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.
Yahoo Japan’s earthquake commemoration
Amazon Wishlist
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,…
Setting up FabCafe at SXSW 2013 (courtesy of Loftwork, reproduced with permission)
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.
Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) recently held its annual business plan presentation event for college and university students. It’s called Kigyouka Koshien, which literally means ‘entrepreneur championship.’ The event took place at an CyberAgent Ventures’ Startup Basecamp this past Thursday. NICT provides mentoring to students who have a passion for entrepreneurship. At the Thursday event, nine finalists from different regions came together in Tokyo, all hoping to walk away with the championship. Here’s a quick run down of what the participating teams are working on. Judges: Koki Sato (CEO, Septeni) Ryuichi Nishida (editor-in-chief, TechCrunch Japan) Tsuyoshi Hoshina (CTO, Nihon Unisys) Masahiko Honma (representative partner, Incubate Fund) Re-Ja ¶ Most of us wish we could spend more time with our parents, or perhaps we regret not seeing them as often as we’d like. Presented by students from Kansei Gakuin University and Kobe University, Re-ja is a mobile app that uses gamification to encourage people to talk more with parents. The app presents the same quiz questions to you and your parent, and if you both answer correctly, you will get a reward point that can be used to buy something for them. Moku Tomo ¶ Japan is…
Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) recently held its annual business plan presentation event for college and university students. It’s called Kigyouka Koshien, which literally means ‘entrepreneur championship.’ The event took place at an CyberAgent Ventures’ Startup Basecamp this past Thursday.
NICT provides mentoring to students who have a passion for entrepreneurship. At the Thursday event, nine finalists from different regions came together in Tokyo, all hoping to walk away with the championship. Here’s a quick run down of what the participating teams are working on.
Most of us wish we could spend more time with our parents, or perhaps we regret not seeing them as often as we’d like. Presented by students from Kansei Gakuin University and Kobe University, Re-ja is a mobile app that uses gamification to encourage people to talk more with parents. The app presents the same quiz questions to you and your parent, and if you both answer correctly, you will get a reward point that can be used to buy something for them.
Japan is said to have more than 20 million smokers. Moku Tomo is an app that lets them to find a smoking area nearby using a handy map. The business model is based on sponsorships from cigarette companies, from pharmaceutical companies selling nicotine patches, and from restaurants which have such smoking areas. The presenters, from Doshisha University in Kyoto, are now in talks with Japan Tobacco and British Tobacco.
Shingo Aida (of Aizu University in Fukushima) has developed an iOS app that acts as an alternative to seat posture measurement instruments. Such instruments are used to prevent those with mobility problems from developing posture issues or sores by ensuring the wheelchair is adjusted specifically for their body size and shape. An instrument of this kind helps people live better but is very costly. So Shingo has developed this app which is much cheaper. The target market is comprised of about 10,000 people in Japan and 80,000 more in the US.
When we hire a private teacher for our son or daughter, the biggest problem is usually that the quality of the lectures is very much dependent on who you hire. Tamiko Iwama (of Digital Hollywood University) wants to standardize the quality of the lectures by providing tutors with a web-based knowledge sharing platform. Learning materials and slides can be stored on the platform, and tutors can download them via the dashboard and customize their own lectures.
It’s often said that learning to reading code is like mastering a new language. But it’s not always easy since other people’s code could be written or structured far differently than what you might envision. And physical books for programming languages can be very costly and bulky. Code Library is a smartphone app that allow users to receive a lecture regardless of time and location. As part of its testing, Hamhei Horiuchi (of Tokyo’s University of Electrocommunications) has introduced a beta app called Code Library Lite, which will enable him to receive lots of feedback from programmers so he can refine the service.
A ‘Gakushoku’ is a cafeteria at a university which typically offers decent foods at affordable prices. For students who usually have little or no income, expenses for lunch at the cafeteria can account for most of their spending. That’s why this Chuo University team has come up with the idea of giving students a chance to win a complimentary meal. A QR code is printed on the back of a meal ticket, and a student can then scan it with his smartphone and watch ads while he waits for the meal. The team receives revenue from advertisers and pay a commission to cafeteria owners participating in the program.
The world’s Muslim community has huge market potential with a population of 1.6 billion people. A team from Yokohama National University hopes to found a sort of Craiglist for Muslims, in order to bridge Muslim communities around the world and here in Japan too. To refine the idea, the team has enlisted feedback from the folks at the Saudi Arabian Embassy and mosques in Tokyo. In partnership with Japanese travel agencies, C@ndy expects to provide information on travel packages for Muslim people, offer Japanese dishes made from Halal foods, and provide venues for praying during the trip.
Perler beads (or Hama beads) are a popular craft for children. But it’s difficult to build an original design on aa peg board. This team from Yonago National College of Technology hopes to produce a system that lets children create their own designs from their favorite pictures on an iPad. They plan to speak with Kawada Co., Ltd., a local distributor of Perler beads in Japan, to explore the monetization potential of this idea.
Elderly people in Japan (and in Okinawa, where this team originates) are eager to use digital devices to browse the web, but in many cases they can’t. In order to bridge this digital divide, the team has developed an app that lets elderly to browse news and updates from social media and blog on an iPad in a way that reflects the newspaper experience. Instead of searching a keyword to look for a specific topic, all you have to do is place your hand over an interesting story on your physical newspaper, just in front of the iPad camera. The app will detect which story you are interested in, and then collect updates from the blogsphere, showing them to you if they were a from a physical newspaper.
Pictured: The team from Okinawa National College of Technology presents ShinbuNet
Japanese gaming company Aiming Inc has announced today that it has received almost 300 million yen (or about $3.21 million) in investment from Nissay Capital. The funds will be used to expand its portfolio of games, and make a play for the overseas smartphone and PC games market. To date, most of the company’s titles are for the Japanese market, including the recently launched Lord of War which after its release in late February managed to briefly grab the number one spot in the Japanese app store on March 1st [1]. I confess, I’ve not spent any significant time with any of their games, many of which are Japanese style RPGs, but it is promising to see yet another Japanese gaming company looking to markets abroad, and also finding some funds to drive forward. If you’d like to try out one of its titles in English, you can perhaps get your hands on Lord of Knights: The Conquerors which it seems to have quietly launched last year on the New Zealand app store. The original Japanese version of that title has over 400,000 downloads to date. You can check out a promo video for Lord of Knights below. (Aiming via…
Japanese gaming company Aiming Inc has announced today that it has received almost 300 million yen (or about $3.21 million) in investment from Nissay Capital. The funds will be used to expand its portfolio of games, and make a play for the overseas smartphone and PC games market.
To date, most of the company’s titles are for the Japanese market, including the recently launched Lord of War which after its release in late February managed to briefly grab the number one spot in the Japanese app store on March 1st [1].
I confess, I’ve not spent any significant time with any of their games, many of which are Japanese style RPGs, but it is promising to see yet another Japanese gaming company looking to markets abroad, and also finding some funds to drive forward.
If you’d like to try out one of its titles in English, you can perhaps get your hands on Lord of Knights: The Conquerors which it seems to have quietly launched last year on the New Zealand app store. The original Japanese version of that title has over 400,000 downloads to date. You can check out a promo video for Lord of Knights below. (Aiming via Gamebiz)
Since then, however, it has dropped off significantly, now really only visible in the ‘simulation’ and ‘role playing’ categories, where it still ranks in the top 50. The Android version of the title is coming soon. ↩
Rick Martin
Masaru Ikeda
Meanwhile, to mark FabCafe’s presence at SXSW2013 and its launch of Factory.org, Loftwork is now planning to hold something called a ‘
Yukari Mitsuhashi
Most of us wish we could spend more time with our parents, or perhaps we regret not seeing them as often as we’d like. Presented by students from Kansei Gakuin University and Kobe University, Re-ja is a mobile app that uses gamification to encourage people to talk more with parents. The app presents the same quiz questions to you and your parent, and if you both answer correctly, you will get a reward point that can be used to buy something for them.
