A chat with Dennis Amith - The J-ent blogger who's career precedes the web
With all the excitement involved in ensuring our new platform support was working ok, I hardly noticed how quickly this week went by.
Anyway…
It’s Thursday again and I’m still committed to my New Year’s resolution to interview one cool blogger using our widget every week.
This week’s guest is one of the greatest experts on Japanese and Asian entertainment online today and his involvement with the web dates back to 1993 and the pioneering days of BBS.
It is my great pleasure to have as our guest on the Headup blog today Mr. Dennis Amith – founder and Editor-in-Chief of
J-Entonline.com
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Mike:
Hi Dennis, it’s an honor having you as our guest.
Dennis:
It’s my pleasure.
Mike:
While preparing for this interview I learned that J-Ent refers to:
“…popular forms of Japanese entertainment but more specifically a shortened term to encompass popular Japanese television dramas, variety shows and music shows from Japan”
I’m curious as to your initial attraction to the field and how you got involved in it.
Dennis:
As I was finishing my high school education in the early 90’s, I was really into videogames and comics.
A friend introduced me to Anime (Japanese animation) and from there on I was hooked.
I first became proactive when I created the nt2099 BBS back in 1993, which was basically dedicated to featuring the things I was interested in at the time. It was mainly about Japanese animation, entertainment, pop culture and Euro Demos. Because there were so few of us at the time, it was amazing to see the demand for our content.
In 1996, J!-ENT went online. Since then we’ve been focused on covering entertainment and pop culture worldwide.
Mike:
I was wondering about that. I know the NT2099 comes from “Neo-Tokyo” but I have no clue as to what the name refers to.
Dennis:
“Neo-Tokyo” is a reference to the classic Japanese animation film “Akira”. I added the “2099” because I wanted the name of my BBS to pop out from the crowd of sci-fi and tech BBSs that existed at the time.
I guess it just stuck and eventually it became the name of my business.
Mike:
You’ve been at the online content game pretty much from the very beginning. What got you started way back then?
Dennis:
For me it was the need to find and spread information.
Back in the BBS years, getting information wasn’t easy, especially on a 2400-baud modem. When I think back at how we did things then, it’s hard to believe that obtaining information was so difficult. Especially when I think how easy it’s all become now.
I remember scanning magazine pages from Japan, waiting forever for files to upload and delete. My phone was constantly busy with people looking for data. I imagine the phone bills for those people who were calling me long distance were probably sky high.
Obtaining information today is much easier in comparison. All the exclusive content we were busy chasing back then is easily accessible from YouTube, Wikipedia and other sites and applications as well.
It’s an exciting time as more and more people are exposed to entertainment and pop culture from countries outside their own.
Mike:
How did you get into publishing and blogging?
Dennis:
I think it all began with my college experience as editor-in-chief for the Asian newspaper. That position was my first serious experience at managing a publication. It helped me focus and hone my professional skills and turned out to be a great opportunity for expanding my network.
I figured, since I already had entertainment contacts on the Asian side, that by focusing on developing my US contacts I’d be in a position to make connections between both communities. That’s how I began interviewing celebrities.
Over the years I gradually became known in this respect and started getting requests from individuals and media companies all over the world. Gradually the range of topics I was covering expanded from my original Asian niche into global entertainment and pop culture.
As far as the blogging itself is concerned my motivation was efficiency driven. You simply can’t meet peoples’ expectations any other way in terms of the content they’re looking for. The restrictions we had on how much content we could provide via print no longer apply to our online articles. The evolution of SEO and RSS subscriptions have had a crucial impact as well.
Mike:
Do you feel you’ve contributed to the growing awareness of Japanese and Asian entertainment?
Dennis:
Absolutely, but it’s not just me. It’s a global collaboration of a community of people that brought it about. Personally, it’s gratifying to see how our work on J!-ENT has been acknowledged at music conferences, as well as in books and publications.
Today Anime, Manga and other forms of Japanese entertainment are considered a part of mainstream culture all over the world. Our focus has shifted to showcasing entertainment and pop culture from other countries.
Mike:
As a veteran you have a truly unique perspective. What insight can you share with novice bloggers?
Dennis:
If there’s one tip I can give it’s that if you’re passionate about something…do it. It’s all about being proactive and persistent.
Mike:
You’ve been doing this for a long time. Do you know if you’ll keep it up?
Dennis:
Tomorrow never knows. We’ll see (laughing).
Mike:
I’m curious as to how you found us
Dennis:
I saw your website while looking for ways to further syndicate the public information featured on J-entonline. Since your widget compliments what we have on J!-ENT, I decided it would make a nice addition.
Mike:
What’s your prime motivation for using Headup widgets?
Dennis:
I like your widgets because they enable my readers to familiarize themselves with the entertainers I write about and their work. People might not know who a specific talent is but thanks to Headup they can read the information, catch a video, hear a song and tweet about it all at once without ever leaving my site.
Mike:
What features do you feel are missing from the widget?
Dennis:
I guess I’d like to have control over the color of the markings. Access to stats would be nice too.
Mike:
I think you’ll be pleased to hear that both your requests are scheduled for release in the next few weeks.
Dennis:
Cool!
Mike:
Thanks for everything Dennis.
It’s been a pleasure speaking to you. For what it’s worth, insofar as promoting awareness to global entertainment is one of your goals, I’m glad to confess I definitely feel I’ve been enlightened.
