We’ve had another fun week here at SD, doing our best to bring you interesting tech stories going down in Japan. 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 5 great mobile writing apps for iOS, and how to use them [Video] 05/31 As the race for high-skilled immigrants begins, does Japan want to compete? 05/30 Building a new business from snapshots of old Japan 05/30 Ready? Fight! A summary of 6 fierce Japanese startup rivalries 05/29 How do you create a strong management team? Japanese internet execs discuss. 05/28 Business Gyao and GREE establish investment fund to develop anime film business 05/31 Japanese data analysis startup pLucky raises funds from CyberAgent Ventures 05/30 Japanese website translation startup World Jumper raises $1.1M 05/29 Design More iPhone underwear coming soon from Bandai due to popular demand 06/02 Presentations just got even more zen with Kokuyo’s ring remote 05/30 Apps New Japanese app helps you collect and organize your personal health data 05/31 5 cute Japanese apps that let you customize your mobile’s homescreen 05/31 After becoming Japan’s top iPhone app, ReceReco sees download surge 05/29 Top…

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. 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 5 great ideas from Hub Tokyo’s Spark Plug event 05/18 How flea markets are going mobile in Japan 05/14 Business Nana app gets anime theme songs, available globally without location restriction 05/16 Japanese fashion startup Muse & Co raises $3.4 million 05/16 In Japan, internet companies make weddings more affordable 05/16 Japan’s Mixi to appoint new CEO, co-founder Kenji Kasahara to step down 05/15 Apps Japanese finance app ReceReco off to a good start, surpasses 500,000 downloads for iPhone 05/17 Can’t sleep? Japan has the Ultimate Sleeping app! 05/17 Classic game from Sega gets a refresh for iPhone 05/16 Docomo partners with Line, finds a creative way to relieve network strain 05/15 Celulo: Wizcorp connects the dots on a great puzzle game for iPhone 05/14 Startups Japanese knowledge sharing site Qiita could reach as many as half the nation’s programmers 05/16 Meet the…

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. 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 Big in Japan: 10 tech stories most popular with our Japanese readers 05/08 Business Driven by games and stamps, Line Corporation’s reports 1Q revenue of over $57M 05/10 JapanTourist.jp partners with AllAbout.co.jp for multilingual travel content 05/10 Tokyo Otaku Mode and MTV81.com to partner on Japan entertainment news syndication 05/09 Design Japanese solar-powered digital camera seeks photographers who care 05/07 Apps Manga Camera adds chat feature, giving your conversations a comic flavor 05/11 Transformers Legends hits iOS, another mobile card battle game for Western markets [Video] 05/10 Why I love Japan’s stupidest mobile games 05/08 Japan’s disgustingly cute mobile game ‘Alpaca Evolution’ hits 4 million downloads 05/08 As football season nears, GREE improves ‘NFL Shuffle’ – But can it be a hit game? 05/07 Startups Japan’s Rebright Partners establishes a new fund focused on startups in Southeast Asia 05/12 Japanese startup 30min launches…

It was Golden Week here in Japan, so there wasn’t too much happening from the business world. We took the opportunity to be a little more reflective, spotlighting some interesting companies, apps, and games. For those of you in Japan, we hope you’ve had a good holiday! [1] 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 Kickstart this: 14 of Japan’s top crowdfunded projects Beauty products portal @Cosme is an internet mainstay among Japanese women Japan’s Weathernews hopes to take the US market by storm Relux: A satisfaction-guaranteed online marketplace for Japanese ryokan Business NTT Docomo to acquire Japan’s largest medical database Gadgets This hard drive will self-destruct: New HDD case from Japan takes security seriously! Line tries to hook kids early, launching toy smartphone with Takaratomy Fun Apps StickerMe: Add your own face to mobile chat stickers, share on Facebook, Line, or Kakaotalk Line’s hockey stick moment: Japanese chat app hits 150 million users Japanese finance app Zaim rolls out slick web version, updates Android app with OCR Kame Camera takes Japanese schoolgirl ‘Dragon Ball’ meme a step further Games With over 5 million…

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. This week we got out to cover a couple of events, including the Japan New Economy Summit, as well as the Twilio Japan launch and hackathon. We’ll have a little more on both events later in the week. If you’d like to get this weekly summary plus other bonus content, we hope you’ll check out our shiny new newsletter here. Events Japan New Economy Summit What is Disruptive Innovation? Panel How can Japan produce its own disruptive innovations? New trends in disruptive innovation Roles of entrepreneurs and venture capitals in disruptive innovation Twilio Japan Summit Meet the Twilio Japan hackathon winners: 3 great ideas using the cloud telephony API Twilio officially launches in Japan, CEO Jeff Lawson expects ‘enormous demand’ Features Ticket Street: How Japan’s ticket-reselling site keeps up rapid growth 4/19 Meet Japan’s seed accelerators and VC firms [MAP] 4/18 Feeding Asia’s growing games appetite: Gumi Asia CEO on expansion beyond Japan 4/17 U.S. teens show Facebook fatigue. But what about kids in Japan? 4/15…

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. 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 Why I can’t stop playing Puzzle & Dragons 04/12 UI Scope teams up with DeployGate to create a one-stop app testing solution 04/09 Meet 5 of Japan’s top photo apps 04/09 Cutting edge: How Japan’s “sushi tech” increases efficiency and profits 04/08 Business Namco Bandai hopes to increase global presence with new subsidiaries in Vancouver and Singapore 04/11 Yahoo Japan to launch online ticket sales service, poised to shake up $10B market 04/10 KDDI to migrate its music service to Kkbox, joining Asia’s largest music network 04/09 Design No girlfriend? No problem. Two hacker projects from Japan help you feel loved 04/08 Cerevo invents a smart, Apple-like power strip that keeps your wires under control 04/08 Apps A new iPhone app from Japan brings fun stamps to Facebook messaging [Video] 04/12 Too drunk to remember what sake you’re drinking? Japan has an app…

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. 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 Can crowdsourcing startups change Japans employment landscape? 04/04 Shumito Club: DeNA’s social network for seniors in Japan 04/03 7 April Fools’ Day internet pranks from Japan 04/01 Business Co-work: A new corporate communication tool from Tokyo-based GaiaX 04/05 Japanese chat app Line is making a fortune from stamps – But who’s buying? 04/05 Tokyo Otaku Mode announces syndication deal with 13 news sites 04/04 Design Sega goes retro with a Dreamcast backpack for girls 04/07 Amazing LED bathtub from Japan cycles through 7 soothing colors 04/05 Ancient Japanese art finds an unlikely purpose in new Hello Kitty iPhone cover 04/05 Uniqlo drops a unique pop-up shop at Tokyo’s Shibuya station 04/01 Apps Line’s ‘Wind Runner’ game for iPhone tops App Store charts in Asia 04/04 How do you child-proof your smartphone? Japan’s Mimamorl app does the trick 04/02 KakaoTalk passes 10 million downloads…

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. 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 From Japan to Silicon Valley: AnyPerk’s startup journey has been longer than most 03/29 With over 4M downloads, crazy ‘Battle Cats’ game from Japan still has some surprises in store 03/29 Live-streaming app TwitCasting surpasses 2 million users, but founder is a little distressed 03/29 Business Japanese social restaurant finder app Retty teams up with major portals on booking deal 3/31 Can a small startup help a Japanese convenience store giant promote itself abroad? 03/31 Yahoo Japan to bolster search results with NHN Japan’s Naver Matome 03/28 Animation effects startup Cybernoids raises $557K for global expansion 03/26 Japanese auction price comparison site Aucfan approved for IPO in April 03/25 Japan’s Softbank Mobile to acquire majority shares of game developer Gungho Online Entertainment 03/25 Design Subscription-based Japanese sake service? Yes please! 03/26 Let your iPhone meditate on this zen smartphone stand from Elecom 03/25…

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. 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 Japan increasingly turning to Facebook to reach potential tourists 03/24 5 photo apps with fantastic skin filters that Japanese women prefer 03/23 ‘Super lettuce’ grown under LED lights in Japan 03/18 Business How one Japanese fashion brand is using smartphones to connect with customers 03/22 Japan’s members-only discount site LUXA raises $5.32M 03/21 2012 was Apple’s first year on top of Japan’s mobile market 03/21 Fabless printing startup Raksul partners with Stores.jp, fulfills printing needs for e-store owners 03/21 Japanese fashion e-commerce service Laso raises $2.1M from DCM 03/20 Language Cloud gets investment boost from CyberAgent Ventures 03/19 Japanese hit game ‘Puzzle and Dragons’ gets its own online store 03/18 Design New transparent, foldable material could be the future of e-paper 03/20 Sony TVs through the years [Timeline] 03/19 Apps So you’re the new Japanese prime minister, eh? There’s an app for that!…