiki. Everyone owns it. And as everyone can contribute the encyclopedia has the potential to cover much more than any other directory. And that is good for Japan-enthusiasts.

That example is just one of a number of projects and services we have started working on to accomplish our goal.

But are we accomplishing it? How are we doing?

We want your feedback and we want to find new ways to better communicate with you about our projects and what you think of them.

-Tori

Ups and Downs with Daily J

Now that I've had some shut-eye...

Daily J is up, up, and away! (Did I already say that. Well, I'm excited, ok?!)
To start things off we are chatting with Adam Douglass of Slash And Burn.

Yesterday I was supposed to have an interview with Arudou Debito, writer, anti-discrimination advocate, and editor of Debito.org.

I was super excited about the whole thing. But I forgot about that saying that anything that can go wrong will. I have my doubts as to whether or not that is an accurate saying but at least for me yesterday it was painfully true.

A lot of things went wrong up to the time that I was supposed to call him for the interview. But the straw that broke the camel's back was when my recording equipment wouldn't work, right before the call.
I naturally get nervous about talking to people over the phone anyway. But I was looking forward to this interview because Debito.org is an awesome site. It is a must read for any foreigner living in Japan (I wish that I had found it during my international student days). His section on "What to do if..." will resonate with you if you have ever lived in the land of sun.

I IM-ed James when I realised I wouldn't be able to conduct the interview and naturally he was upset (at the situation). And he made sure that I contacted Debito and apologised for the inconvience; sometimes we Americans have to be reminded of our manners :)

So we still hope to get an inside view of the site and the man behind it. But for now you can check it out for yourself.


Stay tuned,
Tori

Finally I can sleep

YES!!!!!!

After weeks of planning, tech work, and conversations with bloggers...
Daily J has been launched successfully! I am so relieved *falls out on the floor and sleeps*

~Tori

Only 1 day left!!!

Wow!

We are just one day away from launching Daily J !

It has been a lot of work getting to this point, but well worth it.

We have had some amazing response from j-bloggers/sites.

For one:
Later today we will be interviewing Arudou Debito of Debito.org.
I'm super excited about that!

And we have made lots of new friends from contacting bloggers for interviews.

We have had a lot of encouragement from them, support and even an offer to partner up.

We want to thank everyone for their support and now for
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, it's only a day a way!

-Tori

p.s. Sorry to post so late in the day. We had a tech problem this morning and then I was away from the computer until now.

Uh oh... 2 more days

Uh oh.

Just two days from Launch and we are debating whether or not to change blog platforms.

*nervous*

I don't want to push back the launch!


In other news:
Someone asked "Will DailyJ be replacing this blog?"

The answer to that is no.

This blog will continue to report on any happenings with Nipponster.
And we think DailyJ will actually help with this. Since DailyJ is about more general Japan-related things, the official Nipponster blog can focus on what it is for, reporting on Nipponster.

It will continue to be a place for us to talk about the specific projects we are working on:
The Japan enthusiast's search engine
The Nipponster Japan Toolbar
The Japanopedia, part of our Japan project
And hints about upcoming projects

We do it for you,
Tori

3 days left. crunch time

Oops. Forgot to change the front page and make a blog post earlier today.

Yes. We are just 3 days away from launch and it is officially "CRUNCH TIME"

There is so much left to do it is insane. I might not sleep tonight...

But if I do I'll dream of DailyJ

-Tori

Four Days Left...(Need Feedback)

Four days until Daily J (our new blog)

We'd like take this time to talk little about what we are doing to prepare.
Also we want to get feedback from you about some things we want to do on the blog.


What preparation are into launching this new blog?
We have talked to some of our favourite Japan bloggers.
We are trying to get idea of why they blog and why it is fun for them.
Then we will put their answer on the blog.

We need feedback
We came up with the name Daily J because we plan to post everyday.
Also we want it to be essential blog, like vitamins. You need your daily dose.

But that makes a problem.
We plan to bring interviews with Japan bloggers. But how often?
We have been think one new interview a day.
But we also think that these bloggers deserve more blog time than that.

We don't know...
What should we do?

~keitaro

5 days

Only five days until Daily J !

( I can't stand it any longer! Too much suspense!!!!! )

~K