Bilingual Web Magazine DIG TOKYO has undergone a revamp!

Since the launch of our beta site in October 2018, DIG TOKYO has put emphasis on the bilingual part of “Bilingual Web Magazine," focusing on language learning content (English and Japanese). In terms of page layout, our site featured alternating English and Japanese text; in terms of content we published columns (articles) pertaining to eikaiwa (English language conversation) and uploaded videos intended as exercises in listening comprehension. The purpose of this revamp is to shift our editorial focus back to being a web magazine—the Japanese phrase for a magazine-style website focusing on fashion, lifestyle, and culture. Moving forward we will publish content on Tokyo—the city and its culture—and Japan as a whole, while also looking at the world through the lens of Tokyo and Japanese society.

So what does that mean for the site itself? The biggest change is that English and Japanese text will no longer be displayed side-by-side or in alternating blocks, but separately. At the top of each page you can find “EN" and “JP" buttons that will allow you to toggle between the two languages.

In addition, in order to better define our eight categories—which you can find along the header of this site—we’ll be updating and re-posting our old columns, in many cases under revised titles and under different categories that are more in line with the subject being explored. For the time being our focus will be on reformatting those articles while periodically publishing new content as well.

For readers who have been using our content to study Japanese, this new format should make our content more accessible and user-friendly. Until now, alternating English and Japanese text meant a lot of scrolling back and forth in order to read the two alongside each other. With this new design, you can open up the same article in English and Japanese in two separate browser windows and place them next to each other to allow for easy comparing. As for our listening comprehension video content, we will also be re-uploading readings of the majority of our columns in a new format, so look out for those to continue your Japanese studies. (Videos will be linked at the bottom of each article.) We will also be publishing columns about language under our category LANGUAGE & EDUCATION.

Stay tuned for more from DIG TOKYO! Get in touch with us via social media to share your thoughts, or if you would like to contribute to our site.

June 15, 2021
DIG TOKYO Director
G. Kazuo Peña