What to do if an earthquake strikes? LINE is the answer

We recently conducted a survey among college students and found that LINE is their most favorite social media platform. Most interestingly when we asked what they would do if there was an earthquake, they listed LINE as their preferred type of communication channel after the phone, email and the internet. This is a topic I… Continue reading What to do if an earthquake strikes? LINE is the answer

Colopl Runs “North Japan Support Campaign” To Support Tourism

Colopl, Inc. [J] has announced that from September 6th through October 31st they will be doing the “Tohoku Ouen Campaign 2012” (North Japan Support Campaign), which will aid tourism in the northern region of Honshu, through their location based game “Colony Life.” This plan aims to support the recovery from last year’s major earthquake, and… Continue reading Colopl Runs “North Japan Support Campaign” To Support Tourism

Disaster Prevention App “AR Tsunami Camera” Released

Nabla-Zero [J] has released “AR Tsunami Camera,” an iPhone application for disaster prevention education.  Download is free. “AR Tsunami Camera” is an application which layers a display using Augmented Reality over the actual scenery as seen through the iPhone camera, indicating “How far will it flood?” in case a tsunami hits.  At the request of… Continue reading Disaster Prevention App “AR Tsunami Camera” Released

Net Buzzword Contest 2011 Announces 12 Nominees

Senkei Newspaper and 10 web services are running the Net Buzzword Contest 2011. The 10 web services joined and asked for their readers to vote are Biglobe, Goo, Ameba, Mobage, Nico Nico Douga, @Peps!&Chip!!, Gadget Tsuushin, JustGiving Japan, iza and Jinriki-kensaku Hatena. Let’s see the 12 nominated buzzwords. Manbe-kun Manbe-kun is one of thousands yurukyara… Continue reading Net Buzzword Contest 2011 Announces 12 Nominees

Facebook Japan Paused Growth By Earthquake, But Gains Back From… China?

At the beginning of April, I was almost writing up an article about how the Eastern Japan earthquake affected social media battle. Since the end of 2010, Japanese traditional media had been in great favor of Facebook as “the next big thing from US”. Their endless coverage was very similar with what was done with… Continue reading Facebook Japan Paused Growth By Earthquake, But Gains Back From… China?

Project: Holding Hands – Popular Characters Cheering Survived Kids

Teotsunago (=we shall hold hands) is a new project which many creators gathered their popular characters, to encourage people who suffered the East Japan Big Earthquake. The big list includes some very popular characters such like Doraemon, Miffy, Shimajiro, Domo-kun, Cheburashka, Elmo, Toro, etc. We are holding our hands hoping to deliver smile to everyone… Continue reading Project: Holding Hands – Popular Characters Cheering Survived Kids

Japan Gov. Requests The Internet To Delete False Disaster Rumors

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications(MIC) announced [J] that they had requested four Internet related organizations to delete “false rumors” on online bulletin boards “to keep safety and peace of mind in disastrous area”. The four organizations are, Telecommunications Carriers Association(TCA), Telecom Services Association(TELESA) [J], Japan Internet Providers Association(JAIPA) and Japan Cable and Telecommunications Association(JCTA).… Continue reading Japan Gov. Requests The Internet To Delete False Disaster Rumors

Public Service AC Commercial Buzz Pulls More Parody Videos

We reported that placeholder public service commercial buzzed crazy a week after the Eastern Japan Disasters. This AC commercial film parodies have been being added more and more. Each of cartoon character on the original ads calling people in society to greet and care each other, now has its own derivative works by mainly users… Continue reading Public Service AC Commercial Buzz Pulls More Parody Videos

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Donates $120 million In Quake Aid, Live On Ustream

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is known to like to think big, and the announcement he made today is no exception: Son said that he will donate a total of 10 billion yen ($120 million) of his personal money to the victims of the quake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11. Son made the… Continue reading SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son Donates $120 million In Quake Aid, Live On Ustream

Weekly Comics Shonen Jump Makes One Issue Free Online By Quake

Shoeisha made a 2011’s 15th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, the most popular Japanese manga(comic) magazine which is sold 3 million copies every week, online for free on Yahoo! Japan [J] and Nico Nico Seiga [J]. “Seiga” means static image, opposite to “douga”(movie). Nico Nico Seiga is a service to share images run by Nico… Continue reading Weekly Comics Shonen Jump Makes One Issue Free Online By Quake