Profile

My employment highlights (details)
What is this page?
Info about the person who runs this site lives here. If you are looking to learn more about the site and the contents then have a look at the Welcome Guide.
The quick intro
Over 2 million unique users per month visit this site for the exclusive figure coverage direct from the manufacturers, photos and guides on living in Japan, Japanese subculture and the occasional stormtrooper dancing around in Tokyo. If you are interested in these topics and are also interested in joining a community of folks who also like the same stuff then this is the place for you - but don't take my word for it read the readers definition of this site ;-)

About Danny
Born in London England and lived there until 1999 before relocating to Japan.
Danny spent some time as a shoe designer working for his father before deciding to take a completely different path and follow his passion for Japanese culture. He started to study Japanese and after graduating from SOAS in London, he joined Japan Airlines as a Computer Engineer before being relocated to Japan by Nature to work in web marketing - has been working in the Internet ever since.

In his career, Danny served as Website Manager on the management team at Amazon Japan (Tokyo and Seattle) and as CGM (Consumer Generated Media) Product Manager at Microsoft for Live.com before incorporating his own Internet solutions company 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.

Apart from being the full time president of Mirai Inc, Danny is also a full time otaku who enjoys writing about and sharing many aspects of Japanese culture with readers around the world.
Danny runs a Japan portal at dannychoo.com which focuses on Japanese figurines, subculture and daily life in Tokyo. The site is visited by 2 million unique visitors per month who generate 20 million page views. You can see his employment history further down the page.

Danny's spoken languages are English, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and his written languages are PHP, MYSQL, JavaScript and CSS.
Tokyo CGM Night
I also organize a monthly event called Tokyo CGM Night which is an event dedicated to folks who truly understand and excel in CGM - the result being millions of unique users and page views per month. Apart from the most awesome bloggers and vloggers, the best in the IT, media and entertainment industry are also mixed in to form an incredible recipe of Bodacious Harmonious Awesomeness.
Folks from companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Disney, Sony Japan, Nike, Sun attend Tokyo CGM Night. Read more about this event.
Press/Media/TV appearances/Speaking appointments/Guest Blogging
TV Appearances
dannychoo.com featured on CNN
(YouTube)
The Nikon commercial that I was in. (YouTube)
Me being interviewed on Tokyo MX TV back in 2006 (YouTube)
Magazine/Newspaper/Books
Online publications
Speaking appointments
Guest Blogging/Other blogs I write for
Photo taken at Imprint 2007 Los Angeles
Photo taken at Trend Tag 2008 Berlin
Trend Tag 2008
Photo taken at Promax 2008 Singapore
Photo taken at Animax Workshop Singapore 2008
Promax 2008 rehearsals Singapore
Tokyo Dance Trooper
I terrorize the citizens of Tokyo by "dancing" in stormtrooper armor - mainly in Shibuya because its close to home and the people are friendly.
Tokyo Dance Trooper in Shibuya
(YouTube)
The first Tokyo Dance Trooper video which was also featured on the top page of starwars.com (YouTube)
You is being Rick Rolled (YouTube)
Contact/Follow me
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 unfortunately I cant. 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 dont 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 - my twitter account. Partially integrated with Puchi Blurbs (which I'm testing now) and will be fully integrated soon.
  • YouTube - my YouTube account. I often upload videos here a few days before I release it at dannychoo.com.
  • FaceBook - my FaceBook account.
  • Linkedin - my Linked in account.
  • Flickr - Will be adding more pics from the site soon.
  • Mixi - the Japanese Social Networking Service.
  • PlayStation 3 ID = "dannychoodotcom" - watch me loose in any online battle ^^;
Employment history highlights
I cant talk about certain details regarding what I worked on at some of these companies but have covered what I can without being hunted down by HR. I only include relevant highlights from my career.
April 2007 - Present (Tokyo) Representative Director mirai.fm
Company Mission
  • To provide a CGM (UGC) community e-commerce solution (Mirai Gaia) to enterprises within Japan.
  • To provide consultation on web/viral marketing, SEO and web userbility.


April 2006 - March 2007 (Tokyo) CGM Product Manager www.live.com
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • Feature planning, service evaluation, development, implementation and execution of online services.


Nov 2004 - Apr 2005 (Tokyo/Beijing) Sr Manager, China Website Development www.joyo.com
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • Responsible for the management and recruitment of software development, web development and catalog systems/operations in China.
Achievements in this role included:
  • 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.


March 2004 - Nov 2004 (Seattle) Sr Manager, Global ASIN Metrics www.amazon.com
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • 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. Cant really talk to much about this but these systems 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).
Achievements in this role included:
  • 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.


Aug 2001 - Mar 2004 (Tokyo) Sr Website Manager www.amazon.com.jp
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • Responsible for the production team of about 30 heads (cant give exact number). 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.
Achievements in this role included:
  • 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.


Jul 1999 - Apr 2001 (Tokyo) Web Marketing Executive www.nature.com
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • 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.
Achievements in this role included:
  • 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.


Jul 1998 - Jun 1999 (London) Computer Engineer www.jal.com
Responsibilities in this role included:
  • Maintaining Japan Airlines ticket and reservation systems throughout Europe.
  • OS installation and configuration of Japan Airlines PC based systems (including LAN, server installation and setup).
  • Maintenance and configuration of our client's computer systems and networks (including NHK, NTT Data, Mitsui Kaijyou and Marubeni).
  • Coordinating layout of hardware and wiring in various clients offices.
What does this site run on?
Have been using this site as a place to learn web technologies. Have been building since 2000 which you can read more about.
Most of the site has been migrated to an early build of Mirai Gaia which is a CGM e-commerce platform. Some of the site is still running on Nav2.0 which is a blog publishing platform.
Hardware
Used Windows for about 10 years and made the switch to Mac in 2005 - never looked back since ^^
Photography
I take photos of life in Japan and use the following equipment to do so - Canon Kiss2, Nikon D5000, Lumix LX3 and the Sony Webbie MHS-CM1. You may want to follow my photo stream at Flickr.
Japanese Figurines
I love Japanese figurines! Here are my top 3 (I think). You can see them and more in the Figure Portal.
In number 1 spot is Fauna.
In second place is Queens Gate Alice.
And in third place is Kureha.
Site Mascots
I have 2 site mascots - Mirai and Haruka and you can read more about them here.
This is Mirai - the original mascot
Another illustration of Mirai in her maid gear.
And this is Mirai's younger sister Haruka.
Dollfie
I adopted what the Japanese call "Daughters" and now have a few of them. You can see them under the Dollfie category.
My eldest daughter Saber
Second daughter Aoi
Third daughter Ryomo
My youngest daughter Nanoha
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