Japan relief effort donations
Fanmode was started in October 2007 to highlight and promote the work of toy fans. In line with that, this site began keeping track of reviews by Japanese toy fans. The rationale behind this move was simple: Japan continues to produce some of the best action figures in the industry. The ambitious designs, fantastic craftsmanship and outstanding packaging and presentation have set a lot of high standards for the industry, inspired many an aspiring toy designer and delighted toy fans all over the world.
The reviews by Japanese toy fans tend to be very brief descriptively but they feature high quality photos making them indispensable when making a purchasing decision.
Doing these Japanese review roundups continues to be hard work but that’s trivial compared to the work done by the reviewers themselves. Consider the effort involved in setting the figure up, setting up the lighting, taking the photos in a variety of positions to show off as much of the figure’s feature set as possible, uploading the photos to the PC for post-processing before finally publishing them online. Consider the sheer drudgery of doing this week after week and consider the fact some of these Japanese reviewers have been doing this for years and years. Gamu, for instance, seems to have been around forever.
Although some of these Japanese reviewers may be making some money through product referrals and the like, it’s hard to imagine that alone provides sufficient compensation for the effort involved in producing the reviews. It should be fairly obvious these fans are doing this primarily because they really want to share their love for these figures.
As you’re no doubt aware, Japan recently suffered a devastating earthquake and an equally devastating tsunami. It appears the Japanese toy fans Fanmode regularly links to are fine as they’ve updated their sites since the disaster. Unfortunately, their countrymen, particularly those living in the badly-hit northeast area of the country, are going to have a really tough time over the next few months.
Japan may be a developed nation, one sufficiently well off that it’s also one of the most generous donors in the international community, but the sheer scope and scale of the devastation will strain even Japan’s considerable resources.
If you found Fanmode’s Japanese toy review roundups useful, which is to say you appreciated the efforts of these Japanese toy fans, please consider donating something to whichever Japanese relief effort fund you feel comfortable supporting.
US-based Charity Navigator has some great tips and suggestions (and includes ratings for organisations based on efficiency and capacity) while blogs at Time and the New York Times have lists of recommended charities.
Thank you.