Month: November 2008

Japan is going to ban online non-prescription drug sales

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has announced a plan to ban online sales of non-prescription drugs. The MHLW is planning to issue an Ordinance of the Ministry to ban online drug sales by June 2009. In Japan, the online drug market has overall annual sales of 111 billion yen (1 billion… Continue reading Japan is going to ban online non-prescription drug sales

pixiv and Square-Enix are developing 3D CGM service

Square Enix and pixiv started the participation recruitment of “Party Castle“, a community site for creators, in illustration contribution site “pixiv” on 6th November. Square Enix is a leading game company. “Final Fantasy” and “Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest” are their popular computer role-playing game series. It is 3D community aimed at making the fantasy world by… Continue reading pixiv and Square-Enix are developing 3D CGM service

Demae-can – online catering site

Demae-can (JP) is  a comprehensive online catering and food delivery service. You can order pizza, sushi, or Joe the Plumber from your web browser. Demae-can has contracts with national chains as well as many small independent restaurants. You can use Demae-can throughout Japan. Orders are sent to the restaurants by fax. So, small restaurant owners… Continue reading Demae-can – online catering site

Free Twitter Background Images from Japan

You may know that Japan is one of the most active country on twitter by numbers of tweets. 37 Japanese illustrators who use twitter gathered in a project TDC(Twitter Drawers Collection), where they make twitter background images under the single theme, yes, “twitter”. It is explained that you may freely use those images ONLY FOR… Continue reading Free Twitter Background Images from Japan

Yahoo! Japan starts LinkedIn like business SNS

Japan’s web giant Yahoo! Japan’s new challenge is a social business networking service, the name is CU. CU is a membership service based on invitation. The top page explains themselves as “CU (pronounce “see you”, no matched Japanese words so it is a neutral name for Japanese users) is a business networking service which supports… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan starts LinkedIn like business SNS

The Next Innovation on Web Services will be out from Asia: Open Web Asia’08 Event Report

Why it is difficult for European and U.S. companies to advance into Asia. At the event to discuss about the future potential of the Asian Web “Open Web Asia ’08” held in Seoul, a lot of hot discussions were held. George Godula who is the founder of Web2Asia – a full-service market entry partner and… Continue reading The Next Innovation on Web Services will be out from Asia: Open Web Asia’08 Event Report

Mixi gets pre-installed on all SoftBank phones, starting with the Sharp 931SH

It seems that Japan’s biggest SNS Mixi and the country’s third largest cell phone carrier SoftBank are getting closer and closer. Following the announcement of the general partnership in the mobile web space, all SoftBank handsets sold from now on will feature a pre-installed Mixi widget. Sharp’s awesome Aquos 931SH cell phone, which features an… Continue reading Mixi gets pre-installed on all SoftBank phones, starting with the Sharp 931SH

Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate

The mobile web is huge in Japan, meaning the alliance between Japanese Internet powerhouses Dwango, Mixi, MySpace Japan, Mobage-town, Yahoo and telecommunications company SoftBank Mobile announced on Thursday has to be taken very seriously. Details are rather scarce at this point but SoftBank, for example, says [J] Dwango will provide content from its super-successful video… Continue reading Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate