Yahoo Japan, the country’s biggest website, is a major force in the domestic e-commerce sector. The transaction value for their auction service “Yahoo Auction” (by far the biggest in Japan) and “Yahoo Japan Shopping” reached a staggering 950 billion yen (US$12 billion) last fiscal. Reason enough for the company to announce a new service for… Continue reading Yahoo Hoshou: Yahoo Japan Starts “Safety” Service For Online Shoppers
Month: February 2012
NOTTV: Japan Gets Smartphone-Only TV Channel (Video)
NOTTV – that’s the name of a new mobile TV channel that could one day replace 1Seg, the current TV and broadcasting standard for Japanese cell phones. Japan’s biggest mobile carrier NTT Docomo, the country’s biggest ad agency Dentsu, and a handful of private-sector broadcasters are planning to launch NOTTV on April 1 this year.… Continue reading NOTTV: Japan Gets Smartphone-Only TV Channel (Video)
Kakaku.com Unveils “Tabelog Yoyaku”, Online Restaurant Reservation Site
Kakaku.com, Inc. announced that “Tabelog Yoyaku” that you can make reservation on site at their part of “Tabelog” service. No membership is required and it is for free. “Tabelog Yoyaku” is service that you can check availability and make reservation. By searching dates, area and budget, restaurant can be reserved will be sown up, and… Continue reading Kakaku.com Unveils “Tabelog Yoyaku”, Online Restaurant Reservation Site
Google Rules Snail Mail Marketing In Japan
Tsuhan Tsushin reported that Google Japan got Grand Prix at Japan Post’s Direct Mail Award [J], which is an annual contest choose the best from companies’ direct mail(DM) really sent. This year, 28 DM are awarded from 672 applicants, and the most valued DM from three points of view, strategy, creativity and effectiveness. Google’s DM… Continue reading Google Rules Snail Mail Marketing In Japan
Japan’s Web News Week 6
This week’s Japanese Web/IT related news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Toshiba Blu-ray Recorder Stops By Auto-Updator Bug via Yomiuri Excellent Hatsune Miku Chrome CM Parody With Idol M@ster – parody of this http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm16896784 An User Making 100,000 Notes Let Evernote Crash,… Continue reading Japan’s Web News Week 6
Report: Amazon To Bring Kindle To Japan In April
Business daily The Nikkei says it learned that Amazon Japan, the country’s second-biggest e-commerce company, is planning to finally offer its e-book reader Kindle to Japanese customers. According to the paper, Amazon is expected to launch Kindle devices in April this year “for less than 20,000 yen” (US$257). Apparently, the Kindle Touch will be positioned… Continue reading Report: Amazon To Bring Kindle To Japan In April
Mangajet Makes Your Tweet Into A Comic-style Illustration
Mangajet [J] is a new Japanese service which let you make a Japanese manga-comic style illustration with provided characters, background images, baloons with your text. The generated comic strip can be saved and shared on Twitter. Following to the Japanese manga standard, text will be written in top-to-bottom direction so Western languages won’t fit well,… Continue reading Mangajet Makes Your Tweet Into A Comic-style Illustration
D2 Communications Acquires 0.9% Stake In Tokyo-Based Ubiqituous Entertainment
Japan’s largest mobile marketing and advertising firm, D2 Communications (D2C), has acquired a 0.9% stake in Tokyo-based Ubiqituous Entertainment (UEI). D2C acquired a total of 400 UEI shares – other financial details of the deal, which was officially announced [JP] today, weren’t disclosed. In April last year, the two companies started a program called 9leap… Continue reading D2 Communications Acquires 0.9% Stake In Tokyo-Based Ubiqituous Entertainment
Let’s Get a Foursquare Limited Tokyo Badge!
The smartphone location sharing service Foursquare has added the “Sakura Badge,” limited to the Tokyo area. This is the first appearance of a limited badge from Foursquare in Japan. The conditions for opening a “Sakura Badge” are to follow the “Sakura Badge List” [J] with 62 spots carefully selected by Foursquare within the capital, and… Continue reading Let’s Get a Foursquare Limited Tokyo Badge!
Not Only Tokyo – Twitter Japan Adds 6 More Japanese Cities On Trending Topics
Twitter added more choices of cities on its trending keywords in Japan on February 2. There were only all-Japan and Tokyo rankings before. 6 cities, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Sendai are the new ones. View Twitter Trends On New Japanese Cities in a full screen map There are many bigger cities than Sendai,… Continue reading Not Only Tokyo – Twitter Japan Adds 6 More Japanese Cities On Trending Topics