About the Website

Birth

This website was first launched on 2023/04/10 on Neocities as preparation to launch the Kishido Temma fansite, though it had been in the works for quite some time before that.

I've been interested in web development since I was very young, starting with Tumblr's custom themes. Even as corporate-run social media took over, I kept making personal websites, bouncing between builders like Wix, Weebly, uCoz, Webflow, Jimdo, and more. I found Carrd back when it was still small, long before it took off. Somewhere in there I discovered FC2 Website, which let me actually code my own site instead of using a builder, and I picked up more about Bootstrap from Toyhouse's custom templates.

I eventually had to part with my FC2 Website. I kept a more "professional" Neocities site too, then settled into Carrd once it had matured. My urge to code my own personal site again came back after Twitter's meltdown in late 2022 and my move into the Fediverse - where I found people still making personal and fannish websites, which warmed my heart and pushed me to build my own.

Name

Hako Aiko comes from two words: hako (箱, box), and Aiko, my own name. It started as my side Twitter handle. I was stuck on a name until I remembered hako (箱, box) from my favorite light novel, Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria. It fits - that Twitter and this website are both pretty much a box containing myself, my own little world. My favorite word and chosen "theme," hakoniwa (箱庭, miniature garden), also contains hako in it.

Miniature Garden comes from the title of my most beloved fanfic. It stuck with me and became part of myself too — the "theme" that led to the name Hako Aiko. I picked it simply because it sounds cool; I first heard it a lot from fictional works like doujinshi and HJL's artworks.

Outside the literal garden and miniature toys, what does "miniature garden" bring to mind? For me it's bittersweet - a small prison of happiness. HJL's artwork carries the subtitle "lifestyle in a toybox," and those words struck me and shaped that impression. I like using alternate names with a similar meaning or feeling too, like Dioramic Garden, on other sites.

Layout and Coding