Low-Rent Adventures in Japan: A Screenshot Tour of Mixi

It hurts to type. Would you believe I have caught five colds this year, two of which were different strains of influenza? I thought teaching kids would be an easy supplemental job, but those little fu

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It hurts to type. Would you believe I have caught five colds this year, two of which were different strains of influenza? I thought teaching kids would be an easy supplemental job, but those little fuckers are like walking virus transmitters. No matter how often I wash my hands or how careful I am not to touch my face, every week they get me. I even fainted on the train the other day from fever. So if you thought kancho was the #1 thing to be scared of around Japanese children like I did, you were wrong.

A Screenshot Tour of Mixi (http://Mixi.jp/home.pl)

This is Mixi. Apparently it’s the Japanese equivalent of MySpace, but I can’t confirm how correct this is because any time I’ve ever tried to look at one of those eyesore MySpace pages loud, awful music starts blaring from my speakers, forcing me to close the page by reflex.

One difference, however, is that Mixi is invite only, so you can’t create an account unless you know somebody who has one. This clever marketing probably makes it seem more desirable, but in reality for anyone who knows how to use the Internet, it’s about as hard to get into as the Gmail “beta” was.

The most useful feature in Mixi is the system of “footsteps,” through which any users can see a list of all the users who have looked at their page recently. I have several accounts for various purposes. For example, with one account I can search for young men ages 18-22 who have the phrase “up the butt” in their profiles, and by creating a keyboard macro that will access all the resulting pages I can easily leave 1,000 footsteps an hour. This footstep spamming is easy and unobtrusive, and I have come across a good deal of IRL gain by doing it.

So without further unfocused rambling, let’s see what Mixi has to offer.

First, let’s check my inbox and see if I got any mail. Ooh, here’s one from an old friend.

messgae

OK! Now let’s check out my old friend’s diary and see how life is going for her!

diary

Fascinating! Mixi is also host to thousands of “communities”—clubs run by users who share similar interests. Let’s pick out a couple at random.

gayonly

gayonly2

Fat bikini gay and school uniform cat gay! Dare we join both?

You can also post introductions to your friends. Note that the use of retarded emoticons and symbols is actually on the low side here.

comments

Now I’m in the mood to find a hot chick who posts pics nao. Cam whores are out there in Mixi if you know how to find them.

hotchick

Who needs porn when you’ve got Mixi?

Of course you will inevitably come across other foreigners in Mixi, and they tend to be some of the most interesting and talented people you could ever hope to meet.

gaijin

Not everyone on Mixi is friendly though. Check out this intimidating fellow.

wannadie

You’ll also find plenty of people pushing their bands on Mixi. This post gives a nice look at some of the better indie band names to be found in Japan.

bandnames

“Next music prease!” Words to live by.

next

japlish

pizza

They make great pizza.

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From 2005 to 2009

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