Mixi released iPhone/Android free app Nohana [J] today.

The app is a camera application with backend photo storage web service. Every month, you get one free photobook (stamp fee 90-yen = $1 required though) made from your taking photos. The book will have 28 pages with 20 photos.

They said that their business model is to sell the second or more photobooks, such like a gift to grand-parents living remotely.

The app is seen on US iTunes Store, but the texts are all in Japanese. And the truth that the site says 90-yen mail fee only, it sounds like the free book is only available domestically.

ノハナ

Genre: Photo & Video, Lifestyle

Language: EN, JA

Devices: iPhone5, iPadFourthGen4G, iPodTouchThirdGen, iPadMini, iPad3G, iPhone-3GS, iPadThirdGen, iPadFourthGen, iPhone4S, iPad23G, iPodTouchFifthGen, iPadWifi, iPadThirdGen4G, iPodTouchourthGen, iPad2Wifi, iPhone4, iPadMini4G

Price: free

Version: 1.1.1

Artist: mixi, Inc

Released at: February 15, 2013

User Rating (all version): no rating yet

User Rating (current version): no rating yet

Screenshots

Tags: Android, iOS, Japan by Akky Akimoto
No Comments »

Oreno Yome wo Jiman suru Saito (A website to boast my wife) is a new Japanese service where to post your favorite photos of “yome”, which literally means wife, but in Otaku context, “ore no yome” means anything but your real human being wife, on which female character assigned, and on which you put your heart and soul.

On the site, there are already a lot of “yome”s including dolls, posters, collection cards, comics, games, anime DVDs, cellphone straps, pillows, hole toys, etc., etc.

via ITMedia

Tags: Japan, New Service by Akky Akimoto
No Comments »

Last week, Japanese Twittersphere had much debate on the topic how Twitter and social media are weak against disinformation, as a false news site Kyoko-shimbun was criticized by publishing a fake news with a real politician’s name and photo.

The big astronomical event on May 21 morning gave us lots of moving photos, but it was inevitable to get forged images on social media. These are some from Japan/Japanese which really buzzed.

From past

@ryuki_guilty15 tweeted “his friend” took this, retweeted over 30K times.

which turned out to be the one on National Geographic taken in 2010 Thai.

The same photo buzzed on Reddit, too.

Proposal ring

給料3ヶ月分のレンズで撮影したんだ！ってプロポーズ…だめ？ twitter.com/wacamera/statu…

— わかめ (@wacamera) May 21, 2012

When @wacamera explained how he composed 3 photos, solar eclipse and his right and left hands on iPhone app Blendar one hour later, the photo already circulated on Twitter.

@wacamera May 21, 2012

Someone posted it to TV station as his/her photo then.

情報tenにでちゃったみたいです…… twitter.com/wacamera/statu…

— わかめ (@wacamera) May 21, 2012

Finally, it goes over the language barrier and Twitter official blog introduced it.

NASA’s??? eclipse photo on Facebook

@A4sizeCG posted this illustration on the day before the eclipse, May 20 on Niconico Seiga.

Kevin someone re-posted this illustration on Facebook as “one of the most Spectacular eclipse images ever!”, now shared over 60,000 times with 27,000 likes. This illustration is also being circulated around many websites under non-authors’ names or commented as NASA took it.

This one on Buzzfeed from a Japanese Facebook user is not fake, but this is.

Tags: Japan, News by Akky Akimoto
2 Comments »

iPhone social camera app Instagram announced on its official Twitter account that it now supports Mixi, Japan’s largest real-side(as opposed to game-centric Gree/Mobage) social networking service.

Hey Japan & Mixi users! We’ve added support in v2.2. Download the update to start sharing to your Mixi account now: bit.ly/wtxcuz

— Instagramさん (@instagram) 3月 1, 2012

Blog OldLifehack reported how it looks [J],

The uploaded photos will be uploaded to your diary section on Mixi.

Although tech-savvy do not like Mixi any more, majority of Japanese web users are still in Mixi, who could be loyal users in compare to tech-savvies who hops around new services every month. Even if those Mixi users migrate from feature phone to iOS, Mixi to Twitter (or Facebook?), showing some concerns on Mixi users is worth doing to be competitive.

The version 2.2 also supports China’s Weibo.

Tags: iOS, Japan by Akky Akimoto
No Comments »

“Tokyo Kenchiku Navi/Tokyo Architecture Navigator” is a new English/Japanese bilingual iOS app by real-estate information website R-Store, which covers about 1,000 Tokyo buildings designed by architects like Tadao Ando, Arata Isozaki, Kazuyo Sejima, etc.

The app contains around 3,000 photos of the buildings, information of each building such like the designer’s name, address, year established, etc.

By GPS, you can list the buildings around you on map, route guide to a building as well.

The new buildings info are planned to be updated every year. Android version is under development. The price is 600 yen.

via MyCom [J]

Tags: Japan by Akky Akimoto
No Comments »