Japan’s biggest e-commerce company Rakuten, which currently boasts a market cap of US$9.7 billion, has been relatively quiet after having acquired US-based Buy.com earlier this year (for US$250 million). Now Buy.com is announcing it has introduced a loyalty program called “Rakuten Super Points” on its site. The way it works is pretty simple: much like… Continue reading Rakuten Brings “Super Points” Loyalty Program To Buy.Com
LTE vs. Extention Of Current Techs: Who Brings Us The World’s Fastest Mobile Broadband?
Japan’s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo announced at their seasonal press conference that it would launch an LTE (long-term evolution) service called Xi[J] (pronounced as “crossy”) on Christmas eve of this year in Japan’s highly populated areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. LTE is collectively known as 3.9G mobile technology standard that allows you to… Continue reading LTE vs. Extention Of Current Techs: Who Brings Us The World’s Fastest Mobile Broadband?
Medical Net Communications Goes IPO On Tokyo Stock Exchange
Japan’s tech IPO market has been drying up dramatically in recent months, but there are still some IPOs happening. Today it was announced that Tokyo-based Japan Medical Net Communications, which operates several sites for medical services in this country (full list here), is next. The company has received approval to list on the Tokyo Stock… Continue reading Medical Net Communications Goes IPO On Tokyo Stock Exchange
Japan’s Prime Ministar Begins Blog
Naoto Kan, Japan’s 94th prime minster who took the position this June, enters into the web by his new blog yesterday, November 18th. The blog, named “Kan-full Blog” [J] after his sirname “Kan” and an English word “full”, which shows his full efforts on communication, also has a pun meaning “camphor” to inject for “revitalizing… Continue reading Japan’s Prime Ministar Begins Blog
Event Report: San Francisco Japanese Tech Entrepreneur Night
As reported last month and a video link presented on October 14, 2010, the SF New Tech Japan Night event was held in San Francisco(SF). The event was sold out with over 260 on-line tickets sold with an additonal 40+ at the door. Enduring a little jet-lag and some tech culture shock, six start-ups from… Continue reading Event Report: San Francisco Japanese Tech Entrepreneur Night
The Bar Android Opens In Shibuya, Tokyo
Do you have Android mobile? Then let’s go to this bar! My friend’s @Kabayan opens the hangout “Bar Android” at Shibuya, Tokyo for Android users. 2F Udagawa-cho 37-14, Shibuya, Japan, 150-0042 There is a projector. And there are power supplies, so it’s not necessary for you to mind battery consumption. Gingerbread Cookie! If you can… Continue reading The Bar Android Opens In Shibuya, Tokyo
Google Japan Makes Comic Of Japanese Input Method Development
Google Japan publicized their “Google Japanese Imput Method (Beta) Comic” online, following to its paper version, which was presented to their developer’s event recently. This 42 pages comic by Yutanpo Shirane features some star developers in Google Japan. There are 8 chapters and each chapter has the following topic; Why Google developed and released its… Continue reading Google Japan Makes Comic Of Japanese Input Method Development
November 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 1)
Early part of November news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Continued to (Part 2) There were some big English blogs covered recent Hatsune Miku live and some people might see the virtual Vocaloid singer news first time. You may also want to check our past covers; 2010-06, when she beat out… Continue reading November 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 1)
Nico Nico Douga Turns In The Black In Full-year Result And Plans New Office In Harajuku
Dwango[J], the parent of the company running Japan’s largest video sharing site Nico Nico Douga[J], announced its full-year consolidated financial statements (Oct. 2009 thru Sep. 2010) last week, which showed us Nico Nico Douga had turned in the black for the first time in their full-year result. (In their monthly earnings, it already turned in… Continue reading Nico Nico Douga Turns In The Black In Full-year Result And Plans New Office In Harajuku
Kadokawa To Launch E-Book Distribution Platform; Some Novelists Can’t Wait And Launch Their Own
Kadokawa Shoten Publishing[J] and its subsidiaries, which are known for having published many comic titles and magazines, announced on Friday that they would launch an e-book distribution platform called Book Walker next month. Approximately 100 titles will be available for the iPhone and the iPad users at the launch of the platform, and 20 titles… Continue reading Kadokawa To Launch E-Book Distribution Platform; Some Novelists Can’t Wait And Launch Their Own