Blogs have become popular in Japan in the last couple of years. There was a report on the usage of the various services which came out last week.
It's in Japanese, so here are the registered user numbers in English:
Hatena Diary 2,020,000
Cocolog 594,000
My Profile 303,000
Blog People 284,000
Livedoor Blog 26,000
Note that these are all basically free services, so the typical blogger in Japan is probably someone who starts writing a blog, then soon gives up, just like elsewhere .
So, a blog is something that's easy to start, everyone starts them with good intentions of carrying on, and most people don't have the willpower or energy to keep going. As a fad, it's kind of like dieting, don't you think?
Posted by Gary at March 1, 2004 09:44 AM