Whoa.
300 articles?!!
To all my long time readers, all my new readers, and anyone who just happened to stumble across my geeky corner of the internet, I have 4 strong words to say to each and every one of you: THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
How Did We Even Get to 300 Articles?
I started this blog in 2008 and didnât really do much with it. But around 2012/2013, I decided to commit myself heart and soul into JapanThis! despite having a readership of 0. Mrs. JapanThis thought I was crazy. I thought I was crazy, too. And my vast readership of 0 didnât give a shit.
But the Word Started Getting Out
But slowly, a person here and a person there accidentally ended up here every once in a while. Those of you who remember the early days might even recall that I was originally trying to publish a new article every day Monday through Friday or something stupid like that. I eventually gave that up so I could focus on more research intensive articles. From there, the blog slowly just sorta took on a life of its own.
A lot of people start blogs and get really into them, only to abandon them to the search engines because, well, letâs face it, theyâre time consuming. Other people just run out of things to say[i]. Lots of people come to Japan for a few years, get into it, and blog or make videos about pop culture and food and âmy life as a gaijin[ii].â Some of them have tens of thousands of subscribers, which is pretty amazing, honestly. And all of that is good and well. The internet is truly vast and infinite. And everyoneâs 100% entitled to their slice of it.
If You’re Gonna Go, Go Deep. Go Hardcore.
But I like to go deep. I like to go hardcore. This is something I learned from the music world. Itâs just how I roll. And thatâs not attractive to a lot of people. Hell, I meet a lot of people who fucking canât stand history of any kind the way I fucking canât stand math. Soooooo, writing a blog about Japanese history is a hard enough sell as it is. But thatâs just it. I donât just write about Japanese history, I use the etymology of place names of one city as an excuse to explore individual neighborhoods of that one city. Talk about obscure! In Japanese, this site wouldnât be anything special. But in English, this is some hardcore niche subject matter weâre dealing with. Itâs a tough sell any way you look at it.
And thatâs why I had to make this post in the first place. Thatâs also why I had to open with a âthank youâ that was truly from the bottom of my heart.
100% ïŒ Labor of Love
I used to say â I think I also said it when I hit my 200th article â that this blog is a labor of love; this is my passion for the subject matter, and I would continue writing it even if I only had 5 readers or even 0 readers. Upon reaching this 300th post (and letâs be honest, there are actually more than that if we include pages), I think I feel differently now.
Yes, this is 100% still a labor of love.
Yes, I think I would continue anyways.
But without you, dear reader, JapanThis! would be a hollow shell of what it is now. I mean that. Every time I get a new subscriber or follower or a new comment, it reminds me that I have to not just maintain the status quÅ of this blog. I have to constantly strive to go deeper, go harder, and push myself to do more rigorous research, write more creatively, and think of more ways to express my passion for the deeper side of Japanese culture and attract more peopleÂ ïŒ more people like you ïŒÂ who share that passion.
Earlier, I used the term âmy corner of the internet.â But the internet isnât private. You donât have to knock on the door to come into JapanThis!. You can just come in. It’s a party up in here. It’s a nerdy/geeky party, but it’s a party nonetheless. After 300 articles fueled by your enthusiasm, I think itâs safe to say that for us Japanese History Nerds, JapanThis! isnât “my corner of the internet,â itâs âour corner of the internet.â
Before I close out this post. I would be remiss if I didnât say that there have been a few people out there on social media who have consistently done a lot to share what I do here with the rest of the world. I owe them a lot of gratitude and am humbled by their constant willingness to help promote JapanThis!. If you donât already follow them, I think you should[iii]. Theyâre not just good people, but they all share the same common interests that have brought you and me together.
In descending order of how long their names are (cuz it look perdy):
To everyone whoâs ever given me a retweet or share, thanks you to you too. Youâve helped get me here. And I love you too. If youâve shared me a lot and I havenât noticed, but you think you belong on this list, hit me up privately, OK?
And lastly, I finish every article asking for support. I know this is annoying. And I believe that just reading JapanThis! is support and I thank you for that. Please donât forget sharing on Facebook or Twitter because that really gets the message out there.
Hereâs to the next goal: 400 articles!!
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[i] But if thereâs one thing I did right when deciding to focus on this blog, I said that it would be focused on the etymology of TÅkyÅ place names, a topic I considered more or less endless, but could focus on any other aspect of Japanese culture and history â more on the history side, of course.
[ii] Not only one of the most tedious topics for those of us whoâve been here for a long time, but one that perpetuates the use of the outdated term å€äºº gaijin outsiders (a term considered discriminatory or rude and usually banned by the media) for foreigners because, surprise! Foreigners use this term about themselves when not speaking Japanese and those who canât speak Japanese donât know any better. But this is a debate that would be better in an izakaya over a coupla beers.
[iii] They all have various social media accounts; Iâm providing the links to what I consider their most active public accounts. Obviously, Iâm not going to send you to their personal Facefook pages lol.
Congrats Marky-san, and THANKS! Can’t seem to load up the page proper, but I’m hoping this comment gets through to you. I couldn’t begin to cover the paths/tributaries your posts have opened up for me over the last 3 years. The many books that have been enhanced by reading your blog. The way I see kanji learning as a pleasure as well as an interest. The humour, the way you are one of the few net places where samurai get the (dis)respect they deserve. (some anyway). It has especially enhanced my trips to Tokyo/Edo, my investigation of the shitamachi and my interest in the 94%(??) of ordinary, ie. not samurai, folks. Thanks again Marky, You’ve been great. Robbie.
Thanks for the very kind words. When I hear things like that it really makes all of this worth it. I hope to keep churning out stuff you’ll enjoy in the future!
Congrats!
Thank you very much! I’m sort of shocked I’ve written this much… for free lol.
You are right out there. Congratulations and hitting 300! The back stories are really interesting, but I just don’t have the time to read everything. I have a “read me” folder on my desktop.
BTW, were you in Ikebukuro today? If not, I saw your twin on a bicycle in Higashi-Ikebukuro.
Hope to meet you one day. I’ll kick in when we do. I’m interested in river walks, reien, and Fuji zuka.
I’m a member of SWET. About two weeks ago, here was a travel writing event. I’m sure you would be a good presenter for a future event.
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Thanks for the kind words. If you’re interested in past articles, the search feature at the bottom right hand side of the page (in desktop view) is your friend.
Wasn’t in Ikebukuro today. So… yeah maybe I have a doppelgÀnger in TÅkyÅ. Who would have thought!
I wasn’t familiar with SWET so I had to google it. Looks like an interesting group. I may have a few questions for you.
As for being a presenter, sounds like a lot of fun! ð Not sure what topic people would be interested in. I’m always surprised that anyone else is interested in my geeky little corner of the Internet ð
I know your articles are archived – but I have my own system. Let me know if you plan to be in the Ikebukuro area and I’ll do my best to meet you. Interesting that you know so much about Tokyo, but that you didn’t know about SWET. Consider that a gift. You’ll make some good connections. There are quite a few geeks out there – so they say; I wouldn’t know.
Hahahaha. Well, it’s GW so theoretically I could be in Ikebukuro any time.
As for SWET, I’ve always just been doing my own thing. Haven’t been plugged in with networking groups other than just meeting up informally with other J History nerds.
If there’s a time good for you, just letter know.
Congratulations -you deserve all the credit that you get for your hard work-and the articles are definitely fantastic!