Jun 6, 2024
Theme post ideas?
So far in June, we haven't seen theme posts.... I'm thinking about some theme posts. One big one is, "What brought you to Japan?" That would be a fruitful one, I'd imagine. Another is regional cuisine. We City Cost correspondents are scattered all over Japan. We likely get to indulge in local dishes and prepare them at home, too. I'd love to know more. The prefecture in which I live, Chiba, has some variants of traditional foods and I'd be happy to share what I have discovered and get some motivation to try some I haven't yet. What about a theme on foreign-owned small proprietors? The population of foreign residents continues to grow and along with that, businesses that serve them. I'd love to know more. How about a rainy season theme? It's not my favorite time of year, but there is no better way to cope than getting out and seeing places that spring to life in the rain.
Best Answer
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on Jun 25
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on Jun 7
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on Jun 10
@genkidesu I've got some time on my hands in early July and intend to explore Chiba Prefecture. I'm after traditional soy sauce, sake, and artisanal foods. Recently, I've met a lot of foreign residents. Truly diverse - people who came here for education and business. Their stories are fascinating.
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on Jun 12
@TonetoEdo It doesn't look like we will be getting themes for this month, I wonder if it's a budget-related thing since there seem to be more users reviewing places than usual. Hopefully next month they incorporate some of the ideas you mentioned alongside the standard four themes, I always like reading the longer blog topics!
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on Jun 15
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on Jun 15
@Ekimsaido The rainy season is rough on foreign residents and Japanese locals alike. But it's also a rich month or so for irises and hydrangeas. I'd love to see a spotlight on these two flowers and locations famous and overlooked.
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on Jun 15
@TonetoEdo yeah I've seen a lot of them around Ueno Park last week. A friend of mine told me about hydrangeas and I find it interesting how the colors of their petals vary depending to the acidity of the soil.
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on Jun 23
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on Jun 25
@BigfamJapan Nope, no themes appeared for me, either. On the plus side, it's spurred me to write about current events and topics I've been mulling over. I wouldn't mind some more themes - off-the-beaten-track places, traditional cultural pursuits, our volunteer experiences, how residents came to live in japan, what keeps us here, and how we cope with rising costs and falling yen value. There's still so much to share. And just a shout-out to our veterans on City Cost, I love reading what you write! Your blogs are valuable perspectives on how foreign residents live, work, and play here.
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on Jun 26
We'd like to just jump in here if we may. Thanks for your interest in the blogging themes and your care for this community as a whole. It means a lot. There has been no blogging themes this month as we prepare for some updates. Please be assured, though, that nobody here is on a blacklist or anything like that. You may have noticed that there has been an increase in cases of this site being used in ways that are not in keeping with the spirit of this community: spam posts, the use of A.I., and others. This has been a bit of a challenge and has called upon us to look even more closely at how we can address these issues going forward in order to preserve the integrity of the site and this community. We're preparing some updates and changes to this end and would like to thank you for your patience as we do this. The City-Cost team
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on Jun 27
@City-Cost Thank you for the update! I think some of us had been worried (and I had expected it was something to do with the influx of recent spammy-style posts) but I definitely appreciate knowing from your team directly that it was the case. Hoping for some good changes moving forward!
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on Sep 22
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on Sep 23
@BigfamJapan I miss the themes, too, as I enjoyed reading the seasonal spot reports. They helped me plan trips. My favorite themes so far are "How to" and the one-time sustainability/low-waste theme in 2020. I learned a lot from others and by researching the topics I covered. I'd love to see a one-time theme for Japanese language learning, English language teaching, and fusion cuisine/how and where twe get international ingredients in Japan.
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on Sep 28
@BigfamJapan I keep checking as well and none :( I was hoping to have some by the tail end of the year because I'm trying to save for Christmas presents, and blogging on here is helpful for that. The theme posts with the extra ¥¥¥ always help my balance bump up a bit. Got my fingers crossed for October, maybe there will be some showing in a few days time.
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on Sep 28
@TonetoEdo an old throwback I wrote about finding international ingredients/foods: https://www.city-cost.com/blogs/genkidesu/zaNOE-living_food_shopping I'd love to hear other tips from people if they have suggestions for that!
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on Nov 6
@City-Cost I was thinking about this in a bit more detail and wondered if perhaps you could set up a system where all posts for new users have to be manually approved in the same way theme posts used to be. I don't know how difficult this would be to code into the site, but it would mean that any new users setting up accounts just to spam the site would effectively be stopped in their tracks.
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on May 23
@BigfamJapan Almost a year now theme-less! :(
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on May 23
@genkidesu wow, its been that long already. Yikes!
18 Answers