The Secrets of Japan's 11 Most Popular Blogs Revealed

Ichiro Kiyota, editor of the Japanese website Gizmodo, believes that "blogs are an evolution of Japan's diary culture. The blogs of social celebrities contain things they cannot tell mainstream media, and we can understand them better by reading their blogs." The diary culture in Japan can be traced back to the eighth century.

Japanese blogs cover a wide range of topics but share some common characteristics: beautiful appearances, geeky tendencies, and a love for blogging.

Here are Japan's 11 most popular blogs:

1. Blogger: Shoko Nakagawa

Age: 23

Blog site: blog.excite.co.jp/shokotan/

Reason for popularity: New queen of Japanese blog sites

Traffic: 100 million monthly page views (author's published figures, same below)

Profession: Actress, singer

Favorite topics: Nail polish, cakes, cats, reality shows. Recently sparked global controversy by putting a cat in her mouth.

2. Blogger: Kaori Manabe

Age: 27

Blog site: manabekawori.cocolog-nifty.com/

Reason for popularity: One of the first to use the internet to enhance personal influence and become one of the initial blog site queens.

Traffic: Data not available

Profession: Actress, writer, former swimsuit model

Favorite topics: Self-cooked food, being drunk

3. Blogger: Chiaki Kyan

Blog site: kyanchi.blog73.fc2.com/

Residence: Tokyo

Traffic: 25,000 daily page views

Profession: Bikini model

Favorite topics: Anime Mobile Suit Gundam, own cat, video websites Nico Nico Douga and YouTube

4. Blogger: Noriko Saito

Blog site: d.hatena.ne.jp/dropdb/

Residence: Tokyo

Age: 25

Traffic: 250,000 monthly page views

Profession: Web director at a media company

Favorite topics: Programming, iPhone, etc.

5. Blogger: Asami Shinohara

Blog site: d.hatena.ne.jp/asami81/

Age: 26

Residence: Osaka

Traffic: 120,000 monthly page views

Profession: TV show host, AuPair Japan manager

Favorite topics: Brand-name mobile phones, favorite snacks, books, desire to be as widely loved as Mac products

6. Blogger: Yumi Fukuda

Age: 25

Blog site: yumiking.xii.jp/diary/

Residence: Tokyo

Traffic: 13,000 monthly page views

Profession: Freelance journalist

Favorite topics: Newly purchased FOMA F906i phone, breakfast pictures

7. Blogger: Johnny Kusakabe

Age: 27

Blog site: Johnny Kusakabe’s Case File (jo2inu.blog44.fc2.com/)

Residence: Osaka

Traffic: 3,000 daily page views

Profession: Company employee

Favorite topics: Video games, discussions on how to eat cockroaches, etc.

8. Blogger: Yuko Matsumaru

Age: 29

Blog site: yaplog.jp/matsu-you/

Residence: Tokyo

Traffic: Unknown

Profession: TV show host, designer, model

Favorite topics: Pink items with lace edges (such as pink Hello Kitty wallets, etc.)

9. Blogger: Benijo

Blog site: lovecall.14.dtiblog.com/

Traffic: Unknown

Profession: R&D staff at a social media information company

Favorite topics: PHP and MySQL, program debugging, building Japan's largest geek database

10. Blogger: Shuho Saito

Age: 32

Blog site: shuiro.typepad.com/note/

Residence: Tokyo

Traffic: 5,000 daily page views

Profession: Housewife, previously worked at Six Apart, a blog platform provider

Favorite topics: Elegant homemade lunch boxes, pots, pans, and blenders

11. Blogger: Kamiji Yusuke

Blog site: ameblo.jp/kamijiyusuke/

Reason for fame: Holds Guinness World Record for "largest number of independent user visits within 24 hours for a personal blog"

Traffic: 6 million daily page views

Favorite topics: Likes to post articles with titles such as "Thanks," "Ah," "Last night," and instantly attracts thousands of comments from fans.