Last July I hosted the immensely popular ‘Weird things about Japan‘ blogging festival. This time, in celebration of the new focus on Gakuranman.com, I’m holding the Spring matsuri on the topic of ‘Secret Japan’. I want you to let me in on your hidden dirty little secrets!

So read on for the instructions to the Spring 2010 issue of the Japansoc Matsuri! Let’s make it a good one!

By the way, last month’s Japan Blog Matsuri was hosted by Mazikeen. You can read all about Yokai – the ghosts and demons of Japan! I quite imagine you might find some yokai-esque things in the secret places revealed in this month’s matsuri too!

The theme?

What’s your best kept secret about Japan?

Ideally this would be a place or an event. Something like a wild local festival that most foreigners haven’t heard of or a sweet little resort hidden deep in the Japanese countryside. Perhaps even a bizarre tourist spot that is off the map?

But wait! For those of you who prefer to be a bit more personal, then you can let us in on the *real* secrets in your lives – those experiences you’re just a little embarrassed to talk about. Just be sure to keep it fairly clean! Even if you haven’t visited Japan, with a little research, I’m sure you can dig up some fascinating stuff most people haven’t heard of! Everybody’s welcome to enter :).

There are only three ‘rules’ that I would like to impose on this month’s matsuri, just as way of keeping it fun and readable.

The rules?

1) The blog post you write should be around 300 words long (approx. 3-4 paragraphs).

Video entries are fine as well, but please keep them about 3 minutes long :).

It may seem a bit totalitarian, but I had great success with the previous rules and matsuri theme. People have short attention spans when browsing blogs, so although I won’t rap your knuckles or disqualify you if you write a lot, it’s probably best that you keep the words down ;).

2) The blog post must contain a picture.

The image should show what you are claiming is secret! For personal stories, get creative with a picture! Plenty of royalty free images here.

If you can’t include one, I’ll add one myself when I post all the entries.

3) Please use the below link and keywords to point to this website.

Okay, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but I think it’ll help both me and you. Linking using keywords relevant to a website helps create a stronger focus on the internet for that site, and because all the entries will be around ‘Secret Japan’ it should raise the exposure for the finished matsuri too! You’re totally free not to do so, but I would love you if you gave it a try! Here’s the link:

gakuran.com/category/secret-japan/

Use the keywords ‘Secret Japan’ to link to it, like this: Secret Japan

Finally, anyone at all with a Japan-related blog can enter and feel free to submit older posts, although I strongly encourage new posts.

How do I submit my entry?

There are 3 ways to do so!

1) Email me a link to your post: Contact Gakuranman
2) Submit your entry via the Blog Carnival Widget
3) Reply to this blog post with a link to your own matsuri post

If you need any more information about the matsuri, here is the Japansoc Matsuri FAQ

When is the deadline?

The deadline for this matsuri is 30th April 2010.

I will then sort out all the entries and make a big post unifying them all right here to be posted right afterwards!

Okay! Looking forward to hearing all your secrets! Any questions, ask below :).