Travel Japan Travel websites by Japanese students

[gregapan]

Hi, JRef people! I teach a travel industry communication course at a university in Tokyo. My students make websites giving information about their home area in Japan. I would like to give these sites a wider audience, not just have them sit unused. Would any of you be interested in checking them out? Though I live here, I always learn new about new places and aspects of culture from their work.
I'll try to post some links to their sites here later today. Please let us know what you think!
(Btw, I posted this in the general forum, too.)

 

[thomas]

Hi Greg, welcome to the forum.

If the sites are non-commercial feel free to post them to this thread. And please don't double-post.

 

[gregapan]

Yes, they are definitely non-commercial. Sorry for the double post, I wasn't sure where to put it.

 

[gregapan]

Is anyone interested in travel to Miyagi, Aichi, or Kagawa prefectures?
Here are some websites created by students in Japan about their home prefectures.
The students are studying travel industry communication.
HOME - miyagim
Home - aichii
Home - Kagawa
Please let us know what you think. Thank you!
G. Friedman
Meiji University
Dept. of Global Japanese Studies

 

[thomas]

Very nice pages, Greg!

I'll review them later. Did your students have previous knowledge in web design or is this a project in English class?

 

[gregapan]

Apologies, it looks like there is a spot of technical trouble with one of the pages on the Aichi site. Pardon us while we clear that up, and do enjoy the other pages and sites in the meantime.

 

[gregapan]

Hi, Thomas. No, and yes. They are using some rather friendly software that lets us create decent-looking sites. The course is focused on tourism industry communication. Though not all of the students will go on to jobs in the industry, I push them to be as professional as possible.

 

[thomas]

Just a quick review, Greg. I am not commenting on the content itself, just on how it is delivered and on the design.

Miyagi: probably my most favourite, nice and user-friendly layout, easy to navigate; the colour combination (dark-green background, orange navigation) is a tad challenging, but the presentation is clear, elegant and appealing, as header tags and text are in the same colour. Some video links under "Events" are not linked.

Aichi: stylish front page, nice content presentation; the orange and yellow H tags under "History" are a bit difficult to read, the font set and the colours should be altered; the text boxes should be less colourful also (pastel colours perhaps); the other content pages on the other hand require a bit more styling (text and background colour white).

Kagawa: very appealing presentation of content, a bit more contrast however wouldn't harm: white background, white text background, the purple H tags and the logo need slight revision.

Disclaimer: the views expressed above are strictly personal, de gustibus non est disputandum. Given that time and resources in a university project are limited, I'd hire each of your teams without hesitation inorder to present their content on JREF.

Brilliant idea, congratulations to you and your students!

 

[gregapan]

Thanks for the feedback on the site design, Thomas! It's actually good to hear some tips like that from an outside person. We may take them into consideration. The semester is officially over now, but I'll still be in touch with the students. Btw, they work on several projects during the semester. The sites are just the last one. Not enough time, really, to do it well.