If you like strange and wonderful gadgets from Japan, chances are you have probably already seen some of Thanko’s products. The USB necktie fan and the ridiculous smartphone self-shot extension stick are just a couple of the unusual devices that you can buy on Thanko’s website.
But now the company has launched a new website aimed at bringing these items to fans the world over. RareMonoShop.jp went live this week, and if you reside outside Japan you can now order a wide array of useless junk awesome stuff from their website. While most of the items are pretty off-the-wall, I admit some of them actually look useful – I wouldn’t mind picking up a ‘lying-on-your-back desk’ for example.
In its announcement, Thanko explains a little more about its expansion:
Till now, we were operating within the domestic market due to distribution-related issues. But after working out the details of an overseas payment system based on “PayPal” and product delivery using EMS and international mail, we have now opened the new service for the global market.
The new shop will offer a 10% discount on purchases over $50 dollars for the rest of July (coupon code SP10), so if there’s anything on the site that you’d like to buy, now is the time to get it.
Panasonic Cycle Tech announced that it will launch an electric bicyle designed for three people — a parent and two small children. It’s called Gyutto. In Japan, especially in Tokyo where trains dominate as daily transportation, many moms turn to electric bicycles for getting around. If you walk around the streets of Tokyo, you’ll notice many women on bicycles with a child in the front or back. With the Gyutto’s sleek and modern design, moms can look stylish while getting her errands done too. The electric bicycle has an 8.9Ah battery which provides enough power to go for about 26 kilometers. It also has a feature that counts and displays your total calories burned. Gyutto comes in three color variations and is available for 133,000 yen (or about $1,330). The bicycle looks pretty sharp, it would be a great addition to any family — suitable for both moms and dads. In Japan, the very first electric bicycle appeared back in 1993. The market has grown ever since, and in 2010, the number of shipments exceeded 380,000 nationwide — outweighing even motorcycles in popularity. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake had an impact on the market as well. People needed affordable transportation and…
Panasonic Cycle Tech announced that it will launch an electric bicyle designed for three people — a parent and two small children. It’s called Gyutto. In Japan, especially in Tokyo where trains dominate as daily transportation, many moms turn to electric bicycles for getting around.
If you walk around the streets of Tokyo, you’ll notice many women on bicycles with a child in the front or back. With the Gyutto’s sleek and modern design, moms can look stylish while getting her errands done too.
The electric bicycle has an 8.9Ah battery which provides enough power to go for about 26 kilometers. It also has a feature that counts and displays your total calories burned. Gyutto comes in three color variations and is available for 133,000 yen (or about $1,330). The bicycle looks pretty sharp, it would be a great addition to any family — suitable for both moms and dads.
In Japan, the very first electric bicycle appeared back in 1993. The market has grown ever since, and in 2010, the number of shipments exceeded 380,000 nationwide — outweighing even motorcycles in popularity. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake had an impact on the market as well. People needed affordable transportation and turned to electric bicycles. In 2012, the number of electric bicycles sold grew by 24% in comparison to the year before.
Read the original article in Japanese There are two common paths that people take to success: either you climb the ladder in a company, or you start your own company and scale it. And while it’s easy for employees to envision success in large companies, but can be harder to imagine a way to find success with your own startup. Two venture capital companies have put forth a solution to the latter problem with a new one day program called Spinout. Aspiring entrepreneurs make a business plan in a day, and them pitch a demo investors at the end [1]. On the program webpage you can see messages from eight entrepreneurs who decided to quit their corporate jobs to begin their own startup. I’d like to introduce those voices here since they are all inspirational. CEO of Nanapi, Kensuke Furukawa, formerly of Recruit Nanapi is a lifestyle how-to website. Furukawa started the company at the age of 28 and now he is 32 years old. I just thought I wanted to become a person who could start a company and scale it up. And I couldn’t do that while I was in a larger company, so I just quit to…
There are two common paths that people take to success: either you climb the ladder in a company, or you start your own company and scale it. And while it’s easy for employees to envision success in large companies, but can be harder to imagine a way to find success with your own startup.
Two venture capital companies have put forth a solution to the latter problem with a new one day program called Spinout. Aspiring entrepreneurs make a business plan in a day, and them pitch a demo investors at the end [1]. On the program webpage you can see messages from eight entrepreneurs who decided to quit their corporate jobs to begin their own startup. I’d like to introduce those voices here since they are all inspirational.
CEO of Nanapi, Kensuke Furukawa, formerly of Recruit
Nanapi is a lifestyle how-to website. Furukawa started the company at the age of 28 and now he is 32 years old.
I just thought I wanted to become a person who could start a company and scale it up. And I couldn’t do that while I was in a larger company, so I just quit to start my own.
Founder and COO of OhMyGlasses, Ikuma Mutobe, formerly of Softbank and UBS Securities
OhMyGlasses is an online glasses retailer. He started the company at the age of 26 and now he is 30 years old.
The biggest reason why I started my own company is I believed that I could run an online shop for glasses. You know you only have one shot in your life so I thought starting up my own company would give me the best chance.
CEO of Wantedly, Akiko Naka, formerly of Goldman Sachs and Facebook
Wantedly is a social recruiting website where users can find potential employees using Facebook. She started the company at the age of 26 and is now 28 years old.
I really like my life filled with unpredictable things. And I thought starting up my own company would certainly make my life interesting, so I just did it. It really can be unpredictable at times, but it’s also very exciting. You never know if you are going to fail or succeed, but looking at it long term I know it will be really fun. If you want to start something but are a little hesitant, just take action and you will see some results. You have to move if you want to make your world fun.
CEO of CFO, Daisuke Sasaki, formerly of Google
CFO develops a personal accounting service. Sasaki started the company at the age of 31 and he is now 32 years old.
While I was doing marketing projects for SMBs, I figured out there are really few Japanese people who actually start their own businesses. It was a big problem for Japan, I thought. I figured it would be good if I could start my own business – and so I did. Working at Google was really fun but I started my own company to make things a little more fun.
CEO of Vasily, Yuki Kanayama, formerly of Yahoo Japan
Vasily is the developer of a fashion coordination app called iQon. He started the company at the age of 30 and is now 34 years old.
Entering into Yahoo Japan was an important step towards setting up my own company. I thought that to prepare for my own venture, it was crucial to learn more about enterprises, their resources and how they work.
CEO of CrowdWorks, Koichiro Yoshida, formerly of Pioneer and Reed Exhibitions Japan
CrowdWorks is one of the largest crowdsourcing sites in Japan. Yoshida started the company at the age of 37 and is now 38 years old.
The poem “The Road Not Taken” [provides a good lesson]. […] I felt that I didn’t want to take a path that someone already traveled. And taking the path that nobody has taken looked very exciting to me. Didn’t you think life had infinite possibilities when you were a student? When you become an adult, if you still want your life to have such infinite possibility, you have to create it via your own actions.
CEO of Bizreach, Swimmy Minami, former of Morgan Stanley
Bizreach is a job recruiting site where you can search for executives. Swimmy started the company at the age of 32 and is now 37 years old [2].
I actually didn’t think I wanted to start my own company until I quit my previous job. When I was looking for a new job I didn’t understand what was going on in the internet space even though the ‘age of Internet innovation’ was happening [all around me].
I thought I could start a company that could solve problems and inefficiencies around me. Having a business that can impact society is great. If you can be a self-starter guy, you can do whatever you want and it doesn’t really matter whether you are an entrepreneur or employee.
CEO of UzaBase, Ryosuke Niino, formerly of Mitsui and UBS Securities
UzaBase offers a software solution called ‘Speeda’. It is an information platform for corporate and industrial analysis tailored towards knowledge workers. He started the company at the age of 30 and he is now 35 years old.
I don’t want to live a life where I later regret that I didn’t try something. I was really nervous too, because family was the biggest concern as I could totally ruin their lives. But it was really exciting to create an awesome job and there was no other way that could instill such excitement in me.
If there are two ways and you can’t decided which to go, take the harder way. This is now one of our company’s core principals.
The event will be held on July 28th, so if you’d like to apply you can do so here. It is somewhat similar to Incubate Camp, a two day business plan camp held by Japanese VC, Incubate Fund. ↩
See the original story in Japanese. Here in Japan we’re seeing more and more startups taking the time to create a promotional video for their service. Of course, this is a trend the world over, as you can see on video showcase sites such as Startup Videos (US) or 500videos (Korea). For app developers, videos that effectively communicate the concept behind your application can be invaluable in terms of getting potential users to understand what you’re offering. We recently had an opportunity to hear from Hidetoshi Kobayashi, the CEO of Tokyo-based video production studio Wonder Graphics. The company is known for having made promotional video clips for many popular Japanese mobile apps, including music collaboration app Nana, or homescreen decoration app CocoPPa. Why did you start this production studio? We founded the company back in 2010 and started providing video production services in 2011. In the early days, we were involved in designing websites and producing music video clips. How do you differ from other video production studios? The biggest differentiation is speed. We usually produce a film with a small team, and make efforts to shorten the time of delivery. Our methods can contribute to improved efficiency in the…
Here in Japan we’re seeing more and more startups taking the time to create a promotional video for their service. Of course, this is a trend the world over, as you can see on video showcase sites such as Startup Videos (US) or 500videos (Korea).
For app developers, videos that effectively communicate the concept behind your application can be invaluable in terms of getting potential users to understand what you’re offering.
We recently had an opportunity to hear from Hidetoshi Kobayashi, the CEO of Tokyo-based video production studio Wonder Graphics. The company is known for having made promotional video clips for many popular Japanese mobile apps, including music collaboration app Nana, or homescreen decoration app CocoPPa.
Why did you start this production studio?
Wonder Graphics Hidetoshi Kobayshi
We founded the company back in 2010 and started providing video production services in 2011. In the early days, we were involved in designing websites and producing music video clips.
How do you differ from other video production studios?
The biggest differentiation is speed. We usually produce a film with a small team, and make efforts to shorten the time of delivery. Our methods can contribute to improved efficiency in the production process, reducing man-hours as well as production costs. For instance, with the promotional film for CocoPPa, we could finish it just two weeks after receiving the order from them.
Most production orders are for videos to be placed on websites, so we can delivery them in digital (rather than physical) form and thus complete it earlier. As a result, we can reduce man-hour costs and spend more effort to produce better outcomes.
As well as our our experiences producing music video clips or TV commercials, we’re making the most of the ease with which we can produce videos for websites.
Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida / Director of Photography: Seiji Ito
Director of Lighting: K. Hokari
What’s foremost in your mind when producing such clips?
The most significant thing is branding. We really focus on thinking what images will best describe the service or product. We usually spend time planning out of all the production processes, and think how to make people understand better the service.
An effective video clip is one that makes users understand the service as soon as they watch it. It is important to decide on the right actors or storyboards. For users, scenes in the clip have to make you envision how the service will work.
Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida / Director of Design: Mai Kobayashi
In the CocoPPa clip, we made it clear that the app is intended for high school girls. We even rented a real house to shoot in.
Filming equipment used be too big to carry inside a real house, but these days, even a DSLR camera is good enough to shoot professional video, and we actually use LEDs for lighting because they generate less heat and are easier to use in a tiny room. So we don’t need a film set but can actually rent a real building to shoot various scenes.
Why should startups make such a promotional video?
For startups, creating such a video clip will not only help your users learn about your brand, but it also helps your team sort out their own thoughts. What people use your service? How do you expect them to use it? Based on these considerations, we will choose actors to complete a scenario.
For startups, the production process gives your team a chance to reflect on the value of your service. In an interview before the video shoot, we usually hear from the client on this.
So creating a video clip confirms the value of their product in a way?
I think so. For startups, what’s important is telling viewers how they can change themselves by using a certain service. By highlighting the changes before and after using the service, viewers can learn the real value that a product provides. This is the moment when they confirm the product’s value.
Wonder Graphics has produced many promotional video clips, not only for introducing services, but also companies. The video below is an introduction for Sansan, the Tokyo-based startup providing business card-based contact management services. You can see how it works by confirming the overall concept of the company.
Directed by: Tetsuya Ishida
In addition to serving other startups by producing these video clips, WonderGraphics is itself a startup that recently received funding from investors. Earlier this week, they partnered with Minna-no-Wedding, one of Japan’s leading wedding venue portals, and started providing married couples with videos of their wedding ceremonies.
Many companies (not just video production studios) can learn a lot from what the Wonder Graphics team is doing. By making the most of a small team with efficient video production methods, I think there’s a brilliant future ahead for this startup.
Japanese internet conglomerate Kakaku.com, the company behind price comparison site Kakaku.com and restaurant review site Tabelog, has just released a new food app called Gochi Reco. There are other food apps out there, but what differentiates Gochi Reco from the rest is that it is used only among a few family members (which are pre-set at the time of registration). Many families exchange emails everyday about what’s for dinner, what time they’re coming home, and whether there’s any grocery shopping to do. However, according to a study conducted by a marketing research company Macromill, almost half of wives cooking for husbands have felt some hostility towards them because of their comments on food. Gochi Reco is focused on making this sort of everyday food-focused communication a little more fun. Using the app, family members can exchange ideas about the dinner menu, or even take a photo of what they had as a record. The designated chef of the household can ask for what dishes other members prefer, and they can respond by sharing their preferences. On the ‘recipe’ tab, there are many recipes from other homes which you can propose to your family from within the app. For every recipe,…
Japanese internet conglomerate Kakaku.com, the company behind price comparison site Kakaku.com and restaurant review site Tabelog, has just released a new food app called Gochi Reco.
There are other food apps out there, but what differentiates Gochi Reco from the rest is that it is used only among a few family members (which are pre-set at the time of registration). Many families exchange emails everyday about what’s for dinner, what time they’re coming home, and whether there’s any grocery shopping to do. However, according to a study conducted by a marketing research company Macromill, almost half of wives cooking for husbands have felt some hostility towards them because of their comments on food. Gochi Reco is focused on making this sort of everyday food-focused communication a little more fun.
Using the app, family members can exchange ideas about the dinner menu, or even take a photo of what they had as a record. The designated chef of the household can ask for what dishes other members prefer, and they can respond by sharing their preferences. On the ‘recipe’ tab, there are many recipes from other homes which you can propose to your family from within the app. For every recipe, there is an “add to shopping list” button, where all necessary ingredients are added to your shopping list.
I would have imagined that Cookpad, the biggest recipe portal in Japan, would release an app like this. And in fact, the company did release an iOS app a while back called Omusubi Ken (‘omusubi’ means ‘rice balls’ in Japanese). The app allows its users to nurture a puppy that lives in your virtual kitchen by posting photos of home cooked meals. By posting more often, you receive clothes for your puppy and can even redecorate your kitchen.
The approach of enhancing communication among families around dinner is an approach we haven’t seen yet. If you’d like to try it out, Gochi Reco is available both on iOS and on Android.
Other popular food apps in Japan include Snapdish, which we’ve covered in the past. It works like a social network for exchanging photos and recipes for home cooked meals. A whopping 70% of the photos shared in the app are cooked at home.
Another food photo app, Miil, has 300,000 downloads since its initial release back in 2011. You can read more about Miil in a past article.
In Japan, geolocation mobile games have always been popular, going back to the days when featured phones ruled. One of the most successful is the Keitai Kunitori Gassen (or ‘mobile nation conquest war’), provided by one of Japan’s largest internet mapping companies, Mapion. Keitai Kunitori Gassen has over one million registered members and it works sort of like a stamp rally. Users of the game can conquer different locations around the country by checking in to the location and competing with other users. There were over 600 spots available as of April of 2012. The game gives out special Japanese warlord cards that originate from specific locations, and warlords can be strengthened to fight each other. A new stamp rally will be released this summer that allows users to conquer Japanese castles all over Japan. This particular stamp rally takes place in the age of the Civil War (or Sengoku jidai), and users who can nab over 100 castles can qualify to apply for special trips and train tickets to help you conquer other locations. Users can also post photos and make comments on places they have visited. This particular rally can be played for 100 days. Every summer, a…
Keitai Kunitori Gassen
In Japan, geolocation mobile games have always been popular, going back to the days when featured phones ruled. One of the most successful is the Keitai Kunitori Gassen (or ‘mobile nation conquest war’), provided by one of Japan’s largest internet mapping companies, Mapion. Keitai Kunitori Gassen has over one million registered members and it works sort of like a stamp rally. Users of the game can conquer different locations around the country by checking in to the location and competing with other users. There were over 600 spots available as of April of 2012.
The game gives out special Japanese warlord cards that originate from specific locations, and warlords can be strengthened to fight each other. A new stamp rally will be released this summer that allows users to conquer Japanese castles all over Japan. This particular stamp rally takes place in the age of the Civil War (or Sengoku jidai), and users who can nab over 100 castles can qualify to apply for special trips and train tickets to help you conquer other locations. Users can also post photos and make comments on places they have visited. This particular rally can be played for 100 days.
Every summer, a game like the one mentioned above is realeased on Keitai Kunitori Gassen. Since its initial launch back in 2008, there have been over 500 users who have conqured all 600 areas within the game. This new campaign will kick off on July 24th, with ten times the spots it had in previous games. Core fans are already saying how this particular version is the ultimate ‘Muri-ge’, or ‘the ultimate impossible game’.
The app is available on both iOS and on Android if you’d like to check it out.
Another famous app from this genre is Colony na Seikatsu, which can be roughly translated as Colony-like life. That game was released all the way back in 2003, and is now available as a smartphone app.
Rick Martin
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Takeshi Hirano
Nanapi
OhMyGlasses is an online glasses retailer. He started the company at the age of 26 and now he is 30 years old.
Vasily
CrowdWorks
Junya Mori
