What are Japan’s top products in 2010? That’s a question Japan’s (and one of the world’s) biggest advertising agency Dentsu recently asked in a survey [PDF] it has been conducting since 1985 (n=1,000). For the first time, Dentsu has also compiled a “hit list” that’s supposed to shine a light on what’s going to be… Continue reading Hit List: Japan’s Top 20 Products In 2010 (And 2011)
Month: November 2010
LovePlus Followers Assaulting Cellphone, Gree And Mobage Town
Virtual Dating Game LovePlus on Nintendo DS was a smash hit, let Konami themselves publish a sequel LovePlus+(Love Plus Plus) [J] (feature limited), iPhone version and coming arcade version. Two gigantic social gaming networks, Gree and Mobage Town, who have been adding new games every day, of course ride on this trend. On the same… Continue reading LovePlus Followers Assaulting Cellphone, Gree And Mobage Town
Japan’s Top Search Keywords in 2010 By Yahoo! Japan
It is a year-end buzzword ranking season. Yahoo! Japan, Japan’s most popular search portal, though the backend search engine has been gradually switching to Google’s one (everyday more people report that their search results are the similar with the Google’s results), eventually gets the highest number of search volume in Japanese. Yahoo! Japan just released… Continue reading Japan’s Top Search Keywords in 2010 By Yahoo! Japan
Yahoo Japan And Online Fashion Store Zozotown Announce Tie-Up
Yesterday, Japan’s biggest website Yahoo Japan announced a tie-up with Chiba-based Start Today, operator of popular online fashion store Zozotown. Under the agreement, Yahoo has listed around 100,000 items from Zozotown’s catalogue in its Shopping category. As you can see on the screenshot below, big Y already began promoting Zozotown on its shopping site. If… Continue reading Yahoo Japan And Online Fashion Store Zozotown Announce Tie-Up
30% Japanese Sends E-Mail First To Ask If They Can Make Phone Call
Internet research company Ishare reported [J] that new phone call “manner” emerging, especially among young women in Japan. 40.7% of female and 19.9% male answered that they ask if they can call others by cellphone e-mail. (n=556) So, those people make an appointment for telephone call by e-mail. The reasons they do that are; to… Continue reading 30% Japanese Sends E-Mail First To Ask If They Can Make Phone Call
Startup Weekend Tokyo 2010: Picture Crop Tool Kachop Wins 1st Prize Among Nine Teams
It was Global Entrepreneurship Week between November 14 and 21 when a variety of business development events took place in Tokyo and Kyoto. In time with this opportunity, there was a three-day tech event called Startup Weekend Tokyo last weekend, which was the second edition here in Japan. At this event, people having a variety… Continue reading Startup Weekend Tokyo 2010: Picture Crop Tool Kachop Wins 1st Prize Among Nine Teams
JAFCO Invests $6 Million In Japanese Groupon Clone Luxa
Like everywhere else, the Japanese market is full of Groupon clones. Market share-wise, the “original” Groupon (Groupon Japan) is leading after it acquired one of its local clones earlier this year. It’s followed by Piku, the first Groupon-like service in this country. But Japanese venture capital companies still see room for even more coupon services.… Continue reading JAFCO Invests $6 Million In Japanese Groupon Clone Luxa
Japan’s Itochu Invests In Hong Kong And Taiwanese E-Commerce Sites
Major Japanese trading (and Fortune 500) company Itochu is making a foray into the Asian e-commerce space. According to The Nikkei, Itochu made two investments recently, having bought into Hong Kong-based online shopping company Fortune Link (website is currently down) and Taiwan-based PChome. About 10% of each of these sites have been acquired by Itochu,… Continue reading Japan’s Itochu Invests In Hong Kong And Taiwanese E-Commerce Sites
Rakuten Brings “Super Points” Loyalty Program To Buy.Com
Japan’s biggest e-commerce company Rakuten, which currently boasts a market cap of US$9.7 billion, has been relatively quiet after having acquired US-based Buy.com earlier this year (for US$250 million). Now Buy.com is announcing it has introduced a loyalty program called “Rakuten Super Points” on its site. The way it works is pretty simple: much like… Continue reading Rakuten Brings “Super Points” Loyalty Program To Buy.Com
LTE vs. Extention Of Current Techs: Who Brings Us The World’s Fastest Mobile Broadband?
Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo announced at their seasonal press conference that it would launch an LTE (long-term evolution) service called Xi[J] (pronounced as “crossy”) on Christmas eve of this year in Japan’s highly populated areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. LTE is collectively known as 3.9G mobile technology standard that allows you to… Continue reading LTE vs. Extention Of Current Techs: Who Brings Us The World’s Fastest Mobile Broadband?