24 yo Woman Broadcasts Her Death Leap

Stickam Japan is a personal video streaming service, a Japanese version of US Stickam.com, which is said to be owned by Japanese. Today on Stickam Japan, a girl whose handle is _mextli attempted suicide by jumping off her balcony, the 4th floor of apartment, during her live videostream, some watchers wrote on 2 channel BBS.… Continue reading 24 yo Woman Broadcasts Her Death Leap

Exclusive Interview: How Does myGengo’s String Help Site Translation?

We’ve covered myGengo, web-based human translation service startup in Japan on our previous article on translation tools in June. Since then, while publishing Twitter account translations and an in-depth industry report, they’ve been busy working on a new feature called String. I got to talk with Matt Romaine and Rob Laing from the team about… Continue reading Exclusive Interview: How Does myGengo’s String Help Site Translation?

Virtual world Ameba Pigg to go English next spring in Americanized version

Tokyo-based (and listed) web juggernaut CyberAgent‘s virtual world Ameba Pigg [JP] has proven to be a veritable success here in Japan since its launch this February. The company says there are now 1.5 million members in the virtual community, with an undisclosed number of those coming from Non-Japanese-speaking countries (the service is Japanese only). But… Continue reading Virtual world Ameba Pigg to go English next spring in Americanized version

Cute Girl Duo Gets A Higher Attention Than What They Promote

Tokyo-based start-up company Cerevo[J] will begin accepting orders for the company’s first product Cerevo Cam next Tuesday.   It’s an Internet-enabled digital camera that automatically uploads your pictures to photo sharing services such as Flickr when it’s at WiFi locations, without ejecting a memory card nor using a USB cable.   Therefore, if you’d like to share… Continue reading Cute Girl Duo Gets A Higher Attention Than What They Promote

iPhone Now Turns To Be Good Tool For Playing On Green

Tokyo-based system integrator developing LBS (location-based service) and GIS (geographic information system) applications Wave On[J] just introduced a convenient iPhone/iPod touch app for golf lovers. This is called Question Yards[E/J] and allows you to measure the approximate distance to the pin on a green that marks the hole by taking a picture having the pin… Continue reading iPhone Now Turns To Be Good Tool For Playing On Green

Osaka-based Consultancy Forms A Network Giving Entrepreneurs Many Cost-Savings & Various Supports

Tokyo-, Osaka- and Shanghai-based business consultancy providing support for start-up companies, Akinai Research Institute[J] just introduced a new program encouraging entrepreneurs in terms of financial, personnel and material resources in association with nine program supporting partners. Entrepreneurs joining the program can get benefits by receiving complimentary services and packages as follows. Microsoft BizSpark: offering free… Continue reading Osaka-based Consultancy Forms A Network Giving Entrepreneurs Many Cost-Savings & Various Supports

Google Books Gives Up To Cover Japanese Publication To Avoid Int’l Legal Conflicts

Google submitted a revised settlement to the NY Federal Court Friday seeking approval of an agreement that would clear the way for continuing operation of Google Books, Google’s book retrieval and online sales service.   To avoid legal conflicts with publishers and authors in Japan, France and Germany, the settlement redefined the service so as to… Continue reading Google Books Gives Up To Cover Japanese Publication To Avoid Int’l Legal Conflicts

Mobile Factory Takes Over Photo Recognition Mobile App From J-Magic

Tokyo-based mobile tech start-up developing photo recognition apps, J-Magic[J] is now said to shut down its business and office very shortly, some sources say. The company was founded four years ago by Mr. Takuya Miyata[J] (@takmiyata[J]), the former CEO of Santa Monica-based biometrics and photo recognition tech venture Neven Vision (acquired by Google in 2006,… Continue reading Mobile Factory Takes Over Photo Recognition Mobile App From J-Magic

Fake Toilet Flushing Sound Keychain Meets Characters

Japanese women are known to feel ashamed even by their sound of peeing listened by other buddies. Portable noise maker Eco Hime (= ecological princess), which saves you when you are in the public bathroom accidentally does not have the built-in noise generator, are now visually improved as well with popular characters. The characters are,… Continue reading Fake Toilet Flushing Sound Keychain Meets Characters

Japanese Top Search Keywords 2009 By Yahoo! Japan

Although it is November, the season of 2009 ranking comes! Yahoo! Japan discloses their annual ranking by what keywords people searched in this year. As always, all Japanese search engines and portals will follow, but Yahoo! Japan is the No.1 search in Japan, this ranking is one of the best to describe “regular” people’s search… Continue reading Japanese Top Search Keywords 2009 By Yahoo! Japan