JP Turns 10 Years Old

Ten years is rather old for a blog, especially one that happened by accident. While I was aware of anime and watched it on Toonami, I didn’t have a desire to write about it, nor did I have a desire to study Japanese culture and history. Japan was cool, sure, but not my jam. My degrees were in computer programming, graphic design, and animation before I went into library science. I appreciated what anime did, but I would rather play and program video games. In fact, JP started out as Gamemories.com, a not-so clever play of game + memories. Japanpowered isn’t that great a name either! Gamemories was a blog about my experiences with old video games, including breakdowns of strategies and story. Here and there, you can see the vestigial organs of that old site on JP.

Looking back, I can’t really put my finger on when anime and Japanese culture became one of my interests. It found me rather than me finding it. As a Christian, I surmise God may have had a hand in it. Sounds silly perhaps. Whenever I’ve tried to move away from the interest (or consider retiring JP), to spend more time studying theology, Roman history, or any of my other intellectual interests, something would happen to pull me back. I would receive an invitation to attend a bonsai class hosted and paid for by the Japanese Embassy. It was pretty cool to meet some officials. Another time, Tuttle Publishing contacted me to see if I want to review books about Japan. Yes please! And if anyone from Tuttle is reading this, I’m still interested if you are restarting that program. Whenever my interest waned, something happened to pull me back. It wasn’t as if I went out to search for the Embassy class or to be a part of Tuttle’s program or the other instances that happened. Yet each was what I needed at the time to revive my interest in writing about Japan.

Now JP has become a platform for my writing efforts. It is a springboard for my forays into Japanese folklore, as my books Come and Sleep and Under the Cherry Blossoms examine. I’ve also been inspired to write a mystery series following a geiko-sleuth. Kanzashi is the first book in that series. The idea for the Teahouse Mysteries came from a random article about how geisha are disappearing. Random, because I block most social media and personalization features on the Internet. I’m not one to read into anything, but I’ve been clobbered on the side of my head every time I consider retiring the blog or move away from it.

Blogging has taught me much about (bad) writing and stick-to-itness. I used to be a flighty person, flitting from one interest to the next without delving deeper. Blogging has provided a playground for me to experiment with writing and simply produce on a weekly basis. Pushing out 52 articles, researched or not, a year forced me to focus. That focus then turned into my folklore research projects, which turned into folklore books, which turned into novel writing. Before JP, I couldn’t finish anything. Now, I finish a few novel drafts a year and 52 articles at least. I even had the endurance to collect and rewrite 177 folklore (totaling around 174,000 words) for a book I hope to release soon. The before-JP me couldn’t do that. Thanks for being subjected to my bad writing!

As I approach 40, I find my interest in anime wanes as my interest in history grows. Some of this is because in the West, we don’t see adult-focused anime outside a few exceptions like Aggretsuko. The industry is leaving a lot of money on the table. After all, many of us near or over 40 grew up watching some sort of anime. We would again if adult-focused stories were produced. I’m thinking something like Your Name or Weathering with You but featuring adults with all their extra complication. After 10 years of studying anime, I’ve concluded the interest is there (as is the money) if studios would do it. Although the stigma remains: adults don’t watch cartoons! Trust me, I feel the stigma even as a pseudo-academic.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve watched how social media gobbled blog communities, which were already skeletons by the time I joined the blogosphere (is that still a thing?). All the centralization we see online is troubling and threatens in-depth discussion. Social media isn’t conducive to thoughtfulness, but it still makes people believe they are being thoughtful. It takes at least 800-1500 words to put together a rational, barebones argument. You don’t see such lengths on social media. Blogs are among the final areas for individual voices, but I’ve seen many blogs opting for shorter social media soundbites. Of course, blogs have always had this. It appears to be more common from my limited perspective. Videos also dominate, but again, I don’t believe video is always good for reason. Rewinding a segment isn’t the same as rereading a paragraph until you get it. But enough of this old-man, get-off-my-lawn grumbling.

JP has lasted 10 years because of you. Yeah, it’s cheesy, even a little trite. But if you didn’t read my keyboard vomit, I wouldn’t have kept banging it out. After all, writing into a void isn’t the most motivating thing to do. Yet because of your interest, I can sell a few books. Because of your interest, JP has seen around 2,000 views or more everyday. Your recommendations to friends matter. Your reviews of my books (positive or negative) matter. They directly help me, and they help me grow as a writer and researcher. I only hope something I’ve garbled out on JP has proved helpful to you. In the end, that is what I want to do: help someone understand a topic just a little better.

Thanks for a great 10 years!