R.I.P.: Sony's English "from-hanna" site cut

[Taro Toporific]

Sony's plugs the plug on its site for expats. They were online for 3-4 years and at one time were getting 15-30,000 hits a day.

Subject: [f-h 2U:0070]All good things must come to an end...

From from-hanna 2U Tue Sep 16 02:00:18 2003 <hanna5@jp.from-hanna.com> |

From-hanna to YOU! Our Newsletter for September 16, 2003!
All good things must come to an end...

The entire from-hanna Team would like to thank each and every
one of its many loyal readers in Japan and around the world,
but...

Effective September 30, 2003, at 5:00 p.m., the website known as
"from-hanna" (http://www.jp.from-hanna.com), an English-language
information and lifestyle portal intended for the international
community in Japan, will officially be closed.

Please note however that the deadline for ordering products is
September 19, 2003 at 5:00 p.m.

[Caustic Saint]

Bummer. That was a fairly useful site. Any idea on why they're taking it down?

[Taro Toporific]

Bummer. That was a fairly useful site. Any idea on why they're taking it down?

MONEY

They had 5 levels of Sony management, from-hanna employees, gaijin content persons, client content, and not enough revenue. The "from-hanna" went bust EVEN THOUGH their content providers had the PAY to post their content. Sheesh.

In other words, Captain Japan in the past could have had Sony's from-hanna pay him 10,000yen for his latest story like this week's Sake-Drenched Postcard - Keeping the Tradition: Brewing Koshigoi Yoshino*. For the past year "from-hanna" CHARGING to post such stories as Infomercials. Way too "smart"---they lost their reader base.

*Keeping the Tradition: Brewing Koshigoi Yoshino Sake
http://www.bigempire.com/sake/sake.html / Sept 19

The Captain...journeys to the coast of Chiba to sample a local sake brewery's brew. (In truth, the subject matter - booze - was likely the prime mover for this piece.) So grab a glass, the Captain will be sure to pour you out a healthy slug at day's end.

.......Locally, Koshigoi is quenching parched throats in a variety of unique ways. Its jietai brew, whose label is decorated with paratroopers and ground troops going through maneuvers, has been prepared for a nearby Self-Defense Force base....

[GomiGirl]

The "from-hanna" went bust EVEN THOUGH their content providers had the PAY to post their content. Sheesh.

I looked at the site but was gob-smacked when I found out how much it cost to post content!! I decided not to go for it.. so really because they didn't have my compelling content they couldn't keep their readers..

OMG it is all my fault!! Apologies to all.

[American Oyaji]

I think it was mendokusai so they figured out a way to make the site die.