Jamaipanese: 10 Years Blogging

In January 2006 I excitedly conquered a slice of the ever-expanding web. I fenced it around, raised my flag and named it Jamaipanese.com. By February 2, 2006, I had made my first post and 10 years later I continue to do it because I enjoy it. A decade is a long time no matter how you look at it and this blog has grown into a reflection of my evolution over the period of its existence.

Jamaipanese 10years

Back in the day…

When I started this blog I was barely out of my teens, in an entry level IT job and played more video games for more hours that I would like to admit. For many years proceeding that I had been enamored by many aspects of Japan and Japanese culture, history, technology and language. Blogging itself was barely a tween and internet speeds and access in Jamaica still left a lot to be desired. There was no public access to Facebook, Twitter was a “project” with a slightly different name and so many of the other social media behemoths today just didn’t exist.

Jamaipanese Jamaica

The Days of the personal website/blog are over

Blogging has grown from online journals that nerds, technocrats and academics kept to media behemoths. However, like a golden-ager sitting in his rocking chair; I like to reflect on the days when blogging was more personal. The days when exchanging a link with a fellow blogger, or leaving comments were meaningful and quite necessary.

More on Jamaipanese.com:  6 Reasons I have trouble Vlogging

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I agree with many that state that the days of the personal website is over; it’s now much easy to slap a profile picture on a page then link Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin etc without much effort. I however, will not allow my tiny speck on the interwebs to go unattended. I intend to continue to trim the hedges and chase teenagers off my lawn but adapt to the changing readership to remain relevant without losing the core/soul of my beloved blog.

anime figures jamaipanese

Thank you to all + celebration plans

A big thank you to all the readers of my blog; whether you’ve been here since the early days, reading a blog post here for the first time or somewhere in-between. I have some plans to celebrate my 10th year of blogging with a couple “10” posts, a book launch and maybe even social event somewhere in Kingston. Will you celebrate with me?

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There are also MANY people I have met over the years thanks to my blog that I will be reaching out to or highlighting in the coming months. Stay tuned to @Jamaipanese on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for all the details. I also invite you to use the hashtag #jamaipanes10 when making any Jamaipanese-related posts over the next year; I intend to highlight as many as I can.

Jamaipanese Japan

10 Years of Jamaipanese – The Milestones

I’ve published 330,000+ words over 1160+ blog posts. There are a few posts that remain dear to my heart but I decided to compile a listing of important milestones for Jamaipanese.com over the past 10 years:

January 2006 – Jamaipanese.com domain name registered
February 2006 – First post on Jamaipanese.com
May 2007 – Joined Twitter @Jamaipanese
June 2008 – Visits New York and Washington DC
November 2008 – 500th post on Jamaipanese.com
December 2008 – Converts Blog to WordPress
February 2009 – Receives first Anime Figure – Gundam Double O
July 2009 – Jamaipanese.com Facebook Page Created
July 2009 – First Upload to Jamaipanese Youtube Channel
January 2010 – Announces Operation Visit Japan
April 2010 – Kanji Poster and Audio Tours Giveaway
May 2010 – First Jamaipanese.com Livestream
May 2010 – State of Emergency in Kingston Jamaica
September 2010 – Fullmetal Alchemist Postage Stamp Giveaway
January 2011 – Hikes the Blue Mountains the highest point in Jamaica
February 2011 – Five Year Blog Anniversary
April 2011 – Jamaipanese.com Reader Survey and Feedback
September 2011 – First Trip to Japan
August 2012 – Starts attending University for BSc in Information Technology
January 2013 – PAA for Excellence in Blogging – Jamaica Blog Awards 2012
March 2013 – Jamaipanese Portrait drawn by @Khisayama
April 2013 – Joined Instagram @Jamaipanese
June 2013 – Featured in Jamaica Gleaner’s Youthlink
July 2013 – Interviewed on Nationwide FM
October 2013 – First ever Jamaipanese.com Google Hangout
March 2014 – Models Yukata at Japan Festival in Kingston
November 2014 – Picnic by the Pouii with the Jamaica JET Alumni Association
January 2015 – Presentation to the St Patricks Pre-Youth Group
January 2015 – Podcast revived as jaPODCAST
February 2016 – Jamaipanese: 10 Years Blogging