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Japanese Blogs supported by the locals
09/JAN/2010 on air

How can be a popular blogger in Japan? What kind of success story is expected when the blog gets popular in Japan?

It was her blog that made Rumi popular. She started her fashion blog 2 years ago where she shared how she coordinates high brands and fast fashion brands for the outfits she wears off duty. This attracted American girls and her blog records over 25,000 PV (page views) daily. The photographer is her boyfriend and the shooting spot is where they are dating.

So who is the mega hit blogger in Japan?
Idol’s blogs are popular, of course. Nozomi Tsuji a.k.a “Tsuji-chan“, Shoko Nakagawa a.k.a “Shokotan“, their blogs are the most popular because they have over 2,000,000 PV daily. Their fashion can even create the trends.

Yusuke Kamiji
Chinatsu Wakatsuki
Nozomi Sasaki is a very popular model today.

But it’s not only the celebs or people from show business that can become a mega hit blogger. There is a housewife blogger who blogs about day-to-day events that happen to her family. What’s fun about her blog is that she adds a little manga by herself. Her blog gets over 100,000 PV (page views) daily. A dentist is another popular blogger who blogs about private outfits after work and that has over 300,000 PV a day. A Gyaru blogger gets 550,000 PV per day.

Ameba blog is the most famous blogspot in Japan with its number of user exceeding 6750,000 people.
What is alpha blogger? In Japan it means influential blogger whose blog has over 1000 PV daily.

Kaatan’s manga blog was especially well-received by the housewives in Japan. She became so popular as to publish 2 books from her blog, and the sales of these books went over 20,000 copies. On top of that, she has become busy receiving job offers from Japanese makers that want to collaborate with her funny manga and columns. Kaatan used to work as a cabin attendant but her dream was to become an essayist. She made her dreams come true, thanks to her popular blog! Her husband looks also happy. Kaatan is a big fan of Arashi (the famous J-pop idol group). She uses up the money she earns for the concert tickets, CD, or goods.

Another alpha blogger called “Hyang” is a dentist. She has an experience of working as a dokumo before, her private fashion is supported by women in similar age group. An apparel maker approached her to establish a new room wear brand. Shinjuku Isetan department store right away had a section to deal with her brand. The shop assistant says, “The outfits that Hyang-san shares on her blog or that she wears at the exhibitions or shows are so popular that customers inquire about them before we have them available at our store. When they are available at our store, they are sold out very quickly!”

500 alpha bloggers were invited to the party. To have their products reviewed by these bloggers is a good way of advertising nowadays. Hello Kitty kamaboko (fish sausage) is promoted to Gyaru mama bloggers.
Scanpan was suffering from marketing in Japan. Their website didn’t attract many visitors. They gathered cooking bloggers at an event and let them cook with their pans. In 3 days their website recorded 4466 PV, thanks to the cooking bloggers blogging about the event. The reviews are not always good points of the products. Their honest opinions (such as the pans were heavy) are very important to the maker.

Yanana is a local character whose blog has 2000 PV daily. How can we become alpha blogger (over 1000 PV per day)? Yunkoro-san is a super Gyaru blogger. Her blog has 550,000 PV per day. She is the specialist of Morishame, which is to say, she is good at taking cute self pictures by cell phone. Her technique is even featured by egg, or the popular Gyaru fashion magazine. Taking a photo from front angle is not good, there is a way to make the face look smaller. Using a hand mirror to reflect light is also good because eyes look glittering.
Taking purikura allows you look great.
…sorry the video is cut off here by accident. (>_<)....

Kirin's opinion:
Let me first tell you Ameba blog is not the only blogspot in Japan, but it's popular because celebs like to use it.
Also, in Japan in our culture most of us don’t want to reveal real name or face on the blog or social networking sites. Thus it’s very natural in Japan that most of Japanese bloggers will use nickname (such as “Kaatan” or “Hyang”) instead of their real name. Actually this is why I use Kirin, which is a nickname and that’s part of me as a Japanese. hehe…:p But I like Kirin as a my pen name now. If I ever write a book or something, I still want to use Kirin instead of my real name.

It’s surprising to me that popular blogs in Japan can get such a large volume of traffic per day. It’s also nice to get job offers from blogging. Although my blog is not that popular, I am very happy to have received some job offers thru my blog. (It’s strange but I have no contacts from the Japanese at all! Even for advertising or anything! Every single offer is from non-Japanese corporation or individual. Is that because I don’t market it in Japanese blog ranking site? Somehow I don’t feel like doing that…)

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