News On Japan

Net-enabled TVs strike a spark in consumer electronics market

Japan Times — 2009-06-29 23:56:57

Manufacturers are promoting sales of flat-screen TVs through discounts and other incentives, and thanks to their efforts sales are rising. However, now the TV makers have to stem the ongoing fall in prices. To address the issue, the manufacturers are turning out a new generation of television sets that allow consumers to view videos transmitted via the Internet, while Net companies deliver a wider range of movie and drama titles through their video-on-demand services. (Japan Times)

Mixi faces challenges as competition grows

Japan Times — 2009-06-23 22:38:52

Early last month, Mixi CEO Kenji Kasahara came under intense pressure. That was on the day that his company, Japan's biggest social-networking operator, announced its financial results and forecast for the year: Its profit would fall by 15 percent from the previous year, the first such decline in growth since the company went public. (Japan Times)

Government OKs Google Street View

Asahi — 2009-06-23 04:17:06

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Monday that Google's Street View service does not infringe on individual privacy and portraiture rights and gave its approval for the service to continue. (Asahi)

Free up Net for elections

Asahi — 2009-06-23 04:17:06

Imagine, if you will, that tomorrow is voting day for the Lower House election. To decide how to cast your ballot, you go to the Internet to compare each party's manifestoes. But you can't. Something that seems so natural is out of reach. This is because the Public Offices Election Law does not allow political parties and candidates to post their manifestoes on their websites, or allow voters to download them from the Internet. (Asahi)

Virtual supermarkets delivering the goods

Yomiuri — 2009-06-17 23:26:00

A user clicks an "enter the shop" button on a personal computer screen and the colorful interior of a supermarket appears--a bread section on the right, a ready meals section on the left and fresh fruits at the end of the aisle. This is a scene from an online supermarket operated by Okuwa Co., which as of April 1, was running 143 supermarkets in the southern Kinki district, centering around Wakayama Prefecture. (Yomiuri)

Net filtering seen as ineffective / Flaws, inconsistencies abound in system set up to protect kids o

Yomiuri — 2009-06-16 21:46:39

The nation's filtering system for limiting access to cell phone Web sites has apparent defects, as exemplified by the certification of certain social networking service Web sites as "wholesome," despite the numerous dating-related messages that thrive on the sites. (Yomiuri)

Bloggers gain perks to pitch tourist spots

Japan Times — 2009-06-15 22:47:02

Regional governments are offering bloggers special tour packages in exchange for getting the word out about their local attractions. Often sponsored by regional tourist associations, the tours tend to be extremely cheap because there is a string attached: that participants post the details of their trips on their blogs. (Japan Times)

Moves target online bullying on underground student bulletin boards

Yomiuri — 2009-06-13 00:53:11

An increasing number of local governments are commissioning private companies to monitor underground school Web sites run by students, a hotbed for bullying among classmates on the Internet. The reason behind the moves is that busy teachers have less time to spare to monitor such Web sites and negotiate with the site administrators to delete abusive and bullying messages. (Yomiuri)

Internet rife with threats of crime

Asahi — 2009-06-10 04:39:24

One year after a stabbing spree in Tokyo's Akihabara district left seven people dead and 10 injured, websites abound with messages like the one used by the man indicted in that incident to forewarn of mayhem to come. Tomohiro Kato, 26, was arrested on June 8 last year after he allegedly drove a truck into pedestrians in the consumer electronics and pop culture hub, running down a number of people before stabbing others indiscriminately. (Asahi)

Softbank Mobile to release Apple's new iPhone on June 26 in Japan

AP — 2009-06-09 12:03:29

Corp. said Tuesday it will start selling the iPhone 3GS on June 26 in Japan, a new version of Apple Inc.'s smartphone that boasts faster performance than the current version. The iPhone 3GS, better capable of shooting and editing video, sells at 23,040 yen for its 16 gigabyte model and 34,560 yen for a 32GB model, Softbank Mobile, a phone unit of Softbank Corp., said. (AP)

Rakuten admits to giving Net mall shoppers' information to 9 firms

AP — 2009-06-06 01:03:10

Rakuten Inc., the operator of Japan's largest Internet shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba, admitted Friday that it had handed over the credit card numbers and other personal information of people who shopped at the mall to nine companies that run shops on the mall. (AP)

NPA, ISPs to tackle child porn issue

Yomiuri — 2009-06-01 21:38:15

The National Police Agency was scheduled to launch Tuesday a liaison council with private sector Internet service providers with the aim of tackling online child pornography by persuading the ISPs to undertake Net-blocking procedures at their own discretion. (Yomiuri)

Japan launches digital archive on director Kurosawa

AFP — 2009-05-27 10:28:20

Fans of Japan's best-known director Akira Kurosawa now have access to an online treasure trove of thousands of photos, sketches and other materials from the film-maker's life. A digital archive of 20,000 items went live on the Internet this week, ranging from private photos and newspaper clippings to notes and sketches of movie scenes. (AFP)

DoCoMo eyes cash transfer by cellphone

AFP — 2009-05-27 10:27:38

Japan's top mobile telephone operator NTT DoCoMo said Wednesday it aimed to launch a new service enabling cash transfers simply by entering the recipient's cellphone number. After applying online, users would be able to send money to another DoCoMo subscriber's bank account even if they do not know their bank details. The amount will be charged to the sender's phone bill. (AFP)

Broadband goes big in Japan

BBC — 2009-05-26 23:12:41

Just a few years ago Japan was burdened with some of the most expensive broadband on the planet. Clumsy and overpriced, these first ventures into cyberspace shaped the way the country developed its broadband infrastructure, focusing instead on a 3G mobile internet network. Seeing the country fall behind dramatically in terms of fixed Internet use the government decided to act: the end result was a seriously fast fibre-based FTTH 1Gbps (gigabits per second) (fibre-to-the-home) network at one of the lowest price-per-megabits anywhere. (BBC)

Digitization of books

Asahi — 2009-05-26 02:10:13

Google and U.S. organizations representing authors and publishers have reached a settlement in which 63 percent of income Google earns from database service and advertising fees will be distributed to copyright holders. However, the agreement, as it affects Japanese authors, has become contentious. For example, more than 500 books by Haruki Murakami are on Google's list. There are also many other digitized Japanese books. If Japanese books no longer in circulation are deemed out of print, then in the future, Google could make many of them available to the public. (Asahi)

Yahoo Search Japan Update: US Update Soon?

seroundtable.com — 2009-05-23 13:49:50

The Yahoo Search Japan blog announced they are updating their index now. Perhaps this is a sign that Yahoo in the US will update soon as well. I am pretty sure that both indexes are mostly separate for the most part, I am not sure if it works the same way at Google, but I think it does at Yahoo. (seroundtable.com)

Google Earth maps out discrimination against burakumin caste in Japan

Times Online — 2009-05-21 23:03:05

A handful of innocent-looking antique maps, one offensive word and tens of thousands of offended "untouchables" have plunged Google into an unspoken class war that has raged in Japan for centuries. (Times Online)

Online trade in Tamiflu flourishes in gray zone

Japan Times — 2009-05-20 22:43:20

As H1N1 swine flu continues to spread throughout the country, a controversy has erupted over what import agencies claim is legal online trading of Tamiflu, one of the best-known medicines for treating flu viruses. Only Tamiflu produced in Japan can be sold here, and getting it requires a prescription. (Japan Times)

Younger farmers blogging their way to success

Japan Times — 2009-05-20 22:43:20

Hard work, low pay and a gloomy future. That's the image many young people have had about farming. Figures back this point. In the next 10 years, the majority of farmers in Japan will be 70 or older according to an Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry survey, mainly because the younger generation doesn't want to take over the family business, many young farmers said. (Japan Times)

Google to reshoot street views of Japanese cities following privacy complaints

Los Angeles Times — 2009-05-13 23:42:00

Google said Wednesday it will reshoot all images in Japan for its Street View online service that provides 360-degree panoramic images of urban areas. The photos currently on the Web site were taken by cameras mounted on a stick attached to a car roof. Google Japan said it would lower the cameras after many residents complained they were high enough to look over fences around their homes. (Los Angeles Times)

Local governments make pitch on YouTube

Japan Times — 2009-05-12 23:35:32

From cash-strapped local governments to small municipalities eager to promote their cultural and tourism resources, public servants are increasingly turning to the world's biggest video site. (Japan Times)

Restrictions on online, mail order drug sales could be delayed 2 years

Mainichi — 2009-05-12 11:54:22

Legal restrictions on online and mail order sales of drugs may be postponed by two years, apparently after the government faced fierce opposition from the Internet industry and consumers. (Mainichi)

15 collared for duping people out of nearly 1 billion yen with false dating ads

Mainichi — 2009-05-11 22:54:32

Fifteen men and women, including a yakuza group member, have been arrested for allegedly swindling over 200 victims across Japan out of nearly a billion yen, using dating Web sites saying customers would be introduced to rich women, it has emerged. (Mainichi)

Cheering-up website on rise among weary Japanese

AP — 2009-05-07 05:14:51

A Japanese-language website dedicated to cheering up visitors is riding a wave of popularity, generating some 100,000 hits per day. On the site, http://kakula.jp/homeSalon/, dubbed "Homerare Salon (Salon to be praised)," about 50 phrases of praise along with heart symbols pop up across the window on the computer screen after a visitor enters his or her name, sex and occupation. (AP)