Name of your website?Asakusa Underground
Your name?
Shinsuke Kono
Your Location (city, etc)
Tokyo
Please give us a short summary of your website?
It is an alternative Tokyo travel guide with information on Japanese culture and subculture, including new small businesses. You can read about what a geisha really is and how she is related to our cultural heritage. Have you ever heard the words like Otaku and Yaoi? We also covers the latest phenomena in Japan and analyse them in our way. Of course, we have useful survival tips in Tokyo with a small amount of money.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Simply we thought that the way Japan was introduced to the rest of the world is one-dimensional. People know about samurais and recent success of Manga animation, but there is something missing in-between in terms of information. We want to fill the gap.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
About a year ago. The site is called "Quit your Job Tomorrow". It is a very funny site, but unfortunately in Japanese at the moment. The translation of the site is in progress.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Asakusa is an old neighbourhood in Tokyo and well-known for its huge lantern. The area was not so far from geishas' sanctuary in the olden days. The word Asakusa symbolises something associated with history. We like the word "Underground". This represents subculture. We want to tell about Tokyo with the esprit of avant-garde.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
Most of travel guides on Japan are informative, which is good, but don't we need something else. The site is a meeting spot, where culture meets business, or where art meets tourism.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To keep it for income. To have a machine to promote our creative ideas.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Creating a site is a form of art. We are fully dedicated, but we still need time to go surfing or travelling. The investment to the site will secure our financial freedom to do these things.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
We will definitely hire a native checker to our poor English.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes and no. We control the site in an "organic" way. That is to say, we split ourselves to pieces like an amoeba. In principle, we grow as we write.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Registering our site to many search engines and exchanging reciprocal links.
What has been your biggest challenge?
To meet a perfect colleague.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
To this question, we are not able to answer yet.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It is more painstaking than we thought, but will be more rewarding, we hope.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
We have been running this site for about two weeks. We will keep on writing articles because we have found no-man's land to exploit. Why should we quit when we are sure that it is a niche where few people could flourish except us.
Who are you?
We are Japanese cousins, one of which is a writer-surfer who learned his English in South Africa, his Spanish in Mexico, and his French in Senegal, currently living in French Riviera, and the other of which is a young digital artist and novelist who can be a Japanese Jean-Michel Basquiat, trying to find Satori enlightenment in Nampa, a modern samurai way.
What is your website address?
Asakusa Underground
