Today, two online pharmacy stores Kenko.com and Wellnet had a press conference to announce that they had filed a lawsuit against Japanese government. They claims that the ban of online and postal drug sale, which is going to be effective from June 1st, is against the constitution. After we reported Rakuten, Kenko.com and others claimed… Continue reading Kenko.com and Wellnet Sues Japanese Government around Drug e-Commerce Ban
Category: News
Softbank Mobile Gives Away iPhone 3G To Univ. Students
Softbank Mobile, Japan’s only cellphone operator dealing with iPhone 3G, and Aoyama Gakuin University announced on Friday that they would distribute the handset to all students studying at the university’s school of social informatics[J]. The students are allowed to use it for attendance reporting, lecture podcasting and having online examination. When a student submits his/her… Continue reading Softbank Mobile Gives Away iPhone 3G To Univ. Students
Video Rental Store Chain To Be Lead Shareholder Of Kakaku.com
A Shibuya-based Internet conglomerate Digital Garage (DG) announced on Thursday that it would sell a half of all the shares of Kakaku.com[J], a B2C price comparison site and a subsidiary of DG, to Culture Convenience Club (CCC) owning Japan’s largest nationwide store chain providing video rental service called Tsutaya[J]. CCC plans to purchase 58,360 shares… Continue reading Video Rental Store Chain To Be Lead Shareholder Of Kakaku.com
White Elephant From The Internet Bubble? Seven-yo Avatar SNS Is Shut Down
A Tokyo-based conglomerate of PC manufacturing and e-commerce retailing, MCJ(Mouse Computer Japan) announced it would shut down the company’s avatar SNS service Cafesta[J] at the end of this month. The service earns 600,000 unique users and 80 million pageviews in a month. Cafesta was launched by Powered.com (merged to KDDI in 2006), an ISP and… Continue reading White Elephant From The Internet Bubble? Seven-yo Avatar SNS Is Shut Down
NEC Biglobe + Nifty + IIJ = A single huge ISP (by 2011)
Japan’s biggest business publication, The Nikkei, is reporting a major shake-up in Japan’s ISP industry. According to the paper, a total of three ISPs in the country, namely NEC Biglobe [JP], Nifty and Internet Initiative Japan (IIJ) are in talks to join forces by 2011. Supposedly, a basic agreement is expected to be reached within… Continue reading NEC Biglobe + Nifty + IIJ = A single huge ISP (by 2011)
Japanese Government Proposes Pandemic Tracking System By Cellphone GPS
Japan’s Ministry of Affairs and Communications (MIC) calls several projects starting in 2009 as part of the ICT Standard Development Project. Among the three big categories [J], one of the 11 themes in the “Cyber District” operation is “Cellular phone Lifelog”, which targets to draw up the rules for time-space data utilization. In particular, as… Continue reading Japanese Government Proposes Pandemic Tracking System By Cellphone GPS
Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
Since Tsuyoshi Kusanagi stepped down from the role promoting digital terrestrial TV service (see this for more details), NAB, the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan, were forced to introduce a new promoter, which is Chide-jika[J], punning the words of digital TV and deer. In opposition to the deer’s activity, users of Japan’s largest… Continue reading Promotion Character Battle: Digital Deer vs. Analog Bear
Lunarr Closes Company With Its Two Unique Web Services
An unique web startup founded and run by a successful Japanese entrepreneur in Portland, Oregon, declared its end of services this month. Notice LUNARR will be discontinuing our Elements and Themes services as of Sunday, May 10th, 2009. You may continue to use both services until that date, at which time your LUNARR Terms of… Continue reading Lunarr Closes Company With Its Two Unique Web Services
Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App
The world’s largest meteorological company, Weathernews Inc., will launch next Monday its 24/7 live show channel, with its Adobe AIR-based client application, bringing weather updates to your PC desktop every minute. The new service is named “So LiVE 24[J]” (So-La is similar to So-Ra in Japanese pronunciation, meaning sky), eleven weather girls and meteorologists are… Continue reading Weather On Desktop: Expert Perspectives, Weather Blogger’s Eyes And Idol’s Loveliness In One App
Amateur Paparazzis Livecast A Pop Star Under Arrest For Indecent Exposure
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