Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun(ほぼ ngày khan イトイ tin tức,lit. Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper),also known asHobonichi(ほぼ ngày),is a Japanese company run by Hobonichi Co., Ltd. that designs and produces various daily life products such as T-shirts and notebooks. The company was founded by copywriterShigesato Itoi(a.k.a. "Darling" ) on June 6, 1998, and it was originally his idea to call the site "Almost Daily" to give it more leeway, as he thought that daily updates would be too much mental pressure and content-wise, but since the site's launch at midnight (Balitime), some content has been updated every day. Originally started as Itoi's personal website, it has grown into one of the most profitable websites in Japan by focusing on sales of goods. In 2012, the website won the Porter Prize.[1]

Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun packaging

The site currently receives about 1.5 million page views a day, making it the largest personal website in Japan.[2]Annual sales reached 3 billion yen in 2014, despite the fact that the company has not sold any membership-based paid content or advertising space to date.[3]

Content

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Today's Darling

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A "sort of essay" written daily by Itoi himself that can be found on the top page. Since the opening of the site, he has continued to write every day without a break. One of the main features of the site is that the past essays written so far are not archived, and if they are not read that day, the data will be updated the next day. However, books containing past essays, etc. are available for purchase.

Interviews

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Itoi invites guests for conversations, and is visited by people from diverse industries. Some examples of people who have appeared in the past include:Sanma Akashiya,Hiroshi Aramata,Ichiro Suzuki,Hiromi Kawakami,Ryuichi Sakamoto,Momoko Sakura,Kinichi Hagimoto,Toshio Suzuki,Shuntarō Tanikawa,Tamori,Shōfukutei Tsurube II,Eikichi Yazawa,Hitoshi Matsumoto,Tatsunori Hara,Kiyoshi Nakahata,So Taguchi,Dai Tamesue,etc.

Sale of goods

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The company develops and sells a wide range of merchandise in cooperation with major manufacturers, including T-shirts, calendars, bound notebooks, and clay pots. This is Hobonichi's main source of revenue. In particular, the original bound notebooks calledHobonichi Techohave become popular goods that have been perfected with the input of users since the early days of the site, and are still being sold as "evolving notebooks" with improvements made every year. In addition, a number of books born from the site's content have been published, and even aHobonichi Credit Cardwas issued in cooperation with DC Card (currently no longer being issued). In addition, the company has collaborated withNissin Foodsand7-Elevento produce and sell an official Hobonichicup noodlecalledSaru no Osekkai(サル の おせっかい,lit. Monkey's Nosiness).

Treetop Secret Base

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Hobonichi has a close relationship with Nintendo due to its connection with Itoi'sMOTHERseries of games, and has been running a series of articles on Nintendo calledTreetop Secret Base(Thụ の thượng の căn cứ bí mật,Ki no ue no himitsu kichi)since its establishment. In 2006, Nintendo gave priority to providing information onMother 3to Hobonichi, and Hobonichi staff members were in charge of the pages on Nintendo's homepage.

In addition, the former president of Nintendo,Satoru Iwata,had a personal relationship with Itoi and held the title of "IT manager" at Hobonichi since its inception, and in 2007 was still the IT manager for the site despite also leading Nintendo.[4]This was due to Iwata's great personal efforts as a partner in launching the website and making it online within Itoi's office (Iwata was working atHAL Laboratorywhen the website was launched). Conversations with Iwata andShigeru Miyamotowere also held on a regular basis.

Events

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In addition to the development on the website, various events were also managed. Major events include arakugoperformanceKesennuma Samma YosewithShinosuke Tatekawa,a baseball game atTokyo Dome,andHatarakitai Exhibition,a commemorative event for the 15th anniversary of the site's launch. The exhibition was held at Parco Museum[5]in Shibuya from June 6 to 17, 2013, at Umeda Loft from December 28, 2013 to January 19, 2014, and at Fukuoka Parco from April 25 to May 11, 2014. In addition,Seikatsu no Tanoshimi Exhibition,a collection of products carefully selected by Hobonichi employees, was held atRoppongi Hillsin March and November 2017, at Yebisu Garden Place in June 2018, at Hankyu Umeda Main Store in October of the same year, and atMarunouchiin April 2019.

Miscellaneous

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On August 2, 2014, the company opened its directly managed store and gallery (event space), TOBICHI, near its headquarters, followed by its annex, TOBICHI 2, on February 22, 2015, and its western Japan base in Kyoto ( "TOBICHI Kyoto" )[6]on June 6, 2017.

References

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  1. ^Sơ chí を quán く! Quảng cáo で thâu ích を thượng げない Đông Kinh mịch giếng trọng văn phòng (1/3)
  2. ^“ほぼ ngày” は bán れ gân を “Khảo えない”-Toyo KeizaiOnline (November 15, 2012)
  3. ^Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun Company Overview
  4. ^"Mr Iwata, president of Nintendo came to our office. We had a nice talk over supper"(in English and Japanese). Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun: Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun. 10 September 2007. p. 11.Retrieved16 July2015.
  5. ^“はたらきたい triển.” の khai thúc giục án nội- パルコミュージアム
  6. ^TOBICHI kinh đô について- Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun
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