April Fools’ Day Jokes On Japanese Websphere

On the day when all we are permitted to wag the dog, many companies devoted themselves to create attractive pranks on their websites.    I wrapped up what had happened on Japanese web scene. For pursuing the journalist’s perspective to be honest on the facts, we Asiajin report no prank nor joke, but do the fact… Continue reading April Fools’ Day Jokes On Japanese Websphere

Yahoo Japan Diggs Deeper Underground, While Google Covers More Narrow Streets Nationwide

Yahoo Japan[J] is planning to release its new underground mapping service on Thursday, which shows the details of underground shopping malls in 49 locations nationwide. Yahoo Japan’s map service[J] gets approximately 700 million page-views a month, and the new feature is expected to further increase that number. Similar to Google Maps Street View, by clicking… Continue reading Yahoo Japan Diggs Deeper Underground, While Google Covers More Narrow Streets Nationwide

Google inflates Search Market Share versus Yahoo! Japan

Google Japan’s year-end announcement on Dec 22nd, 2008 shocked the industry, when they loudly proclaimed that their search market share had reached 41%, which is only 3 points behind the 44% of Japanese portal giant Yahoo! Japan, using data from Nielsen/NetRatings (report on @IT [J]). The news raised some eyebrows because no such indications had… Continue reading Google inflates Search Market Share versus Yahoo! Japan

Cyber Agent Investments Organizes Business Plan Competition

Investment arm of a Tokyo-based Internet venture Cyber Agent Group, Cyber Agent Investment LTD.[J] announced to organize a business plan competition called “START”, for the purpose of discovering innovative and potential tech start-up, in cooperation with  Cyber Agent, Mixi[J], Yahoo Japan[J], EC Navi[J], CA Mobile, netprice.com, DeNA and Microsoft Bizspark. Award winning plan may get funding… Continue reading Cyber Agent Investments Organizes Business Plan Competition

Yahoo! Japan launches English version of their auction site

Yahoo! Japan introduced an English version of Yahoo! Japan Auctions on October 10th, 2008. Its target audience is foreign residents in Japan who can communicate in basic Japanese but prefer to use an English interface. Yahoo! Japan Auctions is the biggest Internet auction site in Japan. The major drawback of the English site is that… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan launches English version of their auction site

Branding social networks the Japanese way: Put ’em on juice bottles and noodle cups

After having drawn 15 million members to the site (or approximately 1 in 6 Internet users in Japan), Nippon’s biggest social network Mixi now thinks the time has come for some offline cross-promotion. What you can see above is Mix Fruits & Calpis, a special version of Calpis, a popular Japanese soft drink that normally… Continue reading Branding social networks the Japanese way: Put ’em on juice bottles and noodle cups

Demae-can – online catering site

Demae-can (JP) is  a comprehensive online catering and food delivery service. You can order pizza, sushi, or Joe the Plumber from your web browser. Demae-can has contracts with national chains as well as many small independent restaurants. You can use Demae-can throughout Japan. Orders are sent to the restaurants by fax. So, small restaurant owners… Continue reading Demae-can – online catering site

Yahoo! Japan starts LinkedIn like business SNS

Japan’s web giant Yahoo! Japan’s new challenge is a social business networking service, the name is CU. CU is a membership service based on invitation. The top page explains themselves as “CU (pronounce “see you”, no matched Japanese words so it is a neutral name for Japanese users) is a business networking service which supports… Continue reading Yahoo! Japan starts LinkedIn like business SNS

Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate

The mobile web is huge in Japan, meaning the alliance between Japanese Internet powerhouses Dwango, Mixi, MySpace Japan, Mobage-town, Yahoo and telecommunications company SoftBank Mobile announced on Thursday has to be taken very seriously. Details are rather scarce at this point but SoftBank, for example, says [J] Dwango will provide content from its super-successful video… Continue reading Shake-up in Japan’s mobile web: Mixi, MySpace, Mobage, Yahoo, Dwango and SoftBank Mobile collaborate

MySpace Japan accepts Yahoo! Japan ID

Web power maps are different between Japan and English-web, as we have been showing examples (1, 2, 3). Now, another interesting cooperation which won’t happen in USA is announced. MySpace depends on Yahoo’s account. Now, MySpace Japan has a link “Log in by Yahoo! Japan ID” below the regular log-in form. You will be forwarded… Continue reading MySpace Japan accepts Yahoo! Japan ID