Samurai Incubate Launches 2nd Fund To Invest In 10 New Tech Start-ups

Samurai Incubate, a Tokyo-based seed accelerator aiming to bring up many Japanese tech start-ups, announced today the launch of its second fund which is worth 62 millon yen (=USD755,000). With its first fund launched in 2009, the firm invested in nine tech start-ups including social translation service Conyac (refer to this Asiajin story), smartphone ad-optimizer… Continue reading Samurai Incubate Launches 2nd Fund To Invest In 10 New Tech Start-ups

Online Train Timetable Service Ekitan Goes IPO

An online train timetable service that goes IPO? It may sound ludicrous to people living outside Japan, but Tokyo-based Ekitan is doing exactly that. The company will be listed at the Mothers Market (for high-growth and emerging stocks) of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on March 3 (code 3646). Ekitan started as a Toshiba in-house venture… Continue reading Online Train Timetable Service Ekitan Goes IPO

12 Tech Start-ups Present At NICT’s Annual Business Plan Contest

(Source: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan) Earlier this week, NICT, an ICT arm of Japan’s telecommunication authority, held the award-presenting ceremony of their annual contest to choose the best from business plans nominated.   Mr. Takeshi Natsuno, the inventor of NTT DoCoMo’s mobile web service i-Mode, started the ceremony with his keynote speech,… Continue reading 12 Tech Start-ups Present At NICT’s Annual Business Plan Contest

Nifty Uses Its Cloud To Accelerate Social Game App Business In SE Asia

Nifty, a Fujitsu subsidiary and Japan’s 4th largest ISP, announced last week that it would use their own cloud facility and encourage Japanese social game app developers to deliver their services to ASEAN countries.    Japan’s METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) helps the project financially, and several social game apps running on “Nifty… Continue reading Nifty Uses Its Cloud To Accelerate Social Game App Business In SE Asia

Japan’s Mobile Social Gaming Giant GREE Partners With China’s Tencent (QQ)

Big news from Asia’s social gaming world today: Tokyo-based mobile social games juggernaut GREE ($3 billion market cap) just announced it will tie up with China’s biggest web company Tencent ($45 billion market cap), which operates the massive QQ platform. The plan is to “export” GREE’s social apps to the rapidly growing market for mobile… Continue reading Japan’s Mobile Social Gaming Giant GREE Partners With China’s Tencent (QQ)

For Social App Development: Mixi And CyberAgent Launch Joint Venture

Japan’s social apps boom isn’t ending: Today, two of the country’s biggest web companies, namely Mixi and CyberAgent, announced they will launch a joint venture to produce social apps for mixi, Japan’s biggest social network, on February 1. CyberAgent is best known for its massive Ameba blog platform, Japan’s biggest (12.4 million registered users). The… Continue reading For Social App Development: Mixi And CyberAgent Launch Joint Venture

Facebook Movie “The Social Network” Tops At Its Second Week

It is a slow-starter. The Facebook-themed movie “The Social Network”, which was defeated by Japanese movie “Boku to Tsuma no 1778 no Monogatari” at its release weekend reportedly won the ranking top on January 22-23 weekend (by Kogyo Tsushinsha). The Social Network Boku to Tsuma no 1778 no Monogatari (Stories Of Me And My Wife)… Continue reading Facebook Movie “The Social Network” Tops At Its Second Week

Think You’ve Got What It Takes? iPhone App For Japanese Thugs’ Rite of Passage

photo by Macotakara [J] Studio MorikenStudio Moriken [J] has released a free iPhone application called Konjoyaki that lets users experience a piece of Japanese Yankee culture. “Yankee” in Japan does not mean North American – it refers to “bad boys” or “thugs”. The name of the app (‘Konjoyaki’ – literally “Burn, with guts”) comes from… Continue reading Think You’ve Got What It Takes? iPhone App For Japanese Thugs’ Rite of Passage

Q&A: What’s The Japanese Equivalent Of [enter foreign web service here]?

Are Japanese people using different websites than users in other countries? Back in July 2008 and 2009, we made two lists that showed some similarities and differences in usage, and now it’s time for a reboot. Note: We know that this list is highly subjective. We know that some sites are not identical in nature… Continue reading Q&A: What’s The Japanese Equivalent Of [enter foreign web service here]?