If you’re a Facebook or Myspace user, you may be interested in hearing about Mixi. Mixi is the Japanese equivalent of Facebook, basically.
There are a few key differences, however. The primary one is that you cannot just join Mixi, instead you must be invited by a current member. If this is to keep everyone linked together or just so nobody ever has no friends. The point is, if you want to get online and practice your Japanese, you’ll need an invitation. If you comment on this post with an email address I will invite you.The Japanese on the site is obviously a high level. To help, I advise using the Rikaichan Japanese Dictionary for Firefox. From there you should be OK simply highlighting words you don’t understand. Hey, it works for me. The other main difference is that unlike Facebook there is no wall on your profile - instead the site relies on your writing journals or uploading photographs which people can comment on. There are also some communities - if you’re looking for some penpals or whatever, the best way to do it is to find the MSN community and make a post. You’ll get a few people interested in swapping languages ect.
As a bonus, once you’ve signed up here is my profile so you can laugh at my terrible photograph and awful Japanese grammar.
Enjoy!
In Other News my hosting company decided it would be awesome to accidentally charge all their customers for 24 months of future usage by mistake, which lead to all their servers exploding into flames. If you haven’t been able to get on the site recently, it’s all their fault. My apologies. I may be moving hosts soon so bear with me.
January 18th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
This is a really nice thing you’re doing since it’s a little awkward to ask someone, “can you invite me?” I just hope you don’t get banned for doing it.
January 18th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Tom: Why would I get banned? Is it not allowed??
January 19th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Well, I very briefly looked through the policy and didn’t see anything specific, but it seems that they stress “safety through members knowing members”. While you can say that you do know the people you invite, I get the impression that they expect the members to truly know each other.
But that is just paranoid me talking. I’m sure it is fine and there is not a problem with this. After all, we know each other.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Tom: Well, anyone who posts on Japan Is Doomed is a friend of mine :)
January 20th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Then sign [invite] me up for Mixi!
By the way, have you finalized you plans yet? Looked into the JR Rail Pass?
January 20th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Tom: Invited! :) My advice would be to join a few communities :)
January 21st, 2008 at 7:49 am
That’s great! MY hosting company decided to accidentally charge me for 24 months of future usage by mistake. Their apology was basically saying oopsy. Booooo :(
January 21st, 2008 at 11:41 am
Smoother: Dreamhost, I assume? They’re usually quite good I think but wow they dropped the ball here. :(
January 22nd, 2008 at 1:41 am
Thanks for the invite!
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I too wouldn`t be against having an invite, although I think perhaps even with the dictionary addon (which is awesome) I may struggle. Even so, I keep getting asked if I have Mixi, so about time I try it out!
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 am
Tom Clayson: Invite sent! :) Enjoy! :)
February 5th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I am interested in being invited! Please invite me! I appreciate it!
February 6th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Judiel: Invited! Enjoy! :)
February 6th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hey there!!
I’m interested in Mixi too. I guess b/c I’m japanese and want to see what all the hype is about. I would love an invite. Thanks!!
February 21st, 2008 at 8:13 am
Sounds like a lot of fun. Would really appreciate an invite. Thanks so much.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:23 am
hey Mike, please invite me, I have been trying to figure out how to get invited and I stumbled on your page! thanks!
March 10th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Rich : Done! :)
March 18th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Hi Mike,
I have been reading about this and I was told this is a great way to practice your Japanese language…Can you please send me an invite to join?? It would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks in advance…
Claudia Jara
April 4th, 2008 at 7:06 am
Hi Mike,
I would love an invite onto Mixi as well! I am also trying to practice my Japanese! Just more difficult trying to do this in Korea. Thanks again!
Khai Dao
April 7th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Hey Mike, I am learning Japanese in College right now and i am planning to visit Japan in the future and thus i would like to practice as much as possible! If you could invite me i would very much appreciate it!
April 12th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Haro!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nana Desu!!!!
I would love na invite to mixi so thaT WHEN i am in japan i will have people to hang out with.
please my email adress is insert_identity_code@yahoo.com
ARIGATOUGOZAIMASU!!!!
April 12th, 2008 at 10:57 am
actually my email (new ) is
nanahokkaidou@gmail.com
please invite!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 12th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Thanks for the invite man, however damn! I guess they changed how it works and now you need to verify through japanese cell phone email (LOL) as well. My Japanese friend in college also was like , wtf! Even send them an email about it and they were negative to activate my account without me having a japanese cell phone
April 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Panos: Odd. No idea why. :(
April 13th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Can you invite me to mixi please? :P thanks
April 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Hi
May I please get an invite to mixi.jp?
My email is - lmentosl@gmail.com
Thanks!
April 18th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Invite me too!
deshii@mac.com
April 20th, 2008 at 11:28 am
i would like to be invited ><
April 27th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Hello Mike! Well i got invited to mixi by one of my friends, but i dont live in japan and dont have a japanese phone email…
So just wondering what to type in the box where it says 携帯メールアドレス ?? Any ideas??? i would really appreciate if you know how to deal with this question…
BEn
April 29th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hey, could you please invite me to mixi? My email is tennisdude818@gmail.com. Thank you very much, this is nice of you.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Hey there, could you please send me an invitation too? I would really appreciate it. My email is adalodom@hotmail.com. Thank you very much.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:36 am
Wow. Lots of invitations. Tried to do all of them, give me a shout if I missed you out!
May 5th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
hay can I have an invite? :)
panprohibido@gmail.com
May 5th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Alysia: Invite sent! :)
May 6th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
hey Mike,
would love to get on Mixi to look up some of my friends, host families when I was an exchange student in Japan. none of them seem to use facebook?
hoping to find them there,
cheerio
Tania
May 6th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Invited!
May 7th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Hi Mike,
Can you invite me? ^o^
j_volume@hotmail.com
May 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
thanks…does the invite come to your email address…doesn’t seem to be there yet? maybe it takes awhile?
cheers
May 8th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Jay: Done
Tania: I invited the email address you commented with. Check your spam folder.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:12 am
hi mike,
big thx
xxx
May 9th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I must have mistyped it cos I checked junk + inbox…not there,
could you please try again - sorry to be a bother
ta
tania
May 10th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Hi I’m otaku and i want improve my japanese language.Please invite me.
vulcanpl@gmail.com
May 11th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Tania: Sent again.
Drow: Sent
May 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Hi Mike
my girlfriend is from osaka and am learning Japanese at the mom
Would be grateful if you could send me a Mixi invite as well
many thanks and regards
Greg
May 15th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Hi Mike,
I would really love to have a mixi invitation, please send me one. Thanks alot in advance!
May 15th, 2008 at 3:42 am
My email:
tanyongheng@gmail.com, thanks.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Hey Mike,
Great article, was wondering if you had anymore invites? Email: tonihb@yahoo.com.
Thanks!
May 16th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Thanks for the article. ^_^ It seems a little unfriendly to not have people join freely by Mixi. A lot of foreigners like me are just trying to understand the culture more and open our eyes to the world around us. Myspace and Facebook are free to join, sheesh. Please send me INVITE TOO! email is rhythmofemotion@hotmail.com.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I get problem to registor in MIXI. MIXI has require mobile mail but I dont have it. How can i register????
May 24th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Oooh. This is very nice of you. If you could send an invite to blahdave@trashymail.com (I’m using this to avoid spam) I would be much indebted.
P.S. I’m really impressed by this site so far. I’ll have to add your feed to my reader.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
Thank you, Tom!
May 24th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
oops… montsata@hotmail.com
May 25th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Sorry for the wait. Here come invites!
Jay: No idea, I wasn’t asked for one when I sign up. Google around and you might find an answer.
Debito: Thanks for the support :) Invite sent!
Moni: That’s MIKE, not Tom! Invite sent.
May 25th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Could you send me an invite as well?
June 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
Hi, sorry to bother you, but can i be sent an invite to MIXI? I’ve been looking for Japanese nationals who can help me brush up my Japanese. Thanks and more power!
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Matsuko: Okay
Erick: Yep
June 5th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Can I have an invite please?
June 10th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Hi, I would love to have an invite to mixi! I hope to improve some of my reading skills. I have just discovered your site, but I have enjoyed it. Hello Kitty for men, bet that lasted for one day.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Hey man,
Mind sending me an invite please? Thanks!
June 14th, 2008 at 6:34 am
hey!
i really want to join!
hopefully i’ll be able to improve my japanese and find some friends along the way!
my email is
ry482@hotmail.com
thanks!
June 14th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Tony, Kay, Clint, Ryan: All invited!
June 14th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Thanks!
June 14th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
hello
I was interest in mixi since some month but I didn’t register because I was just a beginner in Japanese.
Well today i talked on skype with a Japanese friend about mixi and she made me change mind,so i decided to join to mixi
even my Japanese had improved just a little. She sent me an invitation and i clicked on the link.She helped with the registration but there is/was a problem “”"mobile phone mail”"”.I tried to use a pc-email but it didn’t work.
So my friend helped me for invent one. So i could register but unfortunately mixi send a confirm email to the imaginary
cell phone mail and pc -mail. Well i confirmed the pc-mail but is not enough , both need confirm.
For make a long story short if you have not a Japanese cellphone with mail, no mixi. goodbye mixi
June 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I made a big mistake i shall had register to mixi some month ago, before mixi changed the rules.
Now mixi ask cell phone mail and maybe only Japanese one.
http://www.tofugu.com/2008/04/22/mixijp-hates-foreigners-now-requiring-a-mobile-email-address-to-join/
June 15th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Felix: Oh, OK. I’ll do a post on it tomorrow and close the offer on this update. Thanks.
June 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Hi
Our problem is that we want some Japanese friends for practices Japanese, talk about Japan,culture and many other things. BUT MIXI, now is only for people who live in Japan.
Well today i have found a solution, we can use MYSPACE, http://www.myspace.com/ .
It’s simple: create a profile using mainly or only Japanese. Use BROWSE for find people http://browseusers.myspace.com/Browse/Browse.aspx?z=1
There you can find a lot Japanese man and woman over 18. You can browse for people selecting : gender,age, location & etc. I think I’ll join soon on myspace.
I hope I have helped you.