User:Wadawa5/The Gaiza Project

The Gaiza Project is an umbrella for a series creative projects from the group Gaiza. The Gaiza Project began in 2008 as a way for the group Gaiza to chronicle and share its history. Some members of the group were concerned that their heavy drinking and drug use would hinder their ability to remember their own history. A few stories were posted on a Gaiza Project website, along with some photos and basic information, but the group quickly lost interest in the project. In early 2010, the Gaiza member known as Koala revived the Gaiza Project and expanded it to include other creative works from the group Gaiza. The primary creative activity from the Gaiza Project is collectively branded as "Third Culture Vice." In early 2011, the Third Culture Vice blog and podcasts were allegedly shutdown because of their content.

Third Culture Vice
The primary creative project from the Gaiza Project is known as Third Culture Vice. The Third Culture Vice blog gained a small following shortly after its debut, primarily from the extended social network and friends of the group Gaiza. The blog was formatted as a niche specialty blog that offered faux advice. The advice was usually in the form of how-to-articles and random tips covering lewd topics, and was complimented by short stories loosely based on real experiences of the Gaiza group. In January, 2011, the blog and companion podcast were allegedly shutdown. The Third Culture Vice website had all blog posts and links to podcasts were removed. The following message was available for followers: "Shutdown. Banned. We had to pull down all of our posts and content. But don’t you worry, my crazy little animals, we’ll be back!. We have to take care of a little nonsense from the Big Bad Bogeyman first. Peace and Love, Koala and the Gaiza Crew." It is unclear why the site's content was removed, but rumors from the blog's followers suggest that Third Culture Vice and the Gaiza Project are involved in legal litigation that prevents them from distributing contested posts or creating new content. Other rumors claim that the blog, ran from Google's blogger.com, was shutdown by an offended Google, Inc. A subsequent Facebook fan campaign was initiated to protest the "banned blog." In one post, a Facebook user claiming to be Koala thanked other users for their support, joked that there was far more support now than before the ban, and that Third Culture Vice would return as soon as possible.

Gaiza
Gaiza is a loose association of Third Culture Kids who grew up in Okinawa, Japan. The members of Gaiza have traditionally tried to avoid creating any sort of organization for the group, and it is not clear how many people are part of the group. A core group does seem to exist, but they typically chosen to hide their true identities online, and go by animal aliases: Worm, Ape, Koala, Swan and Turtle. The Gaiza member known as Turtle is believed to be Brian Edward Graham, who died from cancer in Hawaii in 2004.