カナダじんです。

Searching for “setting up Japanese iTunes account” on Google will give you outdated information, you do not need a Japanese iTunes card in order to sign up. You do need credit on your account if you plan on buying something but there are a number of free things which make it still worthwhile.  I have made this guide so that you can easily setup a Japanese iTunes account for free.

Step #1: Change your store location to Japan, this can be done by scrolling to the bottom of the Store page and selecting the location, Japan is at the very bottom.

Step #2: You then need to try and download app, it does not matter which one so just copy and paste this　”ニコニコ” into the search bar and hit enter.

Step #3: Try and download the app titled”ニコニコ動画”, to do this click “get app”.

Step #4: You should then get a pop-up like this one, press “Create New Account”:

Step #5: You should then see a screen like this, if yours is in Japanese just click where “Continue” is in screenshot.

Step #6: This is jsut the EULA, agree to it without reading as you would any other.

Step #7: Fill in the fields correctly, although you can use a random stuff for the password recovery section.

Step #8: First check the “none” option. You can skip adding a itunes card unless you want to spend money.  Only the “Postal code” and “Prefecture” have to have valid information.  Use 170-3293 and Tokyo as I have done, although you can just as easily go hunting for others it does not matter so long as they are valid.

*/It must be said that I did not write this guide. The reason why I am copying it here is because the site it was originally posted on is, unsavory. /*

Introduction to Pixiv

Pixiv is an image sharing site where artists upload their work. Images can be searched by tags, rated, and favourite’d.

Users can add friends to their own group like social networks, or bookmark people to “watch” their space. There are lots of nice works on Pixiv \, but to access them, you need to register for a free account.

Step 1 : Go to http://www.pixiv.net and click on the orange “Sign up now” button.

Step 2 : Fill in your email address, and click the button saying “入力完了”

Step 3 : A verification email will be sent. Open the email, and click the link in it to continue.

Step 4 : Now you’ll have to fill in your profile. This is the longest part.

pixiv ID: 3 to 32 characters long, alphanumeric characters, hyphens and underscores only. Uppercase characters will be converted to lowercase. You cannot begin or end the ID with hyphens or underscores.

パスワード (Password): 6 to 32 characters long. Fill in both with the same password.

ニックネーム (Nickname): The name others will see you as. 15 characters max.

HPアドレス (Homepage address)

For the next 5, there is a dropdown box on the right. First selection means “Everyone can see this information”, second means “Only people in MyPixiv can see this information” and third is “No one can see this information”

性別 (Gender): 男 (Male) or 女 (Female)

血液型 (Blood type): Straight forward.

住所 (Address): Last option, 海外 means Foreign (as in, not in Japan.)

誕生日 (Date of birth): Straight forward again.

職業 (Occupation): I’m not going to translate all of these, so you can choose the last one (Something else)

自己紹介 (Self introduction): Here you’ll HAVE to type in something to complete the registration.

Step 5 : Login with your pixiv ID and password.

*/More information you might be interested in but it is not necessary./*

Now when you go to http://www.pixiv.net/mypage.php you’ll see your home page. The first thing you’ll notice are some images in the middle of the page, under the heading “みんなの新着イラスト”. This is everyone’s newest artwork. Under these you’ll see もっと見る, which means “show more”, and you’ll be able to page through them.

On the right, you’ll see the top 3 images for the day, links to #4 to #10, and the same for the top 10 images of the week. Under each of these is the top #100 list. On the left, you’ll see your avatar, under this the list of people in your “MyPixiv”, and under this, a list of all the people you’ve bookmarked. If you click on your avatar, you’ll go to your profile, where you can change your avatar (画像の変更) and edit your profile.

On the search bar on the top right, you’ll be able to search for specific tags (in Japanese). If you change the option from タグ to タイトル・キャプション, it will search in image captions rather than tags. You can click on 人気のタグ for a list of tags. ランダム brings up a random selection of images, instead of most recent.

On the top left you’ll always see ホーム (Home), 友人を招待 (Invite a friend) and ログアウ (Logout).

When you click on an image, you’ll have a medium size version of the image in the middle, which you can click again to open the full size, the artist’s avatar on the left, with the following links under it:
プロフィールを見る – A link to their page/profile
お気に入りに追加 – Bookmark this user
マイピクに追加 – Add user to MyPixiv
When you try and bookmark a user, it will bring a dialog asking if you want everyone to be able to see this user in your bookmarked users list, and then a confirm button. If you try to add someone, you will have a box where you need to type a message to the person, followed by a confirm button.

Above the image will be the tags for it (blue links, with a red one to the right). Towards the top right, you can rate the image on a scale of 1 to 10. Pixiv keeps track of 閲覧数 (How many people viewed the image), 評価回数 (How many people voted), and 総合点 (Total score). To the left, you can see all the artist’s tags. If you click on them, it will bring images by the current artist with those tags.

The button right above the image to the right, このイラストをブックマークする, lets you bookmark an image. To view all the images you’ve bookmarked, when you’re on your home page, click on the button on top titled ブックマーク管理 (Usually the 4th one). Underneath the image theres a text box and button for adding comments.

Remember: You have to be logged in to see images or pages. You cannot hotlink them AFAIK. And don’t forget to add artist tags when you upload the images here.

And apologies for the wall of text :)

One of the key ways I am studying Japanese is by surounding myself with it.  One big part of this is audio since it does not require much intertainment and is easy to setup.  The problem I ran into though is that while I have tons of Japanese music I have no access Japapnese speech.  I have solved this by using a FM transmitter plus my server.  My server is set to constantly run LiveStation and broadcast that audio over to any FM radio.

I would preffer to use Keyhole TV since it has a much larger selection of Japanese, the problem is that there seems to be some anti leaching protection built in since whenever I leave it running over night the station goes “off air”. It jsut might be that the radio stations really are going off line either way though it goes my alarm no good if I wake up to static. This has forced me to use LiveStation and its only working station, FNN.  It is better hen nothing though and I may in future do more research.