I stumbled across piqniq.jp in a Google Adsense banner on my own site. Google apparently is capable once in a blue moon of delivering ads relevant to the blog's “Long Tail of Web2.0” theme. I don’t have much to say about this site except how commonplace social networking features have become. Piqniq could have been executed with plain forum software like vbulletin, ipb, or phpbb without significant loss of functionality. You could still exchange information and make friends on a forum. However, the emphasis on profiles and the ability accumulate friends – seems to make the experience a lot more human. I wonder how long it will be before we see turnkey social networking software.

Anyhow, being a foreigner in a strange land, especially a homogenous and somewhat xenophobic place like Japan can be a bit lonely. Some of the discussions seem really useful such as finding a good English speaking dentist in Tokyo. (This is the kind of stuff MojoPages will be focusing on in the US.) Check it out.