What is this site about?

A mix of Gundam, figures, anime, otaku and Japanese culture brought to you by Danny Choo (me) who resides in Tokyo Japan.

The contents of this site seems to be popular based on just under 14 million page views generated by 2.6 million visitors for the month of March 2008 alone.

This site is also occasionally featured in the Japanese press such as on TV and in magazines/newspapers.

I also write tips on living in Japan (buying a house, working etc) and blogging tips (how to earn money through affiliating, discoverability, SEO etc).

Occasionally write posts on how important it is to have a destination in life and remain focused.

Three articles to give you an idea of the person who runs this site and what this site is all about > Why I'm in Japan, History of dannychoo.com, All about my startup in Japan.

Press/Media coverage so far

Have been featured in the following TV programs/Newspaper/Magazines/Conferences.

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)

Nikkei Sangyo Newspaper (Talking about dannychoo.com and online monetization)

Weekly Ascii (Japanese Internet publication)

Windows 100% (Japanese computing publication)

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)

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")

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)

Asahi Newspaper (Japanese national newspaper)

Yahoo.com top page (my Akiba dance trooper vid was featured)

A bit about Danny

Employment Highlights ( details )


Representative Director 2007:04 - Present Tokyo	CGM Product Manager 2006:04 - 2007:03 Tokyo	Sr Manager Global ASIN Metrics 2004:03 - 2004:11 Seattle


Computer Engineer 1998:04 - 1999:06 London	Web Marketing Executive 1999:07 - 2001:04 Tokyo	Sr Website Manager 2001:08 - 2004:04 Tokyo

Born in London England and lived in London until 1999 before relocating to Japan.
Spent time as a shoe designer working for my father before deciding to take a completely different path and study Japanese and Korean at London University.
After graduating from SOAS in London, I joined Japan Airlines as a Computer Engineer for just over a year before relocating to Japan after being employed by Nature Japan - have been working in the Internet ever since.

In my career, I 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 my company Mirai Inc. Mirai Inc focuses on delivering CGM SEO solutions and platforms to Japanese enterprises. Read more about why I left corporate life to set up my own company.
You can read more about why I decided to learn Japanese and how it changed my life.

Apart from being the full time president of Mirai Inc, I'm also a full time anime, Gundam and figure otaku who loves to write about these subjects and share aspects of Japanese culture that I encounter over here.

I still seem to have my shoe/accessory making skills evident from when I go back to the UK and raid my dads studio to make stuff. I have a goal of launching my own line of accessories in the near future. You can see my employment history further down the page.

My spoken languages are English, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and my written languages are PHP, MYSQL, JavaScript and CSS.

Contact

I get quite a bit of spam that gets through the filters and another 1653 mails a day asking me stuff. I would love to answer all mails but unfortunately I cant. Please don't hate me if I dont reply ^^; Mails asking me to buy or translate stuff are usually caught by the second layer of spam filters (the delete key.) > danny at dannychoo dot com.

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 ^^;

Danny on Video/TV

Video on the right is my first appearance on Japanese TV. Video on the left was the most second most blogged about video in the world (according to Technorati) and was featured on the top page of StarWars.com.

Tokyo Dance Trooper

I cant dance but continue to attempt dancing - in armor around Tokyo. More of my stormtrooping shenanigans in the Stormtrooper category.

Japan Office Tour

Started a new series called "Japan Office Tour where I go round to meet comrades in different industries and show you what its like to work in Japan by looking around their offices.

What platform does this site run on?

This site was originally a place for me to experiment with web technologies. Through this site, I picked up PHP, MYSQL, CSS and other bits n pieces that I needed to build this site. The contents back in 2000 were a bunch of family photos and some artwork done in 3D Max.
The site then started to develop into a portal and features many CGM and community features fused into a blogging/community platform that I call Nav2.0. There are about 900 files and god knows how many thousand lines of code. The site grew to 10 million page views in August 2007. The site is server side cached to death and now requires a build to roll out content.

Employment History

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.

April 2007 - Present Mirai Inc (Tokyo Japan)

Representative Director( Details )

Company Mission

To provide CGM(UGC) platforms to enterprises within Japan.
To provide consultation on web/viral marketing, SEO and web userbility.

April 2006 - March 2007 Microsoft (Tokyo Japan)

CGM Product Managerwww.live.com

Responsibilities in this role include:

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

May 2005 - Dec 2005 Kyotsujigyo (Tokyo Japan)

Director of IT & Operations

Responsibilities in this role include:

Responsible for the management, recruitment and operations of Web development, IT infrastructure, Logistics, Sales and Marketing.

Nov 2004 - Apr 2005 Amazon.com "The worlds largest selection online" (Tokyo Japan)

Sr Manager, China Website Development www.amazon.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.

Mar 2004 - Nov 2004 Amazon.com "The worlds largest selection online" (Seattle USA)

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 Amazon.co.jp "The worlds largest selection online" (Tokyo Japan)

Sr Website Manager www.amazon.co.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.

May 2001 - Aug 2001 JobDragon "Japan's newest and fastest growing online career network" (Tokyo Japan)

Contents Producer www.jobdragon.com

Responsibilities in this role included:

Enhance site navigation and usability.
Graphic design and coding.
Develop multi-lingual sites using XML, XSLT and ASP.
Develop mobile solutions.
Coordinate with the software team to separate backend code from the presentational layer.
Develop content sharing opportunities with affiliate sites.

Achievements in this role included:

Major overhaul of the site which entailed re-coding the navigation system, redesigning the graphics and usability.
Created and coordinated the production of the Ingenium Group site (Job Dragon’s executive search division).
Developed i-mode and PDA mobile solutions for Ingenium Group.

Jul 1999 - Apr 2001 Nature Japan K.K "weekly scientific journal since 1869" (Tokyo Japan)

Web Marketing Executive www.naturejpn.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.

Apr 1998 - Jun 1999 JAL Avionet Ltd "IT division of Japan Airlines" (London England)

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.

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