Yahoo! Japan, the largest website in the country, who holds a lot of successful sub-services under its brand, announced today the termination of their Yahoo! Kururu, user-generated summary site. The service launched September 2011, is often called as “Yahoo!’s Naver Matome”, as the service seemed quite similar to the already-successful info-aggregation site Naver Matome. The… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan To Close Yahoo! Kukuru, Naver Matome Rip-off
Category: News
2-channel Bans 5 Major Summary Sites From Reusing Its Posts
Some 2-channel(2ch.net) users noticed early morning on June 3 that an unpopular notification page on 2-channel was updated with the warning message against 5 notorious 2-channel watcher blogs. We ban the following URL from using copyrighted materials owned by 2ch, as it is detrimental that those people who damage to third parties and do not… Continue reading 2-channel Bans 5 Major Summary Sites From Reusing Its Posts
GREE And Dentsu Global Promotion At Airports
Gree, [J] in the opening stage of a business partnership with Dentsu Inc., is starting corporate branding advertisements in airports from this April. Both companies have announced [J] their comprehensive business partnership towards global enterprise on March 21st. In this first stage they will start a corporate branding project with airport advertising, and in Japan… Continue reading GREE And Dentsu Global Promotion At Airports
Dentsu Buys 15% Stake In Tokyo-Based Web Company Kakaku.Com
Tokyo-based Dentsu, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world, today announced [JP, PDF] it has acquired 15.06% of Kakaku.com, Japan’s largest price comparison site and community (all Kakaku-related articles on Asiajin, my very early review of the site from 2007). The eponymous company behind the service is currently listed at the Tokyo Stock… Continue reading Dentsu Buys 15% Stake In Tokyo-Based Web Company Kakaku.Com
Fakes On Annular Solar Eclipse So Buzzed
Last week, Japanese Twittersphere had much debate on the topic how Twitter and social media are weak against disinformation, as a false news site Kyoko-shimbun was criticized by publishing a fake news with a real politician’s name and photo. The big astronomical event on May 21 morning gave us lots of moving photos, but it… Continue reading Fakes On Annular Solar Eclipse So Buzzed
Rakuten To Purchase 51% Of Online Pharmacy Kenko.com
On the same day when Rakuten’s investment on Pinterest reported (Rakuten announced it officially on today May 18.), the Japan’s largest online mall also announced another domestic investment. On May 15, Rakuten and Online pharmacy company Kenko.com (kenko = health in Japanese) jointly announced [J, pdf] that they agreed on business alliance, as well as… Continue reading Rakuten To Purchase 51% Of Online Pharmacy Kenko.com
Mixi Gives Up? Nikkei Business Report CEO Considering To Sell His 55% Ownership
Nikkei Business Online, an online version of business magazine under Nikkei group, on May 15 after the midnight reported that Mixi, one of Japan’s largest social networking service, a direct local competitor of Facebook, is on the table to sell itself. Some social networking competitors, such like Gree and DeNA(who runs Mobage), who had turned… Continue reading Mixi Gives Up? Nikkei Business Report CEO Considering To Sell His 55% Ownership
“PayPal Here”: SoftBank And PayPal Join Forces In Japan For Smartphone Payment Solution
PayPal President David Marcus, eBay CEO John Donahoe (PayPal is an eBay brand), and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced “PayPal Here” in Tokyo today, a payment solution for smartphones. This is huge news for PayPal’s Japan unit, which has been operating in this country for years but hasn’t achieved the success it has seen in… Continue reading “PayPal Here”: SoftBank And PayPal Join Forces In Japan For Smartphone Payment Solution
Movatwitter Has A New Owner: jig.jp Buys Twitter Client Operator Mindscope
Tokyo-based mobile tech company jig.jp today announced it acquired Mindscope, the startup behind popular Twitter client movatwitter. movatwitter is Japanese-only, web-based and as such usable across various platforms, including smartphones, feature phones, the PC or handheld consoles like the Sony Vita or the Nintendo 3DS. Around 2009, Twitter’s official Japanese top page featured the app… Continue reading Movatwitter Has A New Owner: jig.jp Buys Twitter Client Operator Mindscope
Event: Echelon 2012 Japan Satellite In Tokyo This Friday (April 27)
Singapore-based tech blog e27 is holding Echelon 2012 on June 11-12, a startup event the site calls the biggest of its kind in Asia. As in previous years, Echelon will take place in Singapore (the first one was organized back in 2010), and the main event is preceded by a number of lead-up events in… Continue reading Event: Echelon 2012 Japan Satellite In Tokyo This Friday (April 27)