A look back on three years...
Nearly three years ago, I was stuck in a Japanese hospital bed in Izumo-shi, Shimane-ken, after my appendix decided it had had enough of my company and wanted to part ways.
It was during that week of pain and tasteless food that The Foreigner-Japan finally went online with its first edition. Perhaps the difficulties we experienced back then were harbingers of things to come.
We didn't have much to begin with — just a couple of news feature articles I wrote and a photo essay compiled by photo editor Francois Bergeron. The design was perhaps a bit amateurish, and we definitely had no budget to speak of. We were complete unknowns trying to gain a readership in an already saturated market.
Readers who have followed our progress since March, 2003 will have noted a long list of changes, both to content, design and administration. Even now The Foreigner continues to grow and evolve as we move into our fourth year of existence. And our readers have followed us. Today, thousands of people from around the world continue to visit and revisit our pages every month.
Sometimes progress and changes have been difficult. The departure of our former webmaster Eelco Hoensalaar last year marked a difficult time for the magazine. Mr. Hoensalaar's contribution to the success of The Foreigner cannot be denied, and the photo editor and myself thank him for the hard work and long hours he put into creating the current design. We both wish him well.
Yet despite the ups and downs the publication has experienced, the work has always been rewarding, especially when dealing with new and energetic writers who offered their work for our publication. I have found their enthusiasm invigorating and inspiring, and like the readers of The Foreigner, I've been able to see Japan through fresh eyes again and again, with each new article, and each new photo essay.
As the 3rd anniversary looms, Francois and I have decided to look back to our humble beginnings. On March 13, The Foreigner-Japan will briefly republish one of the first articles ever to appear on these pages. I hope you will join us.
To all the men and women who have worked with us over the last three years, and who have contributed their time, words, and cameras, I thank you. Let's make 2006 a year to remember.
Matt N. Goerzen
Managing Editor
