Celebrating 24 Years of my website management
June 10 was the day I first opened my website 24 years ago.
Looking back, I feel that some of the works I published were of an embarrassing level, but I have continued to today nonetheless.
Since 2002, I have published 480 pop-up cards of modern Japanese architecture, 110 pop-up cards of cultural properties in the world, and 29 greeting cards. (A total of 320 patterns were available for free download.)
The photo shows the old head office of the Bank of Japan, which was the first pop-up card to be released. It is 23 years ago…
Although the number of visitors to the site is not large, I would like to express my gratitude for the kind comments attached to requests for passwords for the patterns, which have encouraged us to continue the site up to this point.
Looking at recent site visitors, 85% are from Japan, with the remainder coming from overseas. I am grateful that some of my clients request a password every time I update the website.
There are still very few pop-up cards of architecture from around the world, so I would like to continue to improve my collection of pop-up cards.
Now, in celebration of our 24th anniversary, I have planned a gift project.
If you would like to make pop-up cards, you can use the patterns and make them yourself, but I understand that some people may not feel comfortable or find it difficult to do so.
Therefore, I am planning to select five actual pop-up cards from the website and send them by mail to one person each, for a total of five people.
One of the presents I chose, the old Marunouchi Bldg. Not many people would want to cut these windows themselves, right?
I am not sure if I will get any applications since this is the first time I am doing this, but I will try it as an experiment for now and if it is well received, I will consider continuing the project in the future.
On the blog, I’ll make a note of what I’ve been struggling with in terms of application conditions, etc.
In this article, I will note some of the concerns I had with the application requirements and other issues.
First, the handling of personal information.
I know that if you send me your postal address (name, address, and zip code) information in advance when you apply, the subsequent process will go more smoothly.
However, in recent years, many people may feel hesitant to send their personal information. I am one of them.
Above all, my purpose is not to collect personal information. I do not want to collect addresses of people who do not send gifts.
That is why I accept applications with only the name and address of the prefecture. I will send the winning e-mail to the prize winners, and only then will I ask them to tell me their postal address.
Considering the mailing work and the amount of money (since the cost is my responsibility), I limited the postal address to within Japan. I apologize that those who live overseas are not eligible. I’m not sure how well I would be able to handle the work if I had to send it overseas.
This is an issue to be considered in the future.
The reason why only the name of the prefecture is required this time is because if there is no personal information at all at the time of application, it is impossible to tell whether the applicant is in Japan or overseas. As the passwords, I also received some people who usually send me their password request after reading the Japanese page with automatic translation, so I decided to use the way this time.
We decided to select the prize winners not by drawing lots, but by reading the comments. Only one application per person will be accepted, and if multiple applications are found, they will be excluded from the selection process.
The use of the cards received was limited to personal use only. Sending them to friends is fine, but selling them to others is prohibited. I hope that those who understand this will be given priority in the selection process. I’m not sure how far I can realistically go, but I would like to select those who will give serious consideration, as I inferred from the text of the comments.
…and so on, I am worried about that things, but I have uploaded the application form to the site for now.
I’m sure there will be some things that won’t work out, so this will be an issue for the future.
I really have no idea how many applications I will receive. I am worried.
I’ve also added the former Kanazawa Kaikosha, which I recently created, to the giveaway.
Therefore, I’m looking forward to receiving your applications (although only residents of Japan are eligible to apply).
By the way, I wrote about the number of pop-up cards I made at the beginning of this article, but when I did the math, I found out that I only make about 25 per year. That’s surprisingly low.
At my current pace, my life will be over before I make pop-up cards for every country in the world.
I guess I need to pick up the pace a little.