So I was thinking

[keitaro]

Was considering jumping on a few n scale jpn group forums/blogs and asking if they know any eng to join up here.

Would be good to have some Japanese nscalers particularly in translating and upcoming info haha

Anyone say no to this?

[Martijn Meerts]

It's been talked about before, as a few active Japanese members is really the only thing lacking on the forum. Unfortunately, it's not easy to get them to join up and actively participate. I believe there's 2 main reasons for this. The first is that the Japanese idea of a forum is entirely different from what we think of as a forum. I've come across various Japanese forums (while searching for info about Japanese games), and they operate completely different. Because of that, this forum system might just confuse them :)

The other reason is that a lot of Japanese don't feel comfortable speaking English (or any foreign language for that matter), even if they can speak English quite well.

Of course, if someone is able to find some (native) Japanese model railroaders who are willing to actively participate in the forum, that'd be great. I would love to get their perspective on Japanese modeling in general, and especially their opinion on our perspective of Japanese modeling.

[keitaro]

I'll give it a go I'll start my watch in mixi haha there has to be a group on there.

[Bernard]

Was considering jumping on a few n scale jpn group forums/blogs and asking if they know any eng to join up here.

Would be good to have some Japanese nscalers particularly in translating and upcoming info haha

Anyone say no to this?

I would really appreciate your efforts to get more Japanese modelers in any scale to join the forum. I'm always for an exchange of cultures and learning from one another.

The best way to get better at any language is to practice it and the members here I believe would appreciate the exchanging of ideas. Go for it! 

[keitaro]

ok so i joined a group on mixi.jp with 4300 users signed up to it i posted a blog asking to join if they know english and what we model etc. see how we go haha

[keitaro]

so i joined this mixi group spo far and am awaiting any responses stalking the users who are posting though and i don't mean to get anyone excited but this group has girls in it LOL

[disturbman]

And you are aware that if they join they will be able to read the content of this thread? ;)

[keitaro]

indeed i do. although i really think it's impossible for us :p

anyway i'm looking through here there is a large amount of really good layouts in here

anyway my coments were intended to show they do exist hah


btw guys some sample layouts not sure if links will work for yas

http://ic.mixi.jp/p/ae2c85ca7eadba517ba802d6abb0a2090e7b46ff60/4d532515/bbs_comm/940446511_173.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/f7f7ab9307ae4758a238db2f10727bc2e95dd8a428/4d53250d/bbs_comm/927340225_165.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/d2529c55be10934c9ed1364cb152a5b3fff6515ca0/4d53279a/bbs_comm/927467148_38.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/8b89a28456c8b5187b863050404ad2991808639205/4d5327d6/bbs_comm/936247938_98.jpg like this one

[Bernard]

I don't see anything wrong with guests/potential members reading this thread.
It's a very open, honest and a positive attempt to find a way to reach out to Japanese modelers to let them know about our forum. If we even get one new member it's all worth it.

[disturbman]

I was thinking about the comment on us getting excited about the possible (japanese) girls comming our way. 

[Toni Babelony]

http://ic.mixi.jp/p/ae2c85ca7eadba517ba802d6abb0a2090e7b46ff60/4d532515/bbs_comm/940446511_173.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/f7f7ab9307ae4758a238db2f10727bc2e95dd8a428/4d53250d/bbs_comm/927340225_165.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/d2529c55be10934c9ed1364cb152a5b3fff6515ca0/4d53279a/bbs_comm/927467148_38.jpg
http://ic.mixi.jp/p/8b89a28456c8b5187b863050404ad2991808639205/4d5327d6/bbs_comm/936247938_98.jpg like this one

I'm not able to view these images. One probably has to be a mixi member to see them (and I have no intend of becoming a member of that site, as Facebook is enough for me already).

[keitaro]

Damn must need to be a member I will try save to desktop and reply then.

Best thing Bout mixi is you can see log of who looks at page. Since posting last night 45 people I don't have as friend looked at my page meaning I got some form of interest.

what i wrote

We are an English based Japanese modellers group and are looking for some English speaking Japanese rail modellers to join our group and share ideas and talk to.

(はじめまして、僕たちは日本のモデル鉄道で模型を作っています。もし、日本人で英語を話せる方がいたら、一緒にアイデアを出し合ったりしてお話しませんか？


Please join our group at the website (link)

このWebからグループに仲間入りしてください。


maybe i need to add something like free kato trains

[keitaro]

Hmm no luck so far need to try some other groups I guess

[CaptOblivious]

It's a worthy effort, though! I'm interested in seeing what you can come up with!

[keitaro]

i got a message on mixi from some japanese person saying he doesn't know english.... i was like thanks for letting me know 

[keitaro]

tried a big yahoo group, I think it was also a big failure :( sad now hah!

I think you are correct Martijn.

shame really

[bikkuri bahn]

Admirable effort to get new members, but I wouldn't hope too much (getting one or two on board would be a victory).  As Martijn already mentioned, even Japanese with English ability are very reticent.  You have to consider another thing- the subject matter is "in the backyard" so to speak, for Japanese hobbyists- they would have little motivation to join an English language forum, other than altruism or a desire to communicate.  And those seeking communication probably would be better served by joining facebook or some other social network, or joining forums on subject matter lacking in Japanese language forums.  No harm in advertising our existence, though.

[westfalen]

Might be a good thing, we probably would have overwhelmed them with questions and stuff to translate.

[miyakoji]

Is there any way around not having a Japanese cellphone email address?  Last I heard one was necessary to get a mixi account.

[keitaro]

yeah it is now i think. i got in on my hotmail years ago