Year: 2009

Virtual Singer Application Vocaloid Played Her First “Live” for 25,000 Fans

One of Japan’s most popular video sharing Nico Nico Douga‘s driving force in its early stage, Miku Hatsune, a virtual girl character attached to a PC application Vocaloid performed her first “live” concert in front of an audience of 25,000 people at an anime event in Saitama prefecture, Japan. (Someone’s upload this on Youtube, the… Continue reading Virtual Singer Application Vocaloid Played Her First “Live” for 25,000 Fans

Event Wrap-up: 400+ Geeks Applaud Web Innovators At WISH2009

More than 400 Internet users joined the event on Friday evening in Tokyo.   Tokyo-based blog marketing agency Agile Media Network (AMN)[J] held Japan’s first conference having a number of tech start-ups in comprehensive perspective, titled WISH2009 (Web Innovation SHare)[J].   More than a dozen of innovators had opportunities to present their works, and Japanese tech media… Continue reading Event Wrap-up: 400+ Geeks Applaud Web Innovators At WISH2009

IVP Fund Invests In China’s Largest Mobile SNS

Infinity Ventures LLP[J], a Tokyo-based independent venture capital unit investing in tech start-up companies, announced today it had invested approximately USD2.1M (JPY200M) in WAPTX (registered in Cayman Islands) running China’s largest mobile SNS called tx.com.cn(天下网)[C] (pronounced as tiān-xià-wǎng). The service owns 9 million users as of July 2009, and Tokyo-based mobile SNS company DeNA announced… Continue reading IVP Fund Invests In China’s Largest Mobile SNS

Unidentified “Floating” Objects Are Introduced In Osaka This Summer

In commemorating the series of water-oriented events which are now underway in Osaka, NTT Facilities, a property management company of NTT Group, developed two solar-powered and UFO-shaped water purifiers, which are to be installed in Dotonbori[Wikipedia]-canal running through the center of the city, and in a moat around the Osaka Castle. That machine is a… Continue reading Unidentified “Floating” Objects Are Introduced In Osaka This Summer

Mixi ex-CTO Helps Singaporean Mobile Startup Xsago

Batara Eto, who suggested to make a Japanese social network to his boss in late 2003 and programmed Japan’s biggest social network Mixi, let the company (E-mercury) to change their primary business and rename (to “Mixi”, of course) with the huge success, then left his CTO job in 2007 [J], is reported to invest to… Continue reading Mixi ex-CTO Helps Singaporean Mobile Startup Xsago

Japan’s DeNA brings its mobile social gaming platform MobaMingle to India

Tokyo-based mobile social gaming giant DeNA takes the international version of its super-successful gaming platform Mobage-town [JP, PC version], Mobamingle, to India (find some detailed background info on MobaMingle here and here). According to a report in the Nikkei, the service will be made available to Indian users in English as early as at the… Continue reading Japan’s DeNA brings its mobile social gaming platform MobaMingle to India

Election Campaigning On The Net: When Does Law Catch Up With Social Trends?

Prior to the general election scheduled at the end of this month, Rakuten publicized a letter from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) and the opposition Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ) in response to the question by 60 Japanese business leaders including Rakuten’s CEO Hiroshi Mikitani. The leaders asked both parties about their policies on six subjects… Continue reading Election Campaigning On The Net: When Does Law Catch Up With Social Trends?

First China, then the US: Japan’s No. 1 online shopping mall Rakuten (again) outlines plans to go global

Hiroshi Mikitani, founder and president of Japan’s leading online shopping mall Rakuten, has never made a bis secret of his seeing Rakuten as a global brand (here is some detailed background). This is especially interesting since Rakuten is the biggest “purely” Japanese web company there is (its market cap exceeds $8 billion currently and SoftBank… Continue reading First China, then the US: Japan’s No. 1 online shopping mall Rakuten (again) outlines plans to go global

Herbivorous-type Boys Scouter: What Animal Are You?

Motion Portrait, a Tokyo-based tech start-up and expert in image processing, and Gigno System Japan, a mobile app developer and a subsidiary of Tokyo FM Broadcasting[J], jointly introduced a new mobile service called “Herbivorous-type Boys Scouter （草食男子スカウター[J])“, which allows you to measure how aggressive you are for girl hunting. Author’s Note: Herbivorous-type boys or 草食系男子… Continue reading Herbivorous-type Boys Scouter: What Animal Are You?