Tag: Japan

Un-breakout – Burokku-Kuzushi Game Reversed

Burokku Kuzusasnu (not destructing blocks) is a new browser game released by @utyo on January 19, and quickly buzzed in Japan. The game is based on Brokku Kuzushi (block destruciton), a category points clone games of legendary 1972 Atari Breakout. But on this Burokku Kuzusanu, your goal is totally opposite, try not to break blocks.… Continue reading Un-breakout – Burokku-Kuzushi Game Reversed

Yahoo! Messenger [J] To Shut Down

Yahoo! Japan announced [J] that it would terminate its messenger service “Yahoo! Messenger” at 3 p.m. on March 26, 2014. Yahoo! Messenger was one of the most popular messenger services for Japanese Internet users, competed against Skype and MSN Messenger. (MSN Messenger, aka Windows Live Messenger, was also stopped after Microsoft got Skype) Yahoo! Japan… Continue reading Yahoo! Messenger [J] To Shut Down

How Facebook Crossed the Chasm in Japan and Lessons for Other Platforms

Important note: Most of these statements are qualitative in nature. For some statements there’s not enough supporting data. Please read this post with a pinch of salt. In the summer of 2004, a new file sharing platform, named wirehog, was in the works. This platform was not that successful and it gave us a very… Continue reading How Facebook Crossed the Chasm in Japan and Lessons for Other Platforms

Facebook Japan Lost 13% Users Last Week

Facebook’s own advertising tool (and Socialbakers who records its chronological changes) showed that the number of active users in Japan dropped to 13.8 million on Feb. 19, 2 million down from 15.85 million on the former week. It was 12.9% down as low as the end of August 2012. From the peak, 17.1 million on… Continue reading Facebook Japan Lost 13% Users Last Week

Facebook Users Increased 33% Last Month

According to Socialbakers, which takes the number of users from Facebook’s own advertisers tool, the number of Japanese Facebook users jumped up from 10.5 million to 13.99 million. I do not notice any other signs to show Facebook’s popularity increase in August, but if Facebook’s self-claiming user base is reliable (maybe not so), something good… Continue reading Facebook Users Increased 33% Last Month

Hip-hop Anti-Phishing Enlightenment Song By Japan Credit-card Association

Japan Credit-card Association released a hip-hop song teaches you what kind of the Internet phishing are aiming you. The song title is “Itsumo Kimi wo mamoritai kara”(’cause we always want to protect you.). Three mermaids tell you 5 points you need to be careful on the net. via Modern Syntax

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

5 Trends In Japan’s Web And Mobile Worlds In 2011

2011 is over – reason enough to take a look at some of the key trends that shaped Japan’s web, mobile, and gaming industries last year. I could think, in no particular order, of five major developments that made a significant impact last year: March 11 Triple Disaster The triple disaster that hit Japan on… Continue reading 5 Trends In Japan’s Web And Mobile Worlds In 2011

Japanese Carriers Begs Not To Use Cellphone For 2 Hours Around New Year’s Eve Midnight

Telecommunications Carriers Association with all 5 Japanese cellphone carriers NTT Docomo, KDDI au, Softbank Mobile, Wilcom and e-Access(who runs e-Mobile) issued release on December 21 [J], ask their users not to call or e-mail around and after the midnight of 2012’s new year’s eve. “Rabbit’s last, and dragon’s first request” line is from Chinese Zodiac,… Continue reading Japanese Carriers Begs Not To Use Cellphone For 2 Hours Around New Year’s Eve Midnight