Following up a lead I saw on a post on SEO Book, I downloaded a list of the top one million web sites by traffic. With a quick search for the key phrases “japan”, “nippon”, “nihon” and “tokyo” and a sort, I condensed the 600 or more hits down to the short list below of the top twenty most visited Japan-related domain names. Note that the vast majority of the sites were actually pr0n-related, so I deleted them (and one dodgy search engine spam site) and thus present the edited top twenty. The full data is from Quantcast. FAQs about the data, and an interesting search feature, can be found here. Oh, and I’m at position 225,812, just in case you’re wondering.
UPDATE: I just had a trackback from The Otaku, and I see that site should be in the table at position number four. If there’s anyone else I’ve missed, please give me shout!
UPDATE 2: I forgot Danny Choo too! In he goes at number 9, although quite frankly he barely passes my pr0n filter.
UPDATE 3: And 3yen and metropolis.co.jp! Sorry guys!
UPDATE 4: And JREF comes in at number 12.
UPDATE 5: Thanks to a post on Japanator, I’ve revisited the list, and found many (too many?) extra sites, all manga and anime-related.
Top 52 most visited English-language sites about Japan
| Rank | URL | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7897 | www.japaneselifestyle.com.au | An extremely plain low-maintenance site that probably rates as an authority site in Google. |
| 8356 | www.animecubed.com | Anime wallpaper, images, etc. |
| 9173 | www.tokyopop.com | US manga distributor. |
| 9738 | japan-guide.com | Another extremely plain low-maintenance site that probably rates as an authority site in Google. |
| 10959 | www.animegalleries.net | Anime wallpaper, images, etc. |
| 11290 | www.absoluteanime.com | Anime character database. |
| 11346 | animeblogger.net | Blogging site for anime fans. |
| 11998 | www.animenewsnetwork.com | Anime news network, as you might have guessed. |
| 12572 | www.theotaku.com | A site for fans of all things related to Japanese cartoons and animation. |
| 13752 | www.discountanimedvd.com | A site for fans of all things related to Japanese cartoons and animation. |
| 15462 | www.minitokyo.net | An anime art site that I’d never heard of before. |
| 19287 | www.animewallpapers.com | Yet another anime wallpaper site. |
| 22677 | www.animelyrics.com | Lyrics from anime theme songs. |
| 23556 | www.animenation.net | Anime shopping site. |
| 25104 | www.anime.com | Anime portal. |
| 25618 | 4chan.org | English version of 2ch. |
| 27872 | www.japantoday.com | Japan news feeds and a large BBS community. |
| 30049 | www.animenfo.com | Manga and anime database. |
| 33153 | web-japan.org | Official Japanese goverment portal, but it seems to be broken. |
| 36067 | cdjapan.co.jp | Anime media store. |
| 36317 | dannychoo.com | Anime and idols. |
| 38423 | www.japanprobe.com | The highest-rated site I regularly read. News from a side of Japan that is rarely seen. |
| 38785 | www.animelab.com | Manga and anime image galleries, etc. |
| 39645 | www.animenation.com | .com version of this anime shopping site. |
| 40537 | www.japantimes.co.jp | Web site of one of Japan’s biggest English-language newspapers. |
| 40864 | www.animemetro.com | Anime portal site. |
| 40983 | www.jref.com | Big Japan reference site and active forums. |
| 41168 | www.animezen.net | Another anime portal site. |
| 41617 | www.animechains.net | Anime bulletin board site. |
| 42178 | www.animepaper.net | Anime fan art and scans site. |
| 42339 | www.thisisanime.com | Anime shopping site. |
| 43336 | www.teaching-english-in-japan.net | English teacher-targeted portal, but a rather thin site. Perhaps they rank highly for a few key search terms? |
| 44102 | japanesetranslator.co.uk | Japanese-English translator’s home page. |
| 45824 | www.japan-zone.com | Big Japan-related portal |
| 46971 | japanimation.com | Anime-related online store. |
| 47296 | animeondvd.com | Anime-related online store. |
| 47407 | www.keiichianimeforever.com | Anime portal. |
| 52355 | www.japan-partner.com | Japanese car exporter. |
| 52683 | www.anime-planet.com | Anime portal. |
| 52892 | www.animecornerstore.com | Anime shopping site. |
| 53004 | www.animeforum.com | Anime bulletin board site. |
| 53058 | www.3yen.com | Blogging on Japan, another of my regular reads |
| 53525 | www.animecastle.com | Anime shopping site. |
| 53529 | www.anime-source.com | Anime portal. |
| 54601 | japancupid.com | Dating site |
| 54606 | www.advancedanime.com | Yet another anime gallery of fan art, etc |
| 57464 | metropolis.co.jp | What’s on and other news magazine for Tokyo |
| 57748 | www.worldcupjapankorea.com | Hasn’t been updated since the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup, but still getting lots of traffic, it seems. |
| 58984 | animeworld.com | Anime and other info about Japan |
| 62144 | www.megatokyo.com | Long-running online comic based around Japan and gaming and other random stuff. |
| 62881 | www.myanimecards.com | Electronic greetings cards in an anime style. |
| 66082 | japundit.com | Another regular read for me. Collection of Engrish humour and news mostly from Japan. |
| 67864 | www.japanese-name-translation.com | Does just what it says in the URL. |
13 Comments
Neil · March 17, 2009 at 20:47
Found another cool site to add to the list, seems very new too Anime Oxide
La Carmina · April 11, 2009 at 09:41
There’s also my Japanese Gothic Lolita fashion & street style site – http://www.lacarmina.com/blog
^__^
Tony Hall · January 7, 2010 at 14:03
Stop killing whales you dick heads.
nile unite used car export · January 10, 2010 at 23:29
Very interesting site, I want to appear as top 20 Japanese site in one day,
My site is Japanese used car export site. recycling used cars to parts.
http://www.nile-united.co.jp
kyushudan · February 15, 2010 at 13:27
How about a great Japanese Castle website? http://www.japanese-castle-explorer.com/
Anime · February 23, 2010 at 22:06
There’s loads of Anime websites up there lol. Some good ones are Animepalm, Animefreak, Anilinkz, Anime-Media, Zomganime, Animethat, and plenty more…
Also: I love Japan. I plan on moving to Osaka eventually, I loved Yukimura Sanada, and I want to see the famous Osaka Castle due to it.
anime · October 9, 2010 at 20:28
I assume the reason is because the anime is of course common in Japan. In the U.S. is something different, something maybe a little strange, so people can see it as an objective interest. If you were in Japan and said: “I am a big fan of the anime” people probably would not notice, as if a Japanese man said: “I’m a fan of American comedies” because it would be a genre so huge that most everyone find something they like. Both people would likely getting a repose as well …. oh … that what?
hentai · November 7, 2010 at 16:48
Anime it’s new on the market, and indeed on some markets, it’s something strange and it may take some time to have some good succes. I belive that all adult have good succes.
info · June 19, 2012 at 22:39
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TJ · June 28, 2012 at 15:12
The Japan Rants is working it’s way up the rankings! http://www.thejapanrants.com/blog/ If you have time, take a peek!
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Tomoko! · June 21, 2013 at 04:49
I love Rangl.com !..!..! (^_v_^)
http://rangl.com/Category/View
Thanasis Karavasilis · December 1, 2016 at 21:46
Manga.Tokyo is a new anime and otaku site that is climbing the ranks! Check it out!