A shrine located in the Akihabara electric district and was built more than a millennium ago, Kanda-Myojin celebrates its annual biyearly festival in the town, and live streamers are shooting the people who thank the local deity, pray for peace in the town and carry portable shrines on their shoulders. As of this writing, the festival… Continue reading Seasonal Celebration At Shrine For Akihabaran Soil And Soul
Author: Masaru IKEDA
Giant Partnership of Game and Ad Sets Off New Wave Of Video Broadcast
Coincidentally I write up several stories featuring video services using media other than terrestrial TV broadcast system in this Japan’s serial holidays season. Nintendo and the world’s largest advertising agency Dentsu started Friday a video broadcast service on a 3D virtual world designed for Nintendo’s game platform Wii. The new service is named “Wii no… Continue reading Giant Partnership of Game and Ad Sets Off New Wave Of Video Broadcast
Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
Since Tsuyoshi Kusanagi stepped down from the role promoting digital terrestrial TV service (see this for more details), NAB, the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan, were forced to introduce a new promoter, which is Chide-jika[J], punning the words of digital TV and deer. In opposition to the deer’s activity, users of Japan’s largest… Continue reading Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
Japanese Broadcasters Jointly Launch 24hr. Int’l TV Channel
Japan International Broadcasting (JIB) launched Friday its 24-hour English-language TV channel called jibtv, and started Internet-based broadcast as well as satellite broadcast service worldwide. Former NHK’s news anchor and former spokesman at Japan’s foreign ministry, Hatsuhisa Takashima serves as the president of the company, and it is fund raised by NHK, NTT Communications, Microsoft and… Continue reading Japanese Broadcasters Jointly Launch 24hr. Int’l TV Channel
Avex and NTT DoCoMo Launch TV Station Exclusively For Cellphone Users
On Friday, a joint venture of the Tokyo-based emerging music company Avex Group and Japan’s largest cellphone operator NTT DoCoMo, Avex Broadcasting & Communications Inc. launched a TV service called BeeTV[J], which is fully designed for cellphone handsets viewing. Unlike 1-seg TV service using a segment in terrestrial digital broadcast wave to carry visual and… Continue reading Avex and NTT DoCoMo Launch TV Station Exclusively For Cellphone Users
Be More Punctual And Smarter With NHK
On Thursday, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK released the iPhone/iPod app imitating its originally designed clock which used to be seen by almost all of Japanese people at the beginning of every evening’s news program. (This link will launch your iTunes to download the app.) As Japanese terrestrial TV broadcast switches into digital, broadcasters can no longer… Continue reading Be More Punctual And Smarter With NHK
Netprice.com and Alibaba Start B2B Service For Mainland China
On Tuesday, the Tokyo-based Internet conglomerate Netprice.com launched a service specifically focusing on Japanese manufacturer’s wholesale exporting to Mainland China, in partnership with China’s largest B2B platform provider Alibaba. The service helps the manufacturers to find new China’s local merchandisers / distributors by match-making needs among users on Alibaba’s website(B2B) and its B2C edition called… Continue reading Netprice.com and Alibaba Start B2B Service For Mainland China
Nico Nico Douga Introduces Its iPhone/iPod App
Niwango[J], the owner of Japan’s most popular video sharing site “Nico Nico Douga[J]“, released its iPhone/iPod appon Monday. The app is for free and available only at Japanese AppStore. With 3G or WiFi connectivity, the app allows you to search/play videos and leave your comment on Nico Nico Douga, however it does not cover the… Continue reading Nico Nico Douga Introduces Its iPhone/iPod App
Major Publishers Co-launch Non-UGC Encyclopedia Site
Asahi Newspaper, the Internet portal company EC Navi[J] and major publishers like Kodansha and Shogakukan jointly launched Thursday an online encyclopedia containing 430,000 words, which is called “Kotobank[J]“. The service is provided for free, and the joint venture expects to earn USD1M in FY2009 from Overture[J] ads appeared on the result pages of Kotobank. The… Continue reading Major Publishers Co-launch Non-UGC Encyclopedia Site
Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App
The world’s largest meteorological company, Weathernews Inc., will launch next Monday its 24/7 live show channel, with its Adobe AIR-based client application, bringing weather updates to your PC desktop every minute. The new service is named “So LiVE 24[J]” (So-La is similar to So-Ra in Japanese pronunciation, meaning sky), eleven weather girls and meteorologists are… Continue reading Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App