Mixi.jp now hates foreigners. Requires a (Japanese) mobile email address to join.

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Wow Mixi, way to put a damper on things. About two months ago, I put up a tutorial on how to get started with Mixi so that you could use it to practice your Japanese. Now it seems like Mixi is pretty much off limits (for now) to foreigners without a Japanese cell phone email addresses. This theoretically means you have to be living in Japan, and own a cell phone if you want to be able to join Mixi now.

Here are the new rules:

  1. You have to confirm a Japanese cell phone email address (docomo, AU, softbank, etc).
  2. You also have to confirm a normal email address (hotmail, gmail, whatever).

If you don’t have both of these, you don’t get into Mixi, simple as that. I’ll still be happy to send folks invites, just know that you won’t be able to complete the registration process unless you have a Japanese cell phone.

Anyways, now the important thing is to try and figure out a way around this. Anyone know of a way to get a Japanese cell phone email without actually owning a cell phone? Anyone know a way to circumvent this? I invited myself to Mixi, but I couldn’t figure anything out. I looked around online as well. Still nothing. If any of you know, please let me know in the comments and I’ll make a post about it so we can get this Mixi train rolling again.

UPDATE: Just because some of you seemed worried, if you are already registered with Mixi, you’re okay (for now). I can’t see them shutting down already created accounts just because you don’t have a Japanese mobile email…though, perhaps I wouldn’t put it past them as well. Mixi has done some other crazy stuff that makes me think they are internazis (Thanks for the link, Caitlin).

Update 2: If you want a Mixi invite

If you want a Mixi invite, head on over to this article on “How to get a Mixi invite” and request one over there.

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  • http://www.tokidoki.splinder.com/ Tokidoki

    Just wait for the next Commodore Perry ship and keep cool.

  • Twinkie

    I love teh site but….why is there barely ever any new content here? Or atleast a forum.

  • Sougen02

    Oooo-ahhhhh =D The site looks good!
    Lol alil maintenence i see. Good job Tofugu team =P

  • http://google.com hhh

    ah..this completely sucks.

  • slimjim

    Hi Koichi!
    Have you finished you thesis? I certainly hope so.
    Anyways, is it possible that i could get a mixi invitation from you?
    thanks.

    my email is kashin.jim(at)gmail(dot)com

  • Schwaligan

    Hi,
    I just received a Mixi invitation, but I don’t have a Japanese cell phone account. I searched around and came across this blog.
    Here is what I found about getting a Mixi account without having a Japanese cell phone.
    http://mixiura.omegumi.com/
    Does this work?
    It seems you still might need to have a Japanese paid Interent provider account.
    Can anybody comment on this please?
    I want to join the Mixi network too.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    it would make sense that you have to have a japanese paid internet provider. I tried with my own internet provider address koichi(at)tofugu(dot)com and it did not work, probably because it’s non Japanese. Those Mixi people really have our numbers, haha.

    If you get something to work, though, let us know!

  • http://www.cruxay.com Cruxay

    I don’t know if anyone commented on this already or not…. but what about those that already have a mixi account? Do they still get to keep it?

    I’m just curious, as I’ve never had an account but have known some people that do.

  • http://www.youtube.com Alexis

    What? The big part makes me mad. I mean they may call us big, but to us they are small!

    And I believe noisy depends on the person . . .
    How do I sign up for this website? Haha, sorry I’m what you would call a tofugu n00b.

  • http://www.youtube.com Alexis

    And by this website I mean tofugu, not Mixi

  • dean

    just ask a j friend with a keitai if u can punch their phone email in for the sake of it. worked for me!

  • fazz012

    its really tight .. idont know much japanese poeple buhh i wanna be one tho XD .. . .. . hmm.. . i only have some friends that international students from japan and they game me interest on this .. . . need more info bout it ..

    fZ ( Australia )

  • 1guy0cups

    Heyhey, taking that as a reason to say mixi hates foreigners is not quite the best thing i guess…
    1. it doesnt matter whether you are a foreigner or not but if you have a keitai… any foreigner in japan can get a keitai (even though it might only be rented).

    2. In other countries there are communities which try to validity true existence of a person etc. by this method… for ex. collegehumor.

  • Kasu

    Just felt that I needed to give you a little heads up on facebook: Even though facebook’s policy says they don’t hand out users personal information to any third party without your permission (you probably already know this), but facebook is pretty much ruled by it’s applications: Applications monitored by third party. Meaning that if you allow the application to use your information, it’s already outside of facebooks policy.

  • andrewfx51

    I can see the validity of wanting to establish the true identity of a person, but as it is there are a lot of sus accounts on mixi.
    Besides, if you want to improve your japanese, getting a nico-doga account, looking at ameblo blogs, reading the newspaper sites, or even (don’t recommend this btw) tracking down japanese on facebook – are all valid alternatives – most of the stuff people write on mixi is crap anyway.

  • DBoy00

    Can I get an invite =/

  • David

    “鎖国政策”, sounds familiar?

  • Annette

    Hey, could anybody send me an invite, please?
    cycobella@gmail.com

  • Andrew

    I’d like an invite. I am living in Japan with a docomo cell phone.

  • http://www.lang-8.com Jay

    Mixi is what I would like to think of as the new “sakoku”. That word is what they used to call Japan when it was closed to foreigners. I complained to Mixi support in Japanese about the new policy. They said it was for the “safety” of the community, to keep bad people out. Like foreigners are so bad and Japanese people with Japanese cell phones are so good.

    If you are interested in learning Japanese, might I recommend Lang-8.com instead? It is a Mixi-like site with cool language learning tools, a large base of Japanese users, and tons of people using it. Sorry for the ad, but I think it is a great alternative to Mixi.

  • http://www.tofugu.com Viet

    Thanks for the suggestion! We actually did cover lang-8.com about two months ago. Here is the link to the article:

    http://www.tofugu.com/2008/05/14/the-best-way-t…

  • http://myspace.com/onmyouji Anna

    I’m disappointed too, as I was asked to sign up by various Japanese friends.

    But I can kind of understand mixi’s concern with misbehaving foreigners. I mean, everywhere where there’s Japanese gathering, a bunch of rabid foreign anime-, manga-, game- or visual kei rock star fan(girl)s come crawling all over the place like cockroaches, harrassing good-looking Japanese people with their Japan-fangirl-ness and extremely annoying otaku-level Japanese language “skills” and even physically fighting over the right to talk to that divine Japanese being. I’ve been to Japan several times, as well as to anime- and J-Rock related events and it’s the same everywhere. A Japanese person has to take alot of harrassment from foreign Japan-fanatics who think that Japan really is like their anime phantasy world (in which characters tend to hug strangers, but the real Japanese won’t appreciate you clinging to them – nobody will).
    And about signing up to practice your Japanese: has it ever occurred to you that not everyone wants to volunteer as a language tutor, listening to horrible, hardly understandable sentences and being expected to reply and to correct all errors? I wouldn’t, that’s for sure. I get lots of help requests over the internet on various things and like, NO? I have a life for chrissake! Sign up for language courses but leave me the fuck alone.
    Sometimes it seems to me like with all the Japanese products such as anime, music, games, sushi etc. becoming accessible and affordable to the outside world, some people seem to think that they can “buy” or at least “claim” Japanese PEOPLE as well as their PRODUCTS. “ZOMG ur Japanese, u must be mah friend!”
    Japan’s xenophobia is a pain to me, too sometimes although I can adapt to their manners and speak their language instead of being an otaku and thinking that’s enough to fit in. But hell, looking at my own country, Belgium, I can understand countries that try to exclude foreigners as much as possible.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Omg. Yes. The hugging. I never thought about before, but the weaboos
    do try to hug me, and I’m only part Japanese. I hate being touched so
    much…

    Sent from my phone

  • TofuJoe

    Invite me please! hehe, thanks you! (^-^)v
    dhon@softbank.ne.jp

  • matchan

    I’d like an invitation, too. Thanks a lot, greatly appreciated :)
    lang-8 is from the same author as this site? Looks interesting !

  • Lara

    i dunno if this works with other providers, but if you do have a friend in japan who’s with docomo, they’re allowed to change their email address up to 3 times a day. so you could ask them to change it for like 5 minutes, register, get them to answer the confirm mail, and then they can change their address back.

    haven’t actually tried this but i think it would work.

  • Scurvydom

    Hullo there, I was wondering if I could also have an invite, pretty please~
    My address is dominiclmorris AT googlemail.com
    I’m renting a phone while I’m out here, and it comes with an email address, so hopefuly this will work!
    Thanks loads,
    Dom

  • Adairia Okami

    The only way I know to get a Japanese phone e-mail without getting full on service is to get a prepaid Japanese phone. Other than that… you can’t.
    That’s not very nice though…
    I suppose I’ll request an invite though and check out mixi.
    I’m MidoriOkami7j AT gmail dot com
    Thanks
    Okami

  • Pingback: How I Got On Mixi « regeneration

  • George

    Is it possible to ask you for an invite to mixi? thanks!!!!

    georgefost@gmail.com

  • Ant

    Hey could you give send me an invite: WedoJaG@hotmail.com
    Thanks,
    Ant

  • Reina-chan

    Konbanwa ^_^
    It would be greatly appreciated if you could send me an invite at my email sky.architect@gmail.com nya ^_^
    Domo arigatou nya ^_^

  • Maruan

    Hello,
    If you have a Japanese Cell Phone Address but don't have access to its contents, would you still be able to sign up? Is the phone email address just used to show you have Japanese Cell or do they send anything to it?

    If you could please send an invite to maruan1013(at)gmail.com I would really appriciate it. Thanks!

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Yeah, they send you something

  • Jessica

    I want a mixi in order to get in touch with my friends in Japan. Do I need the mobile phone number just for the registration? If yes I could ask my friends whether they'd use their mobile phone.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    You do need a japanese mobile phone. You should just ask them to
    register it all for you, it will cut out a lot of steps. Then they can
    just change the pass and email, and tell you what it is.

  • Krystal

    Yeah I heard about this a while ago and I'm glad I made my account before they began enforcing this. I still have my account and have for months so it doesn't look like they're going to get rid of the people who already have accounts, at least the ones that are being used the way they should be.

  • valerie

    mannn, i used to live in japan about 9 years ago and im trying to reconnect with some of my friends. and because of this stupid policy, i can't keep in touch with anyone of them cuz they've all moved…. and I KNOW they're on this site.

    and i'm not even really a foreigner…I was born and raised there and i'm even half and I SPEAK it fluently. This is bunch of bull.

  • chris

    hi i'd like to get an invite as well. it seems like they're against american people from registering but maybe not if I'm from another country?
    willxhunting at gmail.com

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    anyone not in japan. Do you have a Japanese cell phone email?

  • Elliott

    What a pain Mixi is!
    (Sorry tech talk is in this post)
    I managed to get an account using a pay-as-you-go Japanese mobile phone when I was in Japan on holiday.
    You get an email sent to your mobile phone and you have to access a URL in the email (from a mobile phone) to verify you have received it! My mobile couldn’t access the internet so I attempted to access the URL via Internet Explorer but it didn’t work.
    I even tried to change the User-Agent: details in the HTTP request header using FireFox to attempt to spoof the request, but didn’t work. (I may have used the incorrect User-agent)
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/967

    I forwarded the email it to another Japanese friend’s mobile and he accessed it to confirm and that worked OK.

  • http://www.tofugu.com koichi

    Yeah, that's pretty much what you have to do. Find a friend, or get a
    pay-for email account that's hosted in Japan. It's lame-o.

  • TheNoel

    I think I'm going to look into phone solutions for Japanese people living in America.
    As long I'm with a major provider like SoftBank or DoCoMo, it shouldn't matter whether I'm 海外, right?

  • edt

    hello, can I get an invite please? i have a jp mobile phone and would like to try mixi.
    edt at daikon.it

    thank you very much!

  • http://stshores24.com stshores24

    I originally had some potential solutions in my post on the topic, but it looks like those don't work now. I suspect that Mixi requires a cell phone for all email addresses now, including those in Japan, but of course I have no way of verifying that. Big raspberries to Mixi for this.

  • Billy Chan

    Sorry but it would be illegal to find a loop hole in this, the only way you can register to MIXI out of Japan is by asking one of your Japanese friends in Japan that arnt interested in using Mixi and use there Japanese cell phone address ie. Docomo, Softbank etc. This is the only way around it.. There would be the option of purchasing a phone in Japan and leaving it there but they don't have handy pre pay things like we do, only plan type set ups.. Bad luck on Gaijins! Although i think this is good because theres MANY seedy guys who wunnu 'practice' their kimoi nihongo with poor Japanese girls who can say no.

  • http://mixi.jp/show_friend.pl?id=2448339 Sato

    http://mixi.jp/show_friend.pl?id=2448339
    FRIEND MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

  • ratedr

    Sucks for those otaku Japanese. Except for Japanese people who stray into western sites / going abroad, average people, (not into fashion-gei, anime, whatever,) they have no idea about this problem. But it's pretty ironic how avg people want to get foreigners to come hang out with them and what not, but the otaku kids, (at least most I've known,) would rather have nothing to do with the outside of japan world.

  • bigbilo

    hi

    could someone invite me ?

    still_jono@hotmail.com

    cheers

    bit off a pain this whole mixi thing trying to contact sum old school mates

  • TheToad

    id also like an invite if possible…

    bredo_00@hotmail.com

    (is it possible to change ur e-mail once you have become a member?)

    - and yes, I do have a japanese cell phone

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