By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
I just stumbled upon this thread on Quora in which someone claims he has seen Facebook Japan’s country growth manager Taro Kodama saying on TV his company is aiming at 50 million users in Japan. While I cannot confirm this statement (I haven’t seen the interview), I can offer a link to...
What’s the difference between Facebook and Mixi? That’s a big question many regular (non-geek) social media users in Japan ask themselves and a challenge for Facebook Japan: if they think Mixi is basically the same as Facebook, there is no point in changing sides. While I could easily...
Social media, mobile and the web in Japan is a field not too many people living outside this country have an understanding of. I am honored to moderate two Japan-related panels at this year’s SXSW event in Austin/Texas to help spread the word in the US and elsewhere. Specifically, I will be...
Will Cookpad win or Rakuten Recipe? Japanese A-list blogger Akky Akimoto has written an article worth reading on how Japan’s biggest sites for recipes are battling it out currently. It looks like Rakuten Recipe is on its way to overtake Cookpad, a company that’s listed at the Tokyo...
DeNA added two top social games from Mobage-town to Mobage on Android, beefing up its “Mobage.town For Smartphone” platform. Both games were developed by DeNA itself in Japan and are only available in Japanese. Sengoku Royal is a war themed role-playing that takes place in the middle...
Yahoo Mobage, Yahoo Japan’s and DeNA’s social game platform on the PC, is getting more and more games. One candidate for a future hit title isn’t a social game but a 3D virtual world called Pico Pico Town. Made by DeNA itself, Pico Pico Town went live today in beta. There are a total of 5...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry