Fortune Telling Company Moves Up to TSE 1st Section

Zappallas, a Japanese Fortune Telling content company has moved up to Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section. Enlisted in Mothers section in 2000, Zappallas has managed to meet TSE requirements of moving to the First Section. Zappallas offer Furtune Telling content on Mobile Websites as well as normal web access. According to Zappallas financial reports, demand… Continue reading Fortune Telling Company Moves Up to TSE 1st Section

Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees

Ngi Group, one of the most active venture capital firm in Japanese web industry, also known as their successful early investment to the Japan’s largest social network Mixi, declared their downsizing plan in February. When the rationalization plan [J, pdf] was reported at first by Nikkei Net, it was said that they were asking solicit… Continue reading Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees

My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web

Rie Tomimoto(冨本梨恵) is Jibunya 24[J], where she sells her time, does anything her clients ask excluding some exceptions, and blog what she does mostly everyday. She is a 33-year-old ex-web designer, and lives in the west suburban city of Tokyo. Unlike Chen Xiao(陈潇)[C] who does the similar things in Beijing, Rie runs the website not… Continue reading My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web

NHK Broadcasts Lunch Time TV Program For Cellphone

1-seg (one-seg) is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan.   Usually it airs the same programs simultaneously with the land-based TV channels do. In March, Japan’s state-run TV/radio broadcaster NHK started broadcasting the 1-seg programs in weekday’s lunch time, specifically designed for office workers having their lunch break.   The programming is… Continue reading NHK Broadcasts Lunch Time TV Program For Cellphone

Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East

On Wednesday, eBay announced it had agreed to take over Gmarket, a South Korea’s e-commerce marketplace.   The company’s shareholders, Yahoo U.S. and Korea’s Interpark[K] also reportedly agreed to sell their Gmarket shares to eBay. By merging Gmarket with eBay’s Korean local subsidiary called Auction (IAC)[K], e-Bay expects to get ahead and to keep aggressive position… Continue reading Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East

Uniqlo Starts Online Sales in Mainland China

   Japan-based casual clothing retailer First Retailing(its brandname, Uniqlo) started its online sales in Mainland China[C], in tie-up with Taobao[C].   Taobao is China’s largest online shopping mall by the e-commerce giant Alibaba, and it engages more than 100 million frantic shoppers in the country.   This is the first independent entry by a Japanese large retailer to China’s… Continue reading Uniqlo Starts Online Sales in Mainland China

Sony Transfers Their Video Sharing Site Eyevio To A Startup

Sony will transfer their video sharing site ‘eyeVio‘ [JP] to a Tokyo-based startup company called Sprasia on May 29th. Eyevio is a video sharing site which can connect to Sony hardware products. Eyevio has 1 million unique visitors and 10 million page views per month. The site was started in April 2007. Sony stated that… Continue reading Sony Transfers Their Video Sharing Site Eyevio To A Startup

Pu-pe Girl/Poupeegirl – Online Dress-up-doll Community

Pu-pe Girl is a fast-rising Japanese social community site targeting females, currently 99% of its users are women. The social network is for a certain speciality, having barbie-like dress-up avatar of your own. Pu-pe Girl is a 100% subsidiary of CyberAgent, one of the biggest Japanese web conglomerates. Luckily, and exceptional for a web service… Continue reading Pu-pe Girl/Poupeegirl – Online Dress-up-doll Community

Ex-school Sites Are On Sale For The First Time In Japan’s Internet Auction History

A rural town located on the south coast of Hokkaido Island, Niikappu, put four of the town’s unused municipal elementary school sites on sale on Yahoo Auction[J].    The sites consist of school buildings, swimming pools and teachers’ dormitories.   The bid started in the USD21M to USD67M price range. Because of the declining number of applicants for schools… Continue reading Ex-school Sites Are On Sale For The First Time In Japan’s Internet Auction History