Tofugu.com – Wonky Japanese Language and Culture

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Mmmm, fukubukuro. One of my favorite things about New Years in Japan. The idea behind fukubukuro is simple yet enticing. Stores put stuff in bags, put a price on it, and don’t tell you what’s in there. All you know is that you’re getting an awesome deal even though you may not get quite what you want. Sometimes you get more than you bargained for, sometimes you don’t. That’s why fukubukuro is fun.

I know it isn’t New Years right now, but as you know I’m moving in order to make Tofugu my full time job. I’ve also decided to simplify my life. I don’t want all this stuff anymore. I was going to sell it on Craigslist, but thought of something a little more exciting (in my mind, anyways). That’s why I’ll be selling Tofukubukuro, while supplies last, which are small (or large) boxes of my stuff. You don’t know what you’re going to get (click through to get more information on what you’ll probably get), everything’s the same price, and it’s a fun little gamble. Plus, the money is going someplace pretty good, I think, and you could get some neat things out of it. Read more…

Crazy stuff has been afoot. Turns out my lease in the very expensive San Francisco (we’re talking $1800 /month for a studio & parking!) apartment I’m living in is up soon, and it’s time to make some decisions. In a nutshell, I’ve decided to take this opportunity to move to a less expensive city (Portland, OR) and turn my focus on Tofugu & TextFugu, full time. How cool is that? Writing on the internets for a living… take that, realism. Read more…

First resolution: Don’t write a cliché “New Years” post. Whoops. It’s been a nice and busy year, but there’s a lot planned for 2010. Thank you all so much for your support over the years (wow, multiple years!) – here’s what we have planned for 2010. Things are looking like they’ll be a little different! Read more…

I’ve been working on a couple of new blog projects the last month or two. As some of you might know, I have a pretty poor success-to-failure ratio when it comes to starting new projects (who doesn’t!? what?), so I went ahead and made sure to write some first, announce later. We’ll see, I’m feeling good about these ones. What about you? Read more…

With procrastination comes a lot of progress (totally doesn’t make sense, but this is how I got through school). While I fool about not blogging about things, I find other stuff to do. Like, for example, creating a Facebook profile (sorry, still hate MySpace), or dinkin’ about on Twitter. I just thought I’d share all the different ways we can connect, and be chillin’ like Bob Dylan.

Facebook

Yep, I’m on Facebook now. Really fun stuff, and I want to be your bestest Facebook friend ever in the whole wide world. Just add me and I’ll add you right back. Looking forward to stalking you soon! And if anyone dares poke me, be prepared to not receive one in return. Read more…

Tonight (or today, if you were in Japan), fifteen J-bloggers gathered together in the same room, and nothing imploded. Well, that’s probably because it was all virtual. We set up a conference via eduFire, and talked about Blogging, J-blogging, collaboration, and gave each other a lot of good advice. Here’s a list of our attendees, some text on what we talked about, as well as some more pictures. I highly recommend you give these folks a look! Read more…

Wow! Wow wow wow. Whoever made this, send me an e-mail. Well, technically I know who you are, but I don’t know how to contact you, so please e-mail!

I have this thing set up where I get notified every time someone links to Tofugu, or even mentions the word Tofugu, so every time you say something about us, I’ll know (I’m like Santa that way). We’ve always wanted to make a Tofugu cake over here on our end, but now we’ve been shamed with this piece of glory. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to look at cake the same way ever again. More pictures in all their glory, after the jump. Read more…

I just wanted to thank all of you who voted for us in the Blogging Idol 2 competition over at DailyBlogTips. As always, it’s all thanks to you that all of this is possible! I have no idea what we won, and that doesn’t matter, but I think I’ve learned some ways to become a better blogger (for example, updating regularly. Cough Cough What What?). Check out the other winners, though. They definitely won more legitimately. Tofugu won because you guys are awesome at voting :) Thank you! Read more…

I follow hundreds of Japan-related blogs, just so I can keep up with the Japan-news (and the blogging competition, too). It may seem really difficult to follow so many blogs (not to mention all the others I read), but with RSS, it’s super easy… Oh, and did I mention addictingly fun, too?

Tofugu is currently participating in DailyBlogTips’ “Blogging Idol 2,” which is a pretty big competition that has a lot to do with RSS. Right now, Tofugu is in 11th place (out of over a hundred), and would definitely love your help! You can make our dreams come true by voting for us (pretty please?), or just by subscribing to our RSS feed, which is what I’ll be telling you about after the break. Just so it’s not too much e-begging for you to handle, I’ll be spinning it in a way that makes things wonderful for you too: Read more…

That’s right, you guys. October 23rd (aka Mole Day) is Koichi’s birthday!

He’s turning 23, so he doesn’t get any cool new rights, but I’m sure he’ll have lots of fun, anyway.

☆⌒（＾ｗ＾　*）　お誕生日おめでとう、コウイチくん　（*　＾ｗ＾）⌒☆

P.S. This is a really old picture, from 2 years ago.