Agile Media Network held a conference “Internet Changes Election?” [JP] on April 24th. Statesmen and NPOs discussed about the use of Internet for election in Japan. Shin Itoh of Japan Initiative [JP] gave a 30-minutes talk on Japanese Election Law. He said that the law is unreasonably strict. Electoral campaign is only allowed during official… Continue reading Election And Internet In Japan
Twitter & Politics: Can Tweets Change Our Society?
On Tuesday in Roppongi, Tokyo, Glocom (Global Communication Center, International Univ. of Japan) held a workshop focusing on how we can take advantage of Twitter for improving our politics. Invited panelists are: Fumi Yamazaki(@Fumi), freelance researcher and former project manager for Joi Lab, Digital Garage. Daisuke Tsuda(@tsuda), freelance IT journalist and recently reporting on Twitter… Continue reading Twitter & Politics: Can Tweets Change Our Society?
Twitter People Meets 200 Users in Japan
On Tuesday, June 30th, two people from Twitter USA had an user meeting [J] with 200 Japanese users at Omotesando. signboard “t” and “tsu” (the first letter of “twitter” in Japanese) hat receptionists welcomed Japanese twitter fans. Newly recruited Japan Country Manager Yukari Matsuzawa (@yukarim) and Head of Mobile Kevin Thau (@kevinthau) came down from… Continue reading Twitter People Meets 200 Users in Japan
Luxury $10,000 USB Memory MNEMOSYNE
Solid Alliance announced its new concept USB memory with 1 million yen price tag, which is about $10,000 US dollars. The 16GB Aluminium Mirror Finish USB memory is designed by Milan-based Italian Desig Studio Toshi Satoji Design, professionally hand-crafted by two Japanese manufacturers, can be made to order. You need to disassemble 6 parts to… Continue reading Luxury $10,000 USB Memory MNEMOSYNE
Google Ad Shows SEO-Spammer Consultant
When your mail have phrases around website marketing or search engine optmization, Japanese gmail users recently see interesting SEO consultant advertisement, which offers you an inexpensive link-building service, by 20,000 yen (US$200) per one satellite-site. (click to enlarge) The ad says “Site for inbound links by 20,000 yen” – “We create mass sites for inbound… Continue reading Google Ad Shows SEO-Spammer Consultant
Now, Long Phone Conversation Makes You Fly For Free
EC-Navi[J], a Shibuya-based tech venture running several web services such as price comparison site for e-commerce users, tied up with Japan’s second largest mobile company KDDI, and plans to launch a nationwide cellphone service as an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). The service will start on August 3rd, and it targets females in their 20s… Continue reading Now, Long Phone Conversation Makes You Fly For Free
R25 Mobile Ceases Because Advertisers Avoids Mobile
Recruit (on Asiajin) announced their R25’s mobile site shutdown on July 30th. (Mobile version of R25 has not been closed yet but may give you an error page. It seems to limit visitors by browser user agent and/or IP address, which is common to Japanese mobile sites. The PC site is here [J].) Their PR… Continue reading R25 Mobile Ceases Because Advertisers Avoids Mobile
CNET Japan To Be A Part Of Asahi Newspaper
CBS Interactive, which is the parent company of CNET, and Asahi Newspaper announced the two companies had agreed that the ownership of CNET Networks Japan[J] would be completely handed over to Asahi Newspaper on September 1st. CNET Networks Japan owns and runs several Japan-based tech websites including CNET Japan[J], ZDNet Japan[J], GameSpot Japan[J] and Tetsudo.com[J]… Continue reading CNET Japan To Be A Part Of Asahi Newspaper
GREE’s market cap soars past $1.6 billion, now higher than DeNA’s and nearly twice as high as Mixi’s
It seems that GREE‘s [JP] success story won’t come to an end too anytime soon. The performance of the 99% mobile social network/gaming platform is becoming scary, as in bubble-type scary. Stocks are rising and rising since the company went IPO in December last year and the financial situation keeps on improving, too. And as… Continue reading GREE’s market cap soars past $1.6 billion, now higher than DeNA’s and nearly twice as high as Mixi’s
SMG and Alibaba: SoftBank strengthens ties with major Chinese web players
SoftBank seems to be pretty bullish about the growing Chinese web market, which is no wonder as there are about 300 million web users in that country (China has the biggest Internet population in the world). The Japanese technology behemoth formed two strategic alliances with high-profile Chinese partners in the last few days. Alliance with… Continue reading SMG and Alibaba: SoftBank strengthens ties with major Chinese web players