2channel Founder’s 10 Million Yen Donation Rejected By Groupon Japan

Groupon Japan, local operator of successful digital coupon company Groupon, which drew cold stares by the new year’s trouble, was one of the fast web companies who started the earthquake victims saving program. Their “matching gift” donation collected 100 million yen by March 20th, and Groupon Japan added their own 100 million yen on top… Continue reading 2channel Founder’s 10 Million Yen Donation Rejected By Groupon Japan

Japanese Media Artist Uses Poo And Fart To Explain Nuclear Crisis

I wrote “Poo is a magic word for primary-school children. It is an universal motif and will work even 100 years later” before. It does not change even at the disaster in Japan.  A Japanese media artist Hachiya Kazuhiko has explained nuclear crisis in a Youtube video, using the poo and fart.   English subtitles version… Continue reading Japanese Media Artist Uses Poo And Fart To Explain Nuclear Crisis

Prime Minister’s Office of Japan Launches Facebook Page

The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan has announced the launch of an official Facebook page today. The first update reads: This is the official Facebook page of Prime Minister’s office of Japan. We will provide information focusing on the quake-related issues for the time being. After about 15 hours, the page now has over 4,500… Continue reading Prime Minister’s Office of Japan Launches Facebook Page

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Becomes Fan-made Anime

Yukio Edano (Wikipedia), Japanese cabinet’s chief secretary in Kan government, who has been a spokesperson on the East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami/Nuclear Crisis, got himself a name from Japanese, especially from web users by his non-stopping work which is likened to Jack Bauer. This time, a professional Japanese anime creator Yosuke Kihara [J], known by “Conie-chan” on… Continue reading Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Becomes Fan-made Anime

After The Quake: Social Apps And Web Trends To Help Disaster Relief Efforts

Here’s a follow-up to my previous posts covering the grassroots movements to relieve the devastated areas. GPS-Enabled Map of Scheduled Blackouts: A team of web app developers Boss Yooann, Kabaken, Kazuhiro Kotsutsumi and Yuki Naotori has released this Google Map mash-up.  Without entering your address, it helps you find which hour of the day your… Continue reading After The Quake: Social Apps And Web Trends To Help Disaster Relief Efforts

All Star Developers Running Hackathon To Build Disaster Info Services

Many web companies and individuals are now running a nation-wide, virtual and real (Kyoto, Okayama and Fukuoka in West Japan) hackathon (collaborative programming marathon, see Wikipedia) named “Hack for Japan” [J] through this three days weekend (Monday is holiday, Spring equinox day, in Japan). Several companies are offering APIs, cloud hosting and data for the… Continue reading All Star Developers Running Hackathon To Build Disaster Info Services

Earthquake Relief – Feeding Info On Maps And Twitter

For the victims of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, there have been many food and water distribution supplied in all prefectures in Tohoku and Ibaraki pref. To make suffered people know the info, volunteers are collaborating on making and maintaining database by using Google Maps. The name is Takidashi Map (Takidashi = feeding, soup run… Continue reading Earthquake Relief – Feeding Info On Maps And Twitter

Acima Provides Hotline Over IM For Non-Japanese Disaster Victims

Japan based international-business consulting company Acima is offering emergency hotline over Skype and MSN Messenger for 24 hours in 15 languages, by using its own resource and forming volunteers from around the world. Acima has set up a hotline for non Japanese speaking Disaster Victims of Tohoku district – off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake. We… Continue reading Acima Provides Hotline Over IM For Non-Japanese Disaster Victims

Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) Starts Twitter To Provide Updates

Another new Twitter account follows to the Prime Minister’s Office’s English version Twitter comes tonight around 9 p.m. by Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO), who has been tackling two difficult problems, Fukushima nuclear plant radiation leak and possible blackout of greater Tokyo, after the Japan’s earthquake. This Japanese Twitter account quickly got over 50,000 followers, which… Continue reading Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO) Starts Twitter To Provide Updates

Colopl Visualizes Where People Checking-In East Japan

Japanese Location based service Coropura(Colopl.jp) makes a map of east Japan to show where its users checked in the day before [J]. The hex displayed on the map means there were at least one check in yesterday. The map has a choice of cellphone carriers, Docomo/au/Softbank. Docomo must have more users and good coverage. The… Continue reading Colopl Visualizes Where People Checking-In East Japan