Website Review - February 2007
Expat Magazines
For foreigners living in Japan there are a handful of English-language listings magazines, all of which have online incarnations. The most highbrow of these publications is Kansai Time Out, which has the most focus on culture and history. It’s also the only Japanese expat magazine that isn’t free, and this used to be reflected by the website. Their old site was dull and uninspired (presumably to encourage people to shell out for the magazine version) but after a redesign it’s looking much better, and the Kansai Guide is a useful reference section. There’re still only a couple of articles from each month’s magazine on the site though, so if you want to read everything you’ll have to go to your local bookstore and cough up ¥300. The listings are quite comprehensive (though the Kansai Clubs section is disappointing), while my favourite regular features include Jitsu Wa trivia, Diskoveries movies and the Infotech/Insites section.
Kansai Scene is the other magazine for Kansai residents. Their listings are just as good Kansai Time Out’s while their features have more of a focus on nightlife and popular culture and their website contains everything from the magazine version. Fukuoka residents have Fukuoka Now, which has Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese and Korean sections as well as English. Their website is updated daily, and features news (in English, Chinese and Korean) alongside magazine contents. My only gripe about the Fukuoka Now site is that it loads very slowly.
Metropolis is Tokyo’s listings magazine, containing reviews, information and features on the nation’s capital. The fact that more western actors are in town to promote their films and more western bands and DJs play there means the magazine has better access to star interviews than the other publications I’ve listed, while their website has directory links and Japan Today news and forum links, giving it the greater scope of a portal.
Another magazine that is part of a portal is Japan’s only national expat magazine, Japanzine. Along with its nationwide focus the magazine has localized content for Tokyo, Nagoya and Kansai, and the online version is part of the SeekJapan portal that has handy Japan Q&A, Japan Resources and Jobs In Japan sections.