Are there any Japanese members other than me?

[kei17]

I occasionally wonder why there seem not to be any Japanese members here other than me. Do they actually exist and hide their locations?

From what I know, this is the best Dragon Ball online community and members are enthusiastic about and informed of the franchise more than the Japanese fans are. There are good reasons for them to join this community.

[JulieYBM]

I have to wonder, too. We know pekindaq used to visit, but he seems to only lurk if he continues to appear. Our border-less boarders are one of the great things about the internet and this site in general.

[El Diabeetus]

I hope more Japanese members join, it'd be nice to see more opinions from there! Sucks Pekindaq doesn't seem to be fluent in English. It's be nice to hear what he has to say more often.

[NitroEX]

I always assumed they had their own Japanese equivalent to sites like this. I've heard they have their own social networking sites too although I have seen plenty of japanese on Twitter.

[Hellspawn28]

I would imagine most of them in Japan does not know about this place. I find it rare to see many people on Japan on these type of sites. I remember there was a few people on Gamefaqs that were from Japan on the DB message boards. They were cool people and talk about what Dragon Ball is like over there.

[SaiyaJedi]

I always assumed they had their own Japanese equivalent to sites like this. I've heard they have their own social networking sites too although I have seen plenty of japanese on Twitter.

Twitter and Facebook seem to be the main social networking sites people in Japan tend to use these days. (I see plenty of people on Instagram too, which makes sense considering how much of a ritual taking pictures of one's food when eating out seems to be here.) There are a few other things like Ameba, which has a blogging service built in, but I find a lot of people use them *just* for the free blogging platform and don't do much with the social aspects.

When I first came to Japan, mixi was all the rage, but it's lost a ton of people to the aforementioned sites, and has constantly watered down its own approach by trying to append what's appealing about those other services. Unfortunately for mixi, they've never really addressed their most pressing problem, which is that expressing one's current status and thoughts constantly gets bogged down in an endless sea of confirmation screens, making it a real chore to use.

EDIT: Forgot completely about LINE, although that's an app and not a site. Probably the single most popular smartphone chat app in Japan

[kei17]

I always assumed they had their own Japanese equivalent to sites like this.

No, sadly they don't. Individual online communities in Japanese had almost died out when 2ch and some major SNSs like Twitter have become popular. The Japanese DB fans are scattered across these websites. This is one of reasons why I became a member here.

[Blade]

I'm surprised that there aren't more Japanese members given the lack of any other large online Dragonball communities, but in some ways it makes a bit of sense to.

If I were to hazard a guess as to why this is the case, I'd assume it's largely down to potential Japanese members lacking the English language skills or confidence to engage in discussion on here. I think the latter is a big thing, as I think that a large English-only community could come across as being a bit intimidating for people who aren't incredibly fluent with the language, not to mention that the rules here are (and have always been) fairly stringent about the level of English people need to use when conducting themselves.

Who wants to post on a forum that you only half understand where you're probably going to get moderated when your posts fall short of the acceptable standard of English? That's not a criticism of the forum rules, nor am I claiming a distinct causal link, but it's just an observation.

[Adamant]

not to mention that the rules here are (and have always been) fairly stringent about the level of English people need to use when conducting themselves.

Who wants to post on a forum that you only half understand where you're probably going to get moderated when your posts fall short of the acceptable standard of English? That's not a criticism of the forum rules, nor am I claiming a distinct causal link, but it's just an observation.

The rules demand people write proper English to the best of their abilities. Foreigners with a different first language have never been held to the same standards as native English speakers, for obvious reasons.

[Blade]

not to mention that the rules here are (and have always been) fairly stringent about the level of English people need to use when conducting themselves.

Who wants to post on a forum that you only half understand where you're probably going to get moderated when your posts fall short of the acceptable standard of English? That's not a criticism of the forum rules, nor am I claiming a distinct causal link, but it's just an observation.

The rules demand people write proper English to the best of their abilities. Foreigners with a different first language have never been held to the same standards as native English speakers, for obvious reasons.

I'm not intimating that people are persecuted or chased out by a pitchfork wielding mob for it, but as I'm sure you can understand, not every member here who comes from a non-English speaking country goes out of their way to disclose their geographical location, and as such Mike & co can only moderate based on what they see being posted.

I mean, it's such a subjective thing to say 'to the best of your abilities', as even for native English speakers, fluent written English, even in adults, isn't exactly a given. Where do you possibly draw the line? What about people with Dyslexia? Or those brought up without a good education? Or those afflicted by a learning disability? There are a myriad of perfectly good reasons as to why even native speakers may be unable to conduct themselves with a good standard of written English.

I think it can be especially off putting for people from Asia who perhaps speak native languages unrelated to English, as most major European languages are.

[VegettoEX]

I can generally tell who's a native English speaker or not from a single post.

When they rudely type incorrectly, they're American. When they enthusiastically type incorrectly, they're foreign.

[kei17]

My guess is that language is not their biggest barrier because most of the Japanese learn English for six years and they can write basic sentences in English at least. Maybe they are somewhat arrogant that they think that fans in other countries are not as informed as they are, and they're assuming that it's not worth talking with foreigners about a franchise originally produced in their own country.

[Herms]

If Kanzenshuu's strict grammar rules and moderation are keeping out Japanese fans, then presumably there would be more Japanese fans hanging out at other English DB forums without such rules. Which...well, I don't think that's the case, but I don't really hang out at other DB forums, so they may be crawling with Japanese fans for all I know.