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Aviary knows photos are big in Japan

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Read a Japanese translation of this piece here Last week we heard that Aviary, an image editing platform provider, would be making its first international expansion by coming to Japan. The company has already seen significant success, especially in recent months, with over 50 million monthly active users in May [1]. The company now boasts more than 4600 partners that have integrated Aviary into their systems. Mixi is perhaps the most prominent ones (that we know of) in Japan, as Aviary has has helped them created and implement their own custom stickers for their app (pictured right). I had a chance to meet with Aviary representative Archie Archibong this week to find out a little more about the why the company is here in Japan. He explained: The demand we were getting from Japan, we get a lot of people reaching out to us asking how they can best leverage our product. And it became very evident that we should put a presence here. Archie noted the importance of meeting partners face-to-face, and trying to find out what kind of things they need. In this way, he explains, it helps Aviary figure out its own roadmap as well. So far…

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Aviary’s Japan rep Archie Archibong

Read a Japanese translation of this piece here

Last week we heard that Aviary, an image editing platform provider, would be making its first international expansion by coming to Japan. The company has already seen significant success, especially in recent months, with over 50 million monthly active users in May [1].

The company now boasts more than 4600 partners that have integrated Aviary into their systems. Mixi is perhaps the most prominent ones (that we know of) in Japan, as Aviary has has helped them created and implement their own custom stickers for their app (pictured right).

mixiscreens

I had a chance to meet with Aviary representative Archie Archibong this week to find out a little more about the why the company is here in Japan. He explained:

The demand we were getting from Japan, we get a lot of people reaching out to us asking how they can best leverage our product. And it became very evident that we should put a presence here.

Archie noted the importance of meeting partners face-to-face, and trying to find out what kind of things they need. In this way, he explains, it helps Aviary figure out its own roadmap as well. So far meetings in Tokyo tend to result in further introductions and further meetings, and that’s the sort of thing that you just don’t get conducting business from afar over email or Skype, he adds.

The company is planning to hold its fifth Photo Hack Day in Tokyo in the fall, which should be a great event for the community, especially for the many startups involved in photo app development [2]. That kind of event not only helps local developers, but it also raises Aviary’s profile in terms of spreading awareness of the sort of services they offer.

Establishing a presence in the country is a smart move for Aviary, given the abundance of quality photo apps in Japan. A recent report from Flurry Analytics indicated that Japanese mobile users are more likely than any other country to use photo apps, both on iOS and Android (see chart below). If that’s the case, we expect Aviary will find lots of opportunities here.

flurry-japan-photography


  1. That figure was announced by Aviary on May 28th, referring to “the last 30 days”. So we can say approximately May.  ↩

  2. The previous event (Photo Hack Day 4) was held at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park back in April. At that event, Archie – who has a computer science background – even made his own iOS app.  ↩

Futuristic new SnanSnap is contactless, scans books without harming them

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Many of you may already be familiar with ScanSnap, a personal document scanner made by the folks at Fujitsu, letting you scan and digitalize your printed documents. PFU, the Fujitsu subsidiary behind this scanner, has just announced that it will release a new model of scanner, its SV600, starting July 23rd. By using Versatile Imaging Technology, this newest scanner lets people scan books or papers of A3 in size and up to three centimeters thick, without having to cut out pages or excessively flatten the original in any way. This contactless scanner has a sort of futuristic looking desk-lamp design, and by placing the object for scanning on the ‘mattress,’ it reads them from overhead. The scanner has on-board features including book correction, which compensates for the contours of the book, and detects page turns. You can even use this scanner to read multiple things at once (such as business cards) as the SV600 has an auto-dividing feature as well, able to detect up to 10 cards simultaneously. The SV600 is compatible with Windows, but the company plans to support Mac in the fall of this year. The company says that the primary target for the new scanner is public…

ScanSnap-SV600

Many of you may already be familiar with ScanSnap, a personal document scanner made by the folks at Fujitsu, letting you scan and digitalize your printed documents. PFU, the Fujitsu subsidiary behind this scanner, has just announced that it will release a new model of scanner, its SV600, starting July 23rd.

By using Versatile Imaging Technology, this newest scanner lets people scan books or papers of A3 in size and up to three centimeters thick, without having to cut out pages or excessively flatten the original in any way. This contactless scanner has a sort of futuristic looking desk-lamp design, and by placing the object for scanning on the ‘mattress,’ it reads them from overhead. The scanner has on-board features including book correction, which compensates for the contours of the book, and detects page turns.

You can even use this scanner to read multiple things at once (such as business cards) as the SV600 has an auto-dividing feature as well, able to detect up to 10 cards simultaneously.

The SV600 is compatible with Windows, but the company plans to support Mac in the fall of this year. The company says that the primary target for the new scanner is public institutions such as university research departments or libraries. But they want users to explore new ways to leverage the product.

The price is expected to be somewhere around 59,800 yen (or about $633). Check out the video below that demonstrates the many ways that the new ScanSnap can be used in everyday life.

Tokyo startup launches 3D rendering showcase portal, targets global community

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Tokyo-based startup Poynter today has launched a web-based 3D rendering showcase (of the same name), enabling 3D modelers to share their figurines, illustrations, and even photos. Aiming to target the Vocaloid fan community worldwide, it’s available in both English and Japanese. In terms of sharing the appearance of virtual figurines online, there used to be no way other method than capturing a video from your rendering app on desktop, and then uploading it to video sharing sites like as YouTube. But the Poynter app allows other users to move around your creation on screen however they wish, so of course it’s far more enjoyable. The company plans to integrate the service with artificial intelligence technology in the near future, making it possible to let 3D models move in accordance with a user’s verbal commands over the internet. Regarding possible monetization models, the startup’s CEO Hiroki Takeuchi says the company will primary obtain revenues from banner advertising and on-the-site purchases. The startup was launched back in 2012, and received seed funding from Tokyo-based incubator Samurai Incubate.

process3

Tokyo-based startup Poynter today has launched a web-based 3D rendering showcase (of the same name), enabling 3D modelers to share their figurines, illustrations, and even photos. Aiming to target the Vocaloid fan community worldwide, it’s available in both English and Japanese.

In terms of sharing the appearance of virtual figurines online, there used to be no way other method than capturing a video from your rendering app on desktop, and then uploading it to video sharing sites like as YouTube. But the Poynter app allows other users to move around your creation on screen however they wish, so of course it’s far more enjoyable.

The company plans to integrate the service with artificial intelligence technology in the near future, making it possible to let 3D models move in accordance with a user’s verbal commands over the internet. Regarding possible monetization models, the startup’s CEO Hiroki Takeuchi says the company will primary obtain revenues from banner advertising and on-the-site purchases.

The startup was launched back in 2012, and received seed funding from Tokyo-based incubator Samurai Incubate.

Line’s new ‘Neko Copter’ game is the top iPhone app in Thailand

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This week Japan’s Line Corporation released a new game in cooperation with Square Enix. It’s called Neko Copter, and like most of Line’s mobile games it’s a pretty casual with easy-to-use controls and social integration with Line’s chat app. We’ve seen many of Line’s games rocket to the top of the app ranking charts here in Japan upon their release. But what’s interesting about the first few days of Neko Copter is that it has first reached the top of the charts in Thailand, while in Japan it is still only in 69th spot overall. This is a strong indication that the Line chat app platform is working well as a game distribution channel in Thailand too, where the company has already racked up more than 15 million downloads. If you’d like to get a closer look at the gameplay for Neco Copter you can check out our quick video demo above. If you want to try it for yourself, you can get it over App Store or on Google Play. This is not Line’s first collaboration with Square Enix, as the two companies previously worked together on Slime Shot which was released late last month. For more information on…

This week Japan’s Line Corporation released a new game in cooperation with Square Enix. It’s called Neko Copter, and like most of Line’s mobile games it’s a pretty casual with easy-to-use controls and social integration with Line’s chat app.

We’ve seen many of Line’s games rocket to the top of the app ranking charts here in Japan upon their release. But what’s interesting about the first few days of Neko Copter is that it has first reached the top of the charts in Thailand, while in Japan it is still only in 69th spot overall.

This is a strong indication that the Line chat app platform is working well as a game distribution channel in Thailand too, where the company has already racked up more than 15 million downloads.

If you’d like to get a closer look at the gameplay for Neco Copter you can check out our quick video demo above. If you want to try it for yourself, you can get it over App Store or on Google Play.

This is not Line’s first collaboration with Square Enix, as the two companies previously worked together on Slime Shot which was released late last month.

For more information on the growth of Line and its vast repertoire of apps, including Line Neko Copter, please check out our interactive Line Timeline which chronicles its growth from its launch back in 2011 up until the present day.

neko-copter-2 neko-copter-2

GungHo’s ‘other’ mobile game, Princess Punt Sweets, passes 6M downloads

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While Japanese gaming publisher GungHo Entertainment has made huge headlines based merely on the performance of its smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, we shouldn’t forget that the company has another popular title for mobile in Japan called Princess Punt Sweets. Originally released back in late 2012, the game has surpassed the six million downloads milestone as of June 9, a significant achievement for the company. It took less than six months to reach this target, putting the game on roughly the same million-downloads-per-month pace that Puzzle & Dragons has kept up for so long. Of course the title is nowhere near the money maker that Puzzle & Dragons is, but in fairness, that’s an incredibly tough act to follow. Princess Punt Sweets has fared respectably well on the top grossing charts for both iOS and Android, with at 36th and 18th for those stores respectively. Of course the big question is, how well can GungHo’s games perform in markets outside Japan? Personally, I like both games [1] and I think they both have global appeal, P&D because its just a brilliantly executed game on every level, and Princess just because it’s cute, and the aiming (kicking) mechanism is similar to…

princess-punt-sweets

While Japanese gaming publisher GungHo Entertainment has made huge headlines based merely on the performance of its smash hit Puzzle & Dragons, we shouldn’t forget that the company has another popular title for mobile in Japan called Princess Punt Sweets.

Originally released back in late 2012, the game has surpassed the six million downloads milestone as of June 9, a significant achievement for the company. It took less than six months to reach this target, putting the game on roughly the same million-downloads-per-month pace that Puzzle & Dragons has kept up for so long.

Of course the title is nowhere near the money maker that Puzzle & Dragons is, but in fairness, that’s an incredibly tough act to follow. Princess Punt Sweets has fared respectably well on the top grossing charts for both iOS and Android, with at 36th and 18th for those stores respectively.

Of course the big question is, how well can GungHo’s games perform in markets outside Japan? Personally, I like both games [1] and I think they both have global appeal, P&D because its just a brilliantly executed game on every level, and Princess just because it’s cute, and the aiming (kicking) mechanism is similar to that of Angry Birds [2].

Princess is a fun game though, and if you’d like to check it out, you can get it over on the App Store or on Google Play. GungHo’s promotional video is below. (Via Gamebiz.jp)


  1. I confess I’m especially hooked on Puzzle & Dragons, as I have explained before.  ↩

  2. I should note that a previous version of Princess was released for markets outside Japan, with what could be described as only very limited success in a few markets around Asia.  ↩

Japan’s impressions of the new Mac Pro: Tasty!

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It has been less than 24 hours since Apple unveiled the new Mac Pro at WWDC. Since then, it hasn’t been hard to find wisecracks on the interwebs about the computer’s tubular (or Tubelor?) appearance. Maybe it’s a garbage can? A flower pot? Or maybe a long lost cousin of R2-D2? On the Japanese net, the conversation has taken a bit of a creative turn, with a number of observers pointing out that the new Mac Pro would make an awesome cooking pot. We’ve collected a few pictures from some of the matome out there, and presented them below. They don’t really require any translations as the pictures speak for themselves! [View the story “What Japan thinks of the new Mac Pro” on Storify]

macpro-sushi

It has been less than 24 hours since Apple unveiled the new Mac Pro at WWDC. Since then, it hasn’t been hard to find wisecracks on the interwebs about the computer’s tubular (or Tubelor?) appearance. Maybe it’s a garbage can? A flower pot? Or maybe a long lost cousin of R2-D2?

On the Japanese net, the conversation has taken a bit of a creative turn, with a number of observers pointing out that the new Mac Pro would make an awesome cooking pot. We’ve collected a few pictures from some of the matome out there, and presented them below.

They don’t really require any translations as the pictures speak for themselves!

Slide to unlock, get reward points: Japan’s AppDisco is monetizing your lock screen

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What’s the first thing you do when you grab your mobile phone? Slide to unlock the homescreen. Here in Asia, there is an app and an reward advertisement platform that capitalizes on this action. It’s called Latte Screen. The app was first released in Korea where it was downloaded over 2 million times in the first three months after its release. And now AppDisco Japan, the company behind the app, has announced that it will be expanding service to a total of 13 countries, including Australia, Spain, France, and Germany. According to the company, Latte Screen ‘hijacks’ (so to speak) [1] a user’s lock screen with advertisements. Users are shown the most recent advertisements (updated once every hour) and can receive points everytime they unlock their lock screen. These points can be exchanged for gift cards or even can be exchanged for cash. The company also plans to add coupons for stores and restaurants, as well as goods from Korean cosmetic brands or relating to pop stars. AppDisco released its first app in Japan, Ad Latte, back in December of 2011. The app gives out points to its users for watching commercials, answering questions, and participating in campaigns. The two…

LatteScreen

What’s the first thing you do when you grab your mobile phone? Slide to unlock the homescreen. Here in Asia, there is an app and an reward advertisement platform that capitalizes on this action. It’s called Latte Screen. The app was first released in Korea where it was downloaded over 2 million times in the first three months after its release. And now AppDisco Japan, the company behind the app, has announced that it will be expanding service to a total of 13 countries, including Australia, Spain, France, and Germany.

According to the company, Latte Screen ‘hijacks’ (so to speak) [1] a user’s lock screen with advertisements. Users are shown the most recent advertisements (updated once every hour) and can receive points everytime they unlock their lock screen. These points can be exchanged for gift cards or even can be exchanged for cash. The company also plans to add coupons for stores and restaurants, as well as goods from Korean cosmetic brands or relating to pop stars.

AppDisco released its first app in Japan, Ad Latte, back in December of 2011. The app gives out points to its users for watching commercials, answering questions, and participating in campaigns. The two Latte apps are integrated, allowing users to collect points from both apps.

The app will be available to U.S. users starting this summer. Latte Screen can be downloaded over on Google Play.


  1. In their announcement, the company used the word ‘hijacks’, perhaps for creative effect. Obviously this has a negative connotation in English, but in Japanese it reads ok.

Japanese web conglomerate Septeni Holdings establishes manga-focused business, will build e-publication platform

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Japanese web conglomerate Septeni Holdings (JASDAQ:4293) has established a new subsidiary that will focus on building a manga content e-publication platform. The group gets most of its revenue from online advertising and social gaming apps. But with this platform, it is looking to diversify its business beyond intellectual property. The new subsidiary, Comicsmart, will establish a website, as well as discover and train new cartoonists for its comic e-publication platform. The company also announced a program to supporting aspiring cartoonists, called Route M, giving them complimentary painting materials, production facilities, grants, and distribution channels for their works. On a related note, Japanese gaming company Spicy Soft recently announced that it has handed over Manga Get (a manga-focused, user-generated content site) to Septeni. The site has more than 900,000 amateur cartoonists and more than 40,000 cartoons. Some of our readers may remember that Gyao and GREE recently established an investment fund for the anime business. Since the beginning of this year, anime-related startps such as MugenUp or Anipipo have been attracting much attention among Japanese consumers and investors.

comicsmart_logoJapanese web conglomerate Septeni Holdings (JASDAQ:4293) has established a new subsidiary that will focus on building a manga content e-publication platform. The group gets most of its revenue from online advertising and social gaming apps. But with this platform, it is looking to diversify its business beyond intellectual property.

The new subsidiary, Comicsmart, will establish a website, as well as discover and train new cartoonists for its comic e-publication platform. The company also announced a program to supporting aspiring cartoonists, called Route M, giving them complimentary painting materials, production facilities, grants, and distribution channels for their works.

On a related note, Japanese gaming company Spicy Soft recently announced that it has handed over Manga Get (a manga-focused, user-generated content site) to Septeni. The site has more than 900,000 amateur cartoonists and more than 40,000 cartoons.

Some of our readers may remember that Gyao and GREE recently established an investment fund for the anime business. Since the beginning of this year, anime-related startps such as MugenUp or Anipipo have been attracting much attention among Japanese consumers and investors.

CC-lincenced picture: Production IG Tour by Danny Choo
Production IG Tour, photo by Danny Choo, CC license

Japanese internet radio service to capitalize on popularity of AKB48 election

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Photo via. TowerRecords Japan’s Radiko.jp is a website and mobile app (iOS and Android) that provides simultaneous broadcasts of radio programs over the internet. The service has maintained strong growth since its launch back in 2011 and has over 13 million monthly unique users as of April 2013. Over 68 commercial radio stations have joined the platform. Now Radiko has just announced that it will broadcast interviews of the top five winners of the AKB48 Election, a popular nationwide event that decides the center stage positions for the all-girl idol group. The event (sadly) might even exceed the country’s national election in terms of national interest. This 5th election is planned to take place tomorrow at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. A total of 100 minutes interviews will be broadcasted beginning the night of June 8th and will be repeated the next day. There are over 246 members fighting for limited positions, and the participating members promote themselves on their blogs and on social media such as Twitter and Google+. The candidates speeches can be viewed on the official AKB48 YouTube channel. Fans can vote by purchasing CDs which (ingeniously) function as votes. This mega pop-culture event will surely attaract a…

AKB48-electionPhoto via. TowerRecords

Japan’s Radiko.jp is a website and mobile app (iOS and Android) that provides simultaneous broadcasts of radio programs over the internet. The service has maintained strong growth since its launch back in 2011 and has over 13 million monthly unique users as of April 2013. Over 68 commercial radio stations have joined the platform.

Now Radiko has just announced that it will broadcast interviews of the top five winners of the AKB48 Election, a popular nationwide event that decides the center stage positions for the all-girl idol group. The event (sadly) might even exceed the country’s national election in terms of national interest.

This 5th election is planned to take place tomorrow at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. A total of 100 minutes interviews will be broadcasted beginning the night of June 8th and will be repeated the next day.

There are over 246 members fighting for limited positions, and the participating members promote themselves on their blogs and on social media such as Twitter and Google+. The candidates speeches can be viewed on the official AKB48 YouTube channel. Fans can vote by purchasing CDs which (ingeniously) function as votes.

This mega pop-culture event will surely attaract a wider range of fans for Radiko. Radio as a form of media is not exactly cutting-edge and has been going downhill in most places. But this old media form saw a revival in Japan when the Tohoku earthquake hit Japan in March of 2011. With so many things washed away after the tsunami, many people only had radio left as a way to connect to the rest of the world.

Two mobile money makers team up: GungHo and Supercell announce in-game collaboration

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Japanese game publisher GungHo Entertainment and Finish publisher Supercell have just announced a joint collaboration that will result in the mutual sharing of content in each others games. To be clear, these are two giant games teaming up here; two of the biggest money makers in the mobile gaming space, working together to likely make even more money! What this means exactly is that we’ll see some Clash of Clans themed dungeons and monsters showing up in GungHo’s hit game Puzzle and Dragons. And likewise, we will see Clash of Clans and Hay Day display cross promotions for Puzzle and Dragons, in both the iOS and Android versions. Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen commented in the announcement: We are very honored to work with GungHo and learn from the masters of free-to-play gaming. The more time we spend with GungHo, the more we realize how remarkably similar our two companies are. We are deeply committed to helping each other expand into new markets and equally committed to having an incredible amount of fun working together. GungHo has done collaborations like this previously for its Japanese version, but this is the first time (that I’m aware of) that they have made such…

puzzle-dragons-clash-of-clans

Japanese game publisher GungHo Entertainment and Finish publisher Supercell have just announced a joint collaboration that will result in the mutual sharing of content in each others games. To be clear, these are two giant games teaming up here; two of the biggest money makers in the mobile gaming space, working together to likely make even more money!

What this means exactly is that we’ll see some Clash of Clans themed dungeons and monsters showing up in GungHo’s hit game Puzzle and Dragons. And likewise, we will see Clash of Clans and Hay Day display cross promotions for Puzzle and Dragons, in both the iOS and Android versions.

Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen commented in the announcement:

We are very honored to work with GungHo and learn from the masters of free-to-play gaming. The more time we spend with GungHo, the more we realize how remarkably similar our two companies are. We are deeply committed to helping each other expand into new markets and equally committed to having an incredible amount of fun working together.

GungHo has done collaborations like this previously for its Japanese version, but this is the first time (that I’m aware of) that they have made such an effort for the English version of its game.

Serkan Toto has a great overview of how Japanese gaming companies use this collaboration strategy here, if you’d like to learn more.

For anyone who has yet to try out Puzzle and Dragons check out our demo video of basic gameplay strategy here.