Online shopping in Japan is expected to become a $56 billion industry by 2015, this is according to a research done by global management consulting firm Mckinsey & Company. Virtual shopping is currently a $30 billion market and approximately represents 5 percent of the entire retail sales. The significant shift from conventional shopping landscape is [...]

Mobile and Internet technology have reportedly assisted the unprecedented growth of social games in Japan, as well as in other countries populated by die-hard game players. New Japanese game companies like Gree, Inc. and DeNA are dominating the social-games market with their card-battle games that allow members to actively interact and influence each other’s gaming [...]

Unlike in other Asian and Western countries, the social network sites in Japan did not commence until in 2003 with Goco as the pioneering network. A year after, Mixi came to the limelight, and was followed by MySpace in 2006, 2nd Life in 2007, then Twitter in 2008. Each of these social networks was a success one way or another. In Japan, the functionality of social media gears towards financial, informational, and physical gains. The social networks have become a source of useful information for job applicants, employers, and entrepreneurs.

A country report on the state of cloud computing in Japan makes good reading. The country comes in at First place in the BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard. The various aspects considered were legislative readiness, anti cybercrime laws, management of intellectual property rights, interoperability, international harmonization of cloud computing rules and infrastructure and statistical indicators.

The early establishment of Twitter as a social media force in Japan and the meteoric rise of Facebook in the first two quarters of 2012 are two cases that should be studied in order to gain valuable insight into the Japanese market. However, thanks to a strong marketing strategy, Facebook is on a clear upward trend and may conceivably overtake Twitter in the next year.

For a relatively tight-knit market where penetration of outside and unconventional services rarely succeeds, Japan has already warmed up to the idea of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) due to the various benefits it offers to any type of industry. Based on a recent study of Gartner, the SaaS market in Japan is expected to rise to $495.2 million this year, which is a 16% increase from last year.

A start-up firm is “tabula rasa” by nature and one of its major advantages is the possibility for great opportunities. Though well-established in our home court (country – Japan), we still count ourselves as newbies when it comes to markets outside of Japan. Resources are ready, support is already there, now our primary aim is [...]

A few months ago, the talk of social media gaming in Japan was centered around the new government regulations regarding kompu gacha. This mechanic was included in games by some of the biggest game social media games in Japan, including companies like GREE, Zynga, Klab, Konami, Sega, and Namco Bandai. Although the news caused shares [...]

Since majority of the Japanese enjoy various mobile features as well as its flexibility when they are on the go, mobile phones have become a main medium to engage in different activities. Hence, mobile cloud computing is seen to further expand in the Japanese smartphone market.

People in Japan are often the first to lay their hands on the latest and the coolest gadgets ever made; it is no surprise that they have embraced smartphones long before they were called smartphones. Almost all major smartphone manufacturers have established their presence in the Japanese market. Needless to say that both domestic and international players contribute a significant part to the smartphone population of Japan.