KDDI Corp. said Friday it saw a three-fold jump in the net inflow of customers under the mobile number portability system in September from the previous month on the back of the launch of Apple Inc.'s iPhone 5 smartphone.
The second-largest mobile phone carrier logged a net subscription growth of 95,300 customers under the MNP system, which allows users to switch carriers while retaining their phone numbers, beating other carriers for the 12th straight month.
The net inflow to SoftBank Mobile Corp., which also offers the iPhone, was only 1,200, the mobile carrier said the same day.
KDDI and SoftBank both launched the new Apple smartphone Sept. 21.
KDDI's big net subscription gain was apparently because its services for the iPhone are more attractive than SoftBank's.
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today )
China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters )
Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today )
Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter)
Six sailors were found dead after a fire on a foreign freighter docked at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK )