Frank Kogan

A strong subbing effort isn't going to have a base of operations on Tumblr, due to all of the communication required. So they'll all be hanging out at the forum where the subbing is based.

And given how Japan's obsession with copyright extends to pictures, (which is why there's nearly no boyband online) and tumblr is aaaaalllll about uploaded media, the two aren't much of a fit. Online Jpop fan communities are necessarily half-underground now, with password protections for their sharing.

Of course, Tumblr has still gotten away with a good amount of Jpop because it's so hard to search for anything there. But that's just another indication of Japan's lack of interest in the site. They have 2ch.

Nonetheless, I think those stats are really interesting, that there's a pointer twoards Southeast Asia 1) having a strong English education program and 2) finding tumblr convenient enough to collaborate with instead of reinventing wheels making their own picboards. Also reminds me of an article that once said that Japan's video game industry has lagged behind US blockbusters because their games are continually wasting time building engines from scratch while US games all work on and off of the Unreal Engine.