As you might hear from the news, the Japanese pop star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi（草彅剛, a.k.a. 초난 강 or Chonan Gang in South Korea）, a member of popular group SMAP[J], was arrested Thursday for public indecency after being found drunk and naked at a park near Roppongi, Tokyo. On the popular video sharing site Nico Nico Douga[J],… Continue reading Amateur Paparazzis Livecast A Pop Star Under Arrest For Indecent Exposure
Category: Japan
Mixi Appli Conference 2009
Mixi [JP] (TSE:2121) held a conference to introduce their new service “Mixi Appli”. Mixi Appli provides an OpenSocial-based application platform for developers. Mixi Appli is one of the three services provided on “Mixi Platform”. Mixi Platform provides Mixi Appli, Mixi Connect (OAuth) and Mixi OpenID. CEO, Kenji Kasahara briefly introduced Mixi and Mixi Appli. And… Continue reading Mixi Appli Conference 2009
Mixi Connect Powers Eye-Fi’s Picture Upload
Eye-Fi, makers of the wireless memory card for cameras and Mixi has partnered to support automatic upload of photos to Mixi. Eye-Fi SD share-card (2GB) utilizes mixi-Connect, Mixi’s application API to automatically upload photos over WiFi connection to the user’s Mixi’s account. As Mixi’s press release states [JP]: “Uploading Photos becomes easier”. Eye-Fi supported applications:… Continue reading Mixi Connect Powers Eye-Fi’s Picture Upload
Another Way To Have Mobile Broadband, It’s Neither WiMax Nor HSDPA
Japan’s only PHS operator Willcom announced today it would start trial of new high-speed mobile data service next week, which is called XGP and enables logically 20Mbps Internet access not only in downstream but also in upstream. Starting on April 27th, the trial will be in operation until the end of coming September, and the… Continue reading Another Way To Have Mobile Broadband, It’s Neither WiMax Nor HSDPA
Fortune Telling Company Moves Up to TSE 1st Section
Zappallas, a Japanese Fortune Telling content company has moved up to Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section. Enlisted in Mothers section in 2000, Zappallas has managed to meet TSE requirements of moving to the First Section. Zappallas offer Furtune Telling content on Mobile Websites as well as normal web access. According to Zappallas financial reports, demand… Continue reading Fortune Telling Company Moves Up to TSE 1st Section
Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees
Ngi Group, one of the most active venture capital firm in Japanese web industry, also known as their successful early investment to the Japan’s largest social network Mixi, declared their downsizing plan in February. When the rationalization plan [J, pdf] was reported at first by Nikkei Net, it was said that they were asking solicit… Continue reading Ngi Group Cuts Off Over 50% Employees
My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web
Rie Tomimoto(冨本梨恵) is Jibunya 24[J], where she sells her time, does anything her clients ask excluding some exceptions, and blog what she does mostly everyday. She is a 33-year-old ex-web designer, and lives in the west suburban city of Tokyo. Unlike Chen Xiao(陈潇)[C] who does the similar things in Beijing, Rie runs the website not… Continue reading My Time for Sale: Ex-web Designer Girl Exposes Her 24/7 On The Web
NHK Broadcasts Lunch Time TV Program For Cellphone
1-seg (one-seg) is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan. Usually it airs the same programs simultaneously with the land-based TV channels do. In March, Japan’s state-run TV/radio broadcaster NHK started broadcasting the 1-seg programs in weekday’s lunch time, specifically designed for office workers having their lunch break. The programming is… Continue reading NHK Broadcasts Lunch Time TV Program For Cellphone
Web-Kare is bought by AQ Interactive
LinkThink, a company known by its blog widgets and niche virtual boys dating social network Web-Kare, is bought by a game company AQ Interactive (Tokyo Stock Exchange 2nd section). AQ Interactive bought 66.8% of LinkThink’s stock from its founder by 51,500,000 yen (510,000 USD). See Also: AQ Interactive’s Release [J, pdf]
Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East
On Wednesday, eBay announced it had agreed to take over Gmarket, a South Korea’s e-commerce marketplace. The company’s shareholders, Yahoo U.S. and Korea’s Interpark[K] also reportedly agreed to sell their Gmarket shares to eBay. By merging Gmarket with eBay’s Korean local subsidiary called Auction (IAC)[K], e-Bay expects to get ahead and to keep aggressive position… Continue reading Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East