Asiajin

On Tuesday, one of Japan’s most renowned universities, Waseda Daigaku, opened a virtual campus in Second Life. Waseda aims at making it easier for their students to cooperate with those from Princeton University, which has opened a campus on an island in Second Life last year.

Waseda says it wants to explore the possibilities of conducting cross-cultural research in virtual worlds. Students are also able to access the the private university’s digital archive via Second Life. The virtual campus was designed and constructed by Tokyo-based web company Mobile Factory.

Both the Princeton and the Waseda campus can be visited by anyone.

Tags: Japan, News by Serkan Toto
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It was inevitable and actually long overdue:
Mega-popular video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga, Japan’s answer to Youtube, announced it will remove movies and anime clips infringing on copyrights held by various Japanese companies.

The move was triggered by a request coming from the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), the Japan Video Software Association and the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. Nico Nico came to an agreement with these organizations by promising they will delete all existing video files on the site the member companies regard as problematic.

Moreover, Nico Nico from now on has to install measures to prevent uploading of copyright infringing content on the site. The three associations also said they don’t want to see so-called “MAD” video on Nico Nico if these user-made video and audio remixes violate copyrights.

This is very bad news for Nico Nico.

Tags: Japan, Video by Serkan Toto
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