For about the last 2 weeks, the fairly new social media app “Clubhouse” has been all the rage for Japanese. With this invite-only, audio chatting app, you can listen to people’s conversations, like a podcast or an online conference, and the listeners may be allowed to participate too. It attracted some attention last year in the States, but in Japan, it instantaneously gained momentum. Suddenly, popular YouTubers, celebrities, journalists, and artists started to talk about it and everybody wanted to be part of it!
I don’t know why it is more popular in Japan than in the US or France. Especially considering that the app isn’t even translated into Japanese yet!
Celebrities have more influence in Japan generally speaking, in my opinion, so this has probably helped. The level of fandom in Japan is very high. Fans are very passionate and willing to pay a lot of money or spend hours in lines to be able to see their stars for just a matter of seconds. I have few otaku (“Japanese-style nerd/passionate fan”) friends in Japan who don’t mind paying hundreds of dollars to chat on the phone with their idols for few minutes! My friend Takeuchi Sachiko (竹内佐千子), who is a manga writer, actually wrote several manga about her own otaku adventure – in “2DK” and “ブラブラ珍所” (Burabura chinsho) amongst others.
The fact that Clubhouse is exclusive is also very appealing for Japan. For example, people will line up in front of stores for hours just to get a limited-edition item. In fact, some invites to the app have been illegally appearing online for sale. And you…are you interested in this app?