As we head into a long weekend here in Tokyo, here’s a fun new website to give you some ideas about what to do on the weekend. 100tokyo.jp is billed as a “curated cultural guide to the most charming and unique facets of Japan’s capital city.” I suggest you start with the map where you can explore interesting creative venue around the city. The site was created by design studio Cinra, and organized by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Overall it’s a one of the more promising efforts at city promotion I’ve seen on the web [1]. And hopefully over the next few years leading up to the Tokyo Olympics we might we more attempts like this. Perhaps METI could get behind some civic hackathons? Not packing Japanese and English text side by side in the same content blocks might have been wiser though, in my view. It just annoys readers of both languages. ↩
As we head into a long weekend here in Tokyo, here’s a fun new website to give you some ideas about what to do on the weekend. 100tokyo.jp is billed as a “curated cultural guide to the most charming and unique facets of Japan’s capital city.” I suggest you start with the map where you can explore interesting creative venue around the city.
The site was created by design studio Cinra, and organized by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Overall it’s a one of the more promising efforts at city promotion I’ve seen on the web [1]. And hopefully over the next few years leading up to the Tokyo Olympics we might we more attempts like this.
Perhaps METI could get behind some civic hackathons?
Not packing Japanese and English text side by side in the same content blocks might have been wiser though, in my view. It just annoys readers of both languages. ↩
A few months back my colleague Junya posted an article (on our Japanese site) about the typical questions that he usually asks entrepreneurs during interviews. So after I recently presented on a similar topic last weekend at a local iOS meet-up here in Tokyo, I thought perhaps I’d share some of the main points here – for Japanese startups and entrepreneurs especially. All my slides can be found here, if you’d like to read the extended version [1]. When it comes to covering technology companies and startups here in Japan, I’m always very surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that Japanese startups don’t reach out to me more often [2]. I usually tell companies not to hesitate in contacting me, even if it’s for just a small update. Even though I might not write about it, I’d still like to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing. For app developers in particular, such updates could be: Your initial app launch A new version with new features, new localization Download milestones A notable partnership A round of fundraising The question that I usually ask myself when deciding whether or not to share a story with readers is “Is this remarkable?” If I’m…
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A few months back my colleague Junya posted an article (on our Japanese site) about the typical questions that he usually asks entrepreneurs during interviews. So after I recently presented on a similar topic last weekend at a local iOS meet-up here in Tokyo, I thought perhaps I’d share some of the main points here – for Japanese startups and entrepreneurs especially. All my slides can be found here, if you’d like to read the extended version [1].
When it comes to covering technology companies and startups here in Japan, I’m always very surprised (and somewhat disappointed) that Japanese startups don’t reach out to me more often [2]. I usually tell companies not to hesitate in contacting me, even if it’s for just a small update. Even though I might not write about it, I’d still like to know what you’re doing and how you’re doing. For app developers in particular, such updates could be:
Your initial app launch
A new version with new features, new localization
Download milestones
A notable partnership
A round of fundraising
The question that I usually ask myself when deciding whether or not to share a story with readers is “Is this remarkable?” If I’m not interested in it, then it’s hard for me to make readers interested. I also need to consider whether it’s a story that has already been covered or not. While many media sites tend to rewrite company press releases or other media reports, that’s something that I’d prefer to avoid in favor of communicating something that hasn’t yet been communicated [3]. We’d like to fill a real need rather than just re-blog.
It’s also important to keep in mind the scope of a tech publication before pitching your story. For example, we tend to target much of our content towards investors, so we will usually ask questions that we anticipate they might have. Before speaking to press, you should be aware of what you are willing to disclose and what you are not. If you disclose something you shouldn’t have, or something your investor would prefer kept secret, that’s your problem – not mine [4].
Startups can also prepare extensive ‘about’ and ‘FAQ’ pages that can answer many journalists’ questions in advance. Your backstory is important, and laying out a timeline of events in your company’s history is helpful. You should also prepare company logos, team photos, maybe an office photo (if your office does not suck), and screenshots (if you are an app developer). It’s always wise to provide high resolution versions of your images, because if you ever want to be covered by a magazine or newspaper, low-rez JPGs aren’t good enough.
Inviting journalists to beta test your app is also something I wish companies did more often, especially here in Japan. I’m not sure if there is any regional difference, but in my own experience it seems like Japanese developers aren’t as accustomed or willing to let writers preview early beta releases. But giving someone time to understand your product better will help ensure that they can better communicate what it’s about, rather than just give a superficial overview from your press release talking points. On top of that, making yourself or your company representatives available for an interview is obviously a big help as well. You don’t necessarily need to be in the same location, because interviews over email or Skype are always easy to arrange.
You can always be your own media
At the risk of making my own role unnecessary, I think startups should also maintain their own blog and social media presences too. Maybe this is obvious, but I don’t see too many companies taking advantage of this as well as they should. Capturing an audience pre-launch via Launchrock or building a newsletter using something like Mailchimp (as we do here) can be helpful in keeping in contact with people interested in your service. Sources can go directly to consumers when it suits them. Line Corporation is a good example of this [5].
For more information that might help when reaching out to press, do check out my slides in full, as it includes lots of links and external resources that you might find helpful.
This particular article/summary is written with many Japanese tech companies and startups in mind. ↩
Of course in some cases this is due to a language gap. But in most cases, I think it’s not. ↩
The redundancy of the tech press these days is absolutely agonizing. ↩
Compared to Western companies, Japanese companies and startups are surprisingly comfortable asking me for changes or adjustments after I publish. Taking information away from a reader after I give it to them is something like taking giving a child a cookie and then snatching it from his hands a moment later. But insofar as I can see, media in Japan often work to please companies more than they do to please their readers. ↩
Although they aren’t the most responsive when you send question their way. ↩
It’s a very snowy Valentine’s Day here in Tokyo today, and I expect many of us will be spending the evening indoors with our significant others. If you find yourself alone this evening, however, don’t despair – because your favorite mobile games probably have something special in store for you. It’s not unusual for game and app developers to hold special Valentine’s Day campaigns. In fact it’s pretty common these days. But some of the most successful campaigns are the ones that prompt you to give some love back. And by love, I obviously mean money. Two of Japan’s most successful video game publishers both have interesting Valentine’s campaigns currently ongoing, and I’d like to take a quick look at them right now. Let’s start with GungHo Online Entertainment, whose ‘Hearts-a-flutter’ event in Puzzle & Dragons (promo pictured above) began on February 12 and will go on until February 19th. GungHo will be rewarding players with a number of goodies, including: a free magic stone on February 12th–13th, 18th–19th a free Tamadra every day from February 14th–17th (used to awaken new skills in your collected monsters) [1] What’s smart about this kind of campaign is that it sucks you deeper…
It’s a very snowy Valentine’s Day here in Tokyo today, and I expect many of us will be spending the evening indoors with our significant others. If you find yourself alone this evening, however, don’t despair – because your favorite mobile games probably have something special in store for you.
It’s not unusual for game and app developers to hold special Valentine’s Day campaigns. In fact it’s pretty common these days. But some of the most successful campaigns are the ones that prompt you to give some love back. And by love, I obviously mean money.
Two of Japan’s most successful video game publishers both have interesting Valentine’s campaigns currently ongoing, and I’d like to take a quick look at them right now. Let’s start with GungHo Online Entertainment, whose ‘Hearts-a-flutter’ event in Puzzle & Dragons (promo pictured above) began on February 12 and will go on until February 19th. GungHo will be rewarding players with a number of goodies, including:
a free magic stone on February 12th–13th, 18th–19th
a free Tamadra every day from February 14th–17th (used to awaken new skills in your collected monsters) [1]
What’s smart about this kind of campaign is that it sucks you deeper into the game. You have a chance to level up your existing monsters, and with the free stones you’ll be closer a chance to try the Rare Egg machine (requires five stones), which you normally have to pay for. And maybe it’s no coincidence that GungHo is giving out four magic stones, expecting that users might be willing to pay the extra 100 yen (or $1) for the fifth one, so they can try the Rare Egg machine [2].
GungHo regularly holds holiday campaigns like these for Puzzle & Dragons, most recently with a New Year’s campaign that yielded great results in North America in particular.
Another Japanese company, Line Corporation, is holding a Valentine’s Day promotion in many of its casual games. The company’s ‘Love is Priceless’ event is featured in three games — Line Pop, Line Pokopang, and Line Bubble — running from February 13th until February 15.
For a span of 62 hours, players will have access to free in-game items which usually require payment to use. So much like GungHo’s tactic, Line is hoping to bring you into the item-purchase process, giving you a taste of fun gameplay that they hope you will pay for later on after the event concludes. Both Line and GungHo have been active promoting these and other holiday events on their respective Facebook pages, realizing that its a necessary part of connecting with with global fans.
Like holiday sales in retail stores, such promotions are always a popular way to connect with customers, and they certainly appear to be working for both GungHo and Line. The two companies were among the top app publishers in sales in 2013, with GungHo ranking number one, and Line not too far behind at number six.
As in app purchases become more and more important to app revenue, game publishers in particular should take note of these holiday tactics and capitalize on such opportunities whenever they can.
So what’s your favorite Valentine’s Day game promotion this year? Do feel free to let us know!
Note that I’m playing the North American version of the game, and the promotion may differ in other regions. ↩
There are other ways to get magic stones in the game, but they do require some time. ↩
People often look at GungHo Online Entertainment’s hit game Puzzle & Dragons and wonder why it’s such a strong mobile title. I’ve already written much about exactly why I like it personally, but there are some other reasons that I think have really contributed to its success here in Japan. I started thinking about this recently when I saw someone complaining about Dungeon Keeper on Twitter, and how it kicks you out of the game when you lose a connection [1]. Lots of games require persistent connections, and that’s certainly fine provided your day doesn’t take you through a maze of underground subway tunnels like many of us who live in urban centers such as Tokyo. But it really got me thinking about Puzzle & Dragons, and how and where I have been playing it over the past year or so. What’s remarkable about the game is not just that it doesn’t require a persistent connection, but that it only really requires a sporadic connection. During my own subway commute here in Tokyo, there are certain blind spots on my route where I usually can’t get a network connection. And because I’ve traveled that route so often, I can usually…
People often look at GungHo Online Entertainment’s hit game Puzzle & Dragons and wonder why it’s such a strong mobile title. I’ve already written much about exactly why I like it personally, but there are some other reasons that I think have really contributed to its success here in Japan.
I started thinking about this recently when I saw someone complaining about Dungeon Keeper on Twitter, and how it kicks you out of the game when you lose a connection [1]. Lots of games require persistent connections, and that’s certainly fine provided your day doesn’t take you through a maze of underground subway tunnels like many of us who live in urban centers such as Tokyo.
But it really got me thinking about Puzzle & Dragons, and how and where I have been playing it over the past year or so. What’s remarkable about the game is not just that it doesn’t require a persistent connection, but that it only really requires a sporadic connection.
During my own subway commute here in Tokyo, there are certain blind spots on my route where I usually can’t get a network connection. And because I’ve traveled that route so often, I can usually anticipate when I’ll lose my connection and when I’ll get it back [2]. P&D will always handle these drops like a champ. The actual dungeons (or rounds/levels) don’t need a connection at connection at all. So if you suddenly go offline, you won’t even realize it until you finish the level and the data tries to sync. So in reality, the game only really needs a connection during times when it phones home to sync data, such as:
The initial start screen
Entering or exiting a dungeon
Powering up or evolving a monster
If you happen to run into network issues during those times, you’ll typically see a ‘Connecting’ message, followed by either a ‘retry’ option or an error message (see below).
So very often I’ll find myself beginning a dungeon before going through a long underground stretch that has no signal, just so that I have something to do during that blacked out period. You’ve no doubt done something similar at some point, perhaps downloading all your podcasts or syncing an RSS reader before a flight.
The end result for P&D is a pretty frustration-free gaming experience, far removed from the likes of Dungeon Keeper mentioned above. And of course, a game that does not need a persistent connection is not unique to by any means, but I think the lesson to be learned here is that you want to make a game that’s a mainstream hit in the Japan market (or for a similar urban population with developed public transport), you need to make sure it doesn’t frustrate users when they suddenly lose a connection.
Thumbs up, but no more than necessary
I probably don’t need to point out that in addition to handling sporadic connections really well, P&D is a really easy game to play with one hand – again, a great advantage for Japan’s legions of train commuters who stand hanging one-armed from a strap during rush hours. You only really need your thumb to play, and since all the puzzle movement is in the lower half of the screen, you never find yourself reaching uncomfortably to the top half during gameplay (see lower left). No fingers necessary!
When Apple rolled out Control Center with iOS 7, it did lead to some unexpected problems for P&D players however (and probably many other games too). If you’ve played the game for any length of time, you’ll notice that sometimes when you try to bring an orb up from the very bottom row, you will sometimes inadvertently launch Command Center. It’s a huge annoyance (see lower right), and as much as I love the convenience of Command Center, I’m sure the folks at GungHo we’re not too pleased when it came out.
But overall, Puzzle & Dragons is still a pretty amazing little mobile game, one that I regularly see people playing during their commute – provided that I don’t have my head down playing it myself.
Command Center sometimes gets in the way :(
I have not confirmed whether the game actually does this or not, but given that it came from Richard Gaywood, a super smart dude from TUAW (where I once briefly blogged), I’m taking this as a certainty. ↩
Usually my network ‘blind spot’ is between Omotesando and Futakotamagawa. Coverage has improved much over the years, thankfully. I should also point out that this is also a great game if you’re annoyed by the tunnels on the bullet train! ↩
One of the more interesting aspects of the mobile messaging space, particularly here in Asia with Line, WeChat/Weixin, and KakaoTalk, is the games that they offer users. Given that WindRunner [1] has been a popular game on both the Line and Kakao platforms (see our past review from last February), it makes sense that China’s Tencent – a company known to occasionally copy from others [2] — would try to follow their lead. That looks to be the intention behind GunZ Dash, a new mobile game launched on January 7, the global/English version of its Chinese language game Tiantian Kupao released back in September 2013. In terms of gameplay, GunZ Dash is virtually identical to WindRunner, as you can see in our comparison video above. While it doesn’t surprise me that Tencent would release a Chinese-language copycat of a game, I’m a little surprised that they’d roll this title out to their global users too. But because WindRunner is such a good game, GunZ Dash is really fun too because it is a really quality copy. The Chinese version of the game has been among China’s top five grossing iOS apps since its release (see chart below), so clearly its…
One of the more interesting aspects of the mobile messaging space, particularly here in Asia with Line, WeChat/Weixin, and KakaoTalk, is the games that they offer users. Given that WindRunner [1] has been a popular game on both the Line and Kakao platforms (see our past review from last February), it makes sense that China’s Tencent – a company known to occasionally copy from others [2] — would try to follow their lead.
That looks to be the intention behind GunZ Dash, a new mobile game launched on January 7, the global/English version of its Chinese language game Tiantian Kupao released back in September 2013.
In terms of gameplay, GunZ Dash is virtually identical to WindRunner, as you can see in our comparison video above. While it doesn’t surprise me that Tencent would release a Chinese-language copycat of a game, I’m a little surprised that they’d roll this title out to their global users too. But because WindRunner is such a good game, GunZ Dash is really fun too because it is a really quality copy.
The Chinese version of the game has been among China’s top five grossing iOS apps since its release (see chart below), so clearly its copy-to-China strategy is a smart one from a business perspective. But it’s interesting to see a copy-to-China game now being marketed abroad. As far as I can recall, that hasn’t happened so much in the past.
But Tencent has marketed WeChat in a number of Southeast Asian nations, including Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, so maybe those are the gamers they are trying to attract here. Tencent will continue to do well pushing its services in emerging markets especially, continuing to mask that its services are made-in-China.
So where am I going with all this? Speaking in very general terms, I guess I’m just a little discouraged that one of China’s biggest internet success stories is such a ‘me-too’ company. As big as Tencent is, not many in the international media pay attention to it, and perhaps that’s why they can continue to do this sort of thing.
I experimented with a lot of mobile games in 2013. But the one that I kept coming back to again and again was GungHo Online Entertainment’s hit title Puzzle & Dragons. The game is most popular is its home market of Japan, where it has seen 23 million downloads to date. But like many Japanese online services, the domestic market is near saturation for P&D, and GungHo has been making efforts push the game abroad. The North American version – the version that I play – doesn’t look like it has had the same success, with only 2 million downloads as of November. But it’s slowly making progress, especially in terms of revenue, and I’d like to take a look at how exactly it’s doing that. Most recently P&D saw a holiday boost in revenue, largely thanks to two smart promotions: 48-hour Godfest – This New Year’s promotion gave players a 3x chance of getting rare and powerful cards, including the game’s coveted god-type cards, using the game’s Rare Egg Machine (a sort of in-game lottery where you can earn rare monster cards). To use the machine, you either need to have accumulated five magic stones (P&D’s in-game currency) or…
Puzzle & Dragons exhibit, Tokyo Game Show 2013
I experimented with a lot of mobile games in 2013. But the one that I kept coming back to again and again was GungHo Online Entertainment’s hit title Puzzle & Dragons. The game is most popular is its home market of Japan, where it has seen 23 million downloads to date. But like many Japanese online services, the domestic market is near saturation for P&D, and GungHo has been making efforts push the game abroad. The North American version – the version that I play – doesn’t look like it has had the same success, with only 2 million downloads as of November.
But it’s slowly making progress, especially in terms of revenue, and I’d like to take a look at how exactly it’s doing that.
Most recently P&D saw a holiday boost in revenue, largely thanks to two smart promotions:
48-hour Godfest – This New Year’s promotion gave players a 3x chance of getting rare and powerful cards, including the game’s coveted god-type cards, using the game’s Rare Egg Machine (a sort of in-game lottery where you can earn rare monster cards). To use the machine, you either need to have accumulated five magic stones (P&D’s in-game currency) or buy stones with actual money. As you can see in the App Annie chart below, the game’s revenue shot up over New Year’s, in both the US and Canada, thanks to this enticing promotion.
Rare Egg Machine was adjusted/renewed – This recent adjustment decreases the chances of a three-star card and increases your chance of a four-star card. This took place on December 10, and the effects of the adjustment are pretty clear as you can see below, for both the US and Canada (note that I’ve varied the scale for clarity).
Puzzle & Dragons, US market, grossing rank, Dec 29 – Jan 13Puzzle & Dragons, Canada market, grossing rank, Dec 29 – Jan 13
On a bit of a sidenote, it always really surprises me to see how active English-speaking fans on the game’s Facebook page, as well as on forums and discussion pages dedicated to the game. That’s not a very tangible measurement of the game’s success, of course, but for me it has always been a good indication that the game, which is very Japanese in both concept and design, has not been lost in translation.
In addition to activities like the ones we saw during the holidays, a number of cross-brand collaborations have helped P&D over the past year as well, most notably the Clash of Clanspromotion that it held with Finnish gaming powerhouse Supercell.
But if we look at the game’s progress over the past year in terms of revenue alone (see below), then it’s easy to see what a productive year this has been for GungHo.
Let’s see what 2014 holds for the company.
Puzzle & Dragons, US market, grossing rank over 2013
Yesterday I looked back at Japanese photobook printing service, Nohana, one of my favorite photo-related apps over this past year. But when it comes to managing my music, another made-in-Japan service has really stood out for me in 2013. That’s Beatrobo. Beatrobo is a very clever service that pulls music from YouTube and Soundcloud, and gives you the ability to create, save, and share playlists – or robots, as they are called. The Beatrobo mobile app launched back in May, and it has remained a mainstay on my mobile since then. In the meantime, the folks at Beatrobo have been working away on some new things, with a promising side project, PlugAir, in the works as well. That initiative uses a plug device that connects to your headphone jack to store and exchange digital information, including lists of songs that can be shared with friends like mixed tapes. The clever part here is, again, that no songs are stored, just lists of songs from YouTube or Soundcloud. The company says that this technology could be applied to many kinds of content, and is not limited to just music. It will be interesting to see how the startup progresses in 2014….
Yesterday I looked back at Japanese photobook printing service, Nohana, one of my favorite photo-related apps over this past year. But when it comes to managing my music, another made-in-Japan service has really stood out for me in 2013. That’s Beatrobo.
Beatrobo is a very clever service that pulls music from YouTube and Soundcloud, and gives you the ability to create, save, and share playlists – or robots, as they are called. The Beatrobo mobile app launched back in May, and it has remained a mainstay on my mobile since then.
In the meantime, the folks at Beatrobo have been working away on some new things, with a promising side project, PlugAir, in the works as well. That initiative uses a plug device that connects to your headphone jack to store and exchange digital information, including lists of songs that can be shared with friends like mixed tapes. The clever part here is, again, that no songs are stored, just lists of songs from YouTube or Soundcloud.
The company says that this technology could be applied to many kinds of content, and is not limited to just music.
It will be interesting to see how the startup progresses in 2014. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this side project grow beyond the original music service. So stayed tuned!
As the year 2013 winds to a close, I thought I’d take a look back on some of the mobile apps and services that have really stood out. As a new parent, many of my favorite apps this year have been related to managing baby pictures. And here in Japan, Nohana is a must-have for any parent, letting them use pictures taken on their smartphones to create and print small photobooks, which are then delivered by mail. Users can order one free book per month, paying only a 90 yen shipping fee (or about $1). Additional books cost What’s perhaps most interesting about Nohana to me is how it can bridge the digital divide in families. It provides an option to send a second copy of your photo book to another address, which could be grandparents, or other relatives who might not be very adept with smartphone communication [1]. At the end of this year we saw Nohana roll out a Nengajo (or Japanese New Year’s card) creation app, representing another means of monetizing for the company. And I expect that it’s a far more lucrative stream than the regular Nohana photo service. Each new year card costs 88 yen,…
As the year 2013 winds to a close, I thought I’d take a look back on some of the mobile apps and services that have really stood out. As a new parent, many of my favorite apps this year have been related to managing baby pictures. And here in Japan, Nohana is a must-have for any parent, letting them use pictures taken on their smartphones to create and print small photobooks, which are then delivered by mail. Users can order one free book per month, paying only a 90 yen shipping fee (or about $1). Additional books cost
What’s perhaps most interesting about Nohana to me is how it can bridge the digital divide in families. It provides an option to send a second copy of your photo book to another address, which could be grandparents, or other relatives who might not be very adept with smartphone communication [1].
At the end of this year we saw Nohana roll out a Nengajo (or Japanese New Year’s card) creation app, representing another means of monetizing for the company. And I expect that it’s a far more lucrative stream than the regular Nohana photo service. Each new year card costs 88 yen, with a minimum base fee of 1480 yen and then 525 yen for shipping.
It will be interesting to see if the company publishes other occasion specific apps in the coming year. I’m not sure if the folks at Nohana have any ambition to expand beyond Japan, but a Christmas card service would certainly come in handy in many countries.
In addition to Nohana, 2013 was a year that saw lots of fun photo apps emerge in Japan. This is proving to be an area of expertise for the country, with many startups innovating to compete for the country’s mobile photo market, and opportunities beyond.
For me, I typically use an application called Notabli to share photos with my own parents. ↩
It’s hard to believe that more than five years have passed since Tonchidot first presented its smartphone AR solution Sekai Camera (or “world camera”) at TechCrunch 50 back in 2008 (see video above). The company’s founder Takahito Iguchi proposed that we change our smartphone habits, and “look up, not down” to see tags and information about the world around us. But regrettably the Sekai Camera service will soon be closed down, according to an announcement on the company’s website. I had a chance to interview Iguchi-san about Sekai Camera back in 2009. It’s one of those futuristic services that is just initially awe-inspiring. As we all know now, Iguchi-san has moved on to other things at Telepathy, proposing a Google Glass-like solution that ostensibly is far better suited to AR than holding a smartphone up in the air all the time [1]. These glasses still have a long way to go (I’ve heard many people use the word ‘vaporware’ when talking about them), but I’m glad that Iguchi is moving on from Sekai Camera. At the same time, I think the presentation above is special for a few reasons, and worthy of reflection: Iguchi-san did not give a f*ck –…
It’s hard to believe that more than five years have passed since Tonchidot first presented its smartphone AR solution Sekai Camera (or “world camera”) at TechCrunch 50 back in 2008 (see video above). The company’s founder Takahito Iguchi proposed that we change our smartphone habits, and “look up, not down” to see tags and information about the world around us. But regrettably the Sekai Camera service will soon be closed down, according to an announcement on the company’s website.
I had a chance to interview Iguchi-san about Sekai Camera back in 2009. It’s one of those futuristic services that is just initially awe-inspiring. As we all know now, Iguchi-san has moved on to other things at Telepathy, proposing a Google Glass-like solution that ostensibly is far better suited to AR than holding a smartphone up in the air all the time [1]. These glasses still have a long way to go (I’ve heard many people use the word ‘vaporware’ when talking about them), but I’m glad that Iguchi is moving on from Sekai Camera.
At the same time, I think the presentation above is special for a few reasons, and worthy of reflection:
Iguchi-san did not give a f*ck – Many Japanese startups I speak to have an irrational lack of confidence when speaking or pitching in English. Very often the Japanese people I know are very good at striving for ‘perfect’, but too often that strategy keeps them from being good[2]. Just know an outline of your talking points, and even if your English is poor, you can let your enthusiasm do the rest. (Not enough enthusiasm about your product? Time to quit.)
It was inspiring – I can’t help but wonder how many geo-location and augmented reality ideas were inspired by that particular presentation? How many went on to make similar solutions? [3]
The West loves to love Japan – Part of the appeal of the pitch was that Tochidot was from Japan, and had brought some secret glimpse of the future with it. Even now in 2013, ‘made-in-Japan’ is still a cool, futuristic brand, full of robots and bullet trains and octopus tentacles and ninjas and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. If you aren’t sure about its potential, go ask Tokyo Otaku Mode.
I’m still a little skeptical about Telepathy’s ability to bring their product to market. But regarding that initial pitch back in 2008, I think it’s a fun part of internet history worth reflecting on as Sekai Camera closes.
It clearly shows that despite the many obstacles facing a Japanese startup looking abroad, there are lots of things in your favor too.
Japan is cool, with lots of imagination. And the West wants to love you.
Takahito Iguchi of Telepathy
I imagine that your arm would get tired after a while. ↩
Over the past few years we are seeing more Japanese startups than ever before looking beyond domestic borders to markets abroad. This is undeniably awesome. But this development is not without growing pains and awkwardness. What works in Japan doesn’t always work elsewhere, and this is particularly true of company names. From the point of view a non-Japanese person, there seems to me to be a very disproportionate number of companies in Japan that have crazy names. This problem has a number of symptoms, including: the triple-letter epidemic (see Niiice, Freee, Snapeee, and Calll) strange/random capitalization (see DoCoMo, DeNA CocoPPA, MiCHi) [1] names that sound just plain wrong (see Cunpic, Askiss) I’m a little reluctant to point this out, but when I read how Takafumi Horie named his latest app, Teriyaki, it really made me think about the problem a little more. With hopes of global expansion potential, we decided to name the app ‘Teriyaki’ — something familiar to non-Japanese people too. Too few Japanese startups do this. In fact, our own team here fallen into this trap as well, although having rebranded as The Bridge recently, I’m glad we’re out of it! [2] Evasive maneuvers So if you are…
Over the past few years we are seeing more Japanese startups than ever before looking beyond domestic borders to markets abroad. This is undeniably awesome. But this development is not without growing pains and awkwardness. What works in Japan doesn’t always work elsewhere, and this is particularly true of company names.
From the point of view a non-Japanese person, there seems to me to be a very disproportionate number of companies in Japan that have crazy names. This problem has a number of symptoms, including:
names that sound just plain wrong (see Cunpic, Askiss)
I’m a little reluctant to point this out, but when I read how Takafumi Horie named his latest app, Teriyaki, it really made me think about the problem a little more.
With hopes of global expansion potential, we decided to name the app ‘Teriyaki’ — something familiar to non-Japanese people too.
Too few Japanese startups do this. In fact, our own team here fallen into this trap as well, although having rebranded as The Bridgerecently, I’m glad we’re out of it! [2]
Evasive maneuvers
So if you are a Japanese company, how can you avoid this sort of problem? I’d like to share a few points that I think should be considered when choosing a name for your company or service. Keep in mind, I don’t claim to be any sort of naming expert. But I’ll try to offer a few points that I think can help.
Ask the crowd you know – Make use of the poll features in Google Drive or Facebook to gather feedback from as many of your friends as possible, and from a diverse range of people if you can.
Ask the crowd you don’t know – If you don’t know any English-speaking people who can offer suggestions, consider using a service like PickyDomains, where you can crowdsource some domain name ideas for a reasonable price [3]. If you can’t manage to get feedback from English-speaking people using modern day internet tools, you should probably reconsider doing business abroad.
The telephone test – A really great name is one that you can tell someone over the phone without any big problem.
The t-shirt test – Is your name and logo something that your employees would wear on a t-shirt? If not, maybe reconsider.
Don’t be afraid to use a Japanese name, even if you are targeting global markets. Some names can be just fine for global use. Rakuten, Origami, Gengo, and Niconico are all easy to say and remember. Some Western companies even choose names that sound Japanese because they sound sort of cool (see tech blog Kotaku).
Let’s face it, choosing a good name for your company or service is really hard. And if you have to do it for two markets, then it’s twice as difficult. Given that limitation, the best strategy might be simply choose a name that doesn’t suck in either market.
Of course if you have no plans on expanding beyond Japan, feel free to disregard everything I’ve just said. But if you think there is even a chance you might expand your business abroad in the future, it doesn’t hurt to factor that possibility into your naming decision.
CocoPPa is actually doing quite well overseas, which is good to see. As an editor though, I really despise those double Ps. For the record, I wrote about unusual capitalization a long time ago, so I’m not going to bother going into that mess again. ↩
I think that actual domain names are not quite as important as they used to be in this mobile age. Our choice of ‘The Bridge’ was a tough one, because it’s not so SEO friendly. But SEO isn’t what it used to be, thankfully! ↩
Rick Martin
