News On Japan

Domains with .tokyo could be available next year

Yomiuri — 2012-01-11 03:11:47

From next year, Internet users may be able to have domain names ending with .tokyo, .sendai or .canon in e-mails and Web sites, according to sources. At least five local governments and two Japanese companies--Canon Inc. and Hitachi Ltd.--have indicated they plan to register their names for top-level domains under a plan to massively increase the number of available domains on the Internet. Domains are a set of Internet addresses that come after an "@" mark. The ones installed in the root zone of e-mail and website addresses are called top-level domains. There are only 22 top-level domain categories, including one for countries, such as Japan's .jp. Companies typically use the .com category, while .org is for nonprofit organizations. In 2008, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a U.S. nonprofit organization that manages domains across the globe, decided to liberalize the usage of top-level domains. It will begin receiving applications for the new domains from Thursday to April and then examine whether it will allow them to be registered ahead of their expected use next year. (Yomiuri)

Japan developing cyber weapon

MSN — 2012-01-01 11:49:53

Japan has been developing a virus that could track down the source of a cyber attack and neutralise its program, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday. The weapon is the culmination of a Y179 million ($A2.28 million) three-year project entrusted by the government to technology maker Fujitsu Ltd to develop a virus and equipment to monitor and analyse attacks, the daily said. The United States and China are reported to have put so-called cyber weapons into practical use, Yomiuri said. Japan will have to make legal amendments to use a cyber weapon as it could violate the country's law against the manufacture of a computer virus, the daily said. (MSN)

Used bookstores turn to Internet sales for a lift in turbulent times

Japan Times — 2011-12-30 22:27:48

When talking about books, there are not as many polarizing issues as the contrast between chain bookstores and independent booksellers. Many people blame the former group for the gradual disappearance of the latter. Without demonizing the big chains, independent shops have traditionally been an important part of the local community. This is particularly true for the English-language used bookstores which for many years have been serving the expatriate community across Japan. The two only surviving shops in Tokyo - Good Day Books and The Blue Parrot - are devoted to their mission and plan to stay around for many more years to come. (Japan Times)

Softbank, Alibaba seeking partners to take over Yahoo

Japan Times — 2011-11-09 12:40:39

Softbank Corp. and China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. are talking with private-equity funds about making a bid for all of Yahoo Inc. without the company's blessing, sources said. Alibaba and Softbank, in an effort to buy back stakes owned by Yahoo, have grown impatient with a lack of progress in direct talks with the firm, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private. The two companies aim to work with partners that haven't signed nondisclosure agreements circulated by Yahoo that can make it harder to bid for the whole company, the sources said. Yahoo prefers to sell a smaller stake, rather than cede complete control, they said. (Japan Times)

World's biggest blog obsession

Japan Times — 2011-09-05 07:32:08

Internet users in Japan spend more time reading blogs than any other country in the world, according to a recent study from comScore, a research company measuring the digital world. The average Japanese user spent 62.6 minutes reading blogs during June of this year, when the survey was conducted. That was far more than second-place South Korea with an average of 49.6 minutes and third-place Poland with 47.7 minutes. Japanese may appear busy and overworked, but they manage to squeeze in a lot of blog time. (Japan Times)

Cyberattacks on Japan police originated in China

in.com — 2011-08-27 00:13:05

The National Police Agency said today that more than 90 per cent of cyberattacks on its website carried out overnight on July 10 originated from Internet Protocol addresses in China. The findings came after the NPA determined that similar attacks on its website last September were mostly attributable to Chinese IP addresses. Access to the NPA website was temporarily interrupted on the night of July 10 through the early hours of the following day as the apparent number of users accessing the website surged to about 20 times the normal level, the NPA said, adding that no data was breached. (in.com)

Yahoo Japan Has Traffic But Google Has Mobile Technology

MarketWatch — 2011-08-25 23:10:34

While Yahoo tries to make the most of its dominant position in Japan, it's hard to forget that the company faces serious challenges in the U.S. market and that even the success of a Yahoo phone will mean little for the core Yahoo business. You may be wondering why Yahoo is launching its Yahoo! Phone in Japan. It turns out that Yahoo Japan is the dominant search player in Japan. Yahoo Japan accounts for a significant portion of Yahoo's "strategic investments." As shown in our breakdown of Yahoo's value below, strategic investments account for about 36% of our near $17 Trefis price estimate for Yahoo's stock. The Trefis price is currently about 30% above the current market price. (MarketWatch)

Japan 'computer grannies' grip Internet lifeline

AP — 2011-08-24 10:46:56

Fifteen years ago, a growing sense of isolation due to old age prompted Kayoko Okawa, then 66, to knock on the door of a local volunteer center and timidly ask if it was possible for someone her age to start an online community for seniors. The energetic 81-year-old is now president of the "Computer Grandmas Group" and says connecting this way can ease loneliness for Japan's increasing number of seniors who live alone -- and, more importantly, stave off a lonely death, with the bodies often not found for days. "I like to remember how we used to write letters - including photos, pictures," Okawa said. "It was the personal touches that mattered." Turned down 15 years ago by many groups with comments like "there's no way a granny like you could do it," Okawa's tentative questions were met by friendly enthusiasm and advice from two young men, who immediately offered to help set up the network and print business cards for her. (AP)

High-flying Japanese billionaire may be set to take gree global

Jakarta Globe — 2011-07-06 23:15:23

Yoshikazu Tanaka, Japan's youngest billionaire, is considering an overseas listing of the social networking company he founded amid the busiest year for US Internet-related initial public offerings since 2000. "Numerous Japanese companies have listed overseas after doing so on the Tokyo Stock Exchange," said 34-year-old Tanaka, owner of Gree, the nation's second-largest networking service. "We would like to consider such an option as well." Such a move would allow Gree to join LinkedIn and China's Renren among firms capitalizing on the growing investor appetite for social-media stocks. (Jakarta Globe)

Alibaba.com to help Japan firms crack China market

AFP — 2011-06-07 23:19:31

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has launched a service to help Japanese manufacturers crack into the fast-growing Chinese market, the group's Japanese unit said Tuesday. Tokyo-based Alibaba.com Japan Co. said the new service, which uses China's largest retail website, Taobao, can help Japanese consumer goods makers cut through red tape and save time and money. "High-quality Japanese products are popular on the Taobao site, so we have been receiving requests from users to directly buy the products from Japanese firms," Taobao CEO Jonathan Lu said in a statement. (AFP)

Rakuten starts online shopping mall in Indonesia

Kyodo — 2011-06-01 22:53:43

Rakuten Inc., a leading online shopping mall operator in Japan, said Wednesday it has broken into the market in Indonesia, which has the largest population of Internet users in Southeast Asia. Rakuten will seek to establish the No. 1 Internet shopping mall in Indonesia, President Hiroshi Mikitani said at a press conference, announcing the launch of an online shopping mall by PR Rakuten-MNC, a joint venture between the Tokyo-based company and PT Global Mediacom, a leading Indonesian media group. (Kyodo)