Find BIJ Events or Rooms on Clubhouse!
Clubhouse is great for connecting with people in Japan I have learned, in a very short time indeed.
In January 2021, when I joined Clubhouse, I knew immediately the platform would be a fantastic place to reach out to people and was the ‘human connection’ platform we all needed, at the beginning of year two of the global COVID19 pandemic.
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio-chat iPhone app launched in April 2020 by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth of Alpha Exploration Co. that facilitates auditory communication for groups of a few individuals up to over 5,000 people. In May 2020, the social networking app was valued at nearly $100 million. Wikipedia
Since then my following on Clubhouse has grown not least by hosting, co-hosting, co-moderating and joining interesting ‘Rooms’ mostly with a connection to Japan, and most not all, Business or professional life in Japan related. On March 5th, after having applied for a Club for ‘Business In Japan’ and waiting over a month… Clubhouse released a new update to the software which allowed anyone to create up to two Clubs, so I quickly created the Business In Japan Club and Followers (anyone can) and Members (invited or nominated only) are growing strongly.
When are BIJ Events or Rooms on Clubhouse?
You can now find BIJ Events or Rooms on Clubhouse twice weekly and ad hoc, every now and again, at lunchtimes and later evenings. Recent Events have featured interesting subjects & guests Japan and Business , and Japan Start up guests
[Weekly Rooms]
Mondays 12pm~ JST Business In Japan
Mondays 9:30pm~ JST Founded In Japan: uncommon knowledge about starting up
+ Weekdays adhoc~ Other themed rooms featuring interesting speakers & subjects
Clubhouse is great for connecting with people in Japan – it just might be the ‘human connection’ people needed
So if you are on Clubhouse, join us in some of the Rooms/Events held and if you want to see more, Follow me directly and Follow the Business In Japan Club to make sure you don’t miss seeing the them in your ‘Hallway’! We’re starting to proactively invite more people and perhaps even organizations like Chamber of Commerce in Japan, or well know companies to speak in Rooms.
To help keep people who attend Business In Japan Rooms & Events on Clubhouse stay connected, because Clubhouse is great for connecting with people in Japan, to also be able to ask questions they were not able to during the event and for anyone who couldn’t make or otherwise missed a Room/Event (including those not yet on the platform perhaps!) we have made a SLACK Workspace. You can join it below and discover events there and in the Japan Events & Clubhouse Rooms LinkedIn group too:
Japan Events (& Clubhouse Rooms) – a LinkedIn Group just for events!
Browse upcoming, see past or promote your own Japan related Clubhouse Rooms/Events here in this LinkedIn group.
Don’t have an iPhone?
For those that would be interested to join events but unfortunately (or somewhat defiantly or miffed) don’t have an iPhone, there are workarounds if you have any iDevice that can run iOS13 or above.
In short, if you have an iPad or an old iPhone (not too old, either) or can get hold of one, you can download the app to that, using your phone number sign up to reserve your name & join the waitlist, and an invite sent to your phone, will allow you in.
When is Clubhouse App arriving on Android? Well according to the Founders on one of their weekly Townhalls and Welcome Rooms, they hired their first Android developer in mid February 2021, and they said 3-4 months out. In any case, BEWARE any app on Android at the moment, and check the Internet even if you are reading this after May-June 2021 – because there have already been reports of more than one Android ‘trojan’ app being released (though likely only for jailbroken phones – so don’t go there).
For getting yourself an invite, maybe BIJ Members in the BIJ Group, the Events (& Clubhouse Rooms) Group or even the SLACK channel have a spare Invite they can use to let you in – and keep in mind if you haven’t heard, once you are on the waitlist it isn’t first come first serve, at least for many people. Depending on how many people already on the app have your number in their iPhone also (and how often Clubhouse turn on this tap it is suspected) any or all of them may get a notification saying they can let you in “..without using up an invite”!
This Post was written by Jason Ball, a “Fixer” and people Connector, in Tokyo and owner of the Business In Japan | LinkedIn group Founded 2/2008 | 77,000+ members as at 2/2022, 35%+ in Japan.