What in heavens name is this good for?

[Seon-a Kim]

That's what I got when I went to a site to upload a Flash movie.

I got that message as soon as the page was loaded, so it seems like some people don't like "strangers" to enter their site and have a system installed what checks your IP to see what country you come from. I also don't get it that they keep a lot of Japanese people away like this who live in another country and it must really fun for those people to see a message like that popping up

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

I think you are mistaken, although I have no way to verify my hopothesis.

I don't think it was referring to your country, but rather the language of your operating system. Web-tracking software can easily get this and even more detailed information about your computer. That site was probably programmed to block non-Japanese OS based computers from acessing, or something like that.

If my guess is correct, then it's most likely done not with ill-intent but rather with the intent to save money on bandwidth.

 

[doinkies]

I think you are mistaken, although I have no way to verify my hopothesis.
I don't think it was referring to your country, but rather the language of your operating system. Web-tracking software can easily get this and even more detailed information about your computer. That site was probably programmed to block non-Japanese OS based computers from acessing, or something like that.
If my guess is correct, then it's most likely done not with ill-intent but rather with the intent to save money on bandwidth.

I also think so, though doinkies has never been to a site like that where you couldn't post messages if you didn't have a Japanese OS.

doinkies has been to some sites where at the bottom it says "Sorry, Japanese Only", but this is referring to the fact that there is no English version of the site available, so it's only in Japanese.

 

[Ewok85]

Not uncommon to block sites based on IP, and lock it down to a country or certain IP range. Mainly done for bandwidth management, but theres ways around it (foreign proxies for example).

 

[DoctorP]

why not post the link so that we can see more of what is going on?

 

[Mike Cash]

It is also common to see "Japanese Only" on some chat rooms. And very often they don't mean "Japanese Language Only".....they mean "Japanese People Only".

I suppose part of the reason is they don't like to be flooded with people with low levels of Japanese ability coming there to practice Japanese and gumming up the flow of their conversation in the process.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Not only that, but gaijin are literally just everywhere. You can't get rid of them!

I remember once when I joined a chat conversation in a Japanese chatroom, and after I let it out that I am a gaijin, it seemed like half the other people there were all gaijin, too. (They all declared their gaijinness.)

 

[Mike Cash]

It's usually pretty easy to spot....

 

[Seon-a Kim]

It probably has to do with bandwidth, but still...

http://yu-net.info/swfup/upload.php

 

[JimmySeal]

I visited the page from an English OS and English browser in Japan and got:

ﾆ但ﾆ誰ﾆ短ﾆ湛ﾂ青ｧﾅ津?

ﾆ但ﾆ誰ﾆ短ﾆ湛ﾅ陳?ﾅ津?窶堋ｪ窶堋?窶堙ｨ窶堙懌?堋ｹ窶堙ｱﾂ。

Restricted access
You do not have permission to access this [page]

 

[Mrjones]

Well finnish os are not denied , i can access with ease. They probably banned only eigo-ban editons.

 

[Mike Cash]

Well finnish os are not denied , i can access with ease. They probably banned only eigo-ban editons.

You're accessing from a Japanese IP.

I just tried it (Japanese OS and Japanese IP) and it worked fine.

 

[RockLee]

アクセス制限

アクセス権限がありません。

That's what I get.

 

[doinkies]

doinkies got the same message.

 

[JimmySeal]

I just tried accessing from a Japanese OS and browser, and I got a full page instead of the Access Denied page I was getting before.

 

[ricecake]

I too,got the DENIED ACCESS message.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

Instead of just posting whether it worked or not, it would be more useful (for science purposes) to include your operating system's language and IP location by country.

 

[Ewok85]

Not only that, but gaijin are literally just everywhere. You can't get rid of them!

Tell me about it! In my building theres about 5 Chinese, 1 Korean and myself! heh

 

[DoctorP]

I also had no problems with the page.

 

[doinkies]

Instead of just posting whether it worked or not, it would be more useful (for science purposes) to include your operating system's language and IP location by country.

My OS is in English and I have a U.S. IP. So yeah, the site banned uploads from English OSs and foreign IPs to save bandwidth.

The Japanese streaming TV site Gyao also doesn't let people outside of Japan stream their videos, probably also to save bandwidth (it is a streaming TV site after all, they probably need doinkloads of bandwidth).

 

[Mike Cash]

Tell me about it! In my building theres about 5 Chinese, 1 Korean and myself! heh

Real Estate Term of the Day: "Steering"

 

[epigene]

I use English Windows XP and browser and have no problem (accessing from Tokyo). :?

 

[undrentide]

I use Japanese OS (Windows 2000) both at home and at the office, and Japanese browser (Netscape at home, Internet Explorer at work). IP is in Japan for both, but somehow at work I cannot access the page, while have no problem at home.


(It seems that the script of the uploader program used for this page has a "deny.cgi" with which the owner can specify the IP not to permit to view but I don't know how it actually works.)

 

[Taiko666]

JWW

The insular nature of many Japanese seems to also apply to the their view of the internet. I was chatting to a Japanese friend who wants to find a vinyl record of an old British band. She's travelled abroad and speaks English and a little French. I recommended she try a British internet site that dealt with such stuff. "Iya da!!!" "But you can read English perfectly well!" "No, no- foreign internet sites have viruses! I never use!" "So you never browse non-Japan sites?" "Never! I am Japanese."

Other clues: Yahoo is worldwide. If you have a Yahoo ID, it will work in every local Yahoo site in the world, except of course Japan. For Yahoo Japan, you need a Japanese ID. Moreover, this ID doesn't work in non-Japanese Yahoo sites.
Incentally, the Yahoo Japan describes itself as a 'site for Japanese people." It doesn't describe itself as a "site for Japanese-speaking people."

eBay would seem to be the most popular auction site in the world. One can browse and purchase stuff from almost anywhere. But... nobody in Japan appears to have heard of it. They use Yahoo Auctions, where people in Japan sell stuff to other people in Japan. The rest of the world? Who cares? Another friend says this is because payment would be difficult. "Credit card?" "Not many Japanese have one" "IMO?" "What?"

I don't think any of this stems from practicalities such as bandwidth or lack of Japanese fonts. Wishing to avoid contact with foreigners seems to be a much more likely explanation.

So in Japan, the World Wide Web could be described as the Japan Wide Web.

 

[gaijinalways]

Ebay no longer operates in Japan, so this would be another reason that maybe few Japanese have heard of it. You can use Yahoo auctions to sell to other areas besides Japan.

Other clues: Yahoo is worldwide. If you have a Yahoo ID, it will work in every local Yahoo site in the world, except of course Japan. For Yahoo Japan, you need a Japanese ID. Moreover, this ID doesn't work in non-Japanese Yahoo sites.
Incentally, the Yahoo Japan describes itself as a 'site for Japanese people." It doesn't describe itself as a "site for Japanese-speaking people."

Odd about the IDs. Though considering their website statement, maybe it's not odd.