Japan’s legal consultation portal site Bengo4.com, owned by Tokyo-based law office Authense, announced on Monday that it has raised about 20 million yen (approximately $208,000) from price comparison site Kakaku.com (TSE:2371). Prior to this fundraising, the portal site raised 100 million yen ($1.04 million) from DG Incubation, the investment arm of Japanese tech conglomerate Digital Garage (TSE:4819).
Founded in 2005, Bengo4.com provides legal consultation services from participating lawyers for free, and allows consumers to get estimates from lawyers and compare them. As of March 8th, it has consulted on more than 246,599 cases and acquired 5,688 lawyers. To put that latter figure in perspective, that’s about 17% of Japan’s entire lawyer population. With this new partnership, the legal site expects to explore a sort of service integration with Kakaku.com site and its restaurant recommendation site Tabelog.
On its website, Bengo4.com also announced it had partnered with Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) to provide legal and tax-related Q&A content to Yahoo Chiebukuro, one of Japan’s largest knowledge-sharing community services.
Tokyo Otaku Mode’s popular photo app Otaku Camera has recently received a big boost by recently being featured on Google Play in 42 countries, including the US and Japan. We’re told that this has helped the Android version of their app has hit the one million download milestone within a very short time. Currently the iPhone version of the app is doing ok too, with about 400,000 downoads to date. And if the momentum can continue over on Google Play, then perhaps two million total downloads is not too far off. We did a brief video demo of Otaku Camera last month, highlighting some of its main features (see video below). The company has been providing downloadable photo frames in the app via its frame shop. Currently the frames are free, although I expect later they will introduce some paid frames. Tokyo Otaku Mode is perhaps best known for its wildly popular Facebook page, which has more than 10 million fans. Currently the Tokyo-based startup is making an effort to monetize that fan base, and developing a mobile presence is one aspect of that initiative. You can learn more about TOM by checking out our in-depth feature from back in…
Tokyo Otaku Mode’s popular photo app Otaku Camera has recently received a big boost by recently being featured on Google Play in 42 countries, including the US and Japan. We’re told that this has helped the Android version of their app has hit the one million download milestone within a very short time.
Currently the iPhone version of the app is doing ok too, with about 400,000 downoads to date. And if the momentum can continue over on Google Play, then perhaps two million total downloads is not too far off.
We did a brief video demo of Otaku Camera last month, highlighting some of its main features (see video below). The company has been providing downloadable photo frames in the app via its frame shop. Currently the frames are free, although I expect later they will introduce some paid frames.
Tokyo Otaku Mode is perhaps best known for its wildly popular Facebook page, which has more than 10 million fans. Currently the Tokyo-based startup is making an effort to monetize that fan base, and developing a mobile presence is one aspect of that initiative. You can learn more about TOM by checking out our in-depth feature from back in February.
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and on the internet a number of organizations in Japan are marking the occasion with some form of remembrance. Over on Yahoo Japan, there’s a extensive interactive display that presents general information about the disaster, some stunning photos of the aftermath, plus profiles and interviews of folks involved in the recovery effort. Amazon Japan is also pitching in by selling local foods from the affected areas as well as books [1] about the natural disaster. There’s also a Japan earthquake wishlist where you can buy goods needed by local organization, such as books for libraries, for example. Amazon was especially supportive of the recovery effort back in 2011, bringing a number of jobs to Sendai with a call center there. Softbank also has a page set up to highlight various reconstruction efforts, including its own Tomodachi program which we wrote about last month. The company’s CEO Masayoshi Son contributed the sum of 10 billion yen (over $100 million) to help the relief effort in the month after the earthquake back in 2011. As we me mentioned last week, some other organizations are making an effort or digitally…
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the tragic March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and on the internet a number of organizations in Japan are marking the occasion with some form of remembrance.
Over on Yahoo Japan, there’s a extensive interactive display that presents general information about the disaster, some stunning photos of the aftermath, plus profiles and interviews of folks involved in the recovery effort.
Amazon Japan is also pitching in by selling local foods from the affected areas as well as books [1] about the natural disaster. There’s also a Japan earthquake wishlist where you can buy goods needed by local organization, such as books for libraries, for example. Amazon was especially supportive of the recovery effort back in 2011, bringing a number of jobs to Sendai with a call center there.
Softbank also has a page set up to highlight various reconstruction efforts, including its own Tomodachi program which we wrote about last month. The company’s CEO Masayoshi Son contributed the sum of 10 billion yen (over $100 million) to help the relief effort in the month after the earthquake back in 2011.
As we me mentioned last week, some other organizations are making an effort or digitally archive memories of the disaster, including the newly opened NDL archive which collects important photos, video, and other information. Google’s archival work – particularly its ‘Memories for the Future’ website – perhaps stands out above all other efforts, as its work has been pretty continuous in the two years since the quake.
Of course, while remembrance is important, Japanese broadcaster NHK reminds us that many people in affected areas are still struggling with recovery. As you can see in its infographic below, their survey indicates that there is still a lot of work to do, not only in terms of repairing physical damage in affected areas, but also in terms of emotional recovery.
Written with contributions from Masaru Ikeda
For English speaking readers, you might want to check out the e-book Reconstructing 3/11, which is available as a free download today. ↩
See this story in Japanese. South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas is always a fun event for digital enthusiasts, and more than a few Japanese people and companies make the long haul to attend. The folks behind FabCafe, a community venue for designers and hardware manufacturing entrepreneurs in Tokyo, have a presence at SXSW this year, where they provided hot coffee and communicated their concept to other exhibitors and attendants. But they also have some good news to share, as Tokyo-based digital production company Loftwork, which owns FabCafe, has launched a portal site called Factory.org where people can share information on hardware startups, manufacturers, venues for gatherings, and events. The startup aims to share the information not only with the Japanese community but also with hardware communities around the world. In my own SXSW experience, Japanese startups have been always been proficient makers of hardware, even before the digital manufacturing industry became trendy. So I’m really glad to see a Japanese company trying to take the lead in the global movement in this way. There are more than a few websites that profile startups, most notably CrunchBase, AngelList, and Japan’s Creww.me come to mind. Here at SD Japan,…
South by South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas is always a fun event for digital enthusiasts, and more than a few Japanese people and companies make the long haul to attend. The folks behind FabCafe, a community venue for designers and hardware manufacturing entrepreneurs in Tokyo, have a presence at SXSW this year, where they provided hot coffee and communicated their concept to other exhibitors and attendants. But they also have some good news to share, as Tokyo-based digital production company Loftwork, which owns FabCafe, has launched a portal site called Factory.org where people can share information on hardware startups, manufacturers, venues for gatherings, and events.
The startup aims to share the information not only with the Japanese community but also with hardware communities around the world. In my own SXSW experience, Japanese startups have been always been proficient makers of hardware, even before the digital manufacturing industry became trendy. So I’m really glad to see a Japanese company trying to take the lead in the global movement in this way.
There are more than a few websites that profile startups, most notably CrunchBase, AngelList, and Japan’s Creww.me come to mind. Here at SD Japan, we’re also developing something like that, which you can find at data.startup-dating.com. But as far as I know, there hasn’t been any such database service specializing in manufacturing and hardware startups. These companies often crowdfund from sites like Kickstarter, Indiesgogo, or Campfire. And while those sites usually keep you up to date on the fundraising aspect, they lack deeper information like what the startups are doing now, or what products they might have developed in the past. It’s good to see Factory.org making an effort in this way. For Japanese startups out there, you can consider Factory to be a media hub to transmit your presence overseas.
Meanwhile, to mark FabCafe’s presence at SXSW2013 and its launch of Factory.org, Loftwork is now planning to hold something called a ‘Moon Speech Party‘ on the evening of March 11th (local time in Austin), where Japanese entrepreneurs can come together and make speeches to other SXSW-ers. Japanese watch maker Seiko is sponsoring this event, serving complimentary Japanese sake to everyone there. Joi Ito, the director of the MIT Media Lab is invited as a special guest. As I write this the event is fully booked, and that should mean great opportunities to connect with the global community.
On a related note, Korean startups are also planning to hold a party called Geeks from Gangnam at the same time, but a different venue in Austin.
Japanese startup Bluem, which operates the on-demand cinema service Dreampass, announced today that it has been acquired by Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) for an undisclosed sum. Dreampass will be working with Yahoo Eiga (or “Yahoo Movies”) and video streaming service Gyao, which is also run by Yahoo Japan. For those of you who might not be familiar with the service, Dreampass first launched all the way back in August of 2010. It sort of works like Groupon but is dedicated to the screening of older movies in theaters. Users are able to request a screening of their favorite movies, and by popular vote, Dreampass will negotiate with content holders to allow such a screening. If the screening is permitted, tickets will be made available on the Dreampass website for users to purchase. A wide variety of movies are requested, ranging from Hollywood classics to Japanese animations and even recorded sports events. For example, there are tickets on sale to watch The Dark Knight at a theater in Shinjuku for 1,500 yen (about $15). Dreampass was chosen as a representative startup for Japan at Startup Weekend 2011, an event held across 50 different countries. The team is a graduate of Open Network…
Japanese startup Bluem, which operates the on-demand cinema service Dreampass, announced today that it has been acquired by Yahoo Japan (TYO:4689) for an undisclosed sum. Dreampass will be working with Yahoo Eiga (or “Yahoo Movies”) and video streaming service Gyao, which is also run by Yahoo Japan.
For those of you who might not be familiar with the service, Dreampass first launched all the way back in August of 2010. It sort of works like Groupon but is dedicated to the screening of older movies in theaters. Users are able to request a screening of their favorite movies, and by popular vote, Dreampass will negotiate with content holders to allow such a screening. If the screening is permitted, tickets will be made available on the Dreampass website for users to purchase.
A wide variety of movies are requested, ranging from Hollywood classics to Japanese animations and even recorded sports events. For example, there are tickets on sale to watch The Dark Knight at a theater in Shinjuku for 1,500 yen (about $15).
Dreampass was chosen as a representative startup for Japan at Startup Weekend 2011, an event held across 50 different countries. The team is a graduate of Open Network Lab in Ebisu, Tokyo, and consists of six core members who will soon be working for Yahoo Japan.
In the past few years, we’re seeing a startup eco-system gradually taking shape here in Japan. Last year, there were a few startups acquired by local internet giants and a few smaller buyouts as well. I plan to present a round-up of these acquisition in the near future, so stay tuned!
We’ve had another fun week here at SD, doing our best to bring you interesting tech stories going down in Japan. But in case you missed any of it, here’s a wrap up below. Readers on mobile might want to check out the features on Readlists or in ePub format. If you’d like to get this weekly summary plus other bonus content, we hope you’ll check out our shiny new newsletter here. Features See how one Japanese fashion company has mastered digital marketing 03/08 Japanese curation site Naver Matome boasts 41 million users, cures information overload 03/07 Looking for a job in Japan? Dragon Gate lets you pitch your skills to Japanese companies 03/07 Japan’s Pocket Concierge fills cancelled restaurant reservations with eager customers 03/06 Laying the foundation for Google Glass: Japanese projects that pushed the space forward 03/05 Japan’s DeployGate aspires to be a standard tool for Android development 03/04 Business Japanese game developer Aiming raises $3.2M, eyes overseas expansion 03/08 Tokyo-based advertising startup FreakOut raises $5.3M from Yahoo Japan 03/07 Monetizing Android ads for Asia (and soon the world) Metaps raises $11M in series B 03/06 Japan’s ringtone publisher Dwango partners with pair of media giants 03/04 Incubate…
We’ve had another fun week here at SD, doing our best to bring you interesting tech stories going down in Japan. But in case you missed any of it, here’s a wrap up below. Readers on mobile might want to check out the features on Readlists or in ePub format.
If you’d like to get this weekly summary plus other bonus content, we hope you’ll check out our shiny new newsletter here.