#31 The Japan-related Web: The Future. Japan-Hopper

I see a lot of potential in this next site, Japan-Hopper.com. The site is a google maps “mashup” (it uses google maps) that allows anyone to post information about a place in Japan.

I contacted Kiyotaka, the site's creator, and this is what he had to say:

Japan Hopper was created, as, regarding information about Japan, you  almost only find the same information on the Internet/ Travel Guides, etc.

Following them you only get to crowded tourists spots, restaurants etc. and therefore can't get to know the "real" Japan. 

That's why on japan-hopper.com everyone has the possibility to post their own experiences concerning Japan, the attractive and  unknown spots.

Thus, we want it to grow to an big and multi-focus database about Japan, so that everyone can  contribute and win from the Page.

This is why I think this site has so much potential:

It can help the Japan-related web community.

Japan-Hopper could give bloggers a new way to show off their favourite places and maybe gain some extra traffic/readers at the same time. Let's say you are a Japan-blogger and you write a post about a restaurant in Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. With Japan-Hopper you can take a snippet from your post (or write a short summary) and sumbit it to Japan-Hopper as a "placemark" for Shimokitazawa along with a link to your blog post.

See how this can help J-bloggers?! (They become an expert and get a link back to their site.) But wait, it gets better. You can see your fellow blogger's favourite places, share placemarks with others, and add your maplets to your website.

I think that this website makes great use of web-technology in a way (intended or not) that will help J-bloggers and general users alike. And when bloggers “help themselves” they will be helping the Japan-Hopper project as well. What do you think about that?