What would happen if you combined Google Maps, Wikipedia, and personal experiences of English speakers in Japan?This is a question that Kiyotaka Maruyama decided to answer by creating Japan-Hopper.com, an interactive website that lets you use English to search for a place in Japan, and then either read a related Wikipedia entry or a review from someone who actually went to the place you searched for.
In the media
Reading personal accounts, together with pictures, and covering details such as access, prices and accommodation is such a good idea that it has earned Japan Hopper a mention in the Japanese newspaper “Nihon Keizai Shimbun” and on Radio Nikkei.
Looking for authors
Japan Hopper has been up and running since 2006, and the database is filling up with articles, but obviously not quickly enough because Kiyotaka is looking for more authors, and he’s willing to pay for it, too!
Get paid for writing about your experiences in Japan
It’s a deal which should appeal to English teachers who have lots of free time, little money and the desire to see Japan:
Update: Japan-Hopper have changed their site around and it seems impossible to find the page offering the writing work from the website itself. However, you might find it here.
With japan-hopper.com, we want to recruit people experiencing Japan and wanting to write about it. Although you still don’t having experience in writing articles, you can use this way to achieve experience writing on Japan Hopper.
1. Article requirements
･Article concerning Japan
･The written language has to be English
･The article should contain a minimum of 200 words.2. Earning
･The average fee for one article, depending on the contents, varies from 1,000 to 2,000 Yen .
･By contributing high quality photographs, the fee will increase.
･By writing more detailed information in the article, the fee will increase.3.Contract
Contents purchasePlease send the following information to the person in charge’s address, if you are interested.
1. Name
2. Age
3. Gender
4. Article writing experience
5. Good topicsinfo@japan-hopper.com
Help our cash-strapped friends, promote Japan Hopper
I think Japan Hopper is a useful site with great potential, and the financial incentive to submit an article is more than fair. However, I don’t think it has had the exposure it needs among the foreign community to really grow, which is why I’m helping to get the word out. I’m sure all of us here in Japan know someone who could do with some extra cash in their pocket, so why not give Japan Hopper a mention?
Thanks to Daily J for the heads up.
