Danny Choo

Danny Choo resides in Tokyo and writes about life in Japan and subculture which includes anime, figurines, dolls, cosplay, games and everything else that comes under the genre. dannychoo.com is regularly featured in web, print and broadcast media such as CNN, BBC and G4TV.
Danny is regularly invited to speak at conferences around the world on the subject of his specialty which is Japanese subculture (Otaku) and Consumer Generated Media.

Originally from the UK, Danny has been working in the Japanese Internet since 1999. In his career, Danny served as Computer Engineer at Japan Airlines, Website Manager on the management team at Amazon Japan and as CGM Product Manager at Microsoft for Live.com. He now currently runs an Internet strategy firm in the heart of Tokyo called Mirai Inc.
Danny documents his corporate years in the Working at Amazon and Microsoft photo article.
You can read more about why he decided to learn Japanese and how it changed his life.
Danny also writes motivational articles where he shares his life experiences with his readers.

Danny's spoken languages are English, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and his written languages are PHP, MYSQL, JavaScript and CSS.

The above is written in third person so that I can copy paste it for the media folks who regularly ask for it ^^;

As CEO of Mirai Inc, I work with manufacturers and service providers to bring them closer to the consumer/end user.
Previous/current clients/collaborations include Google, Disney Online Japan, NHK, Mozilla Japan, Columbia Japan, Good Smile Company, Bandai and Kotobukiya.

Through my experience of building scalable websites at Amazon and my knowledge of Consumer Generated Media from working at Microsoft and running dannychoo.com, my company created a web platform called Mirai Gaia which not only enables clients to easily manage and sell their products and services, but to also manage a community of users who generate content.

A cool web solution is not much use when there isn't anybody around to use it. Mirai Inc not only provides the web platform but also the marketing and know how needed to build a flourishing online community and a lucrative monetization strategy.

• La Chaîne Info (France TV Broadcast)
  
• iPhone 3GS Launch (Nationwide press coverage)
  
• BBC News at 10PM (Otaku Subculture)
  
• BBC World Fast Track
  
• Commercial for Nikon
  
• Google My Fave Places
  
• CNN (Feature on dannychoo.com)
  
• Firefox 3.5 Welcome Video
  
• CNN (iPhone 3G Tokyo Launch)
  
• G4TV (Attack of the Show)
  
• G4TV (Ninja Fest 3)
  
• Lily Allen and Friends (UK BBC)
  
• Won Hobby 5
  
• Boing Boing TV
  
• Blog TV (Tokyo MX TV)
  
• News Zero (Nippon TV)
  
• Akiba Report part1 (Tokyo MX TV)
  
• Akiba Report part2 (Tokyo MX TV)
  
• Asamade Nama WonHobby (Good Smile Internet Broadcast)

• Otacool (a collaboration publication with Kotobukiya)
  
• Otaku Encyclopedia (featured under "C" ^^;)
  
• La Repubblica XL (feature on dannychoo.com)
  
• Mac Fan (feature on dannychoo.com and Mirai Inc)
  
• Weekly Ascii (100 famous folks gadgets)
  
• Nikkei Sangyo Newspaper (Talking about dannychoo.com and online monetization)
  
• Weekly Ascii (Japanese Internet publication)
  
• Windows 100% (Japanese computing publication)
  
• Freesouls (a book by Joi Ito)
  
• Monoqlo (I write for this magazine and feature myself ^^;)
  
• Yahoo Internet Guide (Japanese publication)
  
• Windows 100% May 2006 (Japanese publication)
  
• Metropolis (Magazine for gaijin folks in Japan)
  
• Weekly SPA Jan 15th 2008 (Japanese publication speaking on Second Life)
  
• Weekly SPA Aug 15th 2007 (Japanese publication speaking on dannychoo.com and online affiliating)
  
• Monoqlo 2 (Japanese publication)
  
• Giant Robot Magazine 51 (Asian culture publication)

• Best Japan Blog (Forbes)
  
• Yahoo.com top page (my Akiba dance trooper vid was featured)
  
• Gyao Trend (interview/Japanese)
  
• Ascii (interview/Japanese)
  
• Wired Magazine (my otaku guide)
  
• Ameba News

• Good Designs Salons Tokyo (Panelist on Pure Living)
  
• Nihon University (Tokyo) (Speaker on my career and dannychoo.com)
  
• Apple Store Ginza (Tokyo) (Speaker on Consumer Generated Media)
  
• Remix Tokyo (Tokyo) (Speaker at Remix 2006 for Microsoft on "Windows Live Gadgets")
  
• Imprint Culture Lab (Los Angeles) (Speaker at Imprint Culture Lab 2007 on "dannychoo.com & Blog Culture")
  
• Trend Day 2008 (Germany) (Speaker on Otaku culture, mirai.fm and dannychoo.com)
  
• Promax BDA Asia 2008 (Singapore) (Speaker on Otaku culture, mirai.fm and dannychoo.com)
  
• Animax Blogging Workshop (Singapore) (Speaker on history of dannychoo.com, monetization, userbility etc)
  
• Pecha Kucha Night (Tokyo) (Speaker on Tokyo Trooper)

• Boing Boing (Guest Blogger)
  
• Good Smile Company (Writer for official English Blog)
  
• NHK JIBTV (Writer on life in Japan)

I get quite a bit of spam that gets through the filters and another 1653 mails a day asking me everything from "can you buy me x" to "could you translate this for me."
I would love to answer all mails but if I did so then all I would be doing is answering mails all my life - and life is too short too do that. Please don't hate me if I cant reply ;-)
I tend to skip the long mails due to lack of time - short mails are usually read. If you don't get an answer, please resend mail again after 2 weeks. If I manage to make a clone of myself I promise to read and reply to all mails ;-)
Please contact me through my FaceBook.

Folks who are interested may want to hook up on the following communities which I participate in - feel free to add or follow.

• Twitter - you can also message me through Twitter.
  
• YouTube - my Tokyo Dance Trooper videos go here too.
  
• FaceBook - unfortunately I've hit my 5000 friend ceiling and cant add more until Facebook decide to lift the limit.
  
• Linkedin - my Linked in account.
  
• Flickr - I upload photos to my Flickr account nearly every day.
  
• Mixi - the Japanese Social Networking Service.
  
• PlayStation 3 ID = "dannychoodotcom" - watch me loose in any online battle ^^;

• To provide manufactures and service providers with solutions to bring them closer to the consumer/end user through marketing and other means.
  
• To provide clients with an online platform called Mirai Gaia which enables them to easily manage their online publishing/e-commerce and community strategy with ease.
  
• To use our own web platform Mirai Gaia to launch and run online communities.
  
• Currently dannychoo.com and figure.fm run on Mirai Gaia.

• Feature planning, service evaluation, development, implementation and execution of online services.

• Responsible for the management and recruitment of software development, web development and catalog systems/operations in China.

• Introduced Amazon style guidelines - this meant that we were able to reduce the number of hours spent on creatives by using guidelines that have been proven to be effective at increasing conversion.
  
• Implemented SEO techniques to joyo.com to increase the number of pages indexed by search engines and to also increase result rankings.

• Responsible for the management of software development teams to develop and deliver ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number - a unique identifier for our products) metrics systems. The types of systems we developed were;
  • Competitive monitoring systems which were critical for Amazons ability to understand competitor pricing trends and maintain the lowest prices for our customers.
    
  • Selection analysis systems. Amazons business owners can make improved critical business decisions through understanding their categories by using our systems.
    
  • ASIN metrics systems. These systems are used by teams like Marketplace, Catalog Operations, and Product Managers. These systems aggregate and perform calculations on an ASIN level which allow these groups to perform at a higher level of efficiency by concentrating on the top XX% which make up XX% of sales.
• As a senior member of the management team within Global Site Development (GSD), I would make key decisions on project execution / prioritization and the top grading / performance evaluation of GSD subordinates.
  
• Give presentations on ideas and project status / initiatives to Amazon employees, to senior vice presidents and to Amazons CEO Jeff Bezos together with his team of direct reports.
  
• Work closely with the Alexa team on the CMT project (see below).

• Developed and deployed the CMT system. CMT is a revolutionary system which....I cant talk too much about.....CMT also allows Amazon to better understand competitor selection.
  
• Developed and launched the Selection Tool. Selection Tool gives our business owners a greater understanding of their products by presenting to them detailed information aggregated from various internal systems API's.

• Responsible for the production team of 30 heads. The team comprised of Web Development, Quality Assurance, Design, Browse Development, Content Build and Deployment, Cross Site Editorial, Imaging, Program Management and Catalog Operations.
  
• I was responsible for providing the optimum organizational structure, workloads, direction, hiring, firing, performance evaluation, and determined compensation / career advancement.
  
• Lead development teams remotely across the globe to coordinate and deploy website features.
  
• Responsible as a member of the senior management team in Japan to make critical decisions regarding company direction. Also was a member on interview loops for key members of staff including directors.
  
• As a member of the senior management team, I would participate in top grading, promotion and organizational decisions.
  
• Travel to each of our locales to meet with the other country website managers to discuss, plan and decide resource allocation, technological constraints / advancements that influence the following quarter's website initiatives.
  
• Worked with and have good working knowledge of all departments across all locales in Amazon including Vendor Management, Buying, Merchandising, Finance, Legal, Retail, Marketing, Web Services, Public Relations, Human Resources, Supply Chain / Operations, IT.
  
• Responsible for onboard orientation for new key hires and constant education of website features, technology and processes for the business owners.
  
• Present technology updates and QA sessions at the company all-hands each quarter.
  
• Worked closely with Customer Service to understand the nature and cause of customer contact - allowing my team to keep their assigned contacts to a minimum.
  
• Maintained excellent Service Level Agreements.
  
• Maintained high morale and optimal working conditions for my team members.

• Delivered the following major incremental features to the site.
  • Incremental product lines include: Video Games, Software, Gift, Marketplace, Consumer Electronics and Home&Kitchen.
    
  • Features include: My Store, Vodafone, Listmania, Wishlist, Cash On Delivery.
• Implementation of Search Engine Optimization changes to all the Amazon retail sites resulting in incremental revenues of millions of US dollars.
  
• Introduced procedures such as the Quarterly Planning Process which enabled the business to prioritize the most important feature rollout and projects - allowing my team to execute and deliver with minimal resources whilst minimizing the need to work overtime.
  
• Executed new and innovative website features which have resulted in incremental revenues of millions of Japanese yen.
  
• Implemented a vast array of user interface and usability changes to not only improve our customer's online shopping experience but also to increase conversion.
  
• Delivered Amazon.co.jp's first syndicated store for Virgin Mega Japan.
  
• Through the introduction of technology, improvement processes and top grading, I kept headcount flat throughout the 3 years as website manager whilst continuing to deliver 100% of the projects and initiatives that were required for Amazon.co.jp to meet each quarter's financial targets.
  
• Gained excellent working knowledge of Amazons proprietary database, catalog, content / software deployment systems and data processes.
  
• Also gained excellent working knowledge of our online usability tests - this refers to the tests that we implement when launching incremental features online to a certain percent of users to establish how colors, element / widget positioning, number of clicks involved etc affect customer behavior and conversion.
  
• Gained excellent working knowledge and concepts of email marketing, content management and online promotional management systems.

• Marketing of Nature and 12 sister journals in South East Asia (Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore).
  
• Coordinate with outsourced designers and printers to ensure that Nature's high standard and policies were adhered to.
  
• Organization of the print run schedule coordinating with translators, designers and printers.
  
• Execution and planning of numerous marketing projects and promotions by electronic and conventional means.
  
• Development and maintenance of Nature's regional sites (English, Japanese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese and Korean).
  
• Development of online subscription system.
  
• Budget allocation and expenditure.
  
• Develop community websites and Gateways.
  
• Management of outsourcing (schedule and compensation).
  
• Organization and management of conferences (sponsors, display material, time tables)
  
• Negotiating with advertising clients for sponsored placements in print and online.
  
• Design of advertisements, mailings, posters, subscription forms using Illustrator and Photoshop. Design and creation of web graphics, logos, and interfaces.
  
• Print buying.
  
• Communicate with our offices in London and New York regarding print buying, print run, marketing issues.

• Drove the concept, creation and deployment of Nature's Korean language site (which accounted for 90% of all subscription orders from Korea).
  
• Improved the delivery system of journals to Korea speeding up delivery time of up to 72 hours and reducing costs.
  
• Developed from concept to deployment "NWEB" - a member program whereby subscribers earn points depending on the price and length of their subscription. Points can redeem products such as free online access, free limited subscriptions to another journals and Nature merchandise.
  
• Launched Nature Immunology in Japan and Korea and drove circulation to be the highest worldwide.
  
• Launched Nature Genetics, Nature Molecular Cell Biology and Nature Neuroscience.
  
• Developed metrics systems to analyze subscription data by a wide variety of variables - essential for understanding the effectiveness of various channels of subscriptions.

• Software/hardware support and maintenance of Japan Airlines reservation systems throughout Europe.
  
• Maintenance and configuration of our client's computer systems and networks. Clients included NHK, NTT Data, Mitsui Kaijyou and Marubeni.

You may have guessed by now but I is being liking figurines. They are not just representations of anime or game characters but also works of art. See more reviews and event coverage in the Figures category.

At the end of 2008, I started to acquire a brand of dolls called Dollfie. Many Japanese folks call them "daughters."
You can see more of my daughters in the Dollfie category.

Currently have 2 site masots with another one on the way. Illustration is done by manga artist Azami Yuko.
You can read more about them in the Mirai Suenaga post.

And my Mirai-chan gets made into a figure by the leading figure manufacturer Good Smile Company/Max Factory. More details in the Tokyo Figure Show Report.