Mixi, one of Japan’s biggest social networking services, which is the most similar with Facebook among three, announced their new smartphone application plan with the third largest cellphone carrier Softbank Mobile. The trademarked “SocialPhone” is an Android application service which utilizes phone data like phone number data with Mixi’s social graphs. The service is planned… Continue reading Mixi Unveils SocialPhone For Softbank’s Androids
Month: November 2010
Japanese Social Network Update With Quarterly Reports
The ranking by registered users keeps the same. Or, maybe DeNA is passing Mixi by population as Mixi’s number has October adding included. Gree: 22.46 million (at 2010-09-30, by 1Q report [pdf, J]) Mixi: 21.90 million (at 2010-10-31, mentioned on Socialphone release [J]) DeNA(Mobage Town): 21.67 million (at 2010-09-30, by 2Q report [pdf, J]) See… Continue reading Japanese Social Network Update With Quarterly Reports
500,000 People Needed To Get The Deal; Pompare Is Selling A Challenging Coupon
Groupon Japan’s Rival, Ponpare[J] has started to sell a special coupon today. You can get Häagen-Dazs ice cream ticket for 2 mini cups by paying only 100 yen ( about a dollar and quarter). This means you can get 84% discounts but what makes this coupon drawing attention is the number of sign up required… Continue reading 500,000 People Needed To Get The Deal; Pompare Is Selling A Challenging Coupon
Will Google, Instead Of Apple, Buy Sony?
At the end of last month a rumors had spread that Apple would buy Sony and Sony stocks had moved up. If Apple buy Sony we might be able to see Sony Pictures’ movies on iTunes, more games on iTunes and Sony Music artists’ songs on Japanese iTunes store ( and Japanese iTunes music store… Continue reading Will Google, Instead Of Apple, Buy Sony?
Tokyo’s P2P Lending Service ExCo Fundraises From Dave McClure’s 500 Startups
Tokyo-based P2P(peer-to-peer) lending service company Exchange Corporation (in short, ExCo) announced today that they had fundraised several hundred thousand US dollars – exact number not disclosed – from Silicon Valley-based fund 500 Startups which is known for being led by venture capitalist Dave McClure. This is the second case for the fund to invest in… Continue reading Tokyo’s P2P Lending Service ExCo Fundraises From Dave McClure’s 500 Startups
“Zombie Japanese” – Chinese Derogatory Term Referring Japan Anthropomorphized
Like as “Jap” in some English countries, there are Chinese words for insulting Japan/Japanese. One of the popular words is Riben Guizi(日本鬼子), which means “Zombie Japanese” in Chinese (“Devil’s Children Japanese” in Japanese, slightly different). The word is often used to talk about Imperial Japan’s army during WWII, but still seen on Chinese web especially… Continue reading “Zombie Japanese” – Chinese Derogatory Term Referring Japan Anthropomorphized
October 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 3)
Continued from (Part 2). Last part of October news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Tsukiji Fish/Veg Auction Over Ustream Held via ITMedia Gree-DeNA Contention on Nikkei Business CyberAgent To Shut Down PoupeeBoutieuq – Facebook Version Of PoupeeGirl via Markezine Teclosion aims to… Continue reading October 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 3)
Granny’s Maid Cafe Rottenmeier Opens For A Month In Ikebukuro
Not only in the holy land Akihabara, but everywhere in Tokyo you see maid cafe. When market is competitive, some tries to be unique like in the geeky BSD daemon motif [J], dressing up in boys cloths [J], etc. Generally those shops feature youthfulness and cuteness. Ikebukuro Keizai Shimbun reported that a new variation of… Continue reading Granny’s Maid Cafe Rottenmeier Opens For A Month In Ikebukuro
Amazon Japan Makes Free Delivery Campaign Persistent
Two e-commerce giants Rakuten and Amazon Japan have been discounting their shipping cost for free even your purchase is just few dollars since mid 2009 . Both of them, and some other follower online book sellers have been bleeding by extending their free shipping campaign. Now On November 1st 2010, Amazon Japan declared [J] that… Continue reading Amazon Japan Makes Free Delivery Campaign Persistent
How DeNA Beats Facebook and Zynga
Do you think Zynga is the hot player in town? Think again. At yesterday’s DeNA press conference, Founder and CEO Tomoko Nanba gave some great insight behind the seemingly unstoppable success of her company. An incredible ARPU With 20m users in Japan, Mobage Town, the social gaming network could be considered a small player compared… Continue reading How DeNA Beats Facebook and Zynga