Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode, which we’ve written about many times in the past, shares and promotes Japanese subculture, such as animation, manga, and cosplay. The latest and greatest information in that space is updated on its website and on its Facebook page, which has received more than 11 million likes so far.
To commemorate the astounding number of likes, Tokyo Otaku Mode has released a special video. It uses art work by Japan-based a creator John Hathway and a song by Livetune called Redial. Livetune is a one-man unit known for its work using Vocaloid software (the same software used to give voice to Hatsune Miku) and his songs have been played over 3,500,000 times on the internet.
John Hathway is known for his work that fuses science technology and art designs. The video is very cool too, showing the digital creation process of Hathway’s piece. Enjoy! (Via AnimeAnime.jp)
It was almost one year ago when Japanese social game developer Gumi established a presence in Singapore. That subsidiary, called Gumi Asia, was set up last April, with David Ng appointed as the CEO. Ng has previously worked with low-end router vendor Linksys and gaming giant Electronic Arts [1]. During a recent visit to Singapore, I had an opportunity to speak with Ng, who explained more about what the company has in store in the future, as well as some advice to businesses aspiring to expand in the Asia regions. Q: Can you tell us a little about your Singapore team? David: We have 75 people at our Singapore office alone. Every team in the office has 20 to 25 people, [each] with a single mission for developing a specific game title. That’s how our operations in Singapore can currently develop three game titles at the same time. In addition to Singapore, we have development teams in Taipei and Jakarta, and I’m administrating all 110 people working at the three different locations. I speak with each of the offices via teleconference once a week at least, and I actually visit the locations once a month at least. Q: Gumi is…
It was almost one year ago when Japanese social game developer Gumi established a presence in Singapore. That subsidiary, called Gumi Asia, was set up last April, with David Ng appointed as the CEO. Ng has previously worked with low-end router vendor Linksys and gaming giant Electronic Arts [1]. During a recent visit to Singapore, I had an opportunity to speak with Ng, who explained more about what the company has in store in the future, as well as some advice to businesses aspiring to expand in the Asia regions.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your Singapore team?
David: We have 75 people at our Singapore office alone. Every team in the office has 20 to 25 people, [each] with a single mission for developing a specific game title. That’s how our operations in Singapore can currently develop three game titles at the same time.
In addition to Singapore, we have development teams in Taipei and Jakarta, and I’m administrating all 110 people working at the three different locations. I speak with each of the offices via teleconference once a week at least, and I actually visit the locations once a month at least.
Q: Gumi is currently focusing on the Asian market. Why not North America nor Europe?
David: We’re in the emerging market where the population of our potential users are rapidly increasing. In other parts of the world, to be honest, few people know about us. Our brand is becoming well-known in Asia, and that’s why we’re running our business right here now. I heard that some gaming titles cost six dollars to acquire a user, and that’s the number we definitely can’t accept. This is another reason why we’re focusing on Asia.
Q. Your business is not only about sales but also developing products all over Asia. What is the benefit of this development strategy?
David: Game developers are doing business differently than typical tech startups. Startups are pursuing the development of market-disrupting products or services to acquire users. But we as game developers need keep introducing new titles to attract people. Through this kind of sustained efforts, we’ll have a smash hit product some day in the future.
In order to develop as many titles as possible with a limited amount of the funds, we reduce the development cost for every development task. In Taiwan, a talent can be hired for almost a half the salary as in Singapore. In Indonesia, we can hire a designer with very high skills for only $500 a month. By mixing up skills from our employees at different locations, we can develop more high-quality game titles than our competitors. With the cost of developing a game at a typical Japanese game development company, we can develop three titles.
David: When they set up an office in Singapore, their president came to my office, and I enjoyed chatting with him. Gumi is still a very small and young company, but many executives from companies new to Singapore contact me for advice. The Singaporean government is offering great support for innovative businesses. For example, the PIC (Productivity and Innovation Credit) offers 400% tax deductions and 60% cash payout for the deployment of working facilities. It’s easier to ask someone for translation to Mandarin or English here. Also our country is well known for having the world’s lowest income tax system, which is 17% at most. We also got financial support from the government for covering the cost of setting up our local office. For Japanese startups aspiring to expand in the Asia region, I believe Singapore is the smart choice.
However, Japanese companies should not expect results in the short-term. No results can be made in the first three to six months. It may require at least three to five years to achieve something. Furthermore, they shouldn’t deploy a Japanese management style to local employees. This might cause negative results no matter where the region.
Q. You achieved a lot in your past business life, at Linksys and EA, and I expect you’re doing ok financially. Why did you choose to join startup where the future is less certain?
David:
I did a joint venture with Linksys CEO in 1998 after the Thailand economic crisis and built Linksys business in Asia. Linksys was sold to Cisco for $500 million in 2003, hence I was successful as an entrepreneur from early days. (This paragraph contained a mistake of fact. It’s been corrected.)
But when I met with Mr. Kunimitsu (Gumi Group’s CEO) and listened to his dreams and ideas, and where he’s heading, I wanted to get involved and work with him. This is not about making money. Unlike my previous business experiences, Gumi is a startup requiring us to create everything from scratch. I thought this must be very challenging and interesting.
Q. What projects are you currently working on?
David: In the smartphone game industry, there will be a shift to native apps from web-based apps this year. For us, developing native apps based on our Japan-made apps is also one of our missions at the Singapore office. For upcoming gaming titles for smartphones, we’ll be developing all of them as native apps. Puzzle Trooper is a notable one, released on April 16th (available on Google Play, trailer below). We will also introduce another slot app by the end of this year which was mainly designed at our Indonesian office. So please stay tuned for that and more upcoming products.
As I talked with David Ng, I felt that he was not just the president of a Japanese subsidiary, but also that he has the perspective of an investor rather than that of an entrepreneur. And he’s ambitious enough to share a dream with the startup’s founder, and expects to make Gumi a top global company.
Linksys was subsequently acquired by Cisco Systems and Belkin. ↩
A year after initially announcing their partnership last year, Twilio and KDDI (TYO:9433) today launched Twilio for the Japanese market. The service allows developers to build voice/VoIP and SMS functionality into web programs and applications. And now as a result of this partnership, Japanese developers can go to twilio.kddi-web.com and sign up for it. Through the partnership with KDDI Web Communications, the website and documentation have been localized, and developers can pay in yen when they sign up for Twilio service. Leading up to today, there was a beta period of about four months where they had a number of Japanese customers using the Twilio for KWC product, who gave valuable feedback that helped them prepare for launch. We had a chance to speak with Twilio’s CEO Jeff Lawson at the launch event today, who told us a little more about this, their first foray into Asia: Obviously Japan is a complicated market to enter, especially for a startup, so we chose to work with a partner who knows the market very well. We expect there will be an enormous demand for Twilio here, based on the amount of software development, and the size of the economy. In addition to…
A year after initially announcing their partnership last year, Twilio and KDDI (TYO:9433) today launched Twilio for the Japanese market. The service allows developers to build voice/VoIP and SMS functionality into web programs and applications. And now as a result of this partnership, Japanese developers can go to twilio.kddi-web.com and sign up for it.
Through the partnership with KDDI Web Communications, the website and documentation have been localized, and developers can pay in yen when they sign up for Twilio service. Leading up to today, there was a beta period of about four months where they had a number of Japanese customers using the Twilio for KWC product, who gave valuable feedback that helped them prepare for launch.
We had a chance to speak with Twilio’s CEO Jeff Lawson at the launch event today, who told us a little more about this, their first foray into Asia:
Obviously Japan is a complicated market to enter, especially for a startup, so we chose to work with a partner who knows the market very well. We expect there will be an enormous demand for Twilio here, based on the amount of software development, and the size of the economy.
In addition to language localization, Twilio has established a Tokyo data center presence via Amazon Web Services.
Jeff describes the partnership with KWC as a “really good cultural match.” Interestingly, KDDI had initiated a similar project called Boundio, which was started as an API based on their observations of Twilio [1]. But as discussions between Twilio and KDDI progressed, the Japanese company decided that they should just offer Twilio rather than try to compete with it. Nonetheless, Jeff explains that the KWC’s initiative was something that really impressed him.
What we liked was that they were thinking ahead. They were movers. They made a product and got it out there, and for a carrier, that’s not easy to do since [carriers] are typically slow moving. KWC is a startup within KDDI, and we liked how their vision aligned with ours, how they feel about APIs and developers, and how they are building the ecosystem and community – really understanding what it takes to bring a product to market.
Twilio is built for software people, says Jeff. And that phrase, ‘software people’ was one that he used a lot at their Twilio Japan Summit today. APIs like Twilio, he says, are the scaffolding that software people use to build great customer experiences. And by doing so, small agile companies can challenge slower moving incumbants in billion dollar industries. Companies like Uber are using Twilio’s telephony solution to connect their passengers with the drivers of luxury cars. Another company, Babelverse, uses Twilio to enable their one-to-one language interpretation service.
Currently there are over 200,000 developers building on the Twilio platform. Back in 2010, that total stood at just 10,000, so their growth has been pretty spectacular. It will be interesting to see what kind of services spring up here in Japan atop the Twilio platform. It’s certainly encouraging to see more building blocks becoming available to Japanese developers.
Boundio will be retired now that KDDI is working with Twilio. ↩
Fujitsu Laboratories, the R&D arm of the Japanese electronics giant, recently unveiled a new technology that recognizes your finger gestures and allows you to add a sort of intelligent layer onto physical objects. The technology that makes this possible is a combination of a projector and several overhead cameras, letting you use gestures on an object as if it were a tablet or smartphone device. The company plans to develop a commercial version of the system by the fiscal year 2014. They say it could be used to show detailed information at a travel agency, or when you fill in forms at a city office. This technology, as well other futuristic developments like Google Glass or Telepathy One, have led some people to comment on social networks that the sort of interfaces seen in the movie Minority Report are almost a reality. To learn more about how it works, check out the following Diginfo News video report.
Fujitsu Laboratories, the R&D arm of the Japanese electronics giant, recently unveiled a new technology that recognizes your finger gestures and allows you to add a sort of intelligent layer onto physical objects. The technology that makes this possible is a combination of a projector and several overhead cameras, letting you use gestures on an object as if it were a tablet or smartphone device.
The company plans to develop a commercial version of the system by the fiscal year 2014. They say it could be used to show detailed information at a travel agency, or when you fill in forms at a city office.
This technology, as well other futuristic developments like Google Glass or Telepathy One, have led some people to comment on social networks that the sort of interfaces seen in the movie Minority Report are almost a reality.
To learn more about how it works, check out the following Diginfo News video report.
Nisshin’s Cup Noodle product is eaten in 80 countries around the world, with more than 31 billion cups having been sold in its near 50 year history, of which Japanese people ate 20 billion. Interestingly, the product is also associated with many early stage startups. There are even expressions like ‘Ramen Profitable‘ by Paul Graham. There are about 34,000 ramen restaurants in Japan according to Tsurumi Ramen, and interestingly that industry has spawned more than a few ramen-related apps, as well as fun products. Here are just a few of them: The Ramen Now With over 300,000 downloads, this app allows users to find ramen restaurants nearby by using geolocation. It also provides coupons for some restaurants giving users a reason to try out different ramen. It has Twitter integration, letting people share ramen they like with friends. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android. Cho Ramen Map Cho can be roughly translated as ‘extreme.’ And this app is extremely detailed in that it even has information like the thickness of ramen noodles at different restaurants. Of course there is also more general information about restaurants’ hours too. It’s available on Google Play. Mitsukete Ramen Mitsukete means…
Nisshin’s Cup Noodle product is eaten in 80 countries around the world, with more than 31 billion cups having been sold in its near 50 year history, of which Japanese people ate 20 billion. Interestingly, the product is also associated with many early stage startups. There are even expressions like ‘Ramen Profitable‘ by Paul Graham. There are about 34,000 ramen restaurants in Japan according to Tsurumi Ramen, and interestingly that industry has spawned more than a few ramen-related apps, as well as fun products. Here are just a few of them:
The Ramen Now
With over 300,000 downloads, this app allows users to find ramen restaurants nearby by using geolocation. It also provides coupons for some restaurants giving users a reason to try out different ramen. It has Twitter integration, letting people share ramen they like with friends. The app is currently available for both iOS and Android.
Cho Ramen Map
Cho can be roughly translated as ‘extreme.’ And this app is extremely detailed in that it even has information like the thickness of ramen noodles at different restaurants. Of course there is also more general information about restaurants’ hours too. It’s available on Google Play.
Mitsukete Ramen
Mitsukete means ‘to find’ in Japanese. It is yet another ramen restaurant map application provided by Gurunavi, one of the major Yelp-like sites in Japan. Users are rewarded with stamps for ramen they have ‘conquered’ and can make a log of their ramen experience. The app is currently available on Google Play.
Minna no Ramen Timer
The name of this app translates into ‘Everyone’s Ramen Timer’, and as you may have guessed by now, it is a cooking timer dedicated exclusively to ramen. It’s for people who opt to go with cup noodles at home, rather than eating out. By reading the barcode on different cup noodles, it automatically sets its timer for that particular type. Just tap the start button and it will tell you when your noodles are most delish! You can also find your favorite cup noodles from favorites and history. It’s available over on Google Play.
More please!
Takumen
Now, if these apps aren’t enough to fulfill your ramen appetite, you can order popular ramen from restaurants online which you can then cook at home. The ecommerce startup launched back in July of 2010, and it’s called Takumen. In a year and a half after its launch, the site has sold over 100,000 items to noodle lovers all over Japan. We’ve heard that they have global expansion in mind, and if that happens, we will be sure to let you know!
Cup Noodle Inception?
We recently came across some cute Cup Noodle merchandise designed by Japanese design studio Nendo, which was produced for the Nisshin Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama. The Cup noodle Matryoshka (pictured above) takes the brand’s iconic packaging and makes it into a matryoshka-like container, with a cup in a cup in a cup (in a dream?).
Cup noodle forms (below) is another interesting product, making a slight change in the form and shape of the cup to transform it into something entirely different.
See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-based web marketing agency Hivelocity has unveiled Japan’s first ever audience commerce platform. It’s called Feedbuy, and it has just opened up pre-registration for membership. The company expects to launch the service around late-April or early-May. For those of you who may not be familiar with it yet, the concept of audience commerce is that the more users spread the word about a product using their social network, the lower the sales price becomes. If the volume of social buzz about the item reaches a certain point, merchants may even give users a 100% discount. We’re told the platform is Japan’s first ever promotion tool using this audience commerce model, where merchants can sell their products on the platform and ask users to help their promotional efforts. Hyvelocity was founded in 2004 by several Japanese web producers, and has been distributing web marketing solutions for companies in partnership with inbound marketing solution provider HubSpot.
Tokyo-based web marketing agency Hivelocity has unveiled Japan’s first ever audience commerce platform. It’s called Feedbuy, and it has just opened up pre-registration for membership. The company expects to launch the service around late-April or early-May.
For those of you who may not be familiar with it yet, the concept of audience commerce is that the more users spread the word about a product using their social network, the lower the sales price becomes. If the volume of social buzz about the item reaches a certain point, merchants may even give users a 100% discount. We’re told the platform is Japan’s first ever promotion tool using this audience commerce model, where merchants can sell their products on the platform and ask users to help their promotional efforts.
Hyvelocity was founded in 2004 by several Japanese web producers, and has been distributing web marketing solutions for companies in partnership with inbound marketing solution provider HubSpot.