Lawson Makes Its Character Girl Be Vocaloid

Japan’s 2nd biggest convenience chain-store Lawson makes its image character girl ‘Akiko-chan’ transformed to Vocaloid, Yamaha’s artificial voice synthesizer brand well-known by used for a popular virtual singer Hatsune Miku. The official Lawson-channel [J] is made on Nico Nico Douga. via ITMedia See Also: Asiajin » Japanese Virtual Diva Hatsune Miku First US Tour In… Continue reading Lawson Makes Its Character Girl Be Vocaloid

eBook Initiative Japan Goes IPO

eBook Initiative Japan Co., Ltd., who runs Japanese online e-book mall eBookJapan [J], announced that their IPO at Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers section has been approved [J]. The planned date is October 28. eBookJapan started selling online book since year 2000, when the company was established. The site now boasts 50,000 e-books, 80% of which… Continue reading eBook Initiative Japan Goes IPO

Google+ iPhone App Degraded For Japan And Others

Google released a new version of Google+ app for iPhone on iTunes store. However, upgrading the app will stop Japanese users from typing Japanese texts. The revision 1.0.4.2326 seems to block users converting phonetics to Japanese (both Chinese-kanji and kana) letters. I guess that the new feature “Improved +mention support” seems to grab every single… Continue reading Google+ iPhone App Degraded For Japan And Others

KDDI’s “Android au” Site Terminated, Not Telling Why But Likely By iPhone 5

KDDI’s Android handset promotion site “Android au” has been shut down today. The site shows a very short message “Android au site has finished.” in plain HTML, then visitors are redirected to KDDI au’s top page after 5 seconds. The special page has been promoting KDDI’s Android handset with a popular boys group Arashi, with… Continue reading KDDI’s “Android au” Site Terminated, Not Telling Why But Likely By iPhone 5

Breaking: Japan’s 2nd Telco KDDI Reportedly To Sell iPhone5

Nikkei Business Online is reporting [J], according to people familiar with the matter, the nation’s second carrier KDDI has an arrangement with Apple on selling iPhone in Japan. In Japan, iPhone has been exclusively provided by the 3rd carrier Softbank Mobile. It is not officially disclosed but Nikkei speculates that Softbank has been selling 7.5… Continue reading Breaking: Japan’s 2nd Telco KDDI Reportedly To Sell iPhone5

2-channellers See A Girl In Great Britain

A certain (of course anonymous, as usual) 2-channeller wrote that the shape of Great Britain islands looks for him like a girl worrying her bust size. The first reaction was “you are sick” but some followed and drew it. The reason Manchester is emphasized is… ahem, it sounds similar with a certain body part of… Continue reading 2-channellers See A Girl In Great Britain

Typhoon Hitting Tokyo, Trains Stop Again

(Tokyo Amesh – rainfall amount map) Huge typhoon No.15 is hitting Tokyo area now. Several photo reports are circulated on Japanese Twitter. In Shibuya, fallen tree hit a taxi. Ginza street is also dangerous. Twitter Japanese trending topics are all typhoon related. Many companies seemed to encourage their workers to head their home earlier. The… Continue reading Typhoon Hitting Tokyo, Trains Stop Again

Google Japan Launches Minna no Business Online, Free Website Hosting For Small-Mid Business

Minna no Business Online (=business for everyone online) is a newly released web hosting service by Google in Japan, today on September 13 2011. The site is, very different from typical Google web services, not under google domains but have its own jp domain (minbiz.jp), designed with vivid red, like the color which is used… Continue reading Google Japan Launches Minna no Business Online, Free Website Hosting For Small-Mid Business