Ricochehost » Japanese

Jim Atwood Mobile Website

Jim Atwood — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:06:28 +0000

I just finished putting together my new Jim Atwood Mobile Website. It took me a while to figure out what approach I was going to take with the theme and mobile plugins. So far I think the site is working out pretty well. http://jimatwood.mobi

The website is using Wordpress 2.8.3 as of this writing and the following plugins.

Access Keys
Google XML Sitemaps
WordPress Mobile Pack
XHTML and Mobile YouTube

I am also looking into the Mobify Wordpress Plugin, but so far I like the Wordpress Mobile Pack the best because it is much easier and free for all my sites without any limitations.

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Jim Atwood Mobile Website

Jim Atwood News Nikon DSLR Site

Jim Atwood — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:56:21 +0000

A long time ago I started a website about photography that I did using the Nikon DSLR D200. Since then, the D300 and D700 have been released, but the Nikon D200 still remains a trusty backup camera for me. This week I finally go around to updating the website with a fresh new look and I’ll definitely be adding more videos and photos as well in the coming days.

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Jim Atwood .ME Fan Site Update

Jim Atwood — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:51:10 +0000

Recently I purchased a Jim Atwood .me domain and finally got around to getting the website up and running. The site displays my photography, networking, and work that I’ve done in Japan. You can find my photographs, video, and other information on the site from Japan.

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Jim Atwood .ME Fan Site Update

Photoshoot Japan Site Update

Jim Atwood — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:37:26 +0000

Photoshoot Japan has a new look which I finished up a couple of days ago. Photoshoot Japan is another one of my Jim Atwood photography sites that provides information about my workshops and photoshoots in the Tokyo, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Nagano City areas.

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Will Japan ever go .mobi?

Jim Atwood — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:03:43 +0000

To me I am not so optimistic that the Japanese will turn to .mobi websites. You don’t have to look far in “Japanese only” websites not run by foreign expats or “maniac” tech enthusiasts to see that mainstream sites are not on the .mobi domain yet. Most companies go for the .co.jp domain because it has the highest quality and brand image in Japan. The .jp domain is secondary and much cheaper without all the red tape required for .co.jp domains. There is also a .net.jp domain too. When you factor in the .com and .net domains, it quickly becomes crowded for the Japanese to determine what would be the best domain to put a mobile site on.

Force is as strong word perhaps, but I think it’s going to take some clever marketing in Japan to get small and mid-sized Japanese companies or even individuals to purchase and develop .mobi websites when they can just as easily do it on their .co.jp or .jp domain.

In fact, here is a Japanese only website which is a popular publishing company that distributes a trendy young Japanese gal magazine called Ranzuki. This magazine is very big among young Japanese girls. If you notice, the website only has a mobile version. It has no parent desktop website. For some reason they feel young girls will only want to use their mobile phones, so a traditional site is not necessary. Second, you will notice that the website is a .com domain. Third, you will notice the website is also an ecommerce solution. Mobile shopping is critical in Japan. Finally, the website is encoded in Shift-JIS which is the defacto standard for Japanese computers and character input..not UTF-8 or EUC-JP. Incidentally, this website is built on Oscommerce Mobile version developed by a Japanese web developer.

My point here is that you have to dig deep into the heart of Japanese websites and developers. Most of the foreign expats I know in Japan are all on iPhones, buying .mobi or other special domains, and mixing with the trends. If I walk into a Japanese high school down the street, I won’t find any iPhone or equivalent. Around me here it’s all about fashion, making friends, and socializing over the phone via messaging, mixi, gree, or something similar entirely in Japanese. Many of these kids have no idea what’s going on in the States or other countries with respect to mobile technology or websites.

The idea that Japanese create two websites as I see it may help to contribute to the prospect that one day .mobi may become a viable solution for a mobile website. It also just might be that the Japanese kick the can on their main website and just go mobile entirely. In that case, I don’t think .mobi will fair well against the mightier .co.jp or .jp domains.

The golden nugget here is how will Japan convince people to go .mobi. I feel exclusive features may be the answer. The Japanese love being exclusive and are very image conscious. We all are perhaps. If the .mobi domain can provide something that .jp, .com, or .co.jp can’t, then perhaps .mobi will prevail.

Right off the bat though, .jp and .mobi differ by two characters. That’s a disadvantage in Japan at the moment.

These are just my thoughts and am very aware I could be wrong. I welcome any other insight into this as I myself am trying to predict what might happen in Japan.

As a final thought, there are three “main” groups of consumers in Japan. They are in my experience as follows:

1. Young students

2. House Wives

3. Businessmen

All three are totally mobile these days. House Wives and the young are shopping more and more online with their mobile phones. Check out the new Ageha Fashion site for the latest trend in mobile shopping http://ageha-shop.com/index.html

Note to mention QR codes are plastered on everything in sight here.

Geez, I could go on and on here. Sorry….laugh.

In any event, hopefully .mobi will catch on more here. After 17 years in Japan I’d say anything can happen. We’ll see.

Regards,
Jim Atwood

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Ropography Japan on 12Seconds TV

Jim Atwood — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:09:36 +0000

On my previous video http://12seconds.tv/channel/jimatwood/209815, I used transitions from frame to frame. Due to the short time frame, this caused the quality of the video to be reduced slightly. On “Ropography japan”, my second video I elected to remove the transitions except for the last frame. I think with photos that have more detail, this retains the quality for the most part. Again the video was rendered Youtube style in HD in 16:9 (Widescreen). On a test run I used 4:3 (TV) and it came out like total crap. The 16:9 looks much better but obviously there could be other settings involved that I am missing. Note that I’m on a PC. Photos by Jim Atwood Photography at http://www.jimatwood.net

Ropography Japan on 12seconds.tv

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Shibuya 109 Gals New Look

Jim Atwood — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:45:16 +0000

The popular English and Japan site Shibuya 109 Gals has a fresh new look. Shibuya 109 Gals is the place to get update information about the latest Japanese Gal fashion magazines. Plus you get some insight into the popular styles and trends happening in the fashion capital of Japan….Shibuya 109, Tokyo Japan. You can also check out the Japanese Gal Community Forums at Ricoche.net!

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Registering JP Domains in Japan

Jim Atwood — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:17:51 +0000

For those familiar with Japan, Onamae means “name”. Recently I just registered my own name domain http://jimatwood.jp for use in Japan. The price was pretty good I thought at $56 for two years. The domain was registered at http://www.onamae.jp which is a Japanese discount domain service. You need to understand how to read Japanese to navigate the site which I do, plus you have to have a Japanese address to order the .jp or .ne.jp domains. Of course you need a registered business in Japan for a co.jp domain.

I highly recommend Onamae as my experience thus far has been very good. Note that the control panel and everything is in Japanese. We’ll see after two years whether they ramp up the renewal cost, but since it’s a Japanese company and I reside in Japan, I don’t think that will happen. The domain extension .jp is extremely popular in Japan and for those wondering where to grab your .jp domains, be sure to check out Onamae for specials.

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The Backstreets of Nagano

Jim Atwood — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:21:31 +0000

A couple of gals walking along a backstreet in Nagano near Zenkoji Temple. I thought this scene captured essence of Japan pretty well with the scooter and lantern. Also note that sun umbrellas are very popular in Japan. This is also one of the many shortcut streets the run along parallel to Zenkoji. If you take this backstreet you’ll bypass a ton of people. It’s amazing more Japanese people don’t realize this.

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The Backstreets of Nagano

Ageha Fashion Show in Nagano Japan

Jim Atwood — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:49:24 +0000

Ageha Hair Make Show in Nagano Japan

The girl to the right is a manager at our Diva Hair Salon Branch in Nagano City, Japan. She is a very good hair stylist and we use her a lot at Photoshoots.

www.flickr.com/photos/jimatwood/3642001453/
Photos were taken with a Keitai or Cell Phone by a Hair Stylist from our Salon. The quality is low and the shots were difficult to get, but you at least get an idea of what the show was like.

We are collecting information for an upcoming Photoshoot and Workshop we’ll be conducting over the summer with regards to the Ageha Hairstyle for both fashion and weddings.

I’m a big fan of the Gal Style in Japan for those who don’t already know. I run a J-Gal community website at www.ricoche.net which is very popular among gals all around the world.

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Ageha Fashion Show in Nagano Japan