Hey everyone,
5 subscribers so far. A good start. I started this group with a few things in mind. I wanted to find out who else is working with Drupal in Japan (there don't seem to be that many of us at the moment, but that will change hopefully :-)!) and create a space where we can connect, share ideas, discuss all things Drupal in a Japan/Asia context, and maybe even organize an occasional meet up at a pub to chat or even hack. Finally, I'm interested in seeing Drupal get traction and gain mind-share in Japan.
Let's kick things off with some introductions.
My name is Stein. I live in the Kansai area of Japan and have worked here as an English teacher for 6 years. I've been building and running websites in my free time to support the local communities of foreign English teachers where I live. It's been my passion since I arrived in Japan, and this past August I left teaching to turn that passion into a business and pursue it full-time.
I discovered Drupal after a long period (about 4 1/2 years) of wandering through the CMS wilderness. I love it. Fantastic framework, clean code, clear API, and growing community.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone!
- Stein
Comments
Hi stein
I'm so glad to hear that you live in Kansai area. So I may attend an occasional meet up at a pub to chat. ;) I live in Matsusak, Mie.
My name is Terushige Kohama. Call me teru. I set up juku 7 years ago. I teach English in the juku.
I started a forum called Ask 10 Persons for students to communicate with foreigners here this April. After spending some time with the forum, I wanted to have nice profile to know each other more. So I installed Drupal for it. I also added some functions such as chatting and making original videos and so on. :) The newly build up website by the power of drupal seems to work nicely, it has still some issues to be fixed though.
Thank you for setting up "Japan"!!
teru
Okinawa
I'm visiting Okinawa for a couple of months. I build sites with Drupal.
hi
How's Okinawa? I went to the main island for a short bit a couple of years ago and loved it.
Okinawa
Sorry, I missed this reply before--I wasn't getting email notifications for this group (just fixed it). I was in Okinawa for 6 weeks and am now in Taiwan. Okinawa is great.
I will be in Honshu for a while in March/April (probably Kyoto). I'm interested in following the group because I may be going to Japan every year.
Admittedly, a Former Kanto gaijin
I am a web developer in Miami who lived in Tokyo 1991-1995 and worked for Nikkei newspaper in Tokyo. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Hello to all!
If there wasn't a Japan group, I was about to make one myself. I have no complaints that someone beat me to it. : )
My Drupal experience stops short of two years, and I still count myself as a beginner. There isn't a lot of Drupal recognition here in Japan, though my small efforts at introducing it have found some interested listeners. I hope this group can initiate some get-togethers in Japan.
どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。
A site by, of, and for the Drupal beginner: http://www.drupalace.com
A site by, of, and for the Drupal beginner: http://www.drupalace.com
hi
Hi Drupalace,
say, i wanted to ask you. What kind of responses have you gotten from people you've introduced Drupal to here?
I was at the web 2.0 expo in Tokyo a few months ago and mentioned Drupal to several of the people I talked with and no one had heard of it... i was pretty surprised.
Have you met anyone who was previously familiar with it? Of those who've shown interest, has it been other programmers mostly? businesses? ngo's? Japanese? Foreign? I know Xoops is big here at the moment.
Modest reception
Sorry to reply so late, but I have a good excuse: new baby!
I've introduced Drupal sites to a few users or potential users, Japanese and foreign, with some mixed results – namely, the realization that even when basic content creation/editing is well within the ability of a not-particularly-technical user, some users just get put off by what looks like a complex trial. A Drupal admin page looks intimidating to many!
I introduced Drupal to another fellow with a technical background, and he took right to it – made a surprisingly good site on his own very quickly. I expect we'll work on some things together, maybe even have some informal benkyoukai.
Overall, in any case, recognition of Drupal among people around me is low to nil. I myself don't yet know anything about the main community here (which I would assume to mean the people behind the main Drupal Japan site).
A site by, of, and for the Drupal beginner: http://www.drupalace.com
A site by, of, and for the Drupal beginner: http://www.drupalace.com
Wish I were in Japan to join this group :(
Konnichiwa.
I'm not from Japan, but I'd like to be in Japan. I think this group is very cool.
I hope you don't mind an alien subscribing to your group.
Cheers!
marc.robinsone
Marckee for Short
Welcome guys
Welcome everyone!
It's awesome to see a few more faces in the group. Marc, you are definitely welcome. Where are you now? Are you planning on coming to Japan at some point?
i synced my user name on the groups.drupal.org site with my user name on the main drupal.org site if anyone was wondering why i suddenly became 'setvik'.
At any rate, it's really neat to see and hear what everyone is doing and planning to do with Drupal. You guys have some cool sites going.
So, what are everyone's needs and what is everyone hoping this group will become..
Here are some of the things i would like to see happen. What are your thoughts? Anything you'd like to add to the list and/or get out of this group?
Looks like we've already got some interest in a meet-up, so i'll start a new post to see if we can organize one :-)
one of my dreams in life
Hello Drupal Japan!
It's one of my lifetime dream to at least stay and visit Japan in the future. I'm self-studying Japanese once in a while to show my dedication. If only I have the visa and the resources to get there. :( If only I am Hiro Nakamura... But for the meantime, I'll make this group a bridge to both Drupal and Japan.
I noticed that most active Drupal groups are concentrated in EU and US. So, it became a priority for me to keep in touch with Drupal users/developers here in Asia.
I'd like to join online meetings, chats, or voice conference if that's not too much to ask. Maybe I can make a Druplicon logo for Japan too?
By the way, I live in the Philippines.
Aarigato gozaimasu!
marc.robinsone
Marckee for Short
Group Logo
hey Marc,
That's cool that you're learning Japanese. I'm struggling through the language now. One book I've found really helpful for learning the Kanji is "Remembering the Kanji". It teaches how to write and remember the meaning of each kanji in a way that makes it difficult to forget.
re: the group logo. Yeah, i saw some of the logo's you did up in the Philipines group. They looked awesome. If you have something in mind that you think would work for this groups logo, go for it!
Deep in inaka
Hi,
I'm in Yamaguchi prefecture. Been using Drupal for about a year now for...
Now I'm attempting to shift over the website of an educational NPO I'm the web admin for - http://jalt.org/. Lots of legacy code and database content that should prove a challenge to get fully integrated.
I really like the whole modular system of drupal, the ease to theme pages, and the multi-site functionality - i.e. running multiple subdomains off one installation; it make it really easy to throw together a quick site for a group who want their own web presence but aren't ready for their own domain. Perhaps using organic groups is an easier option here, but I haven't gotten into that yet!
Paul
Hi Paul
hey Paul,
welcome to the group.
Hope it's a bit warmer down in Yamaguchi than it is here in Shiga... we had a hint of snow today.
Cool sites you've done. Yeah, the jalt.org site does sound like a challenge.
I can definitely recommend the OG module. I'm using it for an ESL site I'm developing for almost that exact purpose, to provide local communities of ESL teachers their own space on the web through which they can connect, organize, and participate online. It's a well-coded module flexible module, and there are some add-on modules as well, including one that allows each group its own forums, and another that allows each group its own vocabularies and taxonomy terms.
Hey
Thanks Stein,
Not much snow down here yet, it's the wind around here that's really freezing.
Hope to see your site once it's up and running, it's always interesting and inspiring to see how others are using the various modules to extend things.
Next project I have lined up is to set up an online "student portfolio" for a university dept; something to enable students and staff to access performance evaluations, etc, involving various levels of permissions and access rights. If anyone has worked on something like this before, I'd be very interested in hearing what sort of modules and the like they used.
Paul
Greetings from Fukui
Hello. I'm Colin Johnston (CJ) and I'm the current admin for the new Fukui JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) website www.fjet.org. We only set the site up a few months ago but Drupal is proving to be easy to use and also easy to learn for our new web team. I'd love for people to come and have a look at our site and tell us what you think.
I'm keen to learn from other Drupal users about their experiences and about how we can all make our sites better for our users.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
CJ
Hi. I Mark Crandell from
Hi. I Mark Crandell from Shiga. I am a English Teacher on JET. Originally from Michigan, USA. But since coming to Shiga 5 years ago I have teamed up with Stein (From this group) and we work together on the ShigaJET website which has been converted from Xaraya into Drupal last Summer. So far I am very happy with Drupal. Especially because of the great community that has evolved around the project.
Hi Colin, You are my neighbor to the north! Nice website, I especially like the ski guide! I'll be heading to Ski Jam sometime this winter. Looking foward to it. If you'd like check out http://shigajet.org it is a site that serves the same purpose but for the teachers in Shiga.