Happy in Japan: Happy in Japan is a YouTube channel created and hosted by Andrew Marston, a United States citizen living with his wife in Nagoya, Japan. Marston’s most popular video is a documentary that showcases the bicycle trip he took with his friends from the most southern point of Japan’s main islands, to the countries most northern point. He also sells a companion guide, and map set available on his website for those who wish to cycle Japan. After completing the documentary, and returning to the United States for two years, Marston returned to Nagoya, Japan and began producing travel videos that quickly gained a reputation for being high quality, informative, and entertaining. Since Marston has recently began working with japan-guide.com, his YouTube channel is no longer being updated with any frequency, however, his work can still be seen through his contributions to Japan Guide’s updated website and YouTube channel.
Only in Japan: Only in Japan is a web-show created, produced, and hosted by John Daub, a reporter for NHK, Japan’s national public broadcaster. Daub has lived in Japan for over eighteen years and was inspired to share the uniqueness of Japanese culture after the Fukushima earthquake of 2011 significantly impacted foreign tourism. Daub travels all over Japan reporting on festivals, culturally significant locations, food, customs and much more. Only in Japan’s journalistic approach provides insight into Japanese culture and traditions using humor and skits to entertain while informing. The success of Only in Japan has also inspired Daub to begin a second channel, Only in Japan GO, where he focuses on less scripted infotainment, and more on providing on-the-scene commentary, history, and cultural context.
Abroad in Japan: Abroad in Japan is a web-show that utilizes humor to inform about the surprising differences between Eastern and Western cultures. Chris Broad, the creator of the show is a European, living “A-Broad” in Akita prefecture in northern Japan. Over five years ago, Broad moved to Japan as an English teacher and began making videos about Japanese culture, English school, and his own difficulties with learning Japanese. The success of the channel afforded Broad the opportunity to stay in the country after his English school contract ended, and expand the reach of the channels content. Broad continues to release content regularly, providing tips on where to travel, and eat as well as updates on current events in Japan.
Japan Guide: Japan Guide has existed in some capacity for over twenty years. Japan Guide was started with the purpose of providing practical information about traveling Japan, aimed towards a western audience, from first-hand accounts. Japan Guide has recently upgraded from more of a basic, primarily text based, website that placed a higher priority on providing travelers with directions and tips, over providing and media heavy, modern site. in 2017, the site was revamped for a modern audience, adding an easier to use interface, photographs, info-graphics and video content. Additionally, Japan Guide has started a YouTube channel to further enhance the websites web presence.
Japan Travel: Japan Travel’s content is aimed at travelers interested in finding various types of experiences in Japan. Content is updated frequently by a variety of contributors, primarily expats, all throughout the country. While the website features great photos and a variety of subjects, many articles focus more on providing photographs than in depth content. Japan Travel’s writers often post content specific to their area, not necessarily in the popular tourist locations, giving Japan Travel an edge over other sites which often cater their content to the popular tourist destinations.
Lonely Planet Japan: Lonely Planet is the website companion to the popular book series with the same name. Lonely Planet has been publishing information about traveling Japan since the 1980’s, and has a wealth of content available. Lonely Planet has sold over 120 million travel guides world wide, and they have also sold more than 11 million downloads of the apps that were built to replace the book series. Much like Japan Travel, Lonely Planet Japan provides content from a variety of authors throughout the country, however, the quality of content available on Lonely Planet is much higher. Lonely Planet also feature travel guides, and allows travelers to reserve accommodations directly from the website.