By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry
Three top e-commerce entrepreneurs from Japan: 1) Hiroshi Mikitani from Rakuten (). $10 billion market cap. 2) Minoru Tanaka from Kakaku.com () $1.5 billion market cap. 3) Teruhide Sato from Netprice (;) $70 million market cap. Note: Mikitani and Sato started their e-commerce platforms by...
Here is the link to a column I wrote on the role of 3D for Japan’s electronics industry for the journal for the American Chamber Of Commerce in Japan. Excerpt: The way its proponents spin it, 3D will be the next big thing not only in movie theaters, but in home electronics as well. One...
I answered a related question (What is the compensation rate for game development industry roles in Japan? ) earlier. The answer contains some anecdoctal horror stories of people with monthly salaries to the tune of $1,500 and some other (more solid) data. I can think of these reasons as to why the...
It’s true that in comparison to the hardware/electronics/gadget and other sectors, the Japanese web industry is relatively weak from a global perspective. I think though the industry is better than its reputation. There are three factors at play here: language, market size and the importance...
Foursquare doesn’t break down country-specific numbers, but anecdotally speaking, it’s pretty big. Some hints: Some months ago, I read in an interview (with the CEO, I think) that Tokyo is one of the cities with the most check-ins worldwide. (Sorry, can’t find it now) The API is...
I have written an extensive blog post on this question in April: ; Basically, what people in Japan and elsewhere define as a smartphone is vastly different. In the US, for example, it’s a phone with advanced functionality, for example web browsing capability. In Japan however, even the...
By Dr. Serkan Toto – On Japan's Game Industry