Continued from (Part 1). Middle part of October news which we did not write as a dedicated article. Continued to (Part 3) Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated. Kagawa Pref. Declares To Rename To Udon (Japanese wheat noodle) Prefecture – Kagawa is known by enthusiastic udon lovers. Official runs extreme tourism promotion… Continue reading October 2011 Japan IT Links (Part 2)
Kayac Releases Location-based Social Fighting Game “The King of Fighters Encounter”
Kayac Inc. [J] has released “THE KING OF FIGHTERS ENCOUNTER,” an iPhone social game application working with location information, which allows you to have battles with characters of people who pass by on the street in real life. Download is free. “THE KING OF FIGHTERS ENCOUNTER” is a game app based on the popular title… Continue reading Kayac Releases Location-based Social Fighting Game “The King of Fighters Encounter”
Video: Mobile Train Information Service “Yamanote Train Net”
Mitsubishi Electric has developed a prototype app for iPhone and Android phones that could make life for the millions of commuters living in Tokyo a bit easier. The so-called “Yamanote Train Net” [JP] app is currently being tested in one train on the famous Yamanote line that circles the center of Tokyo. Users can expect… Continue reading Video: Mobile Train Information Service “Yamanote Train Net”
Presentation: Innovation, Imitation & Hyper-Localization (Sparxup 2011, Indonesia)
Last Friday, I was invited to Jakarta to give a keynote presentation at the Sparxup Awards 2011 event for Indonesian startups. The presentation’s topic was “Innovation, Imitation & Hyper-Localization In Asia”, and assuming some readers might be interested, I embedded it below. Here are the slides (direct link): Keynote Presentation: Sparxup 2011 Indonesia View more… Continue reading Presentation: Innovation, Imitation & Hyper-Localization (Sparxup 2011, Indonesia)
News Around Mobage Getting Bay-Stars Baseball Team
[Update 2011-10-28] Nippon Professional Baseball organization is reported [J] to unapprove the service name “Mobage” for the team name. Most other teams have company names in Japan, and DeNA was rumored to curve out its Mobage business to this rule. We have been reporting (1),(2) that DeNA, Japan’s large social game networking Mobage owner, is… Continue reading News Around Mobage Getting Bay-Stars Baseball Team
Papepipu Papipepu Papepipupo
If Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’s Ponponpon got 7 million views on YouTube worldwide, this new “Papepipu♪ Papipepu♪ Papepipupo♪” by Nozomi Sasaki may be welcomed by Japanese weird-music fans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YBnMzrvKqY Nozomi Sasaki is one of the most popular “gravure idols” recently. (Google Image Search) See Also: The cute ‘n’ kooky world of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japan’s newest… Continue reading Papepipu Papipepu Papepipupo
Ameba Pigg Presents Live Concert By Ayumi Hamasaki
Ameba Pigg, [J] the 2D virtual space run by Cyber Agent, [J] will release a live transmitted broadcast of the popular artist Ayumi Hamasaki’s [J] concert performance “ayumi hamasaki ～POWER of MUSIC～ 2011 A LIMITED EDITION” onto the market from October 19th at 6:30 P.M. This is the first time that a virtual space will… Continue reading Ameba Pigg Presents Live Concert By Ayumi Hamasaki
iPhone 4S Japan – Newcomer KDDI au Runs Even Fight Against Softbank
BCN Ranking announced the statistics of the first week sales of iPhone 4S in Japan. At this new version, the nation’s 3rd carrier Softbank Mobile‘s exclusive distribution since iPhone 3G ends, the 2nd largest carrier KDDI au enters to sell iPhone. The ranking shows the two carriers’ iPhone 4S with three variations of memory-size, 64M/32M/16M,… Continue reading iPhone 4S Japan – Newcomer KDDI au Runs Even Fight Against Softbank
LinkedIn Japanese Localization Finally Done
LinkedIn has released Japanese language support as its 10th language on October 18, 2011. Here is the top page for visitors when you set Japanese as your prior language. LinkedIn Japanese localization plan was announced in September 2007 at first by its local partner Digital Garage. In this May, Digital Garage announced again the Japanese… Continue reading LinkedIn Japanese Localization Finally Done
Gree and Cave Release New Social Game “Monster Children”
Cave and Gree, with license consent from Sanrio, have released a new feature phone social game for GREE, “Monster Children.” “Monster Children” is a social game featuring popular Sanrio characters disguised as vampires, ghosts, zombies, and other Halloween monsters, with a concept and style that’s “A little scary, but totally cute!” Zombies, vampires, paper umbrella… Continue reading Gree and Cave Release New Social Game “Monster Children”