Interview with Jean Snow

Photos © Jean Snow. Read Jean Snow's blog at: http://www.jeansnow.net

I was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, but was raised in
the city of Moncton in the same province (and one year in Toronto).
I've lived two years in Montreal for studies at l'Université de
Montreal, as well as some time in Tianjin, China, also for studies.
It's there that I met my wife, who is Japanese, and what lead me to
Tokyo.

Although I did all my schooling in French (and in Chinese while in
China), I was raised in a bilingual environment. As far as my studies
go, I started out in Math, ended up loathing it after 2 years, switched
to a History major, and then did another major in East-Asian Studies,
specializing in Chinese.

As I mentioned before, it was meeting my wife in China that lead to a
move to Tokyo. She came with me to Montreal so that I could finish the
last semester of the degree I was doing (my second). After that, we
moved to Tokyo so that she could finish hers, which took 2 years. We
did try going back to Canada for a year, but it didn't really suit us,
and we ended up coming back here. We've now been back 3 years, and my
wife has just started her doctorate studies at the University of Tokyo.
We presently have no long-term plans, but do not see leaving Tokyo in
the foreseeable future.

I started writing regularly on the Web when I first moved to Tokyo in
1998. At the time, I started a website with a friend of mine that would
help promote Acadian culture (French-Canadians on the East coast of
Canada). On top of learning the HTML to create the site, I decided to
start writing a weekly column on my life here, which I did for about 3
and a half years. That's when we decided to close the site, and I
decided to continue my writings (and by that time I was also featuring
a lot of photography in my columns) on a site of my own. It's at that
time (Fall of 2002) that I discovered the blogging tools that would
make updating a site much easier. I started out with Blogger, then a
few months later migrated to Movable Type, and now I've just moved to
the PHP and MySQL based WordPress. It's been a gradual transition from
writing columns to what you would now call blogging.

When did you start your first blog? What software/application did you
use for it?

My first official blog (using blog software) was launched in
September 2002. It was running on Blogger (it was comic writer Warren
Ellis that turned me onto it, as he had also just launched his own blog
at the time). In the Spring of 2003, I discovered Movable Type, and
found that it gave me better control over my site. It's also around
that time that I launched my moblog, thanks to the purchase of a mobile
phone that took pictures. The moblog was powered by Kevin Cameron's
great Mfop service, which let you send emails to update your MT run
site. I've been happy using MT until having recently discovered the
open source WordPress software. After spending a few days to learn the
new PHP based tags, I've just launched a WP powered version of my site.

The site was launched late in the Summer of 2002, and the "blog"
(powered by Blogger) was started in September of that year.

How would you describe the content of your blog? Do you focus on any
particular topics?

The tagline for the site is "Thrills, chills, and happy pills from
the Tokyo front." The focus is on coverage of what I find to be
interesting in Japan, and more specifically Tokyo. I think this focus
has become much clearer in the last year. At first the blog was more of
a continuation of what I was doing with my weekly columns, mixed in
with links of whatever I found to be interesting on the Web, but this
eclecticism gradually made way to a blog that focuses on Tokyo
happenings. This is of course done in a personal manner, with many
posts informing on something and how it relates to me, so you probably
still get the feel that it looks like a blog, but I like to think of it
more as a magazine.

The blog itself is now run on WordPress (but I haven't ported my
moblog, Tokyo Boy, or my links blog, TB.Selecao, yet, which means that
they are still running on Movable Type). I write most of my entries
using Kung-Log (and now I'll probably have to start using its followup,
ecto, as Kung-Log doesn't support WordPress). Coding was done in
Dreamweaver, but I've recently moved to SubEthaEdit. The graphics and
image editing are all done in Photoshop.

What do you see jeansnow.net as? (eg a hobby, an online diary, an
online photo album, an r+d space, an online design magazine, or
potential commercial venture etc?)

Although it has the structure of a blog, I see it as a magazine. All
the different sections of my site (the main blog feed, the Tokyo Boy
moblog, the TB.Grafico photoblog, and the TB.Selecao links blog) are
there to help me provide interesting info/visuals/writings on the
subject of Tokyo/Japan, and this often tends to be from a design point
of view as I have a passion for it (my favorite print magazines are
mostly all design based).

Do you have any plans to try and make money off your website? (have
noticed you trying out Google ads).

I don't really see the site has being something I would make money
with (the Google ads are to help cover hosting costs, which are always
rising because of traffic to the site), but I would like to see it help
me get in a position where I can do the things that I like to do
(writing about and covering the "scene" that is Tokyo), and get paid
for it.

Is there a particular direction you want to take the Jeansnow website
in the future?

I think it depends on whatever new technology appears, and how it can
make the site more interesting. Also, even if I eventually end up doing
the things I'm now doing on the site but on a professional level, I do
think that I would always keep the site going. I can't tell you what
kind of shape it would take though.

You get 2000-3000 visitors to your site - what do you think draws people to your site?

That's an estimate that includes RSS feeds. Unique visits to the
website are about 2000 daily. I think the fact that I update often and
regularly is one thing that keeps people coming. I hate sites that
rarely update, and I often end up forgetting to visit them. Also, I
think there aren't that many English sites that cover a lot of the
things I mention, so Google searches on certain things tend to bring in
a lot of people. In the end, I guess I'm doing something right, and
offering an info source that is appreciated.

Did your visitor numbers grow to those numbers gradually or quite
quickly?

It's been gradual. The number seems to be increasing by around 100
every month, and it's been doing so for over a year now.

I do absolutely no promotion for the site (except the sig in my emails), so
it's all just people finding it and linking to it.

Do you think you'll develop other websites or blogs for your other
interests and ventures?

Yes. I'm currently setting up some blogs for the "Tokyo Style in
Gothenburg" event, and I also need to build a site for the small music
label I'm planning to launch with a friend. I'm always open to
interesting new projects.

That would be a long list. I start the day with James Kochalka's
AMERICAN ELF, visit a few Mac related sites, some news sites (a lot of
the Japanese newspaper sites, like the DAILY YOMIURI, MAINICHI DAILY
NEWS, etc.), some design related sites, and a few blogs (some of my
favorites are BOING BOING, KOTTKE.ORG, DIE PUNY HUMANS, DANWEI, and
CLICK OPERA).

My favorites are CASA BRUTUS, BRUTUS, +81, PAPER SKY, ART iT, EAT,
AXIS, ATMOSPHERE, OK FRED, RES, and probably a few more that I can't
recall right now. Those are the ones I buy, but I also read a lot of
them at the big bookstore near my place.

Do you plan to take your interest in design further? (eg working
as a designer, producing a design magazine, organising design events
etc)

Yes. Magazine publishing is definitely something that interests me
very much. I don't think I could work as a designer, but I would like
to work with designers, in some sort of production/curatorial role. I'm
presently in the process of finding ways to attain those goals.

You've mentioned starting a record label, what kind of music or artists
would you have on your label and how did you become interested or
involved in this area?

It would be very indie, so artists that are producing non-commercial
sounds that I enjoy. I've always dreamed of starting an indie label,
and I'm finally trying to do something about it. The goal here is not
really to make money, but to start something that I think is cool.

Are there other places in the world you'd like to be based sometime in
the future?

Actually, there is no other place I'd rather be right now than Tokyo.
I love the vibe here, the things that surround me, and it's what
inspires me to continue updating my site on a regular basis.

What other projects or interests would you like to develop or be
involved with in the future?

I'd like to try to bring what I'm doing with my site to other
mediums, be it in the print field, or with events and curatorial
concerns. I'm always trying to think up of new interesting projects
that I can work on, either as add-ons to my site, or something entirely
different.