So, in America you have 4chan.org. In Japan you have 2chan.net, aka Futaba Channel. These are two epicenters of Internet culture. They have many imitators, but no replacements.

There are a few technical differences. For example, 2chan.net only allows posts from within Japan, and the way posts link to each other is a little different. Board names don't look like directory names in the UI. It's not even obvious whether 2chan's /b/ is "random" like 4chan's /b/; maybe they keep their camwhores and funny photoshops and inane mems in another board.

And unlike their text-based counterparts, there's little exchange between the two. 4chan's /b/ occasionally hosts a "go to 2chan and post what you find there" thread, but it seldom lives long. 4chan has a prominent notice on every page in Japanese reminding people to post in English, but either Japanese people don't post to 4chan or the notice works extremely well.

Has anyone spent enough time at 2chan to explain what kind of memetic gold may lie there?