in Japan

MIXI, Japan’s MySpace

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Mixi in Japan

Want an invite to Mixi?With the big names in Social sites being Myspace and Facebook here in the USA, you may be wondering what does everyone in Japan use. While many Japanese are starting to venture onto Myspace, since they have a global version in many different languages (including Japanese), the majority of people use MIXI as their social network of choice.

WhatJapanThinks.com posted an article on Japan’s SNS (Social Networking Service) usage, and an overwhelming 90.3% of the people polled used MIXI. The other 10% were scattered between GREE, Myspace, and a few others. If you have gone ahead and chosen not to finish reading my article, and clicked on the MIXI link, you may have noticed 2 things that have stopped you in your tracks.

  1. The site is invite only.
  2. It’s in 日本語!

The first one is a very interesting. With the whole premise of social networking sites being social, why would they be an invite only community. WhatJapanThinks.com also has another article that states nearly 2/3 of everyone on MIXI has never invited someone else to join. I find that so weird. But then again I hear that it many places in Japan, its common to not see foreigners. Peter over at JList.com always talks about how he is usually the only foreigner around during his day. So the fact that MIXI is invite only doesn’t really surprise me. Plus, in some abstract way I guess you could say that everyone on MIXI is connected to each other somehow.

I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend when I first found out about MIXI from a co-worker that used to live in Misawa. The main reason I joined MIXI was to help me with learning Japanese. One of the biggest hurdles in learning any foreign language is having someone to practice with. What I found out after joining MIXI was that there are a lot of Japanese looking for English speakers to practice their English on. So its a mutual relationship. Plus, I have even made a few friends on MIXI that live here in the Tampa Bay area.

So, if you are interested in checking out MIXI for yourself, just email me or leave a comment, and I will send you an invite. If you use FireFox, you may want to check out the plugin Rikaichan. It allows you to put your mouse over Kanji and see a translation of it. The plugin has a large dictionary and works really well for navigating MIXI.

One last interesting big about MIXI: When MIXI went public on the Tokyo Stock Market, Kenji Kasahara founder of MIXI, became a USD billionare! Yea, MIXI is that huge.

April 8th, 2008 UPDATE

After doing a bit of research into a few people that I invited not being able to get past MIXI asking for a mobile number, it seems as though if you use a disposable email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, etc), MIXI requires you to use a Japanese mobile phone number upon registering. So if you do want an invite from anyone, you must use your real ISP email, or a less used service so MIXI thinks its a real address.

April 21st, 200 UPDATE

Seems its more or less official now. You have to have a mobile phone address thats Japanese in order to sign up for MIXI. Sorry everyone. Sad day for those wanting to learn Japanese. I will keep everyone updated here and with a new post if things do decide to change.

Japankeitaimixi inviteMixi Postsmyspacerikaichansnssocial networking

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Written by xorsyst

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192 Comments

  2. Oh wait will that be our log-in email? Cause i dont want my hello kitty email as my login.

    By the way, can anyone tell me an email that’s worked for them?

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  3. Yes, I have a Softbank mobile phone and I am figuring out how to input the 製造番号 Since there is no field for me to input and I don’t even know what it is.
    Maybe it’s about setting in Softbank mobile handset, but now I still can’t figure out what I should do..
    Anyway, to answer your question, it seems like in any case including .jp, the keitai number is necessary.

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  4. Thanks for updating us FGI. Seems MIXI only wants Japanese on their social network. I see their reason (for advertisers, making sure its not wasted ads seen). However for those looking to interact with the Japanese culture from abroad, it’s one less way to do it.

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  8. @freddy: Without a Japanese mobile phone #, it wont work. We just discovered this change.

    @Jessica: More than likely its asking you to put your Japanese mobile phone # in the box. The guide is probaly out-dated as this is a very recent change with MIXI. It was probaly Gaijin Woman’s guide, http://gaijinwomen.com/how-to-use-mixi/

    @navin: I can send an invite, but without a Japanese mobile phone number, you wont be able to log in.

    I seriously wish MIXI would not block non Japanese!

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  9. Well I found my guide but the box I was trying to complete wasn’t there. the text says:

    ※ご指定の携帯メールアドレス宛てにも仮登録確認メールが配信されますので、
    お間違いのないように正しくご入力ください。
    ※携帯側でドメイン指定受信を設定されている方は「mixi.jp」を受信できるように指定してください。

    I’ve tried an online translation but it makes no sense…something about sea urchins, lol.

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  11. The same thing about the mobile address did happen to me whit a gmail address. Is it certain that if you use another kind of mail adress to be invited it will work? What kind of mail services could work? Thanks.

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  12. Hi there,

    I am currently studying Japanese at a college in Sydney and I am desperate to learn more via mixi. Apart from living in the country – and I certainly don’t have those finances – interacting on mixi would be such an awesome way for me to learn more. Can you please invite me to join mixi?!

    thanks for posting this up; much appreciated indeed.

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  13. @jessica: thats the message asking for the keitai, mobile phone, address. usually an @docomo.jp or @softbank.jp etc Any one of the Japanese phone categories.

    @Will: I think it’s a preset certain known addresses, but I have sent you an invite.

    @kurara: so far, it seems no matter what email you use, it asks for a keitai address.

    @daniel: Seems so far without a Japanese mobile phone address, you can’t register.

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  14. It seems that some people are saying it might be an IP address issue, as in anyone who tries to go through the registration process from an outside-Japan IP will receive that message irrespective of their email address.

    I’d like to try something; would you please send me an invite? If it works, we’ll know for sure if that’s it. Thanks!

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  16. Yeah, I did try that; it didn’t work out so hot. It seems set with the registration form, not a variable. That’s really sad. Maybe it’ll change again eventually… we can hope.

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  20. yeah, ive gotten like 5 invites to different e-mails, and all of my invites have required a mobile address. this sux. i guess ill js have to wait till i move there in 3 frickin years to get mine, haha! oh well. thanks anyway, and i definitely will be checking back to see if they ever decide to change. thanks again!

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  23. Hi XORSYST, do you think you can send me a mixi invite? お願いします

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  24. Hello, don’t you mind sending me an invite?
    I made a japanese mail account on Nifty, and a friend is lending me her mobile phone number, so it should work – except if they REALLY block non japanese IP, even with a keitai number…
    Have a nice day.

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  25. Hey man! I like this site. I think it’s awesome. ^_^ Anything supporting the edification of the English-speaking nation in Japanese matters is alright with me! lol Hey! Send me an invite to MIXI please. My email is rhythmofemotion@hotmail.com. If you’re tired of sending invites out just look at it this way with mine: Just one more and I’m through! lol

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  44. Would you please invite me too?
    As I am very interested in learning japanese language, I would really appreciate! Instead I am still on the basics, I think I can figure it out by myself on how to get started with mixi.

    many thanks in advance!

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  45. @haruka Takari, @david, @kenji, @breno: I would definitely send you an invitation, however unless you have a Japanese mobile phone number, you can no longer register. MIXI made it a requirement a few months ago. Sadly, they have made it so only Japanese can register.

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  46. Hi, I’m currently studying Japanese. Can you send me a Mixi invite? I do have a Japanese mobile phone number as well as mobile phone address with softbank~

    Thanks in advance.

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  50. adm>> how could i find a japanese mobile phone number while i am living in Indonesia ? please sent me an invitation, i just want to know MIXI and hopefully if i can find my japanese lost friend by MIXI search engine. thank a bunch.

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