See this story in Japanese San Francisco-based Square, the mobile payments service established by Jack Dorsey, looks like it will be planting a firm foothold in Japan soon, partnering with Uniqlo on a pop-up store in Ginza on Friday, October 11. Square officially came to Japan back in May of this year, as you may recall. The aforementioned space will be used to spotlight Uniqlo’s Ultra Light Down jackets, but it will also feature Square’s mobile payment technology as Uniqlo staff will be equipped with iPad’s on site to accept credit card payments. So in this way, customers won’t have to bother with queuing at the register, but can swipe their credit card with any store employee. This marks the first time that a big retailer in Japan is using Square in this way, and Uniqlo has plans to to introduce the technology at other stores later on. With a huge brand like Uniqlo now under its belt, Square should make quick progress convincing other retailers, big and small, to get on board as well. In addition to providing Square mobile payments at this pop-up store, Uniqlo will also feature something it’s calling ‘Uniqlo Color Magic’, which is most likely…
San Francisco-based Square, the mobile payments service established by Jack Dorsey, looks like it will be planting a firm foothold in Japan soon, partnering with Uniqlo on a pop-up store in Ginza on Friday, October 11. Square officially came to Japan back in May of this year, as you may recall.
The aforementioned space will be used to spotlight Uniqlo’s Ultra Light Down jackets, but it will also feature Square’s mobile payment technology as Uniqlo staff will be equipped with iPad’s on site to accept credit card payments. So in this way, customers won’t have to bother with queuing at the register, but can swipe their credit card with any store employee.
This marks the first time that a big retailer in Japan is using Square in this way, and Uniqlo has plans to to introduce the technology at other stores later on. With a huge brand like Uniqlo now under its belt, Square should make quick progress convincing other retailers, big and small, to get on board as well.
In addition to providing Square mobile payments at this pop-up store, Uniqlo will also feature something it’s calling ‘Uniqlo Color Magic’, which is most likely their Magic Mirror display (from Sharp) that they introduced at US locations last year. You can see an example of how that works in the video below.
Readers may recall when we previously featured the work of Japanese digital media company Kayac back in March. Their augmented reality Hatsune Miku pizza boxes for Dominos Japan were a great example of digital marketing. Now Kayac has another fun production, this time producing a fun iPhone attachment and app combo in cooperation with Chatperf and their Scentee mobile add-on that plugs into your headphone jack. Their ‘Hana Yakiniku’ (roughly translated as ‘nose barbecue meat’) is a small device/app kit intended to improve your eating experience by emitting the delicious smell of barbecue. 3 flavors: ribs, butter potatoes, and cow tongue For for example, lets say you’re on a diet and can only eat small salads or some white rice or something – in that case, Hana Yakiniku would enhance your bland food with a tastier smell. Currently it comes in three flavors: ribs, butter potatoes, and cow tongue (common at barbecue restaurants in Japan). If you’re eager to try this one out, you’ll have to wait a little while longer. Hana Yakiniki doesn’t go one sale until November 15. But when it does it will be pretty affordable, selling for the price of 3,654 yen (or about $36). Cartridge…
Readers may recall when we previously featured the work of Japanese digital media company Kayac back in March. Their augmented reality Hatsune Miku pizza boxes for Dominos Japan were a great example of digital marketing.
Now Kayac has another fun production, this time producing a fun iPhone attachment and app combo in cooperation with Chatperf and their Scentee mobile add-on that plugs into your headphone jack. Their ‘Hana Yakiniku’ (roughly translated as ‘nose barbecue meat’) is a small device/app kit intended to improve your eating experience by emitting the delicious smell of barbecue.
3 flavors: ribs, butter potatoes, and cow tongue
For for example, lets say you’re on a diet and can only eat small salads or some white rice or something – in that case, Hana Yakiniku would enhance your bland food with a tastier smell. Currently it comes in three flavors: ribs, butter potatoes, and cow tongue (common at barbecue restaurants in Japan).
If you’re eager to try this one out, you’ll have to wait a little while longer. Hana Yakiniki doesn’t go one sale until November 15. But when it does it will be pretty affordable, selling for the price of 3,654 yen (or about $36). Cartridge refills can be purchased for 100 yen for a three-pack. You’ll be able to order yours over on Amazon Japan.
If you’d like an explanation of how Hana Yakiniku works, check out the (rather cringeworthy) demo video below [1].
While this is a pretty fun idea, the voiceover and copywriting in their promo video (much like the Hatsune Mike promo previously) is pretty awful. ↩
Early in September, we wrote about Japanese social giant Mixi and its suddenly aggressive mobile strategy. One app in its growing portfolio is Minimo, an application used to match hairdresses-in-training and models. But recently I stumbled across a similar service called Cuttaloca, produced by Japanese internet service provider Side Tail. Cuttaloca wants to shorten the time novice hairdressers spend to cut 100 models from 3 years just to half a year. Cuttaloca was initially launched in October of last year as a service that provides haircuts for only 500 yen (about $5). Many hairdressers from across 18 Japanese prefectures registered on the site and there were over 2,000 haircut requests within a year. The site was recently overhauled and it now provides features that let users view hairdressers’ work schedule, thus making the request process easier. Cuttaloca can be used without a credit card, as payment processing is possible at local convenience stores. The site uses Facebook authentication to registrated, providing a secure environment for both hair professionals and users looking for a cheap hair cut. Hair professionals used to spend much time looking for haircut models in the streets. Interestingly, this is an important part of becoming a skilled…
Early in September, we wrote about Japanese social giant Mixi and its suddenly aggressive mobile strategy. One app in its growing portfolio is Minimo, an application used to match hairdresses-in-training and models. But recently I stumbled across a similar service called Cuttaloca, produced by Japanese internet service provider Side Tail.
Cuttaloca wants to shorten the time novice hairdressers spend to cut 100 models from 3 years just to half a year.
Cuttaloca was initially launched in October of last year as a service that provides haircuts for only 500 yen (about $5). Many hairdressers from across 18 Japanese prefectures registered on the site and there were over 2,000 haircut requests within a year.
The site was recently overhauled and it now provides features that let users view hairdressers’ work schedule, thus making the request process easier. Cuttaloca can be used without a credit card, as payment processing is possible at local convenience stores. The site uses Facebook authentication to registrated, providing a secure environment for both hair professionals and users looking for a cheap hair cut.
Hair professionals used to spend much time looking for haircut models in the streets. Interestingly, this is an important part of becoming a skilled hairdresser since it requires communication skill and the ability to make judgements about people. Cuttaloca hopes that these professionals can leverage the service on top of their offline activities, so that they can shorten the time spent to cut 100 models from three years just to half a year.
If users wish for additional services like hair coloring or a perm, they can schedule that as well by paying an extra fee at the time of their haircut. Since all haircuts are for training purposes, they will start after 7pm when the store is actually closed.
Cuttaloca is a direct competitor to Mixi’s Minimo, but is presented as a website service in contrast to the Minimo app. It will be exciting to see which community fares better in reaching the masses.
Japanese homescreen decorating application CocoPPa has surpassed 15 million downloads as of September 30th. What’s most remarkable about this is that a whopping 83% of its downloads come from beyond its home market of Japan. CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market. Because of this, United (CocoPPa’s parent company) stands out as a prime example of a company that dares to look abroad. It’s also a great example of how Japan’s cute/kawaii culture can be a very exportable commodity, even on mobile. As you can see in the chart below, CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market, and 17% from its home market. England and Taiwan each represent 4%, while Canada, Brazil, and Germany represent 3% each. United recently launched version 2 of its app (for both iOS and Android), with a number of new features available. There’s now a ‘download all’ function that will let you download entire homescreens (background and buttons). And the ‘Lounge’ area lets you post your own homescreen set for other users to download. CocoPPa recently struck a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu in an effort to help market the app both in mainland…
Japanese homescreen decorating application CocoPPa has surpassed 15 million downloads as of September 30th. What’s most remarkable about this is that a whopping 83% of its downloads come from beyond its home market of Japan.
CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market.
Because of this, United (CocoPPa’s parent company) stands out as a prime example of a company that dares to look abroad. It’s also a great example of how Japan’s cute/kawaii culture can be a very exportable commodity, even on mobile.
As you can see in the chart below, CocoPPa has seen 39% of its downloads occur in the US market, and 17% from its home market. England and Taiwan each represent 4%, while Canada, Brazil, and Germany represent 3% each.
United recently launched version 2 of its app (for both iOS and Android), with a number of new features available. There’s now a ‘download all’ function that will let you download entire homescreens (background and buttons). And the ‘Lounge’ area lets you post your own homescreen set for other users to download.
CocoPPa recently struck a deal with Chinese search giant Baidu in an effort to help market the app both in mainland China and here in Japan. The startup has also previously partnered with fellow Japanese startup Tokyo Otaku Mode to make available anime-themed homescreen sets on its platform.
See the original story in Japanese. When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality. San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well. Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained: There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them….
When loved ones pass away, sometimes we might imagine that they became a star shining in the night sky. But one startup is looking to make this idea a reality.
San Francisco-based Elysium Space, a company providing space memorial services, announced it has launched its business in the Japanese market on Monday, following its US launch back in August. Elysium delivers the ashes of a deceased family member into the space for as little as $1,990. You can even send the ashes of your pet as well.
Coinciding with its launch in Japan, we had a chance to speak with ex-NASA engineer and the startup’s founder and CEO Thomas Civeit. He says they plan to have their own spacecraft but are still exploring better ways to deliver the ashes. At this point, they plan to partner with space transport companies like Space X, asking them to launch a spacecraft for delivery from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He explained:
There are many options for rocket launch sites but they are typically surrounded by off-limits areas. For our customers who are willing to watch the launch scene, I believe Florida is the best of them.
Disney World is located nearby, where you can visit with your family members after watching the launch. It may be possible to partner with travel agencies to arrange a tour having those destinations.
The launch scene will be live-streamed as well as recorded so that family can watch without visiting the launch site. He adds:
A funeral service in space is not a new concept at all. What’s innovative here is that we can provide it for as little as US$1,990.
There are space-focused ventures elsewhere but most of them are government funded. In contrast, our company is completely funded from private investors.
We also asked about possible concerns people may have in Japan (should they fall from space), as water burial is illegal here. But it seems their service would not result in any legal trouble since the spacecraft would be launched from the US.
The company has already introduced mobile apps for iOS and Android, where you can preview the kind of experience you will get through the service. In addition to accepting applications via its website, Elysium is in talk with Japanese funeral services for potential partnerships.
From the left: Benjamin Joffe (Director of Communication), Thomas Civeit (CEO), Naruo Kanemoto (Director of Business Development)
Korea’s beSUCCESS reported on Monday that Seoul-based LOC&ALL, the startup behind car navigation app Kimgisa, has raised $3 billion Korean won (approximately $2.7 million) from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures and two Korean investment firms, Neoplux and Partners Venture Capital. Prior to this funding, the company raised seed funding of 1 billion won ($930,000) from Partners Venture Capital in January. With these new funds, they plan to intensify their engineering and marketing efforts with the initial goal of expanding to Japan, with Mainland China and Indonesia to follow later. Kimgisa is a location-based app for iOS and Android that acts as a sort of touch-screen sat-nav device. Since its launch back in 2010, it has acquired more than 5 million users despite the fact that major Korean mobile carriers have similar apps installed by default on their smartphones. The company projects that its primary revenue source to come from big data, an accumulation of user information including their destinations. They are also planning to sell advertising opportunities to Korean companies like Poing (restaurant booking), GooDoc (hospital finder), Saltlux (big data solution) and Korean web portal Naver. The company was founded back in May of 2010 by three Busan natives: Jonghwan Park, Wontae…
Korea’s beSUCCESS reported on Monday that Seoul-based LOC&ALL, the startup behind car navigation app Kimgisa, has raised $3 billion Korean won (approximately $2.7 million) from Japan’s CyberAgent Ventures and two Korean investment firms, Neoplux and Partners Venture Capital. Prior to this funding, the company raised seed funding of 1 billion won ($930,000) from Partners Venture Capital in January. With these new funds, they plan to intensify their engineering and marketing efforts with the initial goal of expanding to Japan, with Mainland China and Indonesia to follow later.
Kimgisa is a location-based app for iOS and Android that acts as a sort of touch-screen sat-nav device. Since its launch back in 2010, it has acquired more than 5 million users despite the fact that major Korean mobile carriers have similar apps installed by default on their smartphones.
The company projects that its primary revenue source to come from big data, an accumulation of user information including their destinations. They are also planning to sell advertising opportunities to Korean companies like Poing (restaurant booking), GooDoc (hospital finder), Saltlux (big data solution) and Korean web portal Naver.
The company was founded back in May of 2010 by three Busan natives: Jonghwan Park, Wontae Kim, and Myeongjin Sin, and all of whom previously conducted studies on location-based services at KTIT, the R&D body of Korea Telecom. It has hired many engineers from KOSDAQ-listed mobile solution provider Point-i.
Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars). Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below). Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently. For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August. [Via Livedoor News] Checked at the time of writing. ↩
Japanese social networking giant Mixi has acquired Line’s subsidiary Diverse, a company focusing on the marriage business and match-matching, for 1.07 billion yen (about 10.9 million dollars).
Diverse is an entity that has been around since 2000, perhaps best known for running its match-making site YouBride.jp, which currently has more than 780,000 members, with 66% men and 34% women [1]. According to YouBride’s own figures, their female membership skews a little younger than their male membership (see chart below).
Mixi will acquire all shares of Diverse, which will officially split off from Line in December. But Diverse will proceed with further development on its own independently.
For Mixi, this acquisition means that its business portfolio is growing increasingly diverse in recent months. Readers may recall that back in September we featured six of their mobile applications, including Nohana, which was spun off by the company in August.
See the original story in Japanese. Nagoya-based Standfirm, the startup behind cloud-based invoicing platform Misoca, recently announced that it has raised 30 million yen (about $300,000) from Incubate Fund. The platform lets you to edit and manage estimates, invoices, statements of delivery using a handy dashboard. You can even ask the startup to print and mail these items to your clients on your behalf. With these funds, the company plans to intensify hiring and marketing efforts. Their upcoming focus areas will be: Starting inbound marketing efforts Improving user experience Integrating with CRM or ERP solution services Develop an entirely online platform to deliver of invoices/estimates. Since their launch back in June of 2011, Misoca has acquired more than 8,000 users, and more than 700 of them are using the service on a monthly basis.
Nagoya-based Standfirm, the startup behind cloud-based invoicing platform Misoca, recently announced that it has raised 30 million yen (about $300,000) from Incubate Fund.
The platform lets you to edit and manage estimates, invoices, statements of delivery using a handy dashboard. You can even ask the startup to print and mail these items to your clients on your behalf. With these funds, the company plans to intensify hiring and marketing efforts. Their upcoming focus areas will be:
Starting inbound marketing efforts
Improving user experience
Integrating with CRM or ERP solution services
Develop an entirely online platform to deliver of invoices/estimates.
Since their launch back in June of 2011, Misoca has acquired more than 8,000 users, and more than 700 of them are using the service on a monthly basis.
For a while now, we’ve seen much hype around mobile flea market apps in the Japanese startup space. Many companies are eager to grab a piece of this second-hand clothing market, as we see increasing demand as people transitioning to mobile from desktop auction websites such as Yahoo Auction and Mobaoku. Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities. Stulio is one such flea market app. It started off as a photo-sharing app, and at the end of September the company announced its jump to become a fashion e-commerce app. Users can purchase each others’ used items as well as exclusive items by popular models and celebrities. In addition to selling used clothes, the app also sells new clothes from fashion brands such as Wildfox and Moussy. The company behind Stulio is a joint venture of Enigmo, Stulio. Enigmo went public in June of last year, is the operator of Buyma. That service has 40,000 users (as of June 2013) from all over the world who can function as buyers, acting as a means to access to high-end global brands for more affordable prices than department stores. We had a chance to speak with the…
For a while now, we’ve seen much hype around mobile flea market apps in the Japanese startup space. Many companies are eager to grab a piece of this second-hand clothing market, as we see increasing demand as people transitioning to mobile from desktop auction websites such as Yahoo Auction and Mobaoku.
Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities.
Stulio is one such flea market app. It started off as a photo-sharing app, and at the end of September the company announced its jump to become a fashion e-commerce app. Users can purchase each others’ used items as well as exclusive items by popular models and celebrities.
In addition to selling used clothes, the app also sells new clothes from fashion brands such as Wildfox and Moussy.
The company behind Stulio is a joint venture of Enigmo, Stulio. Enigmo went public in June of last year, is the operator of Buyma. That service has 40,000 users (as of June 2013) from all over the world who can function as buyers, acting as a means to access to high-end global brands for more affordable prices than department stores.
We had a chance to speak with the CEO of Stulio, Hirokuni Miyaji. He elaborates on the pivot of the app.
Stulio was initially developed by Enigmo and I took over back in July of 2012. I had always wanted to develop a flea market app so it was a great opportunity. To describe it in simple terms, Stulio is a flea market app that is used by fashionistas and celebrities.
The updated version of the app was released in September where we added official accounts by popular models and brands. What differentiates our app from other flea market apps is that the average price of sold items are around 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen which is much higher compared to other apps.
Stulio’s strategy to acquiring more users is to be active offline and to leverage a sort of Ameba-like tactic by having fashion influencers join, which then helps them reach the mainstream. The company recently opened a pop-up shop at Lafore Harajyuku where it held a renewal party with many notable guests.
Miyaji says the company is going to focus on building a fashion platform for now. But in the near future, it plans to launch its own line of fashion brand as well as expand to the wider Asian market.
Having entered the ranks of fatherhood just this year, I’ve found that I’ve been experimenting with a number of applications that can help with parenting in general, as well as recording the most memorable moments of my baby’s development. As someone who lives in Japan, I’ve found myself using a mix of apps from abroad as well as a few homegrown applications. I thought I’d give a quick rundown of some of the mobile apps that have served me well so far. For any new parents out there, I highly recommend them all. 1. Notabli ¶ This is perhaps by far my most enthusiastic recommendation. Notabli is a private social network for parents with kids, letting you upload photos, short videos, and even audio updates, which are visible only to the people you want to share with. For me, that means my wife, my parents, and some close friends. It also lets you mark media as a milestone (like first tooth, first steps, etc), also another indispensable feature. There are numerous applications that I considered for photo management, but the primary reason why I chose Notabli is that it allows for full-resolution storage of photos, with the option to export…
Having entered the ranks of fatherhood just this year, I’ve found that I’ve been experimenting with a number of applications that can help with parenting in general, as well as recording the most memorable moments of my baby’s development. As someone who lives in Japan, I’ve found myself using a mix of apps from abroad as well as a few homegrown applications.
I thought I’d give a quick rundown of some of the mobile apps that have served me well so far. For any new parents out there, I highly recommend them all.
This is perhaps by far my most enthusiastic recommendation. Notabli is a private social network for parents with kids, letting you upload photos, short videos, and even audio updates, which are visible only to the people you want to share with. For me, that means my wife, my parents, and some close friends. It also lets you mark media as a milestone (like first tooth, first steps, etc), also another indispensable feature.
There are numerous applications that I considered for photo management, but the primary reason why I chose Notabli is that it allows for full-resolution storage of photos, with the option to export them all at any time. This data-liberation feature is the most important function, letting me periodically ensure that I have local copies of moments that I really can’t afford to lose.
This is currently available for free on the App Store, although it is a service that I would happily pay for. I really can’t emphasize enough how great this app is.
Videos on the afore-mentioned Notabli are restricted to 30 seconds in length, which is perhaps my only complaint about the app. But that makes Honda’s Road Movies, which I reviewed back in August, is a wondeful complementary video app.
Road Movies lets you create 24-second composite clips (the perfect length for Notabli) by combining short 1-second, 2-second, or 3-second clips that you record during your day. For me, I typically take 3 seconds of video of my baby in various situations, and then when they are assembled in Road Movies and mixed with the license-free background music, the result is amazing.
Perhaps Honda, the app’s creator, meant for it to be used in your car while on the road, but it’s great for recording moments with family too. You can pick up this made-in-Japan app over on the App Store.
Taking a page from Gabe Weatherhead over at MacDrifter, who says he uses this journaling app to write letters to his daughter. I’ve begun doing the same, taking pictures and adding short notes now and then whenever I think of a message that my infant kid maybe can’t yet understand.
The app lets me write in Markdown, and syncing with Dropbox and/or iCloud assures me that my data is (relatively) safe.
It’s available for both iOS and Mac, for $4.99 and $9.99 respectively – although I have only bought the former, and that works for me just beautifully.
The folks over at BabyCenter have an assortment of great mobile apps, but the one that I’ve really found the most interesting is My Baby Today. After installing, you simply input your baby’s birthdate and it will then notify you with appropriate updates about your baby’s development.
The app has a photo album function, which I haven’t used at all. But the flow of information about caring for babies is incredibly useful for first-time parents, so I encourage you to check it out. It’s available for iOS and Android. (Thanks to D. for the recommendation!)
You’ve all probably heard about people using white noise to sooth a crying baby. Well, this made-in-Japan app is a simple solution that gives you an assortment of white noise sounds whenever you need them. You can choose from things like hair dryer, TV static, running water, and even an unusual ramen slurping sound.
There are lots of apps like this on the market, but this one is free for iOS, and works really well. Try swaddling your baby and tucking your mobile into the folds of the blanket. It works like a charm for me, but it could be because my baby is so awesome. I’m sure your baby is cool too, but your mileage may vary.
I’m appending this app here as a bonus, since it is not available to folks who live outside Japan. But for those of you who do live in Japan, Mixi’s Nohana app is a simply awesome. We’ve written extensively about this mobile photobook printing service as it has developed, but let me sum it up briefly:
You upload photos from your smartphone, and Nohana will send you a free photobook. That’s it. Well, there’s a minor 90 yen shipping charge (about $1), but that’s a miniscule price to pay for the book they send you. Their business model appears to be based on the hopes that you will order additional books that can be shipped to grandparents (a big demographic in Japan) for the additional cost of 500 yen (about $5).
Nohana is available for free for both iOS and Android. Seriously, if you’re a parent in Japan, this is a service you should be using.
If you have any suggested additions for this list, don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments!
Rick Martin
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Masaru Ikeda
Junya Mori
