I know we’re a tad late on this, but Japan’s No. 1 e-commerce company Rakuten announced earlier this week that all internal meetings will be held in English from now on. To say this is rare move for a Japanese web company (or any kind of company) would be a big understatement. Rakuten has ramped… Continue reading English, Please: Rakuten Bans Japanese As Corporate Language From Internal Meetings
Rakuten To Go Global By Acquiring Buy.com for USD250M
Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten announced today that it would acquire U.S.-based e-commerce portal Buy.com for USD250M. Buy.com will be a subsidiary wholly owned by Rakuten next month. Buy.com has 14 million consumers and more than 1,000 stores in North America. Rakuten is running e-commerce business in Taiwan[C] and Thailand[TH], and also preparing for launching… Continue reading Rakuten To Go Global By Acquiring Buy.com for USD250M
Softbank Mobile Ties Up With 60 Restaurant & Coffee Shop Chains For More Public WiFi Spots
On Monday, Softbank Mobile announced it had agreed to partner with some 60 companies to provide their restaurant and coffee shop storefronts with the telco’s public WiFi service called Softbank WiFi spot[J]. The service’s subscribers are also allowed to use BB Mobile Point as well, which is a public WiFi service operated by the telco’s… Continue reading Softbank Mobile Ties Up With 60 Restaurant & Coffee Shop Chains For More Public WiFi Spots
Many iPad Loss Cases Are Reported At Int’l Shipping Phase
Prior to the iPad sales start in Japan which is scheduled on May 28th, some people who can’t help waiting for the day have ordered it on e-commerce sites based in the U.S. where it is already on sale. Japan Post have got many complaints from recipients that no iPad is enclosed in the parcel… Continue reading Many iPad Loss Cases Are Reported At Int’l Shipping Phase
TEDxTokyo 2010, Annual Ideas Spreading Conference Is Going On
TEDxTokyo, an independent local-based version of the world’s popular innovation conference, is now being held at Miraikan, Japan’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation[J]. This is the second edition of the conference which has been held in Tokyo, and all the sessions are bringing you all around the world via YouTube in English and… Continue reading TEDxTokyo 2010, Annual Ideas Spreading Conference Is Going On
What is iPad – Japanese dub in Hiroshima Dialect
Another great work on NicoNico Douga and YouTube. This is a presentation “What is iPad”. Not in English nor in typical Japanese but in Hiroshima dialect. You may not be able to find what is funny if you don’t understand Japanese but a dub made on this video is gaining lots of applause from Japanese… Continue reading What is iPad – Japanese dub in Hiroshima Dialect
CyberAgent Acquires 20% Stake In Chinese Android Development Firm mAPPn
The Japanese and Chinese web industries keep getting closer together. Yesterday Tokyo-based Internet behemoth CyberAgent (currently listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a $1 billion market cap) announced it will take a 20% stake in mAPPn, an Android development firm with offices in China, Taiwan and the US (the press release in Japanese is… Continue reading CyberAgent Acquires 20% Stake In Chinese Android Development Firm mAPPn
Softbank Starts iPad Pre-sales; DoCoMo Gives Up To Provide SIM For iPad Users
Finally, Softbank Mobile got the iPad Pre-sales started. We could find no queue at their storefronts last Sunday’s night, but the scenes have been changed in yesterday’s morning. (In front of Softbank Mobile Omotesando. Picture courtesy: Japan’s A-list brogger Ichiroo a.k.a. Kotori Piyopiyo[J]) The Nikkei reports more than 100 people have been queuing at Bic… Continue reading Softbank Starts iPad Pre-sales; DoCoMo Gives Up To Provide SIM For iPad Users
April 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
Continued from (Part 1) Second half of April news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. First Twitter TV Drama Synopsis Twitter Drama’s First Episode Viewing Rate Was 11.9%, which is not so great Yahoo! Japan News Editorial Chief Published A Book “How to… Continue reading April 2010 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
DeNA Begins Free Games And Community On English iPhone/iPad
DeNA, which runs one of big three Japanese social networking Mobage-Town, today announced and immediately launched MiniNation and its games, their popular social games and its basement community in English on iPhone/iPad for oversea users. The games and MiniNation are only available “outside of Japan”. So it is not for their royal Japanese users but… Continue reading DeNA Begins Free Games And Community On English iPhone/iPad