And my response? I definitely felt a lot more insulted by this than most of the times I’ve been called 外人. It really belittles my 12 years of studying Japanese, my time living there, my respect for the culture and peoples, and generally the entire direction I’ve taken my life.

I also think it is why I spend more time on ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) than a lot of the English-speaking Internets. I’m interacting with people who don’t know or care that I’m an outsider. They (seem to) respect the fact that I have taken the time to learn Japanese. There’s even a community cheering R and myself on to make more videos.

Actually, it’s true that a lot of people on YouTube have been very supportive, but a lot of it boils down to, “When are you going back to Japan.” The truth is, I really don’t know if I’m going back to Japan. And even if I did, I might not make videos without my partners, Rahman and DrLuka.

What I’m trying to say here is be respectful. Just remember what しじみ (shijimi) stands for; し（信じる）じ（自分の）み（道）, or “Believe in your own path.” I know how annoying little otaku can be. Hell, I was one 10 years ago. But I’ve grown up, I have a family, I have a job, and I do my little videos here in America now. No, I don’t get punched for what I do. People are generally friendly wherever you go.

And I really would like to believe that about the Internet as well.

Technorati Tags: Internet, japan, life, NicoNicoDouga, rant, respect, wapanese, weeaboo, youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C1CU60tCpg

Yes, my decent into utter and total ヲタク land continues… it is time for more ニコニコ動画 (NicoNicoDouga) self-gratification. This song really sums up the ニコ動 experience; despite the fact there is all the bad things that come with being a ニコニコ動画 viewer (trolls, comment swarms, those advertisements that play at certain times), there’s so much awesomeness to be had (the crazy fads, Vocaloid, 東方, IdolM@ster). Oh, and it is summed up with the fact that “although no one would die without it, still, NicoNicoDouga loves you.”

Based around the 時報 (jihou) tune that happens at 0:00, 2:00, and 5:00 (JST), it is brilliant and well crafted. I just wish I knew who to attribute it to.

Lyrics after the jump…

例えば君に タグをつけるなら
何がいいかな
ロックしてくれるかな

君の新作 評判悪いけど
僕は好きだよ…
NGなんかつ使わんでも

アンチだとか 荒らしだとか
それもいいんじゃない
割り込む時報は ウザいけれど
それもいいじゃない

流行りだとか ボカロだとか
東方とか アイマスもいいけど

～何気に今まで覗いたこと無いジャンルでも
結構おもしろいものいっぱいあるんだぜ～

そう
だって、ここは

ニ～コニコ動画♪
心のマイリストに
ニ～コニコ動画♪
君のコメントを 持ち帰るよ
ニ～コニコ動画♪
別に無くたって 死にゃしないが
ニ～コニコ動画♪

loves you…

ニ～コニコ動画…

Technorati Tags: 神, homemade, Internet, music, NicoNicoDouga, nicovideo, rock

“Captain, the enemy ships are moving toward each other!”

“This is it, if they attack each other, we will be able to escape without harm. Looks like we did the right thing to…”

“Captain! The ships are… merging!!!”

“?!”

“They’re performing a meme merger!!!”

“On screen, Ensign.”

“Yessir!”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kAs4JfmK_Y

“Impossible!”

“Captain! They are beginning to multiply…”

【ニコニコ動画】妹様にナイツ・オブ・ゲッダンを踊ってもらった（修正版）

【ニコニコ動画】【マッシュアップ】ナイト・オブ・ゲッダン×promise【☆ゲッダン☆】

【ニコニコ動画】MikuMikuDanceでナイト・オブ・ゲッダン

【ニコニコ動画】ナイト・オブ・ゲッダン 4窓Ver.

【ニコニコ動画】【踊り】 ナイト・オブ・ナイツ（ｒｙを合わせてみた・番外編 【追加】

“We are getting a /talk.”

“Open the private channel.”

“We are the ナイト・オブ・ゲッダン. All Your Base Are Belong To Us. Your memealogical distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile.”

“Dear God…”

“Captain! Orders?”

“Get us out of here, Ensign! MAX BANDWIDTH!”

Technorati Tags: ゲッダン, ナイト・オブ・ゲッダン, ナイト・オブ・ナイツ, ヲタク, Get down, Internet, memes, music, nerdity, nicovideo, Night of Get Down, Night of Knights, Night of Nights, star trek, 東方

BUT ニコ動 (NicoDou) is different. It is a special sort of community of otaku sharing videos with each other. On YouTube, people post videos of themselves for Internet fame. On ニコ動, they put masks on so you specifically never know who they are.

The comments on YouTube are labeled with your name and lazily put at the bottom of the video. ニコ動 has the comments streaming accross the video. It really captures the Anime Convention mentality. Basically, you are with a lot of other people enjoying a video. If you’ve never been to an Anime Convention, you might not get how different it is to watch something with other like minded people. Think of a movie theater, but more personal.

Well, ニコ動 has grown into version (ββ) (say “double-beta”). What is new about (ββ)? Well, they have recognized that it really is the community that makes the site so special. While the regular videos give you the feeling that you are simultaneously watching it with others, the new features will take this to the next level and make it so you ARE watching it with others in REAL TIME!

First off, they have a new feature they have announced called 「ニコニコ広場」 (“NicoNicoHiroba“):

【ニコニコ大会議2008冬】ニコニコ広場デモ動画

The idea? Gather in a place and talk using the ニコニコ動画 system. And it will hold thousands of people! I can’t wait. It will open sometime this month.

The other feature is something called ユーザー生放送 (Yuuzaa NamaHousou):

【ニコニコ大会議2008冬】ユーザー生放送デモ動画

This is basically making your own live program to be shown on ニコ動. Sounds like fun! This feature is open now in case you want to go see what people are putting on. I personally have never been able to get a seat since I’m not a premium member… yet!

Anyway, this looks like it might be the dawn of a new era. But I can’t help but wonder if these will have any real effect on my ニコニコ動画 usage. The 広場 sounds like fun, so I can’t wait to try that out. I will report back on how it is.

Technorati Tags: ユーザー, 生放送, double beta, hiroba, Internet, ββ, live, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoHiroba, nicovideo, plaza, user, version update, websites, 広場

The new version is here. 冬 (fuyu)! But, apparently, rather soonish, ββ (double beta) will be up. The theme of the new versions is community or gathering or THE MOB (as in a group of people who spontaneously act as one, as opposed to organized crime). There is going to be a live news channel, not to mention like a NicoNicoNetwork where there will be over 100 channels of programming. I hate to say a lot of that stuff doesn’t really tickle my fancy really… ><; We’ll see though.

The only thing that I’m actually looking forward to is the new version of NicoNicoMovieMaker. When they show it though, they say that it goes on sale soon. Sale?! Dammit. Now that it actually does something, they are going to be charging for it. But, if it has excellent features, it might just be worth it. Most video editing software is amazingly expensive.

Anyway, the maintenance is over at 12:00 JST or so (3:00 GMT, 19:00 PST). Log in then to try out some of the new stuff!

Technorati Tags: ニコニコ動画, fuyu, Internet, maintenance, NicoNicoDouga, NicoNicoMovieMaker, software, version update, winter, 冬

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3quTc2-GyM

This is an excellent case study. So, if you didn’t put your GoldenEye N64 cartridge in all the way and played, the characters (and any model really) would just go crazy. Think human static, limbs flailing in all directions.

Then, someone did a MAD video of it to the song “Promise” by 広瀬香美 (Hirose Koumi).

THEN, someone just did a 2ちゃん cat instead of the models.

THEN, someone made 初音ミク do it.

THEN, someone drew it with a 東方プロジェクト character.

THEN, someone danced it for REAL.

…and then someone mixed it with 吉幾三…

And this blog post fulfills the life cycle. It can now die.

Technorati Tags: ぐるぐる, オタク, ゲッダン, bug, crazy, error, evolution, Get down, goldeneye, Hatsune Miku, Hirose Koumi, human static, IKZO, Internet, lol, n64, nicovideo, otaku, project shrine maiden, promise, 初音ミク, 広瀬香美, 東方

I’m excited to find this blog because they have a lot of good ミク stuff (way more than I do), including a link to this awesome 初音ミク cosplay. At the same time though, I’m a little sad. I was hoping that ミク was relatively unknown in the English speaking world. And now I know better.

I was kind of like when I first saw a friend put up a 東方 Project character on their AIM icon. It shocked me. “Whoa, they know about 東方 too?!” But, really, I think it is just that I’m late entering this game. The two year hiatus from JP culture has made me feel like a total n00b!

Oh well. I should swallow my pride and you should go check out Miku Fan for more Vocaloid goodness.

Technorati Tags: blogs, cosplay, fans, girls, Hatsune Miku, Internet, Japanese girls, miku, mikufan, mikufan.com, music, project shrine maiden, touhou, vocaloid, 初音ミク, 東方

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5anNWJkw08

マジっすか？！ I am really skeptical. I mean, for one, I am generally distasteful of the recording industry. And in the above video, they are called more of a collections agency than a copyright holding group. They apparently are generally unfair, but that sounds like any copyright collections agency. But at the same time, if we really can use JASRAC music however we want, this could be an amazing deal. And, this does seem like a very good move on JASRAC’s part to show they are with the times and not a dinosaur.

So, by using the JASRAC music search, you can find songs they own the rights to. They will have a blue circled “J” under the various columns when you click on the song name. I can’t tell which column would be the right one to use (there is musical performance, audio, video, film, commercial… @_@), so as long as they all have the J’s, it should be okay, right? (BTW, I am not a lawyer, so anything you put up is at your own risk!)

Anyway, I guess we will know if the Japanese music on YouTube starts sticking around instead of getting insta-deleted. Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: copyfight, copyright, 音楽, google, Internet, JASRAC, music, nicovideo, rights, web, youtube

I really hope so. But, the fact that the iPhone wasn’t really as big in Japan as people had hoped is not really giving me much hope that it will EVER happen…

We will see though come Thursday! Watch this site for results!

Technorati Tags: cell phones, gadgets, Internet, iPhone, NicoNicoDouga, softbank, tech, video

The way it works is that you choose a language you are trying to learn. Then you write entries in that language, and native speakers will come along and correct it. The BEST thing about it is that people really do come along and correct your entries. Withing 2 minutes of my first posting, someone had make some corrections.

While that is the sweet part, it is also bitter. You sit there and really see how much you SUCK at the language you are trying to learn. This is not a site for people who can’t take constructive criticism. You just have to swallow your pride and learn. That’s what’s so awesome about it.

And then, you can also go and correct others entries. When you make corrections, you can cross out, make bold, or change the color to blue or red to emphasize your points.

Another AMAZING feature on the site that I noticed is that is has the same functionality as rikaichan built in! I don’t know how many languages this works for, but at least Japanese has it.

I already have 3 friends. Yay! I think the funniest part is that the OLs correct my Japanese differently that the サラリーマン (sarariiman) do. The OLs seems to just do little mistakes, where as the サラリーマン seems to cross out my simple Japanese and add 漢字 (kanji) compounds.

Anyway, I’m in love with this site. This is now my Japanese blog of choice.

Go ready my Lang-8 blog!

Technorati Tags: blogs, Internet, Japanese language, learning, sns, social networking, study, 勉強, 日本語