Tokyo Times

Photographs from a small group of islands

Web/Tech

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Forum fans?

Ever since Tokyo Times was rather fortuitously nominated as a 2005 Bloggies finalist, the increased attention has had a profound effect on the site’s readership and exposure. Even resulting in a mention on the BBC fairly recently. Yes, I kid you not. There’s a link here for any (admittedly justified) doubters.

tokyo times bbc

So considering the number of people that now come here, I would like to ask you, regular reader, if the inclusion of a forum/message board would be of any interest? The focus I suppose being anything Japan related.

To be honest, such an addition is something I’ve never really thought about, not being much of a forum fan myself. I am however aware of how popular they are, and perhaps more importantly, the nice people where this site is hosted are offering a ‘one-click’ forum installation. A service that directly appeals to both my laziness and lack of technical know-how.

If any of you are interested in such a feature — or not as the case may be — I’d appreciate it if you’d either leave a comment below or send me a mail and let me know what you think. Thanks!

5 Comments

Mountain meeting

In the hotly contested most-bizarre-place-to-hold-an-interview competition, Japanese internet retailer ImageNET is currently leading the way, as yesterday the company held interviews on top of Mount Fuji.

Pretty unconventional it has to be said. Yet not content with potentially bagging a prize for the unique location of the interview, the online trader attempted to muscle in on the corniest-line-used-by-a-retailer award too, saying, “The job interview was held atop Japan’s highest mountain to make sure new employees have what it takes to scale the heights of business”

interview on fuji

It turns out that only 11 of the 20 applicants reached the summit, and with four jobs on offer, the climb looks to have been well worth the effort for those involved. However a rumour that the young candidate pictured above was heavily penalised for being a mere 10 minutes late after his 3,776-metre slog has yet to be confirmed.

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Thank you

I’d like to take a bit of time out from the usual inane tittle-tattle to thank everyone who kindly nominated me for the 2005 Bloggies. Sadly I don’t know who you are, but thank you very much all the same.

It was a very nice surprise indeed to hear I’d been nominated, but that was nothing compared to how I felt when informed that Tokyo Times had actually made it as a finalist in the Best Asian Weblog category. Considering the wealth of quality blogs throughout the region, I can only assume that many nominations simply went missing. There doesn’t appear to be any other explanation, and a quick gander at a few of those linked to from this site proves the point perfectly.

But worthy or not, I’m still on the list. And you know what’s coming next don’t you? Yes, if you wouldn’t mind (and providing you think I deserve it) a vote would be much appreciated. Clicking here will take you directly to the site, and even if you aren’t voting it’s worth a peek for the sheer variety of blogs on show.

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Ballot begging #2

After posting a desperate plea request for votes last week in the hope of avoiding a last place finish in the Asia Blog Awards, I was pleasantly surprised to not only see Tokyo Times move from the bottom of the heap, but straight in to first position. Sadly (and perhaps inevitably) I’ve since slipped down to third place, but my appetite for success has been well and truly whet.

So if you feel that this site is worthy of your vote, please go here and help fight the cause. And if you are a really keen supporter, you can vote once a day until the polls close at the end of the year.

In a further bid to garner votes, I’ve taken the decidedly drastic step of kidnapping Prime Minister Koizumi and burying him up to his neck in sand. Hot sand too for a bit of added drama.

koizumi_buried

If the votes come flooding in I promise to immediately release the wavy haired leader. And if they don’t? Well, I suppose I’ll just have to keep feeding him and attending to his constant hair related demands until they do. Which to be honest is driving me crazy, as keeping those greying curls in place is a full-time job in itself. So please save me from this hairstyling hell and cast your votes now.

1 Comment

Ballot begging

Over at the Hong Kong based Simon World (which is rather appropriately run by Simon), the voting for Blog Of The Year is now in full swing. And whilst such an event isn’t all that surprising, Tokyo Times being nominated most definitely is.

Now although I don’t expect (or probably deserve) to win, I don’t want to come last either. So to save me the potential shame and the possibility of people pointing at me in the street and laughing, please go here and add a vote (which you can do once a day) to my no doubt meagre tally. Thanks!

And fellow supporters of democracy fear not. With this being an electronic vote without a paper trail, it goes without saying that I have an army of lawyers winging their way to Hong Kong this very minute. All of who will be ready to pounce and impound Simon’s computer should I fail to garner enough votes and come last.