| Jun 20 | Hackers break into Toyota server |
 Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday its Japanese-language corporate website had been hacked earlier this month. (Wall Street Journal  ) |
| Jun 19 | NHK develops robot camera array for Matrix-like effects |
 Japan's public television broadcaster, NHK, has developed an array of video cameras that are synchronized to create "bullet time" shots like those popularized in the film The Matrix. (pcworld.com ) |
| Jun 18 | Next generation TV promoting body inaugurated |
 An organization to promote next-generation TV broadcasting technologies announced its inauguration in Tokyo on Monday. (NHK ) |
| Jun 13 | Tokyo Toy Show opens ahead of summer shopping season |
 A full range of toys, from toy smartphones to new versions of well-known games, are on display at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2013, which opened Thursday ahead of Japan's summer shopping season. (Jiji Press ) |
| Jun 13 | Sony, Microsoft showcases new game consoles at E3 |
 Two rival game console makers have squared off with each other at the world's biggest game industry exhibition in Los Angeles. (NHK ) |
| Jun 11 | Sony unveils PlayStation 4 console taking on Microsoft |
 Sony Corp. (6758) unveiled the PlayStation 4, its first new console in seven years, taking the battle to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) with a lower-priced machine, original content and fresh titles as it targets a return to video-game dominance. (Bloomberg ) |
| Jun 11 | JR East asks not using Smartphones while walking |
 Officials at East Japan Railway Company have begun asking people not to use mobile phones while walking inside train stations. (NHK ) |
| Jun 09 | Net businesses scramble to get smart |
| With the rapid spread of smartphones, Internet search engine and social networking service firms are making aggressive efforts to develop their smartphone-related businesses in a bid to cash in. (Yomiuri) |
| Jun 09 | Mixi to offer 50 smartphone apps |
| Mixi Inc. plans to increase the number of applications it offers from two to 50 to bolster its profits through service charges, Mixi Executive Officer Yusuke Asakura said during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun. (Yomiuri) |
| Jun 01 | Japanese TV network shows off feelable haptic TV |
 Japan's public television broadcaster, NHK, is working on technology that will allow people to watch TV with their fingers. (pcworld.com ) |
| May 31 | Apple raises iPad and iPod prices in Japan |
 Apple has raised the prices for the iPad, the iPad mini, and the iPod touch in its Japanese online store, Bloomberg reports. (macrumors.com ) |
| May 27 | Yahoo Auctions Japan to restrict adult items |
| Japan's Yahoo! Auctions website announced on Thursday that it will change its policies regarding auctions of adult items. The website will prohibit the auctioning of items that it deems are "vulgar or obscene," such as inappropriate depictions of children that appear to be under the age of 18. (animenewsnetwork.com) |
| May 26 | Marketing war erupts before release of 4K TVs in Japan |
 Japanese electronics giants have started a marketing war for next-generation ultra-high definition 4K TV sets, a year before Japan begins such broadcasting services next summer. (Asahi ) |
| May 25 | Apple ships most tablet computers in Japan in FY12 |
 Apple Inc., the producer of the iPad, ranked top in tablet computer shipments in Japan for the third straight year in fiscal 2012 that ended in March, a private market research company said. (Yomiuri ) |
| May 19 | Yahoo Japan suspects 22 million user IDs leaked |
 Yahoo Japan Corp said on Friday night it suspected that up to 22 million of its user IDs may have been "leaked" and it detected an unauthorized attempt to access the administrative system of its web portal Yahoo Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported. (Reuters ) |
| May 18 | Facebook hires new head in Japan |
| There's a change at the top at Facebook….in Japan, where the company has hired former McDonalds and Boston Consulting Group marketing exec Atsushi Iwashita as its new Managing Director. (thenextweb.com) |
| May 16 | Docomo to lower prices of new smartphones |
 NTT Docomo Inc. said Wednesday it will set the prices of upcoming new models of its popular smartphones lower than for existing models. (Yomiuri ) |
| May 14 | Japan's DoCoMo to use mobile data to monitor traffic jams |
 NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, will use location data from its 61.5 million subscriber devices to build a platform that monitors traffic conditions across the country. (pcworld.com ) |
| May 10 | Line reports sharp spike in first-quarter sales |
 Line Corp., a privately held smartphone messaging company based in Tokyo, said Thursday that sales climbed 92 percent to ¥5.82 billion in the first quarter. (Japan Times ) |
| May 09 | Docomo phones rampant in crimes |
 The Metropolitan Police Department has made an unusual request to NTT Docomo Inc. to more strictly screen mobile phone rental companies before signing contracts with them, to prevent the phones' use in crimes, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. (Yomiuri ) |
| May 09 | 3-D printers causing manufacturing revolution |
 Three-dimensional printers, which are capable of creating solid objects in a way comparable to printing letters and illustrations on paper, are sparking a revolution within the manufacturing industry. (Yomiuri ) |
| May 06 | New mobile standard available for users in 2 years |
 Japanese telecom companies are developing an extremely high speed mobile technology to be introduced in years to come. (NHK ) |
| May 06 | Race to turn 'big data' into gold heating up |
 If used widely, "big data," the massive amount of electronic information that has been generated with advances in computing and Internet technology, could create a market worth tens of trillions of yen. (Yomiuri ) |
| May 06 | Live chatrooms prey on young, runaway girls |
| Live chats, a type of real-time webcast, have rapidly become pervasive in offering adult content at a low cost. However, the arrest of three men in February revealed that sites hosting such chats are breeding grounds for child pornography, particularly targeting runaway girls. (Yomiuri) |
| Apr 28 | NTT DoCoMo customer data leaked in U.S. after hacker attack |
 The personal information of NTT DoCoMo Inc. customers in the U.S. has been leaked online after the server of its American unit was hacked, possibly by the LulzSec group, company officials admitted Saturday. (Japan Times ) |
| Apr 28 | App planned to help ID bank notes for blind |
 The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan plan to offer a free smartphone application that will allow the visually impaired to identify the value of bank notes through sound from November. (Japan Times ) |
| Apr 26 | A Google Glass rival emerges from an upstart in Japan |
 Japanese entrepreneur Takahito Iguchi wants people to see the world through other people's eyes. But as a less ambitious jumping off point, he'll kick it off with a world that looks like a Japanese manga cartoon. (gigaom.com ) |
| Apr 25 | Car TVs: Big in Japan (but no longer for export) |
 In Japan, it's not unusual for drivers to tune in to their favorite TV show while behind the wheel. And the popularity of "digi-navi," the Japanese term for navigation systems capable of receiving digital TV transmissions, has created a growing captive audience for TV-on-wheels. (Wall Street Journal ) |
| Apr 23 | Japan police want to block nefarious Tor use |
 Police in Japan are hoping to catch crooks using anonymising Internet services by stopping people "abusing" the Tor network which supports anonymous Internet use. (techweekeurope.co.uk ) |
| Apr 22 | IT industry sees gold in Net campaigning |
 Last week's legal green light to online campaigning for this summer's House of Councillors election has provided a golden business opportunity to information technology companies offering services that will help candidates get their message safely out to voters. (Yomiuri ) |
| Apr 21 | Only 6.7 pct of Japanese use e-book readers: Jiji survey |
 Only 6.7 pct of Japanese are using electronic book readers, a Jiji Press survey in March revealed. (Jiji Press ) |
| Apr 18 | 70 pct of harmful web sites in Japan had ad revenue |
| Some 70 pct of Web sites with illegal or harmful content in Japan were having advertising revenues, a National Police Agency report showed Thursday. (Jiji Press) |
| Apr 17 | 35,000 application software for smartphones found dangerous |
| More than 35,000 software applications targeting smartphone users in Japan have been found to be dangerous due to concerns such as misuse of personal information, a study by Netagent Co., a Tokyo-based information security company, showed Wednesday. (Kyodo) |
| Apr 16 | Tokyo court rules against Google autocomplete |
 The Tokyo District Court has ordered Internet giant Google to remove its auto-complete search results that link a man to crimes he says he did not commit. (NHK ) |
| Apr 16 | Sony backed ISP in Japan offers double the speed of Google Fiber |
| If you thought Google Fiber with its 1Gbps speeds was fast, think again. A Japanese ISP, which is backed by Sony, is now offering plans with 2Gbps download and 1Gbps upload speeds in Tokyo and six districts surrounding it. (ubergizmo.com) |
| Apr 12 | Sony unveils smaller 4K TVs |
 Sony has unveiled new ultra high-definition televisions, priced lower to help them achieve market liftoff. The TVs use so-called 4K resolution technology, offering images 4 times sharper than conventional high-definition products. (NHK ) |
| Apr 11 | Hacker to be served with arrest warrant anew over kindergarten threat |
 Police will serve a man who has been indicated over a series of online threats with an arrest warrant anew on a charge of threatening by e-mail last August to attack a kindergarten in Tokyo, informed sources said Wednesday. (Jiji Press ) |
| Apr 10 | One year of support left for Windows XP and Office 2003 |
 Windows XP users have one full year left of extended support by Microsoft before the plug is pulled. A year from now Microsoft will no longer be offering updates, for security issues nor any other reasons. (hexus.net ) |
| Apr 08 | Messaging app Line's kawaii characters get their own cartoon series in Japan |
| Line's animated characters, which helped it become one of Asia's top messaging apps with more than 120 million users, now have their own cartoon series. (techcrunch.com) |
| Apr 07 | The rise of the bitcoin: Virtual gold or cyber-bubble? |
| A currency surging in value at a breathtaking rate over the past week belongs to no nation and is issued by no central bank. It can be used to buy gold in California, a hamburger in Berlin or a house in Alberta. When desired, it can offer largely untraceable transactions. (Washington Post) |
| Apr 06 | One in three uses smartphone in Japan |
| One out of three people uses a smartphone in Japan, with the rate almost doubling over the last year, a survey by Central Research Services Inc. showed Friday. (Jiji Press) |
| Apr 05 | NTT East site hacked |
 NTT East Corp. said Thursday the exclusive Web site for members of its Flet's Hikari optical broadband service has been hacked. (Jiji Press ) |
| Apr 05 | Japanese web portals hacked, up to 100,000 accounts compromised |
 Two of Japan's major Internet portals, Yahoo Japan and Goo, were hacked earlier this week, with Goo warning that as many as 100,000 user accounts were compromised, including financial details. (techworld.com.au ) |
| Apr 01 | Computer beats active 'shogi' pro for first time |
 A computer programmed to play "shogi," also known as Japanese chess, defeated an active professional player in a public match for the first time ever Saturday. (Japan Times ) |
| Mar 29 | Japan police to launch national cyber crime force |
 Japan will launch a 140-strong nationwide police task force next week to fight cyber attacks, including those from abroad, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (phys.org ) |
| Mar 28 | Internet access criminals hit record high in Japan last year |
 The number of people police took action against in Japan last year on suspicion of violating a law banning illegal access to computer networks rose from 40 to 154, the highest since the law took effect in 2000, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Kyodo ) |
| Mar 28 | Google adds street views of Japan nuclear zone |
 Concrete rubble litters streets lined with shuttered shops and dark windows. A collapsed roof juts from the ground. A ship sits stranded on a stretch of dirt flattened when the tsunami roared across the coastline. There isn't a person in sight.
(AP ) |
| Mar 28 | Chat app Line releases safety guide for girl teens after string of incidents |
 Line, the chat app that is exploding in popularity in Japan and other Asian countries, has published an online safety guide for teens after a string of incidents in which it was used to maliciously target young women. (networkworld.com ) |
| Mar 26 | Japan: Where the iPad is changing lives |
 Applications unique to Japan are blossoming here thanks to Apple's (AAPL) iPad. In the absence of a popular home-grown alternative, domestic app makers have come up with some unusual -- sometimes inspiring -- approaches. (Fortune) |
| Mar 20 | OS 6.1.3 fixes lock screen bypass, improves maps in Japan |
 Apple on Tuesday released iOS 6.1.3, a minor update to the operating system that powers iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. Included in the update is a fix for a recently discovered means of breaking past the lock screen, along with Maps improvements for Japan. (macworld.com) |