After The Quake: A Variety Of Web Mashups Collecting Wisdom Of Crowds

Following my previous story on the grassroots movements, here are some of another developments.   Car Activities in Tohoku on Google Map: Google, Honda and Pioneer visualize car activities in Tohoku by using gathered data from communication-enabled car navigation systems. Blue lines stand for routes on which one or more motor vehicles have run on the… Continue reading After The Quake: A Variety Of Web Mashups Collecting Wisdom Of Crowds

Who’s Free And Tonchidot To Hold Fundraising Party At SXSW To Help Relief Efforts

A cross-post to Asiajin and Startup Dating. SXSW is currently taking place in Austin, Texas.   Asiajin contributors Serkan Toto and Paul Papadimitriou are there for moderating panels on Japanese web services and social media.  A team of the moderators, the presenters and the panels are now joining forces to help the disaster relief efforts… Continue reading Who’s Free And Tonchidot To Hold Fundraising Party At SXSW To Help Relief Efforts

Greater Tokyo Planned Blackout Time Checker By Zipcode

Tokyo Electric Power Co said on Sunday that it would conduct its first-ever rolling blackout from Monday to help prevent an unexpected large-scale power outage after a powerful earthquake shut two nuclear plants indefinitely on Friday. (Reuter) The outage schedule for today was announced last night by Tokyo Electric Power Co(TEPCO) here in pdf [J].… Continue reading Greater Tokyo Planned Blackout Time Checker By Zipcode

After The Quake: Grassroots Movements In The Japanese Internet Community

A massive earthquake attacked the north-eastern part of Japan on Friday afternoon.   Many JSDF troops, fire fighters and foreign rescue workers have been deployed in devastated areas, their physical rescue operations are underway.   Internet users across the country are thinking about what to do to help disaster victims and survive this difficult time.… Continue reading After The Quake: Grassroots Movements In The Japanese Internet Community

Docomo Merges i-Mode And Smartphone Businesses

There is no reason for i-mode provider NTT Docomo to give up on its highly profitable mobile Internet service for feature phones as long as it makes money, but Japan’s biggest mobile carrier is starting to change things. According to Japanese business daily The Nikkei, Docomo is moving to combine its i-mode and smartphone businesses… Continue reading Docomo Merges i-Mode And Smartphone Businesses

Tokyo Girls Collection Aired On YouTube Live Streaming

One of Japan’s largest fashion show, Tokyo Girls Collection held its 12th event today at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.   Apart from other fashion events exclusively for fashion designers and apparel buyers, it intends young girls to buy what they want with their cellphone handsets while watching the show on which women celebrities and models present… Continue reading Tokyo Girls Collection Aired On YouTube Live Streaming

Yahoo! Mobage Passes 3 Million Users In 5 Months, Facebook Falls Down To 6th Position

Yahoo! Mobage [J], a joint PC social game platform by two Japanese web gorillas Yahoo! Japan and DeNA, announced [J] that the number of their users passed over three million in 5 months since its official open on October 1st, 2010. 3 million is bigger than 2.55 million, the number of active users Facebook Japan… Continue reading Yahoo! Mobage Passes 3 Million Users In 5 Months, Facebook Falls Down To 6th Position

Steply: A HK-made Photo Sharing App Attracts iPhone Users, Especially In Asia

Last August, I was invited to attend Startup Saturday, a Hong Kong’s first ever remarkable tech start-up event, by Takeshi Hirano, the editor and writer for TechCrunch Japan, during his one-month visit to the city.   Then I could meet young aspiring entrepreneurs from more than a dozen of great tech start-up companies. One of those… Continue reading Steply: A HK-made Photo Sharing App Attracts iPhone Users, Especially In Asia

Japan’s Online Music Market Shrank For First Time Ever Last Year

Bad news for the Japanese music industry: the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) yesterday released [information in English] the sales figures of digital delivery in 2010 and said that the market for online music shrank for the first time last year. Online music sales contracted by 5% year-on-year to 85.99 billion yen/$1.05 billion from… Continue reading Japan’s Online Music Market Shrank For First Time Ever Last Year