J-Pop news for the world: New service “Natalie”

Have you ever heard of Ayumi Hamazaki, Ai Otsuka, Gackt, Orange Range or SMAP? These people and bands are on the forefront of the Japanese music industry which is the second-biggest in the world, following the USA. The advent of Japanese popular culture in the Western hemisphere is not restricted to manga, anime, movies and… Continue reading J-Pop news for the world: New service “Natalie”

Tokyo2point0 event: Venture Capital in Japan and blogging/Ecommerce platform LIMS

This month’s Tokyo2point0 event drew a huge crowd this week on Tuesday. Again, two presentations were held between and before networking sessions. Venture Capital for Tech Startups My friend Aki Ohashi from ngi capital, the investment arm of ngi group (an investor in and operator of -mostly Asian- Tech companies) spoke about the current state… Continue reading Tokyo2point0 event: Venture Capital in Japan and blogging/Ecommerce platform LIMS

Report: Mobile Monday Tokyo Peer Awards Event

This month’s Mobile Monday Tokyo event (held on March 24th near Hibiya park in central Tokyo) was actually an awards show. The so-called “MoMo Tokyo Peer Awards” event featured a total of 12 companies aiming to go to Malaysia in May to represent Japan in the Mobile Monday Global Summit. Speaking time was limited to… Continue reading Report: Mobile Monday Tokyo Peer Awards Event

Multilingual video search engine from Japan: Fooooo

I admit to being a net video junkie. More often than I probably should, I find myself spending time on sites like Youtube, Nico Nico Douga or Veoh. As there are hundreds of services of this kind on the web now, search engines specializing in digging up videos started emerging in the past months. One… Continue reading Multilingual video search engine from Japan: Fooooo

Tokyo2point0 event: Kakaku’s Photohito and Press Army

The monthly Tokyo2point0 event took place for the 10th time in Harajuku last Tuesday. More info about the event and network can be found on the official Tokyo2point0 site, the Facebook group or on Mixi. This time, two presentations were held (in English and Japanese), leaving enough room for networking among the attendees (which is… Continue reading Tokyo2point0 event: Kakaku’s Photohito and Press Army

Japan’s Cyber University offers courses on PCs and mobiles

In April last year, Japan’s first so-called Cyber University opened its virtual doors. The university is private and headquartered in Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyuushu. It is run by a nonlisted stock company called Japan Cyber Education Institute which is mainly controlled by Japanese Internet telecom giant SoftBank. As of now, approximately 1,900… Continue reading Japan’s Cyber University offers courses on PCs and mobiles

Report: Asiajin Meeting #1 (part two)

This is the second part of our coverage of the Asiajin meeting #1 which took part this Tuesday. Presentation No. 4 “The 4th presenter abused the meeting by violating its regulation of not speaking in one’s mother tongue against agreement. Thus we do not cover the presentation. You may find the information somewhere else. (Akky… Continue reading Report: Asiajin Meeting #1 (part two)

Report: Asiajin Meeting #1 (part one)

The Asiajin Meeting #1 took place this Tuesday in Akasaka/Tokyo. Courtesy of Cybozu Labs, the event was free of charge. About 30 people participated while the number of people viewing the live broadcasting (done by Andrew Shuttleworth) peaked at 25. We will see to it that we announce the livecast earlier next time, especially for… Continue reading Report: Asiajin Meeting #1 (part one)

SonyEricsson and Nokia integrate Mixi Mobile access into cell phones

Japan’s largest social network Mixi announced that a total of three mobile phones made by Sony Ericsson and Softbank/Nokia have integrated direct access to its mobile version. These are the Cybershot SO905iCS, the Cybershot W61s and the Nokia N95. The Nokia model is delivered in Japan as the SoftBank X02NK. It was announced that users… Continue reading SonyEricsson and Nokia integrate Mixi Mobile access into cell phones

Report: Mobile Monday Tokyo – Mobile Browsing

On Monday, a Mobile Monday Tokyo event themed “Mobile Browser UI Designs & Standards” took place in KDDI’s Designing Studio in Harajuku. The entrance fee was between 1,000 and 2,000 Yen and an impressive 150 people showed up. While the venue itself was really cool, I am not sure if letting guests sit on stairs… Continue reading Report: Mobile Monday Tokyo – Mobile Browsing