Report: Gaijin-lead Web 2.0 service iknow! event in Tokyo

Last Wednesday, I attended an event at the Tokyo 21 c Business Club in Marunouchi focusing on the relatively fresh Japanese web service iknow! (link leads to an English page).

iknow! is marketed as a social learning web service for Japanese users interested in studying English. On the site, teachers can connect to students and students can interact with each other to improve their English skills. However, that's not all.

In fact, iknow! is a full-fledged web site featuring TONS of functions which are useful also for completely individual training: dictations, vocabulary tests, quizzes, brain stimulation games etc. When the service launched in October last year, I was actually VERY impressed with its high quality and the team is working on improving and expanding iknow!.

Cerego, the US-based company running the service uses, chose "learning technologies" as its slogan. In fact, Cerego's CEO Eric Young told me several scientists were hired to make sure iknow! is being developed in Japan based on the most current methodologies of learning and teaching languages.

The event itself centered on the main functions iknow! offers to users and a Q&A which followed after the presentation. Eric and Andrew Smith Lewis (CEO of Cerego Japan) answered several questions from the audience which included iknow! users who were not from the web industry or press. I found that very cool!

The language education industry in Japan is a multi-billion dollar business. I am eager to see how iknow! will try to monetize its service in the future. Although Cerego employs a huge team, iknow! is completely free at the moment! The CEOs said the main focus at the moment is to attract as many users as possible.

And the initial numbers are more than impressive: According to information given during the presentation, 100.000 users are currently registered. This service is going to be a huge success, I am sure!

Pictures: iknow! event at Tokyo 21c Business Club (click to enlarge)

Japanese company releases new tool for use in Second Life

I personally believe the basic concept behind the idea of Second Life (the existence of "virtual worlds" in 3D populated by avatars) will be here to stay in the web world forever.

In Japan, people took a liking to Second Life particularly after Linden Lab decided to translate the site into Japanese last year. In November, major TV network Nihon TV broadcasted the world's first show recorded in the virtual world (as reported). And the show is still on.

Japanese company offers Second Life services
There are quite a few companies which exist only because there is Second Life. MagSL (Magazine Second Life) for example is a Tokyo-based provider for various services related to Second Life. The company offers auction tools, construction, advertising and other services tailored for that virtual world.

Since late February, MagSL added an ASP solution to analyze behavior of avatars in 3D environment to their product range. In the corresponding press release, the company says it distinguishes user behavior on 2D web pages from the way people act in 3D worlds. According to MagSL, this difference justifies specialized behavior analysis software. Well, that makes sense.

MagSL is (naturally) marketing their new product as a pure B2B solution. Companies represented in Second Life can use the software to find out how avatars in Second Life react to their Marketing efforts, i. e. to promoting events.

I think more and more software focused on "virtual worlds" on the web will be released in the future. And interestingly, Japanese companies in particular seem to be pioneering this field.

Sony is soon offering "Playstation Home" for their Playstation 3 video game system while Japanese web powerhouse Transcosmos views its self-developed virtual world "meet-me" as a potential Second Life-Killer.

Mixi goes berserk

Japan's biggest social network and blogging platform Mixi (boasting a user network of over 13 million people, my review) caused a huge stir some days ago when it announced a shocking move. The company of the same name plans to take away all content to be found on its website from its users. Who is the beneficiary? Mixi itself!

Effective April 1st, Mixi members will have to comply with completely revamped Terms of Use.

In detail, the measure includes the following consequences:
- there is no compensation for users in any form
- the measure will be implemented with retrospective effect, meaning all content generated by users before April 1st, 2008 will also become property of Mixi (!)
- Mixi takes full control of all contents (the users lose all rights)
- the measure involves content such as blog articles, comments, BBS postings and even private messages sent within the Mixi system (!)
- not only textual content is affected, but also pictures and images
- all contents can be modified, distributed, sold and translated by Mixi

In addition, members remain legally responsible for any content generated on the platform!

Outcry in the Japanese public
This audacious move is probably unparalleled in the web world anywhere and demonstrates totalitarian tendencies. As Mixi is not only Japan's biggest SN but also a wildly popular blog platform, it is no exaggeration to say it became almost a part of life of many Japanese people. Consequently, Mixi aims at exploiting a huge treasure trove full of content!

Japanese bloggers and media have identified one major motive for Mixi's announcement which is -of course- money. As Mixi is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the company is obviously under pressure to improve financial numbers, the level of monetization and growth. This also explains Mixi's recent decision to expand into China which will most likely fail (as did Cyworld's try to tap the European market from Korea this week).

As a reaction to the flood of complaints, Mixi already announced it considers revising the original plan to change the Terms of Use. If they push through their announcement, I will delete my account even though I am not really a hard user of the service.

In the light of this, Facebook's botched Beacon initiative is dwarfed in terms of arrogance. One can only hope that no other social network will have the guts to treat member data, sensitive information and user-generated content in such a ludicrous manner.

Note:
This posting is a modified version of a guest article I wrote for German web industry blog zweinull. You can read my article here.

10 winners of CNET Japan's Tech Venture contest

Last week, CNET Japan held a Tech venture contest and a total of 10 companies were awarded with prices. The event drew a lot of attention in the Japanese web and IT world.

Companies awarded which have an English website (unfortunately only three do):

- Community Engine
(development of network middleware and applications among other things)

- Utagoe
(broadcasting service)

- Enigmo
(online video commercials through collaboration with consumers, their Rollmio service is available in English)


Companies which offer information in Japanese only:

- Niwango
(operation of i.e. Nico Nico Douga online video platform (my review))

- PTP
(digital TV recording service)

- i-Broadcast
(mobile platform for videos and photos)

- Entermotion
(mobile marketing)

- aucfan.com
(online auction services)

- J-Magic
(face recognition for mobile devices)

- Cirius
(mobile ads)

More information on the winners is available on Akihito Fujii's blog. Akihito-san is working for Sun Microsystems Japan and thankfully provides a detailed write-up about Tech venture 2008 in English (part 1, part 2).

He also acted as a judge for the contest.

Review: Japan's Web giant Rakuten

Rakuten is one of the biggest fish in the Japanese Web market. In fact the service is a giant even by global standards: Rakuten is the country's largest E-Commerce site (oh, that old word) and Japan is the world's second biggest economy. This alone says a lot.

The company is well known over here for offering the country's largest shopping mall site (Rakuten Ichiba).



I will review Rakuten in the following order:
I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Model
V) Opinion

I) General Info
Rakuten was founded by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997 and went IPO three years later. Mikitani is still CEO. The Tokyo-based company employs almost 4,000 people.

Market capitalization stands at around six billion USD (!) and was even much higher some years ago. Rakuten yields an annual revenue of about two billion dollars.

Last month, the company announced it plans to enter as many as 27 international markets until 2012 (China, Taiwan, Brazil etc.). Rakuten USA is headquartered in Boston.

Here is their company info site in English.

II) Starting Page
As to be expected, the starting page is huge. There are dozens and dozens of sub pages/services which actually come close to being comprehensive sites/companies in themselves!

Please click on the picture for an enlarged and translated version of Rakuten's starting page:


The container on the top left I labeled "Main contents/Links" comprises the following tabs:
Auctions, Group purchases*, Mobile Rakuten, Present Finder, Market*, Rankings, Financial Services, Shopping Cart, Rakuten Travel, Portal*.

"Group purchases" means that prices will fall if more people buy a certain product. Under "Market", users can browse Rakuten through categories to find and buy products. "Portal" links to Rakuten's own search and information portal Infoseek (acquired in 2000).


III) Functions and Features
The company is highly diversified, both horizontally and vertically. Thus their site integrates a wide range of services.

Apart from the services described above on the starting page (financial services, a successful travel site (English version is here) etc.), Rakuten offers
- a flea market
- an online bookstore
- a download service for digital contents
- a ticket sales service and much more.

Rakuten is even involved in the Golf business!

Rakuten's online shopping concept is very user-friendly because of its unified shopping cart approach. This means users can put i.e. a BluRay disc, diet pills and shoes into one basket from different shops and pay in one sum.

All services are being offered under the "Rakuten" brand. So no wonder that some people even speak of an online shopping monopoly when talking about the company.

IV) Business Model
Rakuten's business model is quite simple: Make money through lots and lots of services covering lots and lots of industry sectors.

For example, approximately 60,000 shops are currently registered on the site (Rakuten Ichiba, Travel and business section combined) offering over 20 million different items. The company is earning revenue by charging fees from online mall operators, travel agencies, securities companies etc. (fixed fees/commission model).

Rakuten also offers a magazine, a special credit card, a comprehensive mobile site, and much more. Also, in the past years the company bought a professional baseball team, several financial/consulting/Web companies and a stake in a major Japanese TV network! In 2005 for example, Rakuten acquired LinkShare, an American Web marketing company, for 425 million USD. These guys are not throwing around peanuts.

V) Opinion
Rakuten is ridiculously huge, that's for sure. I can't think of an E-Commerce site with a similar scope in the US or Europe at least. But somehow the company manges to keep everything under one umbrella even though Rakuten and its CEO were regularly in the papers in the past due to a number of scandals.

From a customer's point of view, I personally like the unified shopping cart approach in Rakuten Ichiba even though I never bought anything there. But from I hear, shopping at Rakuten works without any problems. Given the highly critical and strict mentality of Japanese consumers, this is a must anyway.

Judging design, usability and structure, the site itself is OK given its enormous range of contents.

It will be very interesting to see how Rakuten will change and grow (or maybe collapse which is always possible) in the future. Especially their plans to internationalize rapidly sound really, really ambitious....

Review: Japan's No. 2 social network GREE

Mixi is the quasi-standard when it comes to social network usage in Japan (read more in my Mixi-review).

Japan's second largest social network is called GREE. There is no information in English available about GREE online. That means outside Japan almost no one knows about this Web site even though MILLIONS of people are using it (mobile and Web version). So I decided it is time for a write-up to present this service to Non-Japanese speakers.



I will review GREE in the following order:
I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Model
V) Opinion

I) General Info
Gree, Inc. currently employs 74 people in its HQ in Tokyo. The name GREE is derived from a sociological concept named "Six degrees of separation".

The company published a press release last month claiming they have over 3 million users now. Impressive, but still a far cry from Mixi's userbase of well over 12 million. Both services started operations in Japan at about the same time.

GREE's president Yoshikazu Tanaka is 30 years old and founded the company in 2004 (!). Before, he was responsible for operating Rakuten's auctions operations.

Click here for a detailed statistic on details how GREE clearly trails Mixi in the Japanese SN market.

II) Starting Page
GREE's top page is rather minimalistic as you can see from the JPEG below for which I translated key items:


III) Functions and Features
GREE is an invite-only service like Mixi.

In essence, GREE offers the following functions:
- blogs
- photo albums
- video uploads
- messaging system
- forums
- reviews
etc.

What's more interesting is GREE's mobile version. The service is called "au GREE" for KDDI's carrier "au". The company invested 31 million USD in July 2006 to develop a mobile version of the Web site. Softbank and DoCoMo customers know it as "GREE mobile". Mobile GREE is "integrated" into the Web version so that PC-only users are able to interact with handset-only users if necessary.

au GREE in particular proved to be a huge success. Its user base passed one million in July 2007 (information from the latest official press release related to this number).

What's the difference between the mobile and the Web version?
For example, - besides the usual features - au Gree users can send each other html-rich emails (called "decoration-mail"), play games based on flash and get their fortunes told. Click here for screenshots.

However, there is also a mobile version of Mixi which is even more successful. No Japanese Web company would dare to offer a PC-only service!

IV) Business Model
GREE makes money in the following ways:
- advertisements
- affiliate links to online shops
- premium accounts

A GREE premium account costs 315 Yen/month (2.80 USD/1.90 Euros). Premium users get 1 GB of storage for uploading videos and pictures and unlimited Email storage. Moreover, users can keep provisions if the products they reviewed are purchased after clicking an affiliate link.

V) Opinion
GREE can keep up with Mixi as far as basic features and functions are concerned.

The huge marketing pull with which Mixi managed to conquer the Japanese SN market is the decisive reason for GREE being a distant second.

Another reason is to be seen in GREE's design and usability approach. The Web site has a business-like, rather "cold" feel to it. Not exactly like LinkedIn or Xing obviously but Mixi somehow exudes more fun and looks more casual.

GREE doesn't do anything terribly wrong but suffers from the "The winner takes it all"-law pertinent to a lot of Web 2.0 services. That is why in my opinion it will be VERY hard for GREE to enjoy a Mixi-like success in Japan in the near future.

Japan's top 50 blogs

Following up on my recent article about Japan's top 50 web sites, I now decided to publish what is probably the only hit list in English covering this country's most popular blogs in detail. As you may know, Japan is THE country of bloggers with some sources claiming there are more blogs written in Japanese than in English (!).

The following list is based on information from Technorati which is the world's most influential search engine for blogs. All blogs are Japanese only but I added a short description in English to all of them. Also I converted the Japanese title into Romaji (the Latin alphabet) whenever necessary.

The rank is decided by the number of blogs on the Internet which include a link to the blog in question. That means for example that Technorati will add one link count to all blogs on the following list after crawling my blog and this article.

Without further ado, here are Japan's Top 50 blogs (according to Technorati Japan, accessed January 4th, 2008-Japanese time):

1. GIGAZINE ブレーキをかけられず暴走する車を複数の監視カメラがとらえる
("GIGAZINE Breeki o kakerarezu bousou suru kuruma o fukusuu no kanshi kamera toraeru")
Tech and geek blog
7,147 links from other blogs on the web to this blog

2. Gizmodo Japan（ギズモード・ジャパン）, ガジェット情報満載ブログ
("Gizmodo Japan (Gizumoodo Japan) gajetto jouhou mansai burogu")
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Gizmodo)
4,684 links

3. Engadget Japanese
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Engadget)
4,458 links

4. にゅーあきばどっとこむ
("Nyuu akiba dotto komu")
Otaku blog
4,024 links

5. アキバBlog（秋葉原ブログ）
("Akiba Blog (Akihabara burogu)")
Otaku blog
3,171 links

6. しょこたん☆ぶろぐ
("Shokotan☆burogu")
Official blog of Japanese super idol and otaku dream girl Nakagawa Shouko
2,922 links

7. Nネタフル
("NNetafuru")
Tech blog
2,812 links

8. Garbagenews.com
Tech and geek blog
2,156 links

9. 404 Blog Not Found
Japanese coder Dan Kogai's personal blog
1,906 links

10. Yahoo!ブログ ★彡次男坊にゃ虐待弁当＆ダンナは倦怠期弁当＝逆切れギャク弁！★彡
("Yahoo!burogu ★彡Jinanbou nya gyakutaibentou&danna wa kentaikibentou=gyakugire gyakuben! ★彡")
Blog about lunch boxes (!)
1,746 links

11. らばQ
("RabaQ")
News blog
1,744 links

12. レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチの旅日記
("Reonarudo da Vinchi no tabi nikki")
Blog about Leonardo da Vinci (!)
1,553 links

13. 若槻千夏のブログ『マーボー豆腐は飲み物です』 Powered by アメブロ
("Wakatsuki Chinatsu no burogu 『Maaboudoufu wa nomimono desu』 Powered by Ameburo")
Official blog of Japanese TV personality Wakatsuki Chinatsu who gave up blogging recently
1,534 links

14. MOON PHASE 雑記
("MOON PHASE gikki")
Otaku blog
1,314 links

15. 眞鍋かをりのココだけの話 powered by ココログ
("Manabe Kaori no koko dake no hanashi powered by Kokorogu")
Official blog of Japanese TV personality and idol Manabe Kaori
1,270 links

16. TechCrunch Japanese
Japanese version of the world's most influential Tech blog
1,253 links

17. P O P * P O P 世界のニュースをクオリティ重視で
("P O P * P O P Sekai no nyuusu o kuoriti juushi de")
News blog
1,195 links

18. まんたんウェブ (アニメ・マンガ・ゲーム) 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞)
("Mantan web (Anime・Manga・Geemu) Mainichijp (Mainichi Shimbun)")
Blog about anime, manga and games
1,150 links

19. *ホームページを作る人のネタ帳
("*Hoomupeeji o tsukuru hito no netachou")
Internet design and programming blog
1,099 blogs

20. 夕刊フジBLOG
("Yuukan Fuji BLOG")
News blog specifially targeted for males
1,032 links

21. 百式（100SHIKI.COM） 世界のアイディアを今日も明日も明後日も
("Hyaku shiki（100SHIKI.COM） Sekai no aidia o kyou mo ashita mo asatte mo")
Tech blog
1,023 links

22. IDEA*IDEA 百式管理人のライフハックブログ
("Hyaku shiki kanrinin no raifuhakku burogu")
Tech blog (similar to #21)
1,013 links

23. メディアファージ事業部 ブログ
("Media faaji jigyoubu burogu")
Official blog of IT and media company Crypton
966 links

24. ガチャピン日記
("Gachapin nikki")
Blog of wildly popular Japanese children's TV character Gachapin
945 links

25. 竹原慎二 オフィシャルブログ
("Takehara Shinji ofishiaru burogu")
Offical blog of former boxer Takehara Shinji
940 links

26. 小太郎ぶろぐ
("Kotarou burogu")
Otaku blog
914 links

27. 新垣 結衣オフィシャルブログ
("Aragaki Yui ofishiaru burogu")
Official blog of one of my favorite super idols: Aragaki Yui
908 links

28. まこという名の不思議顔の猫
("Mako to iu na no fushigigao no neko")
Blog centered on (strange-looking;)) cats
891 links

29. Yahoo!ブログ ごんざえもんの館
("Yahoo!burogu Gonzaemon no kan")
Otaku blog
847 links

30. Life is beautiful
Japanese coder Nakajima Satoshi's personal blog
829 links

31. FPN 新規事業とイノベーションを考えるビジネスニュースコミュニティ
("FPN Shinkijigyou to inobeeshon o kangaeru bijinesu nyuusu komyuniti")
Business blog
812 links

32. 日刊サイゾー, マスコミの裏を読む！体制の裏をかく!!
("Nikkan Saizou, masukomi no ura o yomu! Taisei no ura o kaku!!")
Otaku news blog
769 links

33. ルーブログ｜ルー大柴オフィシャルブログ『TOGETHER』
("Ruu burogu｜Ruu Ooshiba ofishiaru burogu 『TOGETHER』")
Official blog of comedian Lou Oshiba
768 links

34. SlashGear Japan
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Slashgear)
751 links

35. 池田信夫 blog
("Ikeda Nobuo blog")
IT and economics blog written by renowned university professor Ikeda Nobuo
750 links

36. 忍之閻魔帳
("Shinobi enmachou")
Game and movie blog
729 links

37. Yahoo!ブログ ジャブログに散る!
("Yahoo!burogu Jaburogu ni charu!")
Official blog of Ryuichi Ogata, member of Japanese boy band w-inds
709 links

38. Geekなぺーじ インターネット技術メモ
("Geek na peeji intaanetto gijutsu memo")
Geek and programmers blog
695 links

39. ◆めっつぉ Intermezzo
("◆Mettsuo Intermezzo")
Tech, game and geek blog
690 links

40. きくちＰの音組収録日記 フジテレビ
("KikuchiP no otogumi shuuroku nikki Fuji terebi")
Blog about production at major Japanese TV network Fuji
676 links

41. うちの3姉妹～マンガで見る今日の出来事～
("Uchi no 3shimai～manga de miru kyou no dekigoto～")
Blog about 3 manga siblings
661 links

42. Google Japan Blog
Google Japan's company blog
652 links

43. きっこのブログ
("Kikko no burogu")
Blog by Japanese hair stylist Kikko (!)
638 links

44. phpspot開発日誌 PHP/Ajax/JavaScript/CSS等の最新技術情報をお届け
("phpspot Kaihatsu nisshi PHP/Ajax/JavaScript/CSS nado no saishin gijutsu jouhou o otodoke")
Internet programming blog
625 links

45. DesignWalker
An L.A.-based Japanese web designer's blog
614 links

46. 小倉優子のこりん星のお食事って？ powered by ココログ
("Ogura Yuuko no korinsei no oshokujitte? powered by kokorogu")
Official blog of ultracute super idol and alleged alien life form Ogura Yuko
609 links

47. 佐藤健のOfficial Blog
("Satou Takeru no Official Blog")
Official blog of Japanese actor Sato Takeru
608 links

48. 茂木健一郎　クオリア日記
("Mogi Kenichirou kuoria nikki")
Official blog of Japanese multi talent Ken Mogi (his English blog is here)
602 links

49. モModern Syntax
("Mo Modern Syntax")
Private blog by the founder of Japanese blog service "Blogpeople"
595 links

50. Lifehacking.jp
Geek blog
591 links

There are a lot of blogs from celebrities in the top 50, aren't there? You can view Technorati America's Top 100 blogs here for a comparison.

For an excellent resource about Japan's blogosphere in English make sure to check out Global Voices Online's Japan section.

Japaaan: New SNS to uncover Japan's hidden must-go spots

As many people know, it is true that Japan is a big and beautiful country with a rich cultural heritage. Even a metropolis Tokyo has its nice places. I am kind of affiliated with the German embassy here in Tokyo and from what I hear Japan doesn't do a really good of promoting the country in Europe. Well, I can't say from here.

Now, a new social network called "Japaaan" was just recently established to do something very interesting: Unearthing Japan's nicest places which are yet unknown particularly to foreign visitors! So if you are an individualistic traveler who is interested in seeing Japan's hidden touristic treasures you should join the network. Families are welcome as well.

Signing up is free and done in 30 seconds. I am a member already ;).

Picture: New SNS "Japaaan"


My friend Yuki Naotori (CEO of web startup 7ns) created "Japaaan" in liaison with www.japan-hopper.com.

In detail, the network is a platform for people who are interested in travel destinations which are not accounted for in printed guides like "Lonely Planet" or on the usual travel web sites. This can include i.e. "hidden" onsen (Japanese hot springs), ryokans (Japanese inns), temples, remote villages, unknown sightseeing spots etc.

Gaijin and Japanese people are equally welcome to share their insider tips online.

Online AND offline plans
The activity is not only reduced to online discussions though. It is planned to actually travel to certain places together and document the experience. Later videos, pictures etc. of the trips would be posted on the web site.

I think this non-profit project is a cool idea. If you are interested, please join "Japaaan" here or through www.japaan.org.

There will be a first offline kickstart-meeting in a restaurant in Tokyo on January 9th. Everyone interested is cordially invited. Please visit the web site for details and make sure to let the webmaster know of you attendance as fast as possible so seats can be reserved.

Review: 8 reasons why Yahoo rules Japan

My posting about the Top 50 web sites in Japan featured a winner: Yahoo Japan.

The company not only dominates Internet search in Japan (approx. 65% market share) but the Internet as a whole, offering a wide range of services. Corporate business figures are not too shabby either. From April to September this year for example, Yahoo Japan's profits equaled 29,27 billion Yen (254 million USD/178 million Euros)!



Here are 8 reasons for Yahoo Japan's success so far:

1) Head Start
Yahoo started Internet operations in Japan in 1996 when Google didn't even exist.

2) Tie-up with Japanese communications powerhouse Softbank
Yahoo Japan didn't just translate its service but localized it in cooperation with a strong Japanese joint venture partner (telecommunications giant Softbank). Actually, Softbank owns 41% of Yahoo Japan while Yahoo Inc. only owns 33% of shares. In my view, Yahoo Japan is in fact a very, very Japanese company...

3) Adoption to Japanese tastes
Yahoo Japan's top page is cluttered (see the screen shot below for a translated version). Google Japan's top page is as minimalistic as its non-Japanese versions which is a good thing in my view. But Yahoo's design is appealing to Japanese people. Users here are used to see a lot of links and text boxes on a top page. In a way, they expect it to be like that!

4) Wildly successful auction site
"Ebay? What's that?" would be the answer the average Japanese Joe would give if asked if they knew a company of that name. There is actually no Ebay Japan (here is why they failed 5 years ago). Yahoo's auction service is absolutely dominant in Japan and makes a LOT of money. There are over 15 million items on sale! They have a popular mobile version, too.

5) Comprehensive online service lineup
While more or less buried in the West, Yahoo Japan is living proof the "Internet portal idea" is very much alive, at least here in Japan. I personally regularly use Yahoo to look up the TV program, weather, news, train information and much more. See the picture below for a translation of the Yahoo Japan top page.

Picture: Top page Yahoo Japan (click to enlarge). This is the brushed-up version which is available after January 1st, 2008.


Let me break down the particularly important "CATEGORIES" column on the right (from top to bottom).

The first part is entitled "Yahoo!サービス" (Yahoo services) and covers 17 items:
Shopping, auctions, travel, news, weather, sports, map, traffic info, real estate, eating out, cars, BBS, blogging, beauty and dating.

The second part (お気に入り, meaning bookmarks) consists of five items:
Movies, music, games, astrology and videos.

The third part is named "ピックアップ" (Pick up) and currently features selected music only.

6) Investments in Japan
Yahoo Japan has a history of investing in the Japanese market signaling serious commitment to the domestic market. The company employs nearly 2.700 people in this country. Its HQ is located in Tokyo's poshest office complex, Roppongi Midtown in Tokyo.

Yahoo is also Japan's biggest broadband operator (Yahoo BB)!

7) Cooperations with Japanese companies
I already blogged about Yahoo Japan's plans to bring the web to HD-TVs (in cooperation with Sharp). The investment in Japanese web company GMO Internet (13.5 million USD two weeks ago) is a second and more recent example for Yahoo's integration in this country's economy.

8) Innovations
One recent example for a new service from Yahoo Japan is "Yahoo Videocast" which is not available in other countries. This subsite makes it possible for users to upload and watch videos from their mobile phones and on the web. Yahoo claims videos can be displayed on any handset. Not a huge thing but it shows they put some resources into fighting Youtube and Nico Nico Doga, at least here in Japan.

Moreover, Yahoo Japan and Ebay America are cooperating now so that Japanese people and Ebay users can trade internationally (background). This new service is called Sekaimon ("door to the world").

Did I forget anything?

Japan's Top 50 web sites

I recently wondered which the most frequently visited web sites in Japan are. There are a number of services which track popularity of Internet services, i. e. Alexa, Nielsen or Comscore.

I am aware that measuring the popularity of web sites is a highly complicated issue and the results are not reliable to say the least. It is not even clear what popularity means: visits, page views, time spent on a particular site or...? Moreover, there is no agreement on a uniform tracking methodology yet. But this discussion is too technical here.

Alexa is said to be more accurate in territories in which English is the first language. For that reason, I chose Nielsen/Netrating Japan's ranking in the following list. The company released this information in July this year (Japanese only). The Top 50 is based on the time surfers from Japan spend on the site.

To compare and to some extent cross-check the data with more recent information, you can see the rank of the corresponding web site in the Alexa in brackets (accessed yesterday Japanese time). Alexa's traffic measurement method is a combination of page views and visits.

So here are the Top 50 of Japan's most popular web sites:

1. yahoo.co.jp (Alexa ranking: 1, my review)

2. mixi.jp (4, social network: my review)

3. rakuten.co.jp (5, online mall with English site, my review)

4. youtube.com (-)

5. fc2.com (2, online services)

6. 2ch.net (12, online forum)

7. goo.ne.jp (9, search/portal)

8. wikipedia.org (-)

9. biglobe.ne.jp (18, search/portal)

10. infoseek.co.jp (10, search/portal)

11. nifty.com (14, search/portal)

12. google.co.jp (3)

13. amazon.co.jp (11)

14. etrade.ne.jp (-, finance services)

15. msn.com (msn.co.jp is 48th)

16. nicovideo.jp (6, video sharing: my review)

17. jra.go.jp (-, horse racing with English site)

18. geocities.jp (63)

19. sakura.ne.jp (15, Internet provider)

20. qweb.ne.jp (-, currently inaccessible)

21. gyao.jp (49, video site)

22. so-net.ne.jp (40, search/portal)

23. livedoor.jp (-, online services)

24. hangame.co.jp (32, gaming, my review at Asiajin)

25. benesse.ne.jp (-, service corporation with English site)

26. ocn.ne.jp (25, search/portal)

27. google.com (-)

28. microsoft.com (-)

29. teacup.com (42, online services)

30. 2chan.net (-, aka Futaba, Internet Forum)

31. daiwa.co.jp (-, securities brokerage)

32. kakaku.com (44, social shopping/price comparison: my review)

33. ameblo.jp (16, blogging services)

34. fm-p.jp (53, home page maker)

35. livedoor.com (7, online services)

36. cgiboy.com (39, online/graphics services)

37. macromill.com (-, research company)

38. excite.co.jp (35)

39. dion.ne.jp (41, now auone.jp, mobile phone company)

40. ecnavi.jp (-, shopping portal)

41. kabu.co.jp (-, finance services)

42. yomiuri.co.jp (62, online newspaper with English site)

43. home.ne.jp (66, currently inaccessible)

44. monex.co.jp (-, online bank with English site)

45. exblog.jp (33, blogging services)

46. asahi.com (77, online newspaper with English site)

47. jal.co.jp (-, airline)

48. matsui.co.jp (-, securities brokerage with English site)

49. xmbs.jp (19, currently inaccessible)

50. nikkei.co.jp (57, online business newspaper with English site)


It is obvious that the Alexa ranking can't really match with the Nielsen results due to different tracking approaches and times of my accessing the information. It is striking that some popular sites in the Nielsen ranking, i. e. Youtube (!), don't appear in the Alexa hit list at all. However, Alexa says dell.com is 8th but the Dell address is missing in Nielsen's list.

The Top 50 should at least be a good estimate of the most popular web sites in Japan nevertheless!

New blog "Asiajin" launched - definitely recommended reading

Japan is the second biggest economy in the world, has a population of 128 million and can be proud of its vibrant and innovative Internet market.

However, there is not even a handful of blogs in English covering the Japanese Internet scene.

Just a couple of days before I set up Tokyotronic, Blognation Japan started with my friend Robert Sanzalone as editor. Also, there is Chris Salzberg who together with Hanako Tokita takes care of the "Japan section" at Global Voices, regularly covering the VERY active blogosphere in this country. Robert Cawte's NextWeb Japan and venture capitalist Shin Fukushige's from the inside, looking in are other recommended blogs.

New blog "Asiajin"
However now, Asiajin joined the mission of bringing the latest developments on the Japanese Internet to the public. Asiajin means "Asian people" in Japanese. This blog actually follows a broader approach by covering Asia as a whole and not only Japan - a very good idea!

Asiajin is run by Japanese star programmers Shunichi Arai of Mellowtone (his impressive CV in English can be found here) and Akky Akimoto who is active over at Cyboze. Information on Akky (in English) can be found here. More editors are expected to join in the near future.

Although the blog is officially launched today there is a lot of information to be found already. So please make sure to check it out.

Web 2.0 event in Tokyo: Learn about Zooomr, Artistsweb and FF3

Yesterday I attended a Tokyo2point0 event in Omotesandou/Tokyo for the first time. Tokyo2point0 is a social network set up by Tokyo-based Englishman and IT fanatic Andrew Shuttleworth. However, members of this community also meet in real life on a regular basis.

You can sign up directly on the site itself, go to Tokyo2point0's Facebook group or get some information on Mixi.

The event yesterday focused on networking and three presentations two of which were hold mainly in English. I really hope all Japanese people in the room understood everything (I couldn't talk to all of them to "check" their language skills).

1) Zooomr.com
Zooomr.com is the name of a rather famous web service which is regularly featured on sites like Techcrunch or Mashable. In its simplest form, Zooomr is a photosharing site. After the event,I talked with Kristopher (the founder and CTO) on Skype and he told me they are not competing with companies like Flickr.

Why? Zooomr in my opinion heavily focuses on social network aspects. Moreover, the site seems to offer more functions than Flickr or other similar products (i.e. Zipline which is kind of an Instant Messenger!), is translated into 16 languages and designed very mobile Internet-friendly (VERY important in Japan).

Also, Zooomr is essentially a JAPANESE web service. The HQ is located in Shibuya, Tokyo and all key people (including Kristopher himself) are based in Japan!

Kristopher also talked about "OpenTransit" which is essentially an open source routing navigation engine for Web Developers. Very cool idea. I hope we can see some great products coming out of that!

Here is the video of Kristopher's presentation (direct link):


2) TheArtistsWeb
Chris Kirkland gave an interesting presentation about his e-commerce platform "The Artists Web". On the site artists from all backgrounds can sign up for a certain yearly fee, set up their own web site (gallery) and then are able to sell their works online to buyers from all over the world. What is sold is not a tangible product but electronic files that can be printed out later.

Chris told me prints are selling particularly well. There are over 27,000 works of art online at the moment!

The company is run from England and Japan with Chris being the owner and based here in Japan.

He also shared his experiences with Facebook and the way they handle developers of FB applications. Bittersweet stories;). Chris is a pretty busy guy: He also runs a gaming network called "The Sentence Game" which almost 30,000 users subscribed to. Wow!

For more information, check out his video (direct link):


3) Firefox 3
The launch of Firefox 3 is not exactly Web 2.0-related but Gen Kanai's presentation and demo was very interesting nonetheless.

Gen is director of Marketing at Mozilla Japan and passionate about pushing Firefox in the Japanese market. Actually he also was responsible for setting up the new Mozilla China (Chinese only) office in Beijing (more on that here).

You can see his cool presentation here (direct link):


Also, please check out Gen's personal site. His blog (written in English) is excellent!

Friendster will never make it in Japan

I was surprised to hear today that social network Friendster has released a Japanese version of its site. They also launched Friendster in Korean (the site is already available in Chinese).

I have to admit this move leaves me a little staggered. Friendster makes two "mistakes" here:
1)
They are way, way too late. There is Mixi, GREE, MySpace Japan, Yahoo 360 etc. etc. Who needs Friendster now?

2)
The launch of the Japanese version is barely backed by any Marketing or PR in this country. Moreover, Friendster just translated its service instead of localizing it. This is a hopeless approach in most country markets but especially in Japan.

Surely people at Friendster know all of this themselves.

Why did they translate their site anyway? My guess is Friendster just wanted to round off its service. They cover English, Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Japanese now. However, only very, very few Japanese users will be inclined to join Friendster through this move.

PS
My mother tongue German is still missing on Friendster ;).

How to use and register for KakikoTV

Following the review, here is some more information about KakikoTV. I will break down this posting into two parts:

I) How to register
II) How to use KakikoTV

Let's begin by
I) How to register
The sign-up process is very easy as displayed in the JPEGs below.



After confirmation, you are logged in (your name is displayed on the top right of the screen). You will also get a "Thank you"-email (without an activation link by the way).

II) How to use KakikoTV
You can choose between two ways to get videos from Youtube as seen in the following image.


After choosing a video the following screen appears:


Confirm and you get to the following page:


Confirm again and now you can start modifying the video:


The container on the right displays a list of all effects added to the video so far (in the JPEG above, there are two).

The main menu consists of the following functions/effects you can add (left to right):
- text
- subtitles
- speech balloons
- shapes (arrows, squares etc.)
- insert an image
- insert an animation (from a list: smiley, glowing light bulb etc.)
- insert a link to a Yahoo auction (!)
- insert a sound effect (from a list)
- insert sound freely
- show a list of all effects added (also to be seen in the container to the right of the video)

I could write on and on about each of these functions but that would lead too far. I suggest you try it out. It's very easy to use!

Here is an example for the options you can choose from after selecting the text function. You can alter text size, color, font, position on the video etc. etc.!


Confirm every effect by clicking on the floppy disk icon on the small menu appearing above the main menu (see JPEG above). It will be then added as a new effect to the list just like the text box in the example:


At the end, KakikoTV saves the video with all effects included automatically. You can access your "work" later, edit/delete each effect, put modified videos on display for other people and mail them to friends (see JPEG).

I think this information is enough to make good use of KakikoTV for Non-Japanese speakers ;).

Review: KakikoTV lets you modifiy videos and photos online

KakikoTV is the name of a relatively new service which has so far been exclusively marketed in Japan. I listened to the interesting presentation of the maker during the Web 2.0 Expo in Tokyo recently (my short article about the expo is here).

Essentially KakikoTV enables users to modify videos and photos online by integrating a range of visual and sound effects, comments or subtitles.

This is the official KakikoTV demo video (direct link).


There is no information in English about KakikoTV anywhere on the Internet so I decided it is time for a write-up from my side ;). Learn how to use and register for KakikoTV as a non-Japanese speaker in a separate post. Please notice I focus on modifying videos in this review (not pictures).

I will review KakikoTV in the following order:

I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Modell
V) Opinion


I) General Info
The site is a product of Eviry Inc. (this and most of the following links are in Japanese only) which was founded October 2006. The company is located in Tokyo.

KakikoTV is Eviry's main service and was introduced in March this year. The presentation at the Web 2.0 expo Tokyo promoted Intra Kakiko however, the company's new product which was released just last month. While KakikoTV is B2C, Intra Kakiko is aimed at the B2B market only. In this review, I focus on KakikoTV since this is more of interest to most of the readers of this blog.

II) Starting Page
Please click on the JPEG below in which I translated the main contents of the starting page into English.


The starting page is very clear and almost self-explanatory. The page's third row features a box in which users can type in a Youtube URL to get the video they want to modify. Alternatively, a search term can be entered. KakikoTV then accesses Youtube's data base and presents related videos in grid format (on their own site).

III) Functions and Features

There are a lot of options to modify videos via Kakiko. Please look at my tuturial for details.

This is the page where you can work on the video you chose:


Mainly, users can integrate sounds, pictures, icons, text and animations into videos. You can use the effects given by the site but also add your own!

Effects can be changed in size, appearance (i.e. angle) and color. Users are free to integrate these elements at any given time into any given Youtube video.

More on this in my tutorial on KakikoTV.

IV) Business Modell
There are no advertisements on the site. Also, there are no premium memberships. The company makes money solely with sales of its B2B solution Intra Kakiko.

Youtube could use a service like this and let users pay for it. I am sure that this would be an idea worth trying out.

V) Opinion
A comparison with Youtube's own editing feature "Remixer" (made by Adobe Premiere Expresss) is impossible since at the time of writing I couldn't get it to work on my PC. It is still in Youtube's "Test Tube" section anyway meaning it's not an official service yet.

Pros:
1)
The whole site is very clear in layout and style

2)
The service is easy to use

3)
No need to download and install software of any kind

4)
Clear focus on a selected service (modification and amplification of online videos and pictures)

5)
As a whole, KakikoTV "makes sense", is fun and a useful tool

Cons:
1)
An English version would be good

2)
More functions/effects are always welcome

I think two things about the Internet are true: Firstly, the game for videos is big already and will grow in the future. Secondly, uploading and viewing videos and pictures online for fun or professional purposes is here to stay. This means potential for services as KakikoTV or IntraKakiko is huge.

What I like best about KakikoTV is its usability. Japanese people love the Kantan-principle (kantan (簡単) means easy). And KakikoTV delivers in this respect. Everything is thought through from the users' point of view.

Make sure to read my 2nd posting about KakikoTV in which I analyze the functions and explain how to register (in English).

Overall: Well done!

Paralyzed people can now control avatars by their minds

Scientists at the Biomedical Engineering Faculty (web site is Japanese only) of Tokyo's Keio University (which happens to be my university) have developed a method which enables disabled people to control avatars on the Internet with their minds!

The project team is lead by Keio University associate professor Junichi Ushiba (web site is partly Japanese).

Electrodes attached to a person's head and connected to a computer turn thoughts into actual movement by avatars. The project focused on Second Life (a short take on Second Life is here).

The experiment turned out to be a success (OK, otherwise they wouldn't have shown it to the world). Probands can walk, shop and set up businesses in Second Life! No keyboard or mouse is needed.

I have seen machines in the USA which enable paralyzed people to type emails by using their brains but nothing like this new concept. I am not a biomedical engineer but I think the Japanese method is much more sophisticated.

More information and a movie can be found here. The project team's site is Japanese only but the movie is interesting to watch even if you can't understand the language.