This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey there listeners, thanks for tuning in today. Today's caller is from Japan, a country which recently reopened for visitors, foreign visitors that is, and one of the last countries in the world to do that. In fact, but better late than never because who doesn't love Japan? And our caller today has an idea to start an English speaking anime club in Japan. Now you know anime, we've had some episodes about importing anime products to the US.
I think at some point, something about making an anime film. And whether you're a fan or not, there's no doubt that it has a huge international audience. Kind of reminds me of K-pop in a way, in that it's really popular with Westerners and other people in Asia, other different countries all over the world, even with the language barrier. Like I know some people who are super into K-pop despite not knowing any Korean at all. And so anime is kind of like that.
It at least has a lot of translations, anime has been around longer. But if you want to go in deep with the subculture, you need some help, right? So conveniently, that's what our caller wants to do. They are based in Japan and want to start an English speaking anime club for foreigners. All right, let's talk about it.
Detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hi, this is Yoko. I've been enjoying the show for several months now and I listen every day. I heard an episode you did about someone who imports anime and other pop culture items from Japan to the US. My idea is a bit similar.
I want to start an anime club here in Japan, but primarily for English speakers. Many anime resources are still only in the Japanese language. So I'm hoping to bridge the gap. What advice do you have? Thank you so much for your answer.
I hope you can come to Japan again soon, especially now that the country is open to the visitors again. [Music]
Yay, thanks so much for the call. Really glad to know that you're out there. Glad you're enjoying the show in Japan. We actually have a small but dedicated community over there.
So shout out to everybody in Japan. And I love this idea. To be honest, it doesn't sound like a huge money maker. It doesn't seem like you're gonna get rich from it, but that's okay. It also sounds like you're doing it partly out of love and interest, which is great.
It's great and wonderful and valuable. So the important thing to do will be to create some structure, like get a logo made for the club, announce some meetups, maybe some in-person meetups and some virtual ones, like see what people want, try out some different stuff, talk to lots of anime fans, especially non-Japanese fans, and try to figure out what would be a cool value add for them. And I think one important question here is, do they want community or content? And they probably want some of both, okay? But understanding that might help provide a better service.
Like, do they want more community, like more of a chance to connect with other fans, or do they want more content? More in the way of just resources, translations, other materials, and so on. So again, probably some of both, but what's the ratio? What do they want more of versus the other? Then of course, there are lots of existing forums and resources for anime.
So you wanna network with them because they're gonna be key to getting the word out. And this is a very, very active community online. So a lot of this work will be about connecting and just doing some low-key marketing, getting to know people, and hopefully having them spread the word to invite others. So as I said, it sounds fun. Let us know how it goes.
And I too hope to revisit Japan soon. It's definitely been too long. So thank you for the invitation. And thank you listeners as well. Really glad you're out there.
If you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Hope you're enjoying this holiday season, or at least making it through. We've got a big year coming up next year, so you can subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Chris Guillebeau. You're listening to "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the "Onward Project."
