Compared to previous years activity this site plateaued this year. In 2009 it received 169,509 hits. In 2010 it saw 467,234 hits. This year, largely due to the infrequent posting (about half as much as last year) it had only a marginal increase receiving 507,133 PVs. Most of the hits this year were fuelled by search engine traffic on previous years posts. The year wasn’t all that bad though, midway through the year the site surpassed the million PageView mark, an event that slipped through without any fanfare.

Anyway, as in previous years (here is 2009 and 2010), following is a look at 5 of the best and 5 of the worst performing posts that this site has dished up this year. The popularity, or lack thereof, is based purely upon number of pageviews.

The Hits

I Scored Last Night

Strangely, the best performing post for this site in 2011 was I Scored Last Night that featured a before and after shot that parodied Pat Morita of The Karate Kid notoriety. This post benefits from excessively high (and undeserved) Google ranking for the keyword search “Mr Miyagi”.

Tokyo Rockabilly Club

A dying breed of big fifties revivalists, the Tokyo Rockabilly Club have attained cult icon notoriety for their highly distinctive combination of Elvis hair, yakuza tattoos and predisposition to publicly jive to 50s rock ’n’ roll. This post also benefits from a high Google ranking for the keyword search “rockabilly”.

Weird Japanese Ice Cream Flavours

Weird Japanese Ice Cream Flavours is an article that lists ten weird Japanese ice cream flavours. The flavours are based upon local Japanese regional delicacies such as horse sashimi, beef tongue and whale. Facebook was the biggest referrer to this page in 2011.

Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods

Part 2 in a cool Japanese food series is Another 10 Cool Japanese Foods which showcased 10 tasty morsels of Japanese culinary goodness such as edamame, shabu-shabu, soba, tonkatsu, karaage and more. It was StumbleUpon’s biggest referral to this site for 2011.

The Japan Earthquake from Tokyo Tower

The Japan Earthquake from Tokyo Tower is an article containing footage from a tourist who was on the observation deck of the 4,000 tonne steel structure at the time that the massive earthquake struck, probably one of the last places that you would want to be during the 5th largest earthquake in recorded history.

The Misses

Keirin in Japan

Keirin, meaning “racing wheels”, is a track cycling event that originated in Japan in 1948. The article was a submission to the September 2011 Japan Blog Matsuri with the theme “Reasons to Visit Japan” and was the least viewed article on the site in 2011.

Nattō

Nattō is a Japanese superfood that is long recognized as one of Japan’s most unique traditional health foods and has been a staple source of Japanese nutrition since feudal Japan. Nattō is a powerful smelling, strong flavoured, sticky web of fermented soybeans that is highly nutritious and rich in protein.

The Pachinko Empire Strikes Back

The “Fever Star Wars” pachinko range of machines has all of the Star Wars bells and whistles — illuminating life-size lightsaber, rotating-dome astromechs, blaring Star Wars score and sound effects, TIE fighter canopy motifs, and a red-eyed Darth Vader mask dropping into view during play.

Nuts Bang!!!

Nuts Bang!!! is the 23rd single of the Japanese rock band FLOW released on 22 July 2009 to celebrate summer. This heavy-hitting, surf-inspired summertime rock release was a submission to the August 2011 Japan Blog Matsuri with the theme “Summer Lovin’!”.

Donut Punchers

The Kyushu-based romance hotel Banana & Donut (バナナとドーナツ), whose logo is a symbolism of sexual representation depicting an over-exerting banana on the verge of penetrating a coy looking donut, brazenly advertises on billboard-style highway signage this union of the phallus and yoni.

For more check out the Hits and Misses of 2009.