The Yomiuri Giants[J], a professional baseball team based in Tokyo, announced it would introduce a new cellphone handset especially designed for their fans in late June in association with Japan’s second largest mobile operator KDDI and MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) Inphonix[J]. The team’s logo is printed on the handset, and player’s portraits and the… Continue reading Tokyo Giants & Hanshin Tigers, Both To Introduce Specially Designed Handsets For Better Fan Engagement
Twitter Parade Generator IS Parade By KDDI
KDDI, Japan’s second largest cellphone carrier, launched a new Twitter related mashup for one of their new IS smartphone(Android and Windows Mobile) promotion activities, IS Parade. On the site, you will be asked to type a Twitter ID or any keywords. Hit the “Start” then the parade with Twitter icons and tweets will be shown… Continue reading Twitter Parade Generator IS Parade By KDDI
Amazon Envy: Rakuten Builds Own Distribution Centers
Big shake-up in Japan’s $70 billion e-commerce market: Rakuten, Japan’s leading virtual mall (over 30,000 merchants, over 50 million customer accounts), is about to launch an attack against its biggest (yet indirect) rival), Amazon Japan. The biggest difference between the two sites is that Rakuten is a B2B2C platform without a warehousing function. But that’s… Continue reading Amazon Envy: Rakuten Builds Own Distribution Centers
Cartoon Illustration Sharing Site Tinami Introduces Streaming Integration And API
Tinami[J], a fourteen-year-old illustration sharing site for cartoonists and animators, completed the integrations with Ustream and Stickam last week, and it now allows users of the service to broadcast live videos of their drawing processes via the two streaming services and to communicate with their fans. Furthermore, the site introduced an API[J] for developers who… Continue reading Cartoon Illustration Sharing Site Tinami Introduces Streaming Integration And API
Softbank To Stop Further Development Of Japan-Made Mobile Technology And To Take Chinese 4G Standard?
Softbank, a Japanese telecom and media company who will take over the next-generation PHS service called XGP[J] from the service’s predecessor Willcom in corporate reorganization proceedings, is reportedly considering to adopt China Mobile‘s TD-LTE standard instead for the service in Japan, several Japanese news sources reported. If Softbank adopts TD-LTE, Softbank’s subscribers in Japan and… Continue reading Softbank To Stop Further Development Of Japan-Made Mobile Technology And To Take Chinese 4G Standard?
[Breaking] Yahoo! Japan And DeNA To Runs Social Game Site Yahoo! Mobage
The Dominator of Japanese web Yahoo! Japan and DeNA, who runs one of big three Japanese social networking services Mobage Town, just announced to form an united front on PC social gaming. The new service tentatively called “Yahoo! Mobage” will launch late this summer. According to the release, Yahoo! Mobage will have; social game platform… Continue reading [Breaking] Yahoo! Japan And DeNA To Runs Social Game Site Yahoo! Mobage
The President Of Japan Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) Begins Twitter
Sadakazu Tanigaki (official site) [J], the president of Liberal Democratic Party(LDP), which is a political party who had dominated Japanese politics for half an century since the mid-1950s and got debacle at last national election against Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), started Twitter (@Tanigaki_S), with taking back his former remarks that he would never use… Continue reading The President Of Japan Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) Begins Twitter
Tokyo-Bay Fishermen Start Seafood E-Commerce; Line-ups Are Updated From Boats Every Morning
A fishermen’s cooperative[J] in Yokosuka, a Tokyo suburb known for having a U.S. fleet activities, launched a fish and seafood e-commerce site that sells what have been caught in Tokyo Bay in the morning of the day. Fishermen on boats take pictures of their fishing results and put them on the website with retail prices… Continue reading Tokyo-Bay Fishermen Start Seafood E-Commerce; Line-ups Are Updated From Boats Every Morning
Gourmet Navigator Plans 1-Seg TV Service For Mobile On Tokyo Subways
NKB[J], the transit ad agency running well-known restaurant guide Gourmet Navigator(Gournavi) on the web, is now discussing in-subway 1-seg TV service (refer to these stories about 1-seg) with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for obtaining a TV station license. The company expects the service will be provided in subway trains running, at subway… Continue reading Gourmet Navigator Plans 1-Seg TV Service For Mobile On Tokyo Subways
Japanese Blog Queen Tasted Twitter And Gave Up
Shoko Nakagawa (aka Shokotan), one of the most successful Japanese celebrity bloggers, finally started Twitter (@shokonakagawa) on February 24th with a tweet “I begin to chirp…” [J]. This could have been a milestone for Japanese Twitter to show the centre of the celebrity blogging moving from regular blog to microblog. However, after posting 15 tweets… Continue reading Japanese Blog Queen Tasted Twitter And Gave Up