Rental Shop TSUTAYA Gets Into Smartphone Games With TSUTAYA.com kiwi

TSUTAYA.com [J] has formed a business partnership with Internet Revolution [J] and opened the smartphone SNS game site “TSUTAYA.com kiwi.” [J] With “TSUTAYA.com kiwi” you can enjoy 14 game titles such as “Pro Baseball Dream Nine,” “Everyone’s Pet Shop,” “Othello,” “Solitaire,” “Multi-Millionaire,” and this is the first time for a SNS game site to be… Continue reading Rental Shop TSUTAYA Gets Into Smartphone Games With TSUTAYA.com kiwi

Japanese Government Reassures Free WiFi Providers Not Tap Users Messages

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications(MIC) on April 4 issued two administrative directions around the constitutionally guaranteed secrecy of communication (=Tsuushin no Himitsu, in Japanese) against Connect Free and NTT Broadband Platform. Both companies tried to offer free WiFi services at shops last December but got in troubles by suspicious behaviors when users connect… Continue reading Japanese Government Reassures Free WiFi Providers Not Tap Users Messages

GREE Forms Business Partnership With ICS Mobile, Major App Referral Media

GREE [J] has announced that they have agreed to a business partnership to develop a new global company with ICS Mobile, Inc., who run FreeAppADay.com (FAAD), an industry leader in application referral media. ICS Mobile, a company located in Santa Monica California, manages “FAAD”, a free iOS application introduction media.  “FAAD” has gathered a strong… Continue reading GREE Forms Business Partnership With ICS Mobile, Major App Referral Media

Social Game By Vector”Koiken!” Gets Animated For Cell Phones

Vector [J] will distribute “Koiken! ~Watashi Tachi Anime Ni Natchatta!~” (Koiken! We Became an Anime!), an anime for cellular phones based on their romantic simulation game “Koiken!” now offered for Mobage [J] and GREE. [J]  You can now view both titles from their Official Home Page. [J] “Koiken! ~Watashi Tachi Anime Ni Natchatta!~” will normally… Continue reading Social Game By Vector”Koiken!” Gets Animated For Cell Phones

A Summary of the Latest Studies about Japan & Social Media

2011 was not only a year that changed the geography of Japan but also a year that drastically altered the way Japanese people use social media. Facebook came out of nowhere and increased its user base more than 200% (Socialbakers) , Twitter became mainstream  (Study 4) and a Comscore report claimed that Mixi is not #1 social… Continue reading A Summary of the Latest Studies about Japan & Social Media

Japanese School Textbook Inspired English Learning Book With AR

Mirai-kei New Horizon de Mou Ichido Eigo wo Yatte Miru(Challenge English again with futuristic version of New Horizon) by a Japanese publishing company Tokyo Shoseki is an English textbook, which follows the format of the company’s popular junior high-school text book New Horizon. NEW　HORIZON　English　Course　２ It is a textbook for adults who want to study high-school… Continue reading Japanese School Textbook Inspired English Learning Book With AR

Japan’s Web News Week 13

This week’s Japanese Web/IT related news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Bandai To Release Pet Robot Using iPhone/iPod As Its Face, The Verge [En] Akihabara Event of Android Highschool Japanese Noodle Chain Runs Unique Campaign, Accept Any Expired Coupons By Other Companies… Continue reading Japan’s Web News Week 13

Hachioji-city Makes Unofficial Android Girl Character Droiko-chan

Hachioji is a city in Western Tokyo, about 1 hour ride train from Tokyo station. It is a bedroom suburb of Tokyo with 555,000 population. The city, local chambers of commerce, enterprises and universities formed a project Cyber Silkroad Hachioji [J], which aims economic development of the city. The latest Android news from Hachioji is… Continue reading Hachioji-city Makes Unofficial Android Girl Character Droiko-chan

Ameba Pico’s English Is Too Difficult

A Japanese user, who might be a big fan of CyberAgent’s popular virtual avatar world Ameba Pigg, asked a question [J] on Yahoo! Chiebukuro (=Yahoo! Answers in Japan) about his playing Ameba Pico, an English version of Ameba Pigg. I’m playing Ameba Pico but totally lost as I can not understand the following English. Please… Continue reading Ameba Pico’s English Is Too Difficult