First half of April news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Continued to (Part 2) Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Sekaimon Global Beta Expands To Sell European Items To Japanese Convenience Chainstore Lawson Starts Twitter (via @AMN) 2-channel Made Tokyo Metro Map In Ascii Art Nico Nico Douga’s… Continue reading April 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 1)
Author: akky
First “Continued To The Twitter” TV Ad In Japan
“Tsuduki ha Web de”(続きはウェブで, continued to the web) is an internet era’s Japanese phrase used so often on television commercial films (“CM” in Japanese) nowadays. Many commercial ends with a search box image and narration tells this “continued to the web”, to expect watchers to search their brand or catch phrase on their PC. This… Continue reading First “Continued To The Twitter” TV Ad In Japan
Japan Original Microsoft Office Assistant “Saeko Sensei” Coming Back
Did you know that Microsoft Office Assistant Clippy is not so popular (or not so hated) in Japan? Japanese version had a Dolphin “Kairu”(came from anagram of “Iruka”, dolphin in Japanese) as default, and also had a secretary look-alike original assistant “Saeko sensei” in vivid orange suits. For people care, “Saeko” is a girls name… Continue reading Japan Original Microsoft Office Assistant “Saeko Sensei” Coming Back
Fuji TV Starts Twitter Clone Imatsubu (= tweetin’ now)
Japan’s major television broadcasting network Fuji TV, who has just generated a topic of conversation [J] among Japanese twitter users with the first Twitter featured TV drama, also launched their own microblogging service Imatsubu [J]. Ima means “now” and Tsubu is abbreviation of Tubuyaku, “to tweet”. As always as a new microblog imitator, Imatsubu provides… Continue reading Fuji TV Starts Twitter Clone Imatsubu (= tweetin’ now)
Mixi Friend-Finder Now Uses Gmail Info via OAuth
Japan No.1 social networking service Mixi, which recently passed 20 million users, announced that their friends invitation page now has “search friends from your gmail” function, in cooperating with Google Gmail with OAuth. See Also: Mixi’s press release [J]
2010 Shanghai Expo Theme Song Sounds… Japanese Pop
Some Japanese online media on China news reported that the opening theme of Expo 2010 Shanghai China, which is coming next month, is very similar with a Japanese pop song released last century. A Japanese singer/songwriter Maya Okamoto’s “Sonomama no Kimi de ite”(そのままの君でいて) in 1997. Shanghai Expo Theme Song “Waiting you in 2010″(2010等你来) sung by… Continue reading 2010 Shanghai Expo Theme Song Sounds… Japanese Pop
Hewlett-Packard Japan’s “Maid in Tokyo” Campaign
The world’s No.1 PC vendor Hewlett-Packard(HP)’s Japan branch is running a new campaign “Maid in Tokyo” [J], featuring two girls from Japanese idol unit Aidoringu(made up from “Idle”+”-ing”) in maid costume, to appeal that the HP’s PC are “made in Tokyo”. According to the HP site [J], since 1999 they have been producing PC in… Continue reading Hewlett-Packard Japan’s “Maid in Tokyo” Campaign
KLab Releases Amazon Kindle Compatible Emulator In Open Source
Japanese mobile system/application developer KLab Inc. [J] announced that they had developed a clone of Kindle Developer’s Kit (KDK) and Kindle Emulator. The official KDK has been available for limited beta developers since February. Klab release said that they could not wait approval so that they built the emulator from Amazon’s specification documents. Currently, not… Continue reading KLab Releases Amazon Kindle Compatible Emulator In Open Source
Google Abolishes Japan Local President. Koichiro Tsujino Resigns This Month
Nikkei reported [J, subscription required, not permitted] that Google Japan President Koichiro Tsujino resigns at the end of this month, April 2010. Also, Google is reported to erase out the local president position from Japan branch. Google basically does not appoint a local president in other countries and Google Japan’s one was an exception. Their… Continue reading Google Abolishes Japan Local President. Koichiro Tsujino Resigns This Month
NHN Japan Buys Livedoor By $67 Million
Both NHN Japan and Livedoor confirmed NHN Japan’s purchase Livedoor from Livedoor Holdings. NHN Japan and Livedoor’s press conference starts 6:05 p.m. Japan Standard Time, broadcast also on Ustream. Video streaming by Ustream NHN Japan president Akira Morikawa(on your left) and Livedoor president Takeshi Idezawa. Morikawa explained that NHN Japan group runs Hangame and Naver… Continue reading NHN Japan Buys Livedoor By $67 Million