Creating Online Can Help You Find and Unlock the Power of Community

I have been invited to join the editorial team of Japonica, the publication for everything Japan

One of the most beautiful things you don’t expect to discover when you start writing online is “community.”

Recently, I was invited to join the editorial team of Japonica, a publication for everything Japan.

You might have also seen on my feed, the call for writers and an orientation guide for writers I recently put out for Japonica.

When I first started writing on Medium, I did not know what I wanted to write about. A few of the stories I wrote, in the beginning, were about Japan.

Yet, there was no “natural home” for stories about Japan to submit to. So, I sent some of my early stories on Japan to a popular publication, Coffee Times.

• Love Japan and Want To Move There? 5 Reasons Why You Could Regret Your Decision
• 5 Japanese Words You Already Know That Surprisingly Have Non-Japanese Origins
• Do You Want to “Master the Japanese Language in Just Two Months?”
• Living in Japan during the COVID-19 Pandemic is a Blessing in Disguise

In early 2022, I noticed that DC Palter had, together with Yuko Tamura, created a new publication focusing on Japan.

“Finally,” I had thought. The truth is, I had also been waiting for someone to create a publication on Japan.

I immediately applied to be the first writer after the founding editors.

This is the beauty of serendipity at work in the world of online content creation.

Just create, and your community will find you.

I first started studying Japanese at 20 — almost half a lifetime ago.

I majored in sociology, but my second major was Japanese Studies.

I’ve also lived in Japan for close to six years now.

I’ve worked only in Japanese companies for the whole of my working career (as of now, although this may change in the future).

While I may be a Singaporean citizen — and also served in the military as all Singaporean men must — in many ways, I have a very strong connection to Japan. I felt qualified to write about Japan.

More strategically, I also had a hunch that there were a substantial number of readers interested to read about Japan on this platform. The popularity of the articles that I had submitted to Coffee Times validated that hypothesis.

English language material about Japan is hard to come by. Tourists to Japan often only see one side of Japan, and the COVID-19 border closure over the past couple of years made it difficult for people outside of Japan to stay connected with the country.

I toyed with the idea of creating my own publication, but knowing myself, I knew that if I did it alone, I would never have the discipline to continue the project.

I was very lucky that DC and Yuko created Japonica when they did.

Over the past couple of months, I submitted several articles to Japonica. If you missed them, please check them out below:

• Japanese Salarymen Are Sleeping on the Streets of Tokyo — Guess Why?
• Five Things about Japan I Didn’t Fully Appreciate until I Lived There
• Why Japan Fails at English
• Five English Words with Surprisingly Different Meanings in Japan
• Remembering the Horrific Nuclear Disaster of Fukushima, Eleven Years Later

To be honest, I have not been the most prolific writer at Japonica, so I am honored and grateful that the founding editors have extended this invitation to me.

Ultimately, our goal is to create a one-stop publication to bring together a community of people who love to read and write about Japan and Japanese culture.

I expect to be posting more editorial content as we continue to drive the growth of the publication. But don’t worry, if you have subscribed to receive e-mails from me, I won’t be spamming your mailbox with publication-related updates.

Both writers and readers are welcome!

The author is an editor of Japonica and also writes on a wide variety of topics. His key topics are society, culture, modern work, and cryptocurrency, with the occasional fictional story, creative piece, or reflective essay. Discover his most-read stories here.

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