Tofugu posted a very handy bit of info about how to get a mixi.jp account with just a .edu email account. You don't need an invite anymore to join mixi (they dropped the invite requirement on March 1), and I just tried the .edu trick myself, and it worked.

If you want to friend me, my nick is リッチ. Dunno if that's enough to find me. If not, my email is rich (a dot goes here) fowler (then an at thing goes here) alumni (another dot) unc (yet another thing) edu. I could use some friends. (That sounds pitiful. )

I used the free email forwarder provided by my school's alumni association. Tofugu suggests using Australia.edu for those who can't get an edu address any other way. I think they're a bit swamped, but you can try.

You have to use the .edu email address to sign up for mixi. When you do, it will skip step 3. Cool beans.

Here's a link to his posts:

http://www.tofugu.com/2010/02/25/how-to-...l-address/

http://www.tofugu.com/2010/03/01/mixi-no...-loophole/

If they really want to keep out people who don't live in Japan or whatnot, couldn't they just ban users with a certain IP/email/etc.? Otherwise, maybe in the future they'll make it easier to sign up. I don't like social networking, so I can't muster the energy/interest to use the loophole in order to read/write Mixi blogs. A bit tempting from a cultural anthropology perspective, though.

Hmm, maybe I'll sign up just in case they close the loophole. Do they reveal Mixi users' email addresses? I imagine not, given it's such a private site and what I've read of the habits of Japanese social networkers. Otherwise I'll use the australia.edu addy. Also, how long did confirmation emails and suchlike take?

ruiner Wrote:If they really want to keep out people who don't live in Japan or whatnot, couldn't they just ban users with a certain IP/email/etc.?

Because they probably still want Japanese people who live overseas to be able to access their accounts, regardless of whom they signed up with to have an e-mail account. But, of course, who cares about the foreigner?

Signing up took me all of 5 minutes with a valid .edu email address. No idea how long it takes for the Australia.edu thing. I've heard some people getting it right away, and I've heard others not getting a reply for days.

As for Mixi, I don't think they care too much about who signs up, so long as they aren't spambots, crooks, or other potential malfeasors. I think they figure that people coming from .edu domains are people who are genuinely interested in learning Japanese or Teaching Japanese.

I think the blocking of non-.edu addresses from overseas was their lame attempt to prevent spambots, etc. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but I think that was their thought process, because they're kind of paranoid about system abuse.

Note that if you don't get any friends in 30 days, you get booted, and you can't access any of the main features of Mixi (apps, community, for example) without having friends.

There was also a brief mention that if you have a valid email address in Japan (but not a big service like Yahoo... something like from a hosted domain in Japan), that would work, too. No idea if that's true or not, and I wouldn't want to be the guinea pig.

Interesting. This article as well: Online Persuasion in Facebook and Mixi: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Didn't realize there were already such en/jp comparative papers around about such sites... (Although I am familiar with Mimi Ito's work editing collections, re: Personal, Portable, and Pedestrian, and Digital Youth... )

I tried signing up with my university's address, but received no confirmation request. Wonder if it's being blocked before it reaches me. That australia.edu site is making me wait for 'manual approval', blah.

Yeah, it could be your uni's spam filter. Some people have complained that their schools have overactive spam filters that ding out the confirmation emails.

BTW, you didn't mention whether people can see your email addy on Mixi. I'm assuming that's because it's hidden?

Nevermind, I changed the email after signing up (disabled spam filter temporarily).

So much katakana in the interface, even for regular words.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get rid of the beginner's interface. It's kind of annoying. That, and I'm working on a proper 自己紹介 that doesn't sound creepy or dorky.