Naoko McCracken

WordPress 2.8 has been downloaded more than 8.5 million times. Did you know over 45% of those downloads are non-English versions of WordPress? Popularity of WordPress is worldwide, and Japan is no exception.

The growth of WordPress in Japan has been phenomenal. About a year ago, the daily download rate of WordPress Japanese version was only one fourth of that of today. Just as in the U.S. and many other countries, the Japanese WordPress community is seen as one of the most successful and active open source communities.

WordCamp Kyoto (photo by

In my session, I want to talk about how WordPress is doing in Japan, and reasons why Japanese people love WordPress. I’m planning to cover topics like:

• Blogging and social networking trend in Japan
• WordPress vs. other blog/CMS apps
• Importance of mobile device accessibility
• Barriers and differences
• What are WordPress users in Japan like?
• WordCamps and meetups

If you want to learn interesting facts about WordPress users in Japan or you’re just curious how to say “WordPress” in Japanese, come to my session on Saturday morning!