January 10th, 2009
Michi Kaifu at Tech Mom from Silicon Valley responds to news that Toyota “crown prince” Akio Toyoda is to take the company's president position in June this year. Reflecting on the future of the car maker and on rumors in the Japanese blogosphere, Kaifu writes, “if you still have some money to invest, buy Toyota share. I am pretty sure that they are TOTALLY OK.”
January 9th, 2009
January 6th, 2009
Blogger smashmedia points to [ja] Japanese business news site J-CAST's recent negative campaign against traditional media. The blogger posts links to a J-CAST interview [ja] with freelance journalist Tetsuya Kuroyabu [黒薮哲哉], who explains that more than 20% of newspapers (so-called “oshigami”) are actually undelivered, concealing a lower-than-expected readership; the blogger also links to an interview [ja] with journalist Toshinao Sasaki [佐々木俊尚], who describes the continuing hatred of the Internet among the Japanese newspaper industry.
PingMag, the Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things”, has announced that it will be “taking an extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future.” Over 300 comments from fans of the site have poured in, many describing people's sadness at seeing the end of a unique window into Japan.
January 2nd, 2009
Who runs Japan's largest bulletin board, 2-Channel [2ch]? This is the question being debated on 2channel threads today [ja], with rumors that the board's enigmatic founder Hiroyuki Nishimura has transferred ownership to a company, PACKET MONSTER INC., apparently based in Singapore. “The beginning of the end,” one commenter writes. Many are more skeptical. “It's a bit early,” another quips, “for April Fools.”
December 24th, 2008