Nihon Keizai Shimbun (The Nikkei) [Wikipedia], one of the most influential industrial newspaper in Japan, who had declared its digital version launch plan for this spring on its January 3rd newspaper, seems to set its starting time and fee plan, according to multiple sources. Both February issue of Facta magazine [J, magazine subscription required] and… Continue reading The Nikkei Newspaper To Begin Paid Online News In March, Multiple Sources Say
Weekly Diamond Featured Twitter For 40 Pages, Reprinted
One of the most read Japanese business magazine (such like Forbes or Businessweek), Shuukan Daiyamondo(Weekly Diamond) January 23th 2010 issue, featured Twitter as a special topic for 40 pages. Both of the cover of the magazine and the first page of the featured section, thousands of Japanese Twitter user icons, which had been called for… Continue reading Weekly Diamond Featured Twitter For 40 Pages, Reprinted
First Japanese Manga On Amazon Kindle Released
Although Amazon Kindle is possible to order from Japan, Kindle and its backend do not support Japanese font well yet. Support for Japanese publishers in Japanese are not prepared, too. So, most Japanese people who currently own Kindle are gadget fans, English-savvy or for research purpose. And some people see potential on the device and… Continue reading First Japanese Manga On Amazon Kindle Released
Twitter Japan Enables Retweet Button
Twitter has turned on official retweet button for Japanese users. You could use it by changing your menu language with English, but most Japanese users see this button first this week. The label of the retweet button in Japanese is “リツイート” which just show its English sound in Japanese katakana (phonogramic alphabet). Japanese localization staff… Continue reading Twitter Japan Enables Retweet Button
iPhone Push-Ups Apps: Be Careful Otherwise You Will Crack iPhone Screen
NEC Biglobe, one of the largest Japanese ISP/portal releases iPhone app “Push-Ups Dojo” to count, record and share (of course, on Twitter) your push-ups. I am sure that there are already many exercise recording iPhone apps. This one directly uses iPhone’s touch panel as a counting sensor. You need to touch the iPhone on the… Continue reading iPhone Push-Ups Apps: Be Careful Otherwise You Will Crack iPhone Screen
President Thrown Shoes Ads by Alibaba China
China’s largest e-commerce company Alibaba.com seems to have a good sense of humour and doing viral marketing there in the secret Chinese web. Chinese film creator Hu Ge(胡戈) makes a parody movie of the former US president Bush’s dodging thrown shoes at a press conference in Iraq. In the movie the president was less patient… Continue reading President Thrown Shoes Ads by Alibaba China
Dentsu iButterfly Experiments AR and Location Based Coupon Service
Dentsu Inc., Japan’s largest advertising agency, announced that they started experimental coupon platform iButterfly with free iPhone application. The application “iButterfly – Coupon Entertainment” can be downloaded for free until the end of March 2010 (requires iPhone 3GS). On the mobile application, user can look through the iPhone app to the town and find butterfly… Continue reading Dentsu iButterfly Experiments AR and Location Based Coupon Service
iPhone Final Fantasy Targets Oversea Market
Square Enix, who holds two best selling Japanese role playing game series, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, announced on Facebook their Final Fantasy I and II are being ported to iPhone/iPod Touch. In Japanese cellphone market, Square Enix has been offering downloadable early Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy Mobile [J] on three major carriers offered the… Continue reading iPhone Final Fantasy Targets Oversea Market
Cellphone Geo-Location Game CoroPura Gets 750,000 Users
By seeing Foursquare and Gowalla mentioned a lot on blogs and twitter, I noticed that Asiajin has not introduced how geo location mobile services are doing in Japan, where GPS capable cellphones are there for years. CoroPura, which was originally named “Coronii-de-purasu”(Colony de Plus) and now the abbreviation became an official name, is a Japanese… Continue reading Cellphone Geo-Location Game CoroPura Gets 750,000 Users
[Update: recording now available] January 20: Ustream discussion panel “Social Media Predictions 2010”
Quick announcement for a Ustream event that’s going to take place this week: Tokyo-based Beat Communication, widely regarded as being one of the pioneers in the Japanese social network industry, is organizing a discussion panel (in Japanese) on the development of “social media” in 2010. Beat Communication CEO Ryo Murai asked me to be one… Continue reading [Update: recording now available] January 20: Ustream discussion panel “Social Media Predictions 2010”