Japanese political parties prepare for first use of Internet campaigning in...
Expecting that the ban on Internet campaigning will be lifted soon, political parties and political candidates for Japan’s Upper House elections this summer are now rushing to educate themselves and...
View ArticleSurvey shows Tokyo communities still not prepared for earthquakes
A survey commissioned by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) shows that the local communities in the Tokyo Metropolitan area are still not well-prepared for earthquakes. While the respondents are...
View ArticleTwitter CEO meets with PM Abe to discuss internet election campaigning
Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo made a 24-hour visit to Japan this week, an event that was so under the radar not many people were aware of. Yesterday, he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo...
View ArticleSoftbank-funded China startup builds Facebook-like app for kids
Jesper Lodahl, a former Nokia engineer, is putting up a social network app for children in China where they can share art projects online and over different devices so that their parents and...
View ArticleJapan’s Internet election campaigning ban one step closer to being lifted
Politicians running for office in the Upper House elections this July need to get their Facebook and Twitter accounts ready. The ban on Internet electioneering is one step closer to being lifted as all...
View ArticleYokohama city posts on Twitter in error that N Korean missile was launched
Whoever controls the official Twitter account for the city of Yokohama is going to be seriously reprimanded, if not fired, after a post was accidentally made on Wednesday afternoon that North Korea had...
View ArticleOnline dating service tricked users by posing as celebrities
Details of how online dating service operator Aglaia Japan defrauded thousands of people are now emerging. The company’s former president Yusuke Aikawa, who was already indicted for violation of the...
View ArticleTwitter, Pinterest, Skype founders meet with Japan counterparts in ‘New...
Notable tech founders and executives converged in Tokyo this week for the New Economy Summit, part of the Japanese government’s push to modernize its industries and stay relevant and competitive...
View ArticleChina issues ban on press quotes from social networks, foreign media
In what can only be described as a furthering of government censorship, authorities in China stated this week that they would soon enforce a ban on the domestic press to prevent them from using quotes...
View ArticleJapan’s parliament OKs internet election campaigning
Both houses of Japan’s Diet approved and enacted a bill on Friday that will allow electoral campaigning using websites, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking platforms – starting with this...
View ArticleToyota partners with Microsoft to beef up Gazoo.com, internet service in cars
Japanese auto giant Toyota Motor Corp. is teaming up with global software leader Microsoft to put up an Internet service that would enable cars to link with home computers, smartphones, and the...
View ArticleJapan’s LINE messaging app becoming an emoticon factory, flooded with orders
By now, it has become a common experience for Akira Morikawa, CEO at Japanese social networking platform LINE Corp., to be stopped on the street and be asked – through some weird grimace and gesture –...
View ArticleStruggling Japanese social network Mixi invests in two startups to diversify...
Going up against global social networking colossus Facebook is no easy task, as Facebook-like sites all over the world are finding out. One such Japanese social network platform is Mixi, whom like...
View ArticleSoftbank allegedly buying likes on Facebook, job posting goes viral on Twitter
Softbank, Japan’s third-largest cellphone carrier, is apparently buying “likes” on Facebook, as seen on a job posting on website EnTameNetto. The posting apparently said that they were paying 65 yen...
View ArticleJapanese netizens seen moving away from Facebook
While Facebook continues to dominate the international market in terms of social network numbers, Japanese web users seem to be slowly getting disenchanted with it. From 17.2 million users in December...
View ArticleOfficial from Fukushima Reconstruction Agency under fire for abusive tweets
The Reconstruction Agency, which is in charge of providing assistance for victims of the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011, said it is planning to punish one of its senior officials who has been...
View Article9 arrested for alleged online dating site scam
Nine people, employees and executives of a company that operated several online dating sites, were arrested on suspicion of defrauding a man of 1.36 million yen (approx. 14,400 US dollars). The...
View ArticleTwitter Mirror comes to MTV Video Music Awards Japan this year
This year’s 12th MTV Video Music Awards Japan will be featuring a new star, and it’s not the newest J-pop act this time. Viewers’ social media experience while watching the awards show will be enhanced...
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Finance Minister Taro Aso stops for ice cream snack, pic goes viral on Twitter
People who get candid shots for whatever they do, wherever they may be, are usually celebrities like actors, athletes, and musicians. So having a Japanese cabinet minister captured while simply...
View ArticlePM Abe’s Facebook row with opposition politician draws mixed reaction
While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has enjoyed a sense of online popularity due to his liberal and open use of his Facebook page, a recent row with an opposition politician has drawn mixed reaction from...
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