Why I Started NewzJapan

I spent a lot of time thinking about whether to even tackle this topic. When I first started blogging, I hated how ads looked next to my work, and felt that since I loved what I was doing, I shouldn’t expect compensation.

Blogging can be an expensive habit, especially when one considers the time spent doing it. I blog in both Japanese and English, and frankly, that’s time I am not making money teaching private students, or spending quality time with family.

I started this blog several years ago in response to some Japanese language news sources that incited fear that a shooting in Sasebo was carried out by a “gaijin” still at large. The reporters never interviewed anyone involved, and based this on two facts – that the perpetrator used a gun, and that the perpetrator was over 180cm in height and wore a motorcycle helmet.

The Japanese man arrested was a champion clay pigeon shooter and had a license for the rifle he carried. The shooting took place at a fitness club, and there was a history of the man stalking one of the instructors there.

This blog was a response to that. I wanted to report in English some of the news that was going around in English. I wanted to show the real Japan. Money was not a part of that.

Many of the early posts in this blog show Japan in a very negative light, balancing the overly idealistic view shown in much of the English language media. I started to rebel against the pop-Japanology of people who came to visit and saw no crime.

Now I try to be more balanced and provide a bit of information about the quirkiness of Japan as well as the negative side of it all. I am still trying to find a good balance and provide the kind of content my audience seems to prefer.

I’ve decided to start a series sharing the little that I know about making money as a blogger hoping it will be of use to other bloggers who want to turn a labor of love into a job.

Suggestions, as always are always welcome.