One of Japan’s biggest web industry events is the so-called Infinity Ventures Summit (IVS), a two-day, invitation-only event that takes place twice a year (Asiajin is a media partner). The fall event will happen in Kyoto next week, namely on December 7 and 8. Organized by VC firm Infinity Venture Partners, the IVS this time… Continue reading Preview: 14 Startup Demos From The Infinity Ventures Summit In Kyoto Next Week
More Employees, More Games: CyberAgent To Expand US Presence
Japanese Internet behemoth CyberAgent (listed with a $1.2 billion market cap) is ready to expand its activities in the US. The company today announced it will establish a development base in San Francisco this Wednesday (December 1) with the goal of creating smartphone apps for international markets. CyberAgent has been active in the US since… Continue reading More Employees, More Games: CyberAgent To Expand US Presence
Chrome Music Mixer – Google Japan Lets You Mix “Happy Birthday”
Google Japan launches a new service “Chrome Music Mixer” [J] to promote Google Chrome browser. # may only play inside Japan You may choose four tracks of music video from a lot of prepared sessions, let them play on four YouTube windows. Step 1: choose the main track from five – telephone talk, steel pans,… Continue reading Chrome Music Mixer – Google Japan Lets You Mix “Happy Birthday”
A Guy Sells Salt As Amphetamine Online, Earned $178,000
The Hyogo police arrested a Nagano guy in September under a charge of running 60 of internet bulletin boards for users to buy and sell illegal drugs online. [/caption] “No Drug” campaign in Japanese online game BelleIsle in 2006 This guy was expected to sell drugs by himself, but he talks that what he sold… Continue reading A Guy Sells Salt As Amphetamine Online, Earned $178,000
Amazon Japan Running Anime-Porn Game Character Contest
When in Japan do as the Japanese do. Amazon Japan, one of the most successful foreign web companies in Japan, understands good localization. At the year end, they run a user vote contest to set the best “bishoujo”(beautiful girl) character among adult PC games. In Japan, huge number of adult anime PC games are sold… Continue reading Amazon Japan Running Anime-Porn Game Character Contest
Conit Launches Easy-to-manage In-app Purchase Platform For Android App Developers
Tokyo-based tech start-up Conit launched an in-app purchase platform for the Android apps as well as the iPhone/iPad apps on Friday, in association with Japan’s largest ad agency Dentsu. The platform is named as Samurai Purchase[J], and allows smartphone app developer to manage all their in-app purchases that are made by users via the Android… Continue reading Conit Launches Easy-to-manage In-app Purchase Platform For Android App Developers
KDDI And Weathernews Introduce New Style Of Weather Updates For Cellphone
Japan’s second largest cellphone operator KDDI and the world’s largest meteorological company Weathernews jointly announced that they had launched a new weather update service by using Stevenson screens built on about 100 cellphone base stations in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, which is named Soratena after sora (meaning ‘sky’) and antenna. The service is available… Continue reading KDDI And Weathernews Introduce New Style Of Weather Updates For Cellphone
Tweeted Wishes Are Projected On Public Bath Chimney And Deliver Hopes
Sony has been running an ad campaign to promote their computer product brand Vaio since the beginning of this month, which is titled Vaio Assist Torch Project[J]. In the campaign, the company started to project words of people’s thankfulness and encouragement to a chimney of a public bath in Tokyo. After the sun sets,… Continue reading Tweeted Wishes Are Projected On Public Bath Chimney And Deliver Hopes
Play Tag, Sharing Tweets Among Train Passengers – Keio Students Unveil Unique Social Apps At Their Showcase Event
Keio University SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus), known as a technology hub for Japan’s Internet community in academic field, had a two-day event called Open Research Forum 2010[J] last week, where 142 research teams showcased their development results and works. As one of them, “Densha Now” is a third-party Twitter app that shows you tweets by… Continue reading Play Tag, Sharing Tweets Among Train Passengers – Keio Students Unveil Unique Social Apps At Their Showcase Event
ex-Google Japan President Starts A New Company Alex
Koichiro Tsujino, who served as Google Japan’s president, which was an exceptional position in Google, resigned this April, has just begun his new venture, Alex [J]. On the Alex’s board member, there is an interesting name, ex-Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei (cf. Forbes). Tsujino led VAIO and other products in Sony before Google. On the new… Continue reading ex-Google Japan President Starts A New Company Alex