WebCam: Tokyo’s New Landmark Is Currently Under Construction

Japanese terrestrial TV transmitting is set to completely turn to digital on July 24th of 2011.   Here in Tokyo, all TV signals are currently being transmitted from the top of Tokyo Tower (332.5 meters or 1,090 feet high), but a new transmission facility located at a higher altitude is required to cover the Tokyo… Continue reading WebCam: Tokyo’s New Landmark Is Currently Under Construction

Japan’s First Twitter Novel Book Is On The Way

A paper book named “Twitter Shousetsu – 140 ji no Monogatari”(Twitter Novels – 140 Letters Stories) is to be published at the beginning of next month, announced by one of ten professional authors, Mika Naitoh [J]. There will be over 100 very short stories in the book. According to her blog, the first Japanese book… Continue reading Japan’s First Twitter Novel Book Is On The Way

Amazon Japan Starts “The Same Day” Delivery Service

Amazon Japan announced their new premium delivery option “Toujitsu Oisogi Bin”, which is not offered by US Amazon, the same day delivery. Of course, some restrictions are applied. To get the product in the same day, you need to see that the shipment option is selectable on the product page. Firstly, not all products are… Continue reading Amazon Japan Starts “The Same Day” Delivery Service

KDDI Running Out of Motorola’s au BOX

KDDI au, Japan’s 2nd largest cellphone carrier, announced that from October 31’st  it will stop accepting new contracts for the au BOX. The official reason given is “we will soon sell the allotted number of units for our au BOX service”. While new contracts are denied, existing customers will be able to continue using the… Continue reading KDDI Running Out of Motorola’s au BOX

Enemies Yesterday, Friends Today: Japanese Major TV Broadcasters Handshake With YouTube

For three years David Eun, Google‘s VP of strategic partnerships, has been working on persuade Japanese media giants to join the team.   The key stations of Japan’s two nationwide private TV networks, TV Asahi and TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) made agreements with Google on Tuesday, and the both broadcasters started distributing their news video clips… Continue reading Enemies Yesterday, Friends Today: Japanese Major TV Broadcasters Handshake With YouTube

Softbank To Cap iPhone Bandwidth

Japan’s exclusive iPhone provider Softbank, the 3rd largest carrier, announced [J] that they will introduce bandwidth limit for heavy users of their data plan from December, to keep network quality and fairness of network usage. In case of using the Packet-Teigaku(fixed rate)-Full plan [J], which Japanese iPhone users usually depends on, if your monthly usage… Continue reading Softbank To Cap iPhone Bandwidth

Japan’s No. 1 Online Mall Rakuten Buys Into Thailand’s Leading E-Commerce Company Tarad

Japan’s biggest online shopping mall Rakuten (nearly 50 million registered users in Japan/Asiajin articles) today announced [JP] a capital and business alliance with Bangkok-based Tarad Dot Com [TH], Thailand’s leading e-commerce company. The move marks Rakuten’s first serious attempt to gain in a foothold in the country, which has an Internet population of 13.5 million… Continue reading Japan’s No. 1 Online Mall Rakuten Buys Into Thailand’s Leading E-Commerce Company Tarad

Matz becomes an honorary citizen of Matsue-city

(Photo by Jim Lindley (cc-by-nc)) Ruby’s creator Yukihiro ‘Matz’ Matsumoto is going to become an honorary citizen of Matsue city where he lives. The city will award three people this time but other two are awarded posthumously. Matz, a 44 years-old geek, is the youngest recipient of the award. Matsue city considers Ruby and Matz… Continue reading Matz becomes an honorary citizen of Matsue-city