Mixi, Inc. (ミクシィ Mikushī) is one of several SNS (social networking service) sites in Japan. The focus of mixi is "community entertainment", that is, meeting new people by way of common interests. Users can send and receive messages, write in a diary, read and comment on others' diaries, organize and join communities and invite their friends.

Started in February 2004, there are more than 10 million members and 1 million communities, and more than 2 millions page views per day as of December 2007.

In retrospect, it is like a myspace except for those that can READ in 漢字, カタカナ, and ひらがな -- If you cannot read with enough fluency, you cannot access around the site.

Here are some aspects of this site:

- A community is a place for people to share their opinions through an online forum and a way to express tastes and hobbies.

- A footprint (ashiato (足あと, ashiato)) is a function that allows a user to see who has visited their page.

- mixi is an invitation-only service, meaning that one can only join via an invitation from a current member of the service. However, once invited, membership is free and open to anyone over 18.

- "MAIMIKU" myMIXI, or MAIMIKU for short means buddy or friend. This is similar to contact in flickr or zooomr, however Maimiku involves approval process. Notify the friendship each other and upon endorsement, self-uploaded picture will appear in respective facebook of each personal page. When you are first invited by someone, you are registered as her or his MYMIKU, that at the same time means she or he becomes your first MAIMIKU. You might grow your MAIMIKU list over time. The maximum possible number of Maimiku user allowed to have is 1,000.

- The word mixi is a combination of mix and I, referring to the idea that the user, "I", "mixes" with other users through the service.

- "Mixi Station", a client program that detects songs being played in iTunes and Windows Media Player and uploads them automatically to a communally accessible list in the "Music" section, was implemented late in June 2006. By July 2006, support for winamp was implemented via a winamp plugin, which was quickly made official by Mixi.

- Mixi tsukare（ミクシィ疲れ, Mixi Fatigue）", a psychological state of a Japanese youth experiencing a sense of tiring from using Mixi and voicing a desire to discontinue using Mixi and finally deciding to terminate the Mixi account.

- Mixi added the feature to upload your own video content, along with the ability to post content from YouTube.


This site is all the rage in Japan, and not having a mixi is like saying you live in Japan and you've never eaten rice before. This is a cultural aspect towards the growing generation of westernization with Japan due to the fact that nothing like this has been established before. This type of 'chatting' and 'social networking' has opened up Japan's young teens to experience a different kind of way to talk with friends and even make new ones.

The website: http://www.mixi.jp/

You can only read the kana on the site if you have a Japanese Language plug-in that is downloaded into your computer, otherwise you cannot even look around the site.

Remember! You can only be registered on mixi.jp if you know somebody on it, otherwise you cannot join.