Hatena, Kyoto-based web startup known by their geek users, the most popular social bookmark service Hatena Bookmark, and recent collaboration with Nintendo DS on Ugomemo Hatena (Flipnote Hatena for oversea), announces that they are running closed-beta test of their microblog service Hatena Haiku’s new version Hatena Haiku2 [J] (currently shows error page). Initially 1,000, currently… Continue reading Hatena Testing Reconstructed Microblog Service Haiku2
Category: Japan
Japanese Government Opens Hatomimi.com For Informants
Japanese Governmental Gyosei Sasshin Kaigi(Regeneration of Administration Committee) [J] announced that they open “Hatomimi.com (or .jp)” from December 2nd for government workers, and in January 2010 for citizens, to receive opinions/requests/suggestions for cutting waste, absurdity, injustice and unfairness in government offices, to realize more efficient government operations. You may send information not only on the… Continue reading Japanese Government Opens Hatomimi.com For Informants
MA5: Mashing Up A Variety Of APIs Makes A Lot Of Fun
Tokyo-based publication and human resources company Recruit held a presentation and ceremony event introducing the fifth edition’s prize winners of the Mash-up Awards[J] contest last weekend. More than 50 tech companies sponsored the event and their founders and directors served as the juries to evaluate nominees. An applicant for the contest must use one or… Continue reading MA5: Mashing Up A Variety Of APIs Makes A Lot Of Fun
Japanese Kaomoji Stamp
Kaoiro by Ginghami is a classic stationery stamper which does not mark year-month-date but Japanese net emoticons Kaomoji(Facial Ascii Art), matches with your “:-)”, “X-D”, “;-P”, etc. # Kaomoji is different from Emoji, every single of which is a single letter like “A” and “1” and being suggested to be included in Unicode. You may… Continue reading Japanese Kaomoji Stamp
Japanese Classics For Kindle
Amazon has recently announced their Global Wireless Kindle. However, as English only books are sold from Amazon.com, most Japanese couldn’t find the product very appealing. Takayama Kyosuke just released a web based tool which translates books from Aozora Project (Japanese equivalent to Gutenberg Project) to Kindle supported PDF format. To get your favorite Japanese classic… Continue reading Japanese Classics For Kindle
Google Releases Google Japanese Input (Beta)
Google Japan’s development section announced on Google Japan official blog [J] a project started from their famous 20% rule” produced a new Japanese input method “Google Japanese Input” application, both for Windows and Macintosh (currently for Intel 32 bit only, no 64 bit support). After installation, you may choose Google IME(Input Method Environment) on your… Continue reading Google Releases Google Japanese Input (Beta)
Tokyo Hermes Mixed Reality Ad
Japanese A-lister Masaki Ishitani [J] took an interesting video of an installation ad at Hermes Tokyo branch at the most decent shopping area Ginza (location on Google Street View). This is Tokujin Yoshioka‘s work and she is an actress Tae Kimura. See Also: Tokujin Yoshioka’s blog entry on this project [J]
Augmented Reality in Shibuya: Allows Street Walkers To Tag Anything Around The Town
In association with Japan’s National Institute of Informatics, NEC and Tokyu Agency(ad agency), Tokyu Corporation, which operates major railway lines including Shibuya-Yokohama, started today the trial of an augmented reality service “Pin@clip[J]” (pronounced “Pina-Kuri”, and named after pins and clips) using iPhone for commuters and shoppers in the Shibuya area, which allows you to tag… Continue reading Augmented Reality in Shibuya: Allows Street Walkers To Tag Anything Around The Town
Yahoo! Japan Testing Office Version For Enterprise Workers
The dominant portal/search Yahoo! Japan is testing a customized portal for office workers. On Yahoo! Japan’s top page, which is the most viewed page in Japan by the way, a new button “Office Version” is showed up at the best position on the top banner menu. Once you clicked it, your Yahoo top page is… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan Testing Office Version For Enterprise Workers
Google Japan’s Winter Present – Free WiFi In 370 Coffeeshops
Like Google US offers free WiFi in 47 airports, Google Japan announced 30 minutes free WiFi gift everyday for mobile users, at three chainshops, Tully’s Coffee, Pronto coffee/bar and Lotteria hamburger in populated areas [J] from November 30th to February 28th. On this campaign [J] to promote Google services (you need to register with your… Continue reading Google Japan’s Winter Present – Free WiFi In 370 Coffeeshops