The First Practical Kyoto Address Search Yahoo/Google Do Not Offer

If you ever lived in Japan, you know that Japanese address system is uneasy for people who get used to the western system on which all streets have a name and name+number identify the single location. In Japan, addresses are rather area name. Two Giants Yahoo! Japan and Google have been working well with this… Continue reading The First Practical Kyoto Address Search Yahoo/Google Do Not Offer

Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East

On Wednesday, eBay announced it had agreed to take over Gmarket, a South Korea’s e-commerce marketplace.   The company’s shareholders, Yahoo U.S. and Korea’s Interpark[K] also reportedly agreed to sell their Gmarket shares to eBay. By merging Gmarket with eBay’s Korean local subsidiary called Auction (IAC)[K], e-Bay expects to get ahead and to keep aggressive position… Continue reading Now eBay Acts To Capture The Flag In The Far East

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

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

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

Yahoo Japan to Launch Interest Matching Advertising Technology

Last week I attended an information event for Bloggers organized by Agile Media hosted at Yahoo! Japan’s offices in Tokyo Midtown. The theme of the event was Yahoo Japan’s soon to be launched ‘Interest Match‘ [J] advertising service. The technology displays adverts based on previous pages people have viewed and page referrer information in addition… Continue reading Yahoo Japan to Launch Interest Matching Advertising Technology

Japanese magazines start to go online and for free

Even the Tech-savvy Japanese still love their print media. In fact, this country is one of the biggest markets for printed information in the world and the variety of magazines is sheerly amazing. At one time for example, there were eight periodicals specifically catering to homemakers who made a living by trading stock online! Also,… Continue reading Japanese magazines start to go online and for free

Yahoo! Japan is worth $28billion

The market capitalization of Yahoo! Japan stands at $28 billion (as of Feb. 2008). Telecommunications conglomerate Softbank is the largest shareholder, holding 41% of the company’s shares. Yahoo! owns 33.4% of Yahoo! Japan’s shares. Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo! is $44.6 billion while Yahoo!’s share of Yahoo! Japan is worth $9.3 billion.

Bounen Kaigi 2007 report (2)

The first part of Bounen Kaigi report is here Hosts’ topics Co-hosts talked which net services they are interested in recently, their own project plans for 2008. Sponsor corner From all attendee’s votes for “The Kanji letter of 2007”, Yahoo! Japan guys chose a letter “Warai”(langh, smile). The 4 voters for “Warai” played “Janken” (Rock,… Continue reading Bounen Kaigi 2007 report (2)