| Mar 18 | Pulp fibers to be developed into display screens |
| A Japanese paper maker and a chemical company have jointly developed transparent paper from pulp fiber. The new material is expected to be used in tablet computer displays. (NHK) |
| Mar 18 | Panasonic eyeing withdrawal from plasma TV operations |
| Panasonic Corp. is considering withdrawing from plasma television operations possibly in fiscal 2014 as part of efforts to focus more on profitable products, corporate sources said Monday. (Kyodo) |
| Mar 18 | ASAHI Net LTE service launched - from only 785 yen/month |
| ASAHI Net, Inc. (TSE 1st Section, Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo, President: Kimiya Yamamoto) started to offer the ASAHI Net LTE service on 4th March 2013. (asahi-net.jp) |
| Mar 13 | Apple quietly updates Maps in Japan |
 Apple this week quietly made behind-the-scenes changes to its mapping service in Japan, fixing a handful of shortcomings. Chief among them are changes to pronunciation during turn-by-turn navigation, a key feature introduced in Apple's own mapping service in iOS 6. (CNET  ) |
| Mar 08 | From Line to puzzles and dragons, Japan rocks the world at app monetization |
 New data from AppAnnie paints an interesting picture of amazing smartphone growth in Japan and Asia, along with some huge successes for Japanese social apps and games. (techinasia.com ) |
| Mar 08 | Dominos Japan gives you an augmented reality pop singer in box |
 The latest tech-powered promo from Dominos Japan harnesses the popularity of the country's biggest virtual idol Hatsune Miku via a new iPhone app. The free app allows users to order directly from Miku, view special Miku uniform designs created by the Dominos staff, check your order status in real-time, and even take photos with the virtual idol. (dvice.com ) |
| Mar 07 | World's smallest phone launched in Japan |
 It may look like a toy, but Japanese phone firm Willcom has unveiled the world's smallest mobile phone. (Daily Mail ) |
| Mar 05 | January's domestic PC shipments hit record low |
 Domestic shipments of personal computers in Japan plunged to a record low in January. (NHK ) |
| Mar 02 | Microsoft's tablet computer finally coming to Japan in search of sales |
 Microsoft Corp.'s first-ever tablet computer will hit the Japanese market in two weeks, the company said Friday, hoping to break the iPad's domination. (Japan Times ) |
| Mar 01 | Over 1,000 targeted cyber-attacks hit Japanese entities in 2012 |
 A total of 1,009 targeted email cyber-attacks hit Japanese companies and other institutions last year, the National Police Agency said Thursday. (Japan Times ) |
| Mar 01 | Japan court rejects Samsung claim against Apple |
 A Japanese court Thursday rejected a claim by Samsung that Apple stole its technology, in the latest round of a global legal battle between the smartphone giants over patents. (AFP ) |
| Mar 01 | Amazon Japan taking preorders for new tablet |
 Amazon Japan K.K. has started taking preorders for its new Kindle Fire HD 8.9 tablet computer.
(Yomiuri ) |
| Feb 26 | Largest carriers in China, Japan, Korea agree on NFC 'roaming' |
| The largest mobile operators in China, Japan, and Korea have agreed on common standards for touch-card technology, clearing the way for travellers across East Asia to user their phones for travel and payments. (cio.com) |
| Feb 23 | TDK humidifier identified as cause of nursing home fire that killed 4 |
 The president of electronics company TDK Corp said Friday that a TDK humidifier which was subject to recall was likely the cause of a fatal fire at a Nagasaki nursing care home for people with senile dementia. (Japan Today ) |
| Feb 21 | Sony unveils PlayStation 4, aiming for return to glory |
 For the Sony Corporation, a tech industry also-ran, the moment of reckoning is here. The first three generations of PlayStation sold more than 300 million units, pioneered a new style of serious gaming and produced hefty profits. PlayStation 4, introduced by Sony on Wednesday evening, is a bold bid to recapture those glory days of innovation and success. (New York Times ) |
| Feb 20 | Google videos draw hits in Japan, but Niconico is preferred hangout |
 Japanese Internet users watched videos on YouTube and other Google sites most in December, but spent more time on the highly social local site Niconico, according to research data. (itworld.com ) |
| Feb 19 | GREE and Yahoo Japan to invest $2.2 million in mobile games joint-venture 'GxYz' |
| Japan's mobile games firm GREE announced a wide-ranging deal with Yahoo Japan back in November 2012, and today the two companies have confirmed that they will open a joint-venture focused on developing social games for smartphones next month. (thenextweb.com) |
| Feb 18 | Sony slashes price on PlayStation Vita in Japan |
 Sony said Monday it was slashing the price on its hand-held PlayStation Vita console in Japan by as much as one-third as the electronics giant and its rivals face stiff competition from online games. (Dawn ) |
| Feb 14 | Research firm: Apple Japan's top phone maker in 2012 |
 Apple sold more phones in Japan than any other manufacturer last year, rising above local manufacturers for the first time, according to a research firm. (macworld.com) |
| Feb 08 | After delay, Google Street View comes to Wii U -- in Japan |
 Google's Street View is now available to Wii U owners in Japan.
Nintendo announced the availability of Street View in its eShop today. The application can be downloaded to the Wii U for free and works on both the GamePad and the television through the console. (CNET ) |
| Feb 08 | BlackBerry to stop selling handsets in Japan |
| BlackBerry will stop selling smartphones in Japan, partly because the company cannot justify the cost of modifying its operating system to accommodate the Japanese language, the Nikkei business daily reported. (Reuters) |
| Feb 07 | NHN Japan spins off its Line messaging business to focus on its international expansion |
| Demonstrating the strength of its massively popular Line messaging apps and services, NHN Japan - the Japanese arm of Korean search giant Naver - has announced it is to split gaming and Internet services businesses, spinning off its messaging, search and Web portals into a new company. (thenextweb.com ) |
| Feb 06 | KDDI invests in UK-based taxi hailing startup |
 Hailo, the U.K.-based developer of taxi-hailing mobile apps, has landed fresh investment from KDDI, one of Japan's largest mobile operators. (pcadvisor.co.uk ) |
| Feb 05 | Japan holds first, government-sanctioned hacking contest |
| In an effort to bolster its defenses against cyber attacks, Japan held its first government-sanctioned hacking contest, which culminated February 3 in Tokyo. (VOA News) |
| Feb 05 | U.S., Indonesia, Japan lose users as Facebook sweeps fake profiles |
| As Facebook mentioned in its 10-K filing, the site still has a serious problem with fake profiles, used to bolster shady pages' fan metrics. It appears that the social network did some cleaning up in January, as several countries (notably the U.S. and Indonesia) lost a great number of users last month, according to Quintly. (allfacebook.com) |
| Feb 02 | Photography's faithful flock to Japan's biggest camera show |
 Once a year, Japan's photographic industry congregates in Yokohama for CP+ - a camera and imaging show that brings out three times as many enthusiasts as it does tradespeople. (theverge.com ) |
| Jan 29 | Japan's best-selling games of 2012 dominated by Nintendo |
 Nintendo dominated the top-selling games in Japan during 2012, new data from Media Create shows, with Pokemon Black/White 2 the best-selling game by a long shot. (gamasutra.com ) |
| Jan 29 | A look into Japan's burgeoning Android, iOS app economy |
| Japan, long called the "Galapagos Islands" of the mobile industry for its cornucopia of sophisticated and unusual feature phones, is finally transitioning to Android and iOS in a serious way. (techcrunch.com) |
| Jan 28 | Japan to launch 4K TV broadcast in July 2014 |
 Japan will start the world's first 4K TV broadcast in July 2014, about two years ahead of schedule, to help drive demand for the ultra high-definition (UHD) TV sets. (ZDNet ) |
| Jan 26 | Goggles fool face-recognition cameras: Japan maker |
 A "privacy visor" that uses infra-red light to interfere with facial recognition technology has been developed in Japan for people worried about being spotted by computers.
The goggles are useful for anyone who wants to avoid their identity being detected by hidden cameras, the inventors say. (france24.com) |
| Jan 25 | Sony fined in UK over PlayStation cyberattack |
 British regulators fined Sony 250,000 pounds ($396,100) on Thursday for having insufficient security measures to prevent a cyberattack on its PlayStation Network. (Japan Today ) |
| Jan 24 | Flat-panel TV shipments plunge 68% in 2012 |
| Domestic shipments of flat-panel television sets in 2012 fell 67.5 percent from the previous year to 6.45 million units, down for the second straight year, according to an industry group. (Yomiuri) |
| Jan 23 | Japan only: NEC Medias W is a folding smartphone with a pair of 4.3-inch screens |
 NEC unveiled a unique smartphone in Japan, one that has two 4.3-inch qHD (540×960 pixel) screens. The first thing we think is Kyocera Echo, though this is a more powerful device, unveiled in the country where people are used to adopting the latest technology (and perhaps unusual form factors). (intomobile.com ) |
| Jan 22 | Sony to sell new Xperia tablet in Japan |
 Sony Corp's Sony Mobile Communications Inc said it will sell the new version of its Xperia tablet in Japan this spring, the Nikkei reported, citing Kyodo News. (Reuters ) |
| Jan 18 | Apple's Japan tablet sales: a precursor of things to come? |
| According to a recent study , the words most often used in Japanese electronics stores in December were: 'I'll take a Nexus 7, please." Research firm BNC conducted an electronics store calling campaign throughout Japan to gauge tablet sales at 2,400 retail outlets during the busy December shopping season. (dailyfinance.com) |
| Jan 18 | Sony's slinky Xperia Tablet Z to launch in Japan next week? |
| A Japanese network let slip some more details about the rumoured Sony Xperia Tablet Z, including the fact that it will launch in Japan on January 22. (techradar.com) |
| Jan 12 | How important is Japan to Apple's iPhone growth? |
| Apple investors focus heavily on growth opportunities in China; but what about another neighboring Asian country? Is Apple overlooking iPhone growth potential in Japan? (Motley Fool) |
| Jan 12 | In Japan, cheaters prefer the Fujitsu 'F-Series' flip phone |
| Keeping an affair secret can be a lot of work, but Japanese philanderers have a hand up thanks to a stealthy flip phone only sold in that country. (nydailynews.com) |
| Jan 09 | Sharp to release 4K TV in N. America |
 Sharp Corp. said Monday it will release a mass-market, ultrahigh-definition 4K TV in North America in its fiscal second half starting in October. (Yomiuri ) |
| Jan 07 | NHK eyes 8K TV broadcasting from 2016 |
 Japan's public broadcaster says it could begin transmissions in a format with 16 times the resolution of today's high-definition television in 2016. (techworld.com.au ) |
| Jan 06 | Self-declared hacker e-mails news media |
 Another defiant e-mail was sent to Jiji Press and other media organizations in Japan on Saturday from a person who claims to be responsible for a series of recent online threats using a so-called remote control virus. (Yomiuri ) |
| Jan 05 | 'TPP' keyword in cyber-attack? |
 A cyber-attacker suspected of stealing more than 3,000 documents from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry looked for specific information through a keyword search, according to government sources. (Yomiuri ) |
| Jan 03 | Apple's Lucky Bag sale kicks off in Japan |
 Last week TUAW covered the annual Japanese New Year's tradition of Fukubukuro or "Lucky Bag," in which merchants sell sealed bags of items at a substantial discount. Apple Stores are participating today (January 2, 2013) with bags selling for ¥33,000 (US$380). So what was in the bags this year? (tuaw.com ) |
| Jan 02 | Japan reportedly getting Apple iBookstore starting in January |
| On Monday, a new Nikkei report stated Apple would be expanding its iBookstore to Japan, joining the likes of Amazon, Kobo, and Google. (techradar.com) |
| Dec 29 | Sony stops shipping the PS2 in Japan |
| We all knew that eventually Sony would have to kill the PS2 despite the fact that it still had a decent sales numbers. The original Sony PlayStation 2 launched in March of 2000 and quickly became one of the most popular game consoles ever built. It looks like the PS2 is ready to head into the sunset. (slashgear.com) |
| Dec 28 | Japan security firm to offer private drone |
 A Japanese security company plans to rent out a private drone that takes off when intruder alarms are tripped and records footage of break-ins as they happen, a spokeswoman said on Thursday. (phys.org) |
| Dec 21 | Nintendo's amazing triumph in Japan may doom the company internationally |
| Japanese and American tastes have always been different. But what we are witnessing now is a particularly fascinating divergence. American consumers are spending more of their time and money on smartphone and tablet games, while console game spending is increasingly focusing on massive, graphically stunning blockbuster titles on Xbox360 and PS3. (BGR News) |
| Dec 19 | Google, writers OK book digitization |
 Google Inc. and a major Japanese writers' group have issued a joint statement saying they have resolved concerns raised by copyright owners and agreed to build a cooperative relationship over the Internet giant's project to digitize university library content. (Japan Times ) |
| Dec 18 | Panasonic considers plasma TV halt |
| Panasonic is weighing whether to cease research and development into plasma-based TV displays by March, sources said Monday. (Japan Times) |
| Dec 18 | Softbank partners with satellite provider for earthquake coverage |
| Japan's Softbank will soon offer a new satellite phone for use in earthquakes and other natural disasters. The Japanese carrier said Monday it has teamed with Thuraya, a Dubai-based provider of satellite operator services and phones, to offer services. (techworld.com.au) |