On Monday, Kyoto-based catalog and mail-order clothing retail giant Nissen[J] launched a new promotion business using a digital signage display in partnership with the country’s second largest wholesaler in book and magazine distribution Nippan which has a nationwide dealership of 12,000 book retailers. Nissen will put the displays at the storefronts of 50 selected bookstores… Continue reading Book Retailing Now Starts Digital Street Solicitation
Year: 2009
Idol Foreign Language Academy: Now Idols Teach Languages (In Akihabara, Of Course)
This is slightly off-topic but cool. There are hundreds of language schools in Tokyo, but the Idol Foreign Language Academy, which will open its doors very soon, is certainly unique. The concept of the school is based on having Japanese idols, young and cute girls who are famous to some extent (I am paraphrasing), teach… Continue reading Idol Foreign Language Academy: Now Idols Teach Languages (In Akihabara, Of Course)
Air Sampai – Virtual Kyoto Temple Experience
Before we introduced Air Yakiniku (Air BBQ), now it is holier, Air Sampai (Air Worship) to a famous Kiyomizu Temple at ancient capital Kyoto. Bilingual (Japanese with English subtext) Flash site offers you a virtual tour to and around Kiyomizu-Dera (temple) anytime from anywhere around the world. The narrator guides you necessary religious rituals, such… Continue reading Air Sampai – Virtual Kyoto Temple Experience
Enabling Speech-To-Text YouTube Videos Enhances Business Potential
On Wednesday, Tokyo-based tech start-up in media rep service and speech recognition technology development Catalog just released the closed alpha version of the brand new service that enables speech-recognize what is spoken in a movie on the video sharing services such as YouTube and Nico Nico Douga[J]. In this release, the first 1,000 applicants can… Continue reading Enabling Speech-To-Text YouTube Videos Enhances Business Potential
Kanojo Camera – iPhone Memorial Photo Taker With Virtual Girls
A Japanese company A2c Co, Ltd. released a new iPhone application which enables you to take pictures with 5 virtual girls. “Kanojo Camera” (“kanojo” means girlfriend). You may choose from 5 different girls, each of who has more than 3 costumes, who can also change facial expressions. You can scale, move, rotate the girls to… Continue reading Kanojo Camera – iPhone Memorial Photo Taker With Virtual Girls
Japan Public TV NHK Intensely Promotes Twitter
Following to Biz Stone’s first Tokyo visit for media interviews and Tweetup event, media is reporting a lot about Twitter in Japan now. Public, and the biggest TV station NHK broadcasts about Twitters three time in two days, each of them are totally made differently. As a public TV, NHK usually does not show specific… Continue reading Japan Public TV NHK Intensely Promotes Twitter
Japan’s Biggest Social Network Mixi Buys 20% Of Foreigner-Led Social Gaming Company Pikkle
Mixi [JP], Japan’s largest social network (17.4 million members at the end of June), yesterday announced [JP, PDF] they acquired a 20% stake in Pikkle, a Tokyo-based social gaming company that was founded in 2005. What’s particularly interesting about this deal is that Pikkle was founded by David “DC” Collier, a veteran in the videogaming… Continue reading Japan’s Biggest Social Network Mixi Buys 20% Of Foreigner-Led Social Gaming Company Pikkle
30min. Fundraises USD275,000 To Go Next Round
Japan’s best-known LBS (location-based service) app 30min.[J] (pronounced “san-zero minutes”) allocated new shares to Mitsui Ventures (MVC), and Mr. Yohei Nishikubo joined the company as the managing director today. Mr. Nishikubo is a venture partner of MVC and formerly served as the president of search ad agency and SEO (search engine optimization) consultancy J Listing[J].… Continue reading 30min. Fundraises USD275,000 To Go Next Round
Amazon US Begins Same Day Delivery A Fortnight After Japan
When I reported Amazon Japan’s Same Day Delivery at the beginning of this month, I thought it would only be possible in a small dense country like Japan. I was wrong. Amazon US announced its same day service on October 15th in the following 7 cities, New York City – Order as late as 10… Continue reading Amazon US Begins Same Day Delivery A Fortnight After Japan
Japan-Only Twitter Mobile Page Takes Off
As implied by teaser page, Twitter Japan has launched an official Japanese cellphone site http://twtr.jp. Here is the teaser page changed to a guide page which has both cellphone site URL and QR Code. The current mobile site http://m.twitter.com/, which is not really usable (it did not work with many of Japanese phone browsers) for… Continue reading Japan-Only Twitter Mobile Page Takes Off