10th Anniversary of Tokyo Direct Guide🎂🎊🎉
Amazingly, Tokyo Direct Guide became 10 years old!
10 years. It was a very long way. And many things around us changed in the past 10 years, too.
On the 1oth birthday of Tokyo Direct Guide, I’ll look back what changed in the TDG history!
Contents
When EXACTLY Did I Start Up Tokyo Direct Guide?
I’m celebrating the 10th anniversary on December 3 because it’s the day when I got the domain.
But actually, I uploaded the site on the next day, so Tokyo Direct Guide had a debut to the world on December 4.
So I think I sometimes had an anniversary celebration on December 4 in the past. I don’t care much about this. I just celebrate it for two days. The longer the party is, the more exciting it is.
Whenever we try a new thing, we start as a beginner. I remember I was fairy new to the IT world and I was just enthusiasm-driven at that time. For example, did you know that Blog Tokyo Direct Diary was born on Google Blogger? I migrated it to WordPress later when I graduated from the beginners’ world!
How the Internet World Changed in the Past 10 Years
Do you remember the Internet of 10 years ago? Or, what do you remember about the old Internet?
There were so many changes. They were like waves in the sea for me!
Photos on the Web Changed
The photo compression technology dramatically developed in the past 10 years.
When I started Tokyo Direct Guide, I had to compress my photos by the old method. For example, look at this cherry blossom photo.
The view is undoubtedly beautiful, but the pic’s quality is not…
But today, thanks to the new method, I can upload crystal clear photos!
Wonderful! I want to say thank you to the developers!
Looking back at the 10 years, I bought a new camera in 2015 and a new laptop in 2021. I changed my cellphone twice. These new devices helped me so much, too. Big hand to them!
SNS Grew Up So Fast and Changed
10 years ago, social networking services were kind of newbies in the Internet world. But they grew up so quickly!
When I started up Tokyo Direct Guide, Facebook was a new thing that the young Americans started and was on the way to the top.
I was a newbie there, too. I had no followers at that time, but today, more than 5000 people from all over the world are following me! It’s just AMAZING. 10 years were so long and I sometimes felt overwhelmed, but now I learn that time and patience were necessary for a new project.
Then, more and more new services came to the Internet world – Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, and you name it. Every time a new one became popular, I made the TDG account on it because people used to say it’s important to bloggers to have many SNS channels.
But they changed their opinion in two or three years. Now they say that it’s better to have only a few and concentrate on them! So I closed some of my accounts. Did you realize that I left Flickr and Pinterest? I know that TikTok is the new star in the SNS world, but I didn’t start it.
Twitter Flied Away – Which is your alternative?
I think the biggest change in the SNS world is Twitter now. And I believe you agree with me, don’t you? It’s not Twitter any longer, but X now!
This change was TERRIBLE. More and more people are leaving it behind now, so honestly, it’s getting meaningless to hold my Twitter… no, X account.
This time, I may start a new SNS to move from Twitter in the near future. I’m thinking of Mastodon at this moment. If you’ve already opened a new SNS account, tell me which platform it is in the comment below. I’ll consider it!
YouTube Changed
YouTube achieved an incredible popularity in the past 10 year. Although it used to be kind of a dangerous site with plenty of computer viruses, it became everyone’s site and “YouTubers” appeared all around the world!
So I made the Tokyo Direct Guide Channel, uploaded some videos of animals in Ueno Zoo and origami instructions.
But after that, my YouTube was almost forgotten… Honestly, I didn’t now what to do to go further because I wasn’t a movie expert.
Then, YouTube had a big change again. As the newbie TikTok became popular worldwide, they launched the short video feature to win the race.
My First Short Video from Tokyo Skytree!
When I was wondering what to do for the 10th anniversary, YouTube suddenly hit me. I’m not a professional movie director, but can I take a good short video with my new smartphone?
So I decided to go to Tokyo Skytree.
The highest view of Tokyo – it’s a present for you!!
AI Jumped into Our Life
Nobody thought of AIs 10 years ago. We might even ask, “What is AI?”
But they are on TV every day today! Especially, generative AIs such as ChatGPT are so hot now.
Let’s Make a Birthday Cake by AI!
I thought this party was a good chance to give it a try, so I made Magic Media in Canva app generate a birthday cake.
“A cake to celebrate the 10th anniversary”… OK, go.
Wow. I don’t say this pic is excellent, but I can use it at least.
The other three generated pics were not good. They were just boring cakes. Mmm… it seems the meaning of “10th” is difficult for the AI to understand.
I preferred to a birthday cake at an exciting party, so I gave it another try by typing, “a birthday cake at the party to celebrate the 10th birthday”.
Good!! I threw away the other boring cakes, but this one is a cake for the 10th birthday put in a party!
… It may look like the 1101st birthday, but I don’t blame on an AI – they are just machines.
OK. Let’s decorate the cake.
Thank you so much for the 10 years of Tokyo Direct Guide.
As I said many times, my Tokyo Direct Guide sites are completely independent from travel agencies and government’s tourism bureaus, so I get support only from ads and search boxes I put on my sites. Yes, YOU support me to go on for 10 years!
My ideas for the 10th year include
- Renewing the main site into a new modern look
- Making a logo of Tokyo Direct Guide
- Opening a new SNS (move from Twitter to an alternative)
- Starting Ko-fi
- Updating the Harajuku Sightseeing Guide
- Updating the article about shopping centers in Shibuya
in my mind now.
I hope to develop Tokyo Direct Guide to the next 1o years (or to the 1101st birthday). I’m so happy to see you on the web and I appreciate your continued support to my sites!
Links – Keep in touch with Tokyo Direct Guide!
Tokyo Direct Guide the Main Site
X (former Twitter) – I may move to a new platform in the near future.
Huffpost interviewed me in 2023.
