I tried to create a gree account so i could send a friend request and view private pictures of a blog i read.(not really private because they are friends with tens of thousands of people, but still) but it says i need a japanese cell phone number, the same is with mixi, and if you want to post on 2ch you need a japanese ip. I also tried to create a yahoo.co.jp but it blocked me from doing so. Why is this? At least niconico douga lets us create an account but why so much almost uniform restriction across japanese sites?

One reason I've heard is spam. I imagine 99.999% of spam originates from outside of Japan. For a site like 2ch where you don't even need to register to post, spam would be a pretty big deal. And from their perspective, they're not really missing out on anything by not allowing non-Japanese IPs from signing up, given that 99.999% of people outside of Japan do not speak Japanese.

Like louis89 said. It's the spam. You can buy ● (まる？ I don't exactly know how to read it) to post on 2ch if you really insist. Not that 2ch is that great of a place to hang out though.

http://2ch.tora3.net/

The restrictions are not about spam. It's about keeping the community Japanese.

What happened to you Womacks23? You sound a bit bitter. I know for a fact 2ch's restrictions are because the internet providers overseas don't respond to the requests to kick the spammers, or more like flamers, out. It happens to Japanese providers too but they know how big 2ch is so they usually respond to them and the ban will eventually be lifted. The American IPSs for example are more like "2ch? what are they?" and do nothing, so the ban never get lifted.

Mixi is probably because of the underage prostitution issue. They want some kind of proof of identity.

You don't think Japanese social networking sites take active measures to keep their communities "Japanese"?

Seriously,

I'd say it's a bit of both.

Most online communities are self-selecting with no need for regulation (e.g. you won't find many Jamaicans on a skiing forum), but Japan in general has such a wide appeal to so many people that certain communities which are obviously intended for Japanese only would definitely suffer as a result of unrestricted access.

Mixi is a good example. I dread to think how many yellow fevered folk would show up on there if there were no membership restrictions. It would also be suicidal for the site as the number of Japanese would drop off substantially, the anime fans would then get bored and a new Japanese-only site would take its place.

The spam argument seems equally persuasive but I can't claim to have any knowledge on the subject.

Websites/forums from other countries manage to filter the spam without blocking out the rest of the world. I've only seen these foreigner blocks on Japanese and South Korean websites.

Eikyu Wrote:Websites/forums from other countries manage to filter the spam without blocking out the rest of the world. I've only seen these foreigner blocks on Japanese and South Korean websites.

yep the same is with the korean cyworld. that i think is even more restricting going so far as to making you give them a picture id to make sure you are a korean citizen. It really has not much to do with spam, probably more they just do not want foreigners which is unfortunate, because in this day in age its good to interact with people around the globe. Heck i am sure if they allowed foreigners to use these websites they would be able to interact with foreigners more than any JET program would allow them too.

Than again, you dont see any Japanese or Korean to complain about this. ;-)

Oh those wacky Asian kids

Womacks23 Wrote:You don't think Japanese social networking sites take active measures to keep their communities "Japanese"?

Seriously,

Yeah, seriously Why do you think they do??? I've never heard of any Japanese guy wanting to ban non-Japanese from their forum. There are little non-Japanese people in the first place except for spamming bots. I know 2ch's restrictions are IPS based, not country based. I can access it from one American IPS but not from another. Mixi's policy change is due to the law that passed a while back called 出会い系規制法. They want some kind of ID.

Also, there are A LOT of English spams and not that many Japanese ones, so some blogs ban English posts altogether. This, I know for a fact as well.

You guys are under estimating yourself man. J people usually love non-J people who're into Japanese culture. You'll be a hot stuff in Japan if you speak Japanese reasonably well.

How hot you will be of course depends on how hot you are now without Japanese But you'll be hotTER, I promise.

Actually, anyone with a .edu email address can get a mixi account, FWIW. That loophole has been around for a year or so, at least.

rich_f Wrote:Actually, anyone with a .edu email address can get a mixi account, FWIW. That loophole has been around for a year or so, at least.

It was only viable for a short while. It has since been closed.

Edit: It appears it has been once again, re-opened. I spent hours trying to do this a few months ago. (T_T) Even though I live in Japan, you can't register with an iPhone so I was trying everything I could to register.

Tofugu has a piece on registering for mixi. Even though it says at the bottom the edu loophole is closed, as rich_f reports, it does indeed work again.

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

rich_f Wrote:Actually, anyone with a .edu email address can get a mixi account, FWIW. That loophole has been around for a year or so, at least.

nope got posted for quite a few months already. I was lazy and late with it and it didn't work out heh :< ( was posted on tofugu a few months ago). So yea that loop is closed now :<

loonytik Wrote:

rich_f Wrote:Actually, anyone with a .edu email address can get a mixi account, FWIW. That loophole has been around for a year or so, at least.

nope got posted for quite a few months already. I was lazy and late with it and it didn't work out heh :< ( was posted on tofugu a few months ago). So yea that loop is closed now :<

I just used my .edu email to register. It is miraculously open again.

mm strange I still get stuck on the last third strep again just as last time.. I used australia.edu as sad in the article. maybe they blocked a few public ones?

loonytik Wrote:mm strange I still get stuck on the last third strep again just as last time.. I used australia.edu as sad in the article. maybe they blocked a few public ones?

good on em for having such tight restrictions in place.

just silly games imo you have other ways of blocking spam. I don't mind though it is just a "nice" thing to have.

I don't know any other "social network" site that does such thing though. Our dutch one isn't(who the hell want that anyway xD). most sites of that kind even try to expand most of the time!

there is still ameba hehe!

Exactly. Most sites try to expand but Japanese and Korean sites are probably the only sites in the world actively intentionally limiting expansion (to prevent the loss of Japanese/Korean identity) and restricting the access of people outside of those countries.

Womacks23, I can explain how the IPS restriction procedure works on 2ch and get you a link to 出会い系規制法 if you like, but I feel for some reason it won't convince you. It sounds like 四国 really is 死国

This is why you need to sign up when stuff comes out. I had a mixi account before they decided to block everyone.

I also have a Japanese cell phone number, but do you need to receive a text or something? I'm not in Japan now so that would either be impossible or cost way too much money. I'll check out that gree thing though.

It's about spam. Not an anti-Gaijin conspiracy. lol

I just registered, pondered for a moment on the possibilities, and came to the conclusion that I'll probably never visit the site again. My Japanese social network consists of a 39 year old woman and the few guys I play Street Figher with.

@people who thinks it's Japan/Korea vs the World

Allowing .edu addresses is proof that their restrictions are anti-spam not anti-THE WORLD.... or is it... dum dum duuum...

Though, I have to say, the measure doesn't help when it comes to public image. (as if they give a damn what THE WORLD thinks)

ropsta Wrote:Though, I have to say, the measure doesn't help when it comes to public image. (as if they give a damn what THE WORLD thinks)

Exactly. It's interesting to see some non-J people think Japanese want to kick foreigners out when many Japanese are actually DYING to have foreigners who speak Japanese in their pack. On the other hand, J people assume there is nobody who are interested in Japan and casually block everybody outside Japan. I see a lot of Japanese newspaper articles about how Japanese companies want "international" employee's (mostly in the IT field. I'm an engineer). On the contrary, I see a lot of English speakers complain on the web how hard it is to get a real job in Japan (which I think is true).

It's an advantage for us though. Because of the disparity, people who are fluent in both English and Japanese can often find some unique opportunities in which people who only speak one language don't qualify.