Some of our readers may remember a few months back when we told you about the launch of Tokyo-based Iemo, a new curation media focused on interior decoration and housing. The company announced today it has secured an undisclosed sum of funding from B Dash Ventures. Iemo will use these funds to step up its engineering efforts. Coinciding with this news, Japanese search engine expert Yuji Kumagai has joined their management team as COO [1].
The company was initially launched by well-known Japanese entrepreneur Mari Murata. In order to ensure quality content on their platform, they have established partnerships with interior manufacturers and architectural offices to collect high quality images, with the goal of helping users post curated articles more easily.
We understand that this approach resulted a corporate membership program which has now launched as well. Interior manufacturers can set up their own curated portfolios, and more than 30 such companies have signed up to date.
We were told by Murata and Kumagai that their growth curve shows an exponential increase. Almost 90% of their users are females who visit the website on mobile, many of them housewives (according to their user profiles).
They didn’t tell us specific user totals, but we’ll follow up on this when we get more details.
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. At the New Economy Summit in Tokyo this afternoon, we had a chance to hear a panel on technology innovation in the area of education. Three speakers participated, moderated by Swimmy Minami of Bizreach: Youngme Moon, the dean of Harvard Business School’s MBA program Dennis Yang, president and CEO COO of Udemy [1] Jun Murai, dean/professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University Youngme opened by discussing what pointing out that most areas in our lives have been vastly changed by technology, but yet education remains relatively the same. If you compare learning years ago, and learning today, it continues to be very tedious and very uninspiring. When it comes to education, the audience is essentially captive and the teacher has little incentive to be very engaging. It is remarkably easy to get away with being a boring teacher. You just need to be an information delivery system […] and the student’s their job to absorb it. Does the system work? Sort of. But it is deeply flawed. ¶ She points to the example…
At the New Economy Summit in Tokyo this afternoon, we had a chance to hear a panel on technology innovation in the area of education. Three speakers participated, moderated by Swimmy Minami of Bizreach:
Youngme Moon, the dean of Harvard Business School’s MBA program
Jun Murai, dean/professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University
Youngme opened by discussing what pointing out that most areas in our lives have been vastly changed by technology, but yet education remains relatively the same.
If you compare learning years ago, and learning today, it continues to be very tedious and very uninspiring. When it comes to education, the audience is essentially captive and the teacher has little incentive to be very engaging. It is remarkably easy to get away with being a boring teacher. You just need to be an information delivery system […] and the student’s their job to absorb it. Does the system work? Sort of. But it is deeply flawed. ¶
She points to the example of MIT’s electrical circuits course, which is free online. Last year 150,000 signed up, and a year later only 5% remained. That dropout rate for online courses is typical, she said. Most of them are simple imformation delivery systems, very much like what we have offline. And for that reason, they aren’t very innovative at all. But yet she is optimistic.
These courses which are the exception to the rule are somehow managing to figure out how to make education more engaging and more immersive than ever. So I believe the real breakthough in online learning is yet to come. ¶
Dennis Yang gave a brief introduction to his Udemy service, pointing out that in addition to delivering education to students, there is also the capability to enable more potential teachers, as opposed to just existing teachers:
At Udemy we believe that there are great teachers outside the walls of academic institutions. It could be a boss, a mentor, or a coach, and we’d like to give them a platform to teach students all around the world. I think most people identify with themselves as a student, but I encourage people to try to think of themselves as a potential teacher. ¶
Dennis admitted that while many of the courses on Udemy skew heavily towards technological skills, that’s a reflection of the interests of the early adopters. But the platform has many new niche topics that they didn’t expect to see, such as how to pass the written exam for being a fire fighter. He says that he expects online education to continue to broaden in this way.
Jun Mirai added that there was an opportunity to make classes fit better through the use of the internet:
We all know about MOOCs these days. But one characteristic of the internet is personalization. So a matching mechanism could be [an interesting development in this space]. ¶
He also discussed the possibility of using online courses as a supplement to offline classes, noting that he is actually doing this at Keio University in his own class:
[For certain information] I tell my students, go check out the MOOC. I’m going to talk about different things in class. I think in this way I can then use the classroom in a more exciting way. ¶
I initially, and mistakenly, had Dennis as the president and CEO of Udemy. That’s incorrect of course, as he is the president and COO. Thanks to one of our readers for pointing this out! ↩
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. Ben Silbermann, the CEO and founder of Pinterest, appeared at the New Economy Summit for the second year in a row (see his comments from last year here). He noted that this was his third trip to Tokyo, which surprised me, because the company – in which Rakuten has invested – recently rolled out a localized version of its service. He noted that among Pinterest’s billions of pins and millions of collections, that there are a number of people now using their service in interesting ways in Japan Food creator and blogger Masaki Higuchi gets inspiration from Pinterest, and that helps him be creative in his work. Paris Wakana collects ideas for outfit, uses it to plan ideas for travel. Rakuten using Rakuten recipes to share. Silbermann said that each time he comes to Japan, he’s amazed at the culture of art, food, architecture and more. He hopes that people here can continue to use his service to introduce all these cultural elements to the world. Welcoming women During the panel discussion, Ben was asked…
Ben Silbermann, the CEO and founder of Pinterest, appeared at the New Economy Summit for the second year in a row (see his comments from last year here). He noted that this was his third trip to Tokyo, which surprised me, because the company – in which Rakuten has invested – recently rolled out a localized version of its service.
He noted that among Pinterest’s billions of pins and millions of collections, that there are a number of people now using their service in interesting ways in Japan
Food creator and blogger Masaki Higuchi gets inspiration from Pinterest, and that helps him be creative in his work.
Paris Wakana collects ideas for outfit, uses it to plan ideas for travel.
Silbermann said that each time he comes to Japan, he’s amazed at the culture of art, food, architecture and more. He hopes that people here can continue to use his service to introduce all these cultural elements to the world.
Welcoming women
During the panel discussion, Ben was asked how many executives at his company are women, given how popular Pinterest is among females. He answered:
Many of our senior positions are women. Across the board there are many strong women, and that needs to trickle down the organization. Many women are underrepresented in tech fields. We try to create an environment where gender is a non issue, and that takes some work.
He added that since half of the world are women, they want to create a friendly environment that would welcome anyone from that talent pool.
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. Yelp CEO and founder Jeremy Stoppelman spoke at the Japan New Economy Summit today, giving a brief introduction to his service and how it works. Somewhat surprisingly, he announced that Yelp is now available in Japan, and you can find its service online right now at yelp.co.jp as of this morning. During his talk, Jeremy explained that Yelp has about 120 million monthly users, with over 53 million reviews logged. He explained that with over 59% of Yelp searches coming from mobile, that they have truly become a mobile company. Stoppelman says that Yelp wants to be in every country (they are now available in 26 markets), and it has a big challenge ahead in Japan, with services like Tabelog and Cookpad being so dominant already. It will be interesting to see how they fare. He explains: We’ve always taken a one city at a time approach. […] You need high quality local data. You need locals to participate, not just tourists. He said that this process really takes time, but that’s the nature of…
Yelp CEO and founder Jeremy Stoppelman spoke at the Japan New Economy Summit today, giving a brief introduction to his service and how it works. Somewhat surprisingly, he announced that Yelp is now available in Japan, and you can find its service online right now at yelp.co.jp as of this morning.
During his talk, Jeremy explained that Yelp has about 120 million monthly users, with over 53 million reviews logged. He explained that with over 59% of Yelp searches coming from mobile, that they have truly become a mobile company.
Stoppelman says that Yelp wants to be in every country (they are now available in 26 markets), and it has a big challenge ahead in Japan, with services like Tabelog and Cookpad being so dominant already. It will be interesting to see how they fare. He explains:
We’ve always taken a one city at a time approach. […] You need high quality local data. You need locals to participate, not just tourists.
He said that this process really takes time, but that’s the nature of local. Singapore was their first exploration in Asia, but Jeremy said that they have long known that Japan is a very attractive market.
He cited some friendly nagging from SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff who always asked him “Why aren’t you in Japan?” But he says that on his last few trips it became apparent to him that it would work. He still thinks it will take time, but hopes that by the time the Olympics roll around they can be a household name.
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. Last year the Japan New Economy Summit in Tokyo featured a number of interesting speakers from the international tech community (see our coverage here), and this year is no different, with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison opening day one with a keynote session that. He talked about data privacy, and gave a reasoned defense of data collection and use, condemning those who irrationally criticize the technology. Below are some selected highlights from his talk, recorded not quite verbatim, but close to it: I’d like to talk about data privacy in the age of the internet and cloud computing. Let me start with two words: Edward Snowden. He tells us that our government is collecting enormous amounts of information about us. ¶ Ellison notes that no one has named a single individual/example of this data being misused. Yet. No one is saying the government records our phone conversations, but what it does record is who I called and who called me. Snowden said we should be very worried. He left the democracy of the US and went…
Last year the Japan New Economy Summit in Tokyo featured a number of interesting speakers from the international tech community (see our coverage here), and this year is no different, with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison opening day one with a keynote session that. He talked about data privacy, and gave a reasoned defense of data collection and use, condemning those who irrationally criticize the technology. Below are some selected highlights from his talk, recorded not quite verbatim, but close to it:
I’d like to talk about data privacy in the age of the internet and cloud computing. Let me start with two words: Edward Snowden. He tells us that our government is collecting enormous amounts of information about us. ¶
Ellison notes that no one has named a single individual/example of this data being misused. Yet.
No one is saying the government records our phone conversations, but what it does record is who I called and who called me. Snowden said we should be very worried. He left the democracy of the US and went to Moscow – a bastion of free speech (smiles) – and told us that we should be concerned about our government. That they are spying on us. ¶
Privacy and the age of the internet is not a technology issue at all. If you want us to keep all your personal information private we know how to do that. We can encrypt voice, data, we can guarantee that no one can spy on you. And you the people can decide if that’s what you want. ¶
In my country, the government is thinking of telling the NSA to mend their ways, because the people are putting pressure on the government. That’s the good thing about being an American, to have the ability to change the government. It is your decision. Our databases our technology can make sure that it is impossible to break in and decrypt that data. It’s simply a matter of what you want. ¶
Edward Snowden has yet to name a single person who has been harmed by the collection of this data. […] Maybe that will happen in the future. […] Airplanes have been misused, but it doesn’t mean we should stop building airplanes. Every technology can be misused. Imagine the first caveman who discovered technology. […] It’s a fabulous technology. But there’s one guy in the cave who said, no no no, fire is dangerous. People will be burned at the stake. We have to stop fire now. My point is every technology can be misused. ¶
We shouldn’t ban the gathering of data, but rather we should punish those who misuse it. ¶
Let’s look at history. Do you really want to keep all your data private? I don’t think so. I think you are anxious to share the most intimate details of your life for something of value. I believe you would be willing to tell me where you work, how much you own on your car, where you went shopping last week (lists many examples) — I believe you would be happy to give me all that data about you, as long as I would be willing to give you, for example, a credit card. And that’s exactly what you did. You disclosed all the details about your family’s financial life in order to make shopping easier. But it’s interesting how much privacy we are willing to trade away to make shopping more convenient. […] It eased commerce. It stimulated the economy. It made us much wealthier. It allowed banks to extend loans in the fraction of a second. ¶
That’s one example. Let me give you another example. I believe you would name all your friends, put pictures of you aunts and uncles online, put pictures of yourself on vacation. You disclose all those details voluntarily, in exchange for being a member of Facebook. Your trading an incredible amount of personal information, to see pictures of your kids in college, you get a little bit closer to your family and friends, and you willing give up enormous amounts of privacy as part of that deal. ¶
You’re going to give me a complete map of your DNA and you’re going to do it voluntarily. You’ll give me every medical record on you, every test you took, you’ll want me to take it all. Every excruciating detail about your health. You can choose to give it and you can choose to hold it. You can dislose your health records on an individual basis just like you can join Facebook or not join Facebook. Let’s say you have high cholesterol, wouldn’t it be nice if he could go into the database and see what drug works best for people with the same genome characteristics as you? The only want to get that would be to disclose your details. To opt in. Wouldn’t you like your doctor to have that information. It would have your government a lot of money as well. You stay out of hospital, you can go to work. Your insurance company doesn’t have to pay. By sharing there are enormous benefits to you and society as a whole. ¶
What is the government trying to do? They are trying to prevent terrorism, trying to connect the dots. Is it worth trading a little of your phone bill in exchange for preventing another 9/11 in New York City? ¶
We can decide what we want to do with this technology that is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. We decide how much of this privacy we trade off for safety. It’s very different than in Russia where Mr. Snowden now lives. ¶
This is a part of our coverage of the Japan New Economy Summit 2014. You can follow our updates on Twitter as well at @thebridge_e. The New Economy Summit is one of the biggest technology conferences that Japan has to offer (see our coverage from last year here), perhaps the most international of the country’s tech events with guests and speakers from all around the world, including many familiar faces from Silicon Valley, Europe, and around Asia. Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani started the morning with a few brief opening remarks. He began by outlining how JANE can advance innovation in Japan, promote the country across the globe, among other important issues. Interestingly one of the issues that he talked about was an ‘Internet Autobahn’, and the goal of having free wifi in Tokyo before 2020. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe then made a surprise appearance with some brief remarks, noting that “The atmosphere around Japan has been transformed, and Japan is beginning to recover the challenging spirit that it once lost.” He said that last year’s New Economy Summit resulted in invaluable recommendations. Abe said that we need to “enhance the metabolism of the Japanese economy” and they are working…
The New Economy Summit is one of the biggest technology conferences that Japan has to offer (see our coverage from last year here), perhaps the most international of the country’s tech events with guests and speakers from all around the world, including many familiar faces from Silicon Valley, Europe, and around Asia.
Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani started the morning with a few brief opening remarks. He began by outlining how JANE can advance innovation in Japan, promote the country across the globe, among other important issues. Interestingly one of the issues that he talked about was an ‘Internet Autobahn’, and the goal of having free wifi in Tokyo before 2020.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe then made a surprise appearance with some brief remarks, noting that “The atmosphere around Japan has been transformed, and Japan is beginning to recover the challenging spirit that it once lost.” He said that last year’s New Economy Summit resulted in invaluable recommendations. Abe said that we need to “enhance the metabolism of the Japanese economy” and they are working to reform regulations to that end. Corporate taxes that have been lowered by 2.4% will be lowered even further, and he also mentioned a new English language exam for civil servants.
Venture capital last year was six times that of the previous year, and that’s already a positive sign. My administration’s reforms will continue, and we’ll continue to everything possible. Japanese citizens should have hope for a bright future. […] And entrepreneurs will play a key role in this. ¶