1st Japan Blogger Dinner

I was invited by Danny to join in on a Japan Blogger Dinner. I didn’t know what to expect before I went, but it was great and I did have a good time. There were many bloggers, youtubers, web designers, people from google, mozilla etc. The who’s who of the net was in the same room with me! ^^. Most were gaijins, but there were also a number of Japanese bloggers too!

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I bumped into Neil and Glen (hope I got the spelling right) on the train going there. Be sure to go check out their sites!

Photos from the party. Kinda regretted only bringing the compact. Note to self: bring SLR for important events. Anyway, photos didn’t turn out too great, but here’s some of them.

There were loads of food and beer; there was even a second round of pizza. We had a round table going and everyone did a jikosyoukai 自己紹介. A self introduction.

This is Yongfook. He’s a web producer and I know him because he did the new look for JapanToday. That’s one of the places I go to grab my daily slice of news. I think he has a good brew going with Sweetcron… He loves to cook too btw.

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Here’s Gen Kanai. I’ve heard of him or read about him before somewhere. Name rings a bell, but I don’t really remember. I’m glad I had a chance to meet him though. Nice guy.

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Here’s Shingo trying to jam on the iPhone guitar. You should check out his page, he does live gigs online from his room. He’s been on a world tour too! the Merce Death World Tour From My Room! Pretty neat stuff. If you’re into music, jam with him in his “World Jam Band”.

There was another Japanese guy I spoke to who also is a fan of drifting! He keeps a Drift Diary. He also happens to write apps for the mac and iPhone. Most of the people in the room were mac users…. and there were quite a number of iPhones too! I’ve never been in a room filled with so many iPhone-carrying folk. ^^. I also met Peter from J-list.

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We had loads of beer. I only had like… 2-3 cans.

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Here’s our wonderful host Danny with Kagami in his pocket having a lotus. Apparently the Good Smile guys tell me that he’s always with a figure in his pocket. ^^

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This was probably the last photo I took, that’s Vicente (left), Andy and me. Yeah, I was there in a Japan Adidas (by the way, did you know All Day I Dream About Sex ^^) jersey; it had a Japanese flag on the front and JAPAN spelt out in big capital letters on the back. I get mistaken for a Japanese sports representation at times. ^^

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There were many other bloggers, youtubers etc, but I didn’t get everyone’s URL and contact. I hope Danny’s sending out the list so that I can update with some links.

This gathering has been quite an eye opener for me. I felt really humbled looking at what others have done, are doing and will be doing.

Souvenirs from the dinner. Google brought some keitai straps… unfortunately I don’t need any since there’s no place to hang it on my iPhone (apparently that’s why iPhones aren’t selling well in Japan). Oh! Just remembered. If you would like to learn Japanese for free, check out iKnow!. They have a pretty good system which tracks your progress and what not. They were giving away pens…

This is probably by far the best souvenir though. And it would make a great corporate gift I think… well, I guess it also depends on who you are giving it to. ^^. Will write more about it later after I’ve opened them up. My very first SAFS (Suddenly Acquired FigureS)! woo hoo!

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To sum it all up, me had fun! I feel really motivated to go out and do something! Anything! When’s the next dinner gonna be?

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16 Responses to “1st Japan Blogger Dinner”

  1. Gen Kanai Says:

    Hi Ken, nice to meet you yesterday. Look forward to following your blog from now on.

    [Reply]

  2. Panther Says:

    Woot, new friends made. Lots of peeps there too I see…and beer. I no like the stuff.

    [Reply]

  3. Danielle Says:

    Looks like fun! I’m wondering were the guys in front of the screen just saying “Hi, this is my blog” or was there some other purpose tot the night?

    [Reply]

  4. k Says:

    Thanks Gen!

    @Danielle, thanks for stopping by my blog! for guys like me, yeah. we did a self intro and went this is my blog… maybe show an interesting post. others with online shops showed off what they sell (mostly to people outside Japan). the web 2.0 guys, like cerego, talked about their platform and gave a demonstration.

    [Reply]

  5. gordon Says:

    nice. must be fun. is that danny’s kagami in fornt of the TV i see? ^^;

    u mentioned most of the guests were gaijins, so everyone spoke in english during the dinner? or japanese?

    did u get danny’s dannychoo.com namecard? very nice with mirai on it. ^^

    [Reply]

  6. k Says:

    @gordon, mostly english, but japanese was also spoken as well. didn’t get his namecard though… but i got hector’s “new” mirai namecard (which i hear is going to be replaced with a new look).

    [Reply]

  7. Andy Says:

    Ken,

    Didn’t realise you took so many photos! Nice to chat with you last night. Keep in touch!

    [Reply]

  8. Kozta-Boom Says:

    that was looks kinda fun. Man I'm so envy of you. >,<"

    [Reply]

  9. Linda Says:

    That was a great night! Looking forward to the next one.

    [Reply]

  10. Thierry Says:

    That was a nice event. Lots of interesting folks met, like you. ;-)

    I have also made a report on my blog, but it is in French : http://regagnon.com/blog/2008/10/01/compte-rendu-japan-blogger-dinner/

    [Reply]

  11. xenohawk Says:

    Wow, looks like you are having a blast there ^^. Too bad I can’t make it this time around as I got hordes of work to finished before vacation next week. Hope to see you next time :)

    [Reply]

  12. elmimmo Says:

    Elmimmo did not attend as the lazy non-blogger he is (since his blog in Spanish about Japan has been preserved in formol for quite some months), but as Jorge, of otaku publishing and tv production at http://estudiofenix.com and http://bamfproducciones.com ^_-

    It was great meeting all you! Looking forward the next one.

    Ken! You got too SAFS? Dammit, I got just one, but it is the secret one!! Bwhahaha-ha-ha HA HA!

    [Reply]

  13. matt romaine Says:

    was definitely a great gathering. enjoyed your presentation, and am looking forward to the next one!

    [Reply]

  14. k Says:

    thanks guys! I just moved over to wordpress. content looks rather intact. i’ll have to update my blogroll and links! hope to follow all your blogs soon!

    @elmimmo, you got the secret one?!? no!!!! ^^

    [Reply]

  15. gabuchan Says:

    Welcome to wordpress! I love wordpress - i hope you do too!
    How did you get invited!? I wanna go next time.

    [Reply]

  16. zenical Says:

    I can tell you enjoyed yourself. Me wants to be there T_T>

    [Reply]

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