Month: June 2011

Japanese Social Marketplace FlutterScape Raises USD750K In Second Seed Funding

FlutterScape, a social marketplace specializing in introducing “Japan-only” or “Japan-made” products for online shoppers outside the country, recently fundraised JPY60M (approx. USD750K) in their second seed-round from three VC firms, which are Japan Venture Capital (NVCC)[J], ngi group and Innovation Engine. In their first seed round, the company fundraised JPY25M (approx. USD310K) from Digital Garage,… Continue reading Japanese Social Marketplace FlutterScape Raises USD750K In Second Seed Funding

USB Power Generating Pan

Japanese company TES NewEnergy announced to sell a cooking pan which utilizing disposed heat into power, which can charge cellphone or other devices via USB socket from June 13th. They say that heat of bonfire could be over 900 degrees Fahrenheit, but energy over 212 Fahrenheit are not used for boiling water and wasted. This… Continue reading USB Power Generating Pan

Yahoo! Japan To End Social Network Yahoo! Days

Yahoo! Japan announced [J] that they would cease a social networking service Yahoo! Days on October 3, 2011. On July 6, most of activities around messages, photos and community will be disabled. My page above showed me no recent diaries and messages of friends… Yahoo! Days, which started in February 2006 as Yahoo! 360°, the… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan To End Social Network Yahoo! Days

Ultra High-speed Japanese Typing On iPhone

It is known that Japanese high school girls type Japanese so fast on feature phone 10 digits key, but this person on iPhone could be faster than they. On Japanese flick input training app, he writes up 45 letters/5 phrases in 6.99 seconds, which is 386 letters per minute. [Update] Another high-speed iPhone Japanese type… Continue reading Ultra High-speed Japanese Typing On iPhone

Evernote for i-mode Released For Docomo Feature Phone

Evernote, a popular note-taking service, who has achieved a big, maybe bigger success in Japan than elsewhere, launched a new app to cover majority of Japanese cellphone users on Docomo i-mode, which is a mobile internet service subscribed by over 48 million people. “Evernote for i-mode” [J, Docomo Market] is an i-mode Appli version of… Continue reading Evernote for i-mode Released For Docomo Feature Phone

Facebook Japan Holds An New Coupon Service Launch Event In Shibuya

Facebook Japan is running somethinga launch event of its new coupon service now 3 p.m. on 7th in Shibuya, in front of young people’s landmark Shibuya 109 apparel mall. rehearsal, This morning, Nikkei reported [J] that Facebook is going to begin local coupon service in Japan. Nikkei was correct. The new service is “Facebook Check-in… Continue reading Facebook Japan Holds An New Coupon Service Launch Event In Shibuya

Mixi To Turn Off Its Unique Footprint Function

Mixi, Japan’s largest Facebook-type social network service, today announced that they would change their ashiato(footprint) service from June 13th. Mixi’s footprint is a feature to show you which your network friend browsed your page (profile, diary, photo, etc.) at how many seconds/minutes ago. By this, Mixi in early days acquired users stickiness, by making polite… Continue reading Mixi To Turn Off Its Unique Footprint Function

Mobage Shows How Small Teams Are Making 1 Billion Yen Revenue Per Month

The largest it industry conference by invitation, Infinity Ventures Summit[J] was held at Sapporo in May 26th and 27th. Among many sessions, the most surprising topic came out from the mouth of Isao Moriyasu, the executive of DeNA who promised to be the next CEO in the end of June. DeNA has been released series of… Continue reading Mobage Shows How Small Teams Are Making 1 Billion Yen Revenue Per Month