Drecom [J] Has released the new social game application “Monster Arms” for the American App Store.  The support language is English so unfortunately it can’t be downloaded from Japan.

“Monster Arms” is a real time strategy card game where you make an original deck and collect character cards while completing missions.  It has social components such as battling with other players to get treasure, or teaming up to challenge against bosses.

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Drecom Releases American iOS App “Monster Arms”

“I would like to have cat-shaped earphone-jack parts like this.”

She did not expect that so many people liked and wanted it. But the Twitter buzz promptly found a company who offers to make it production. The mock-ups have arrived now.

This design plan “Cat-type Plug Accessory(tentative name)” becomes “this” \(゜∀゜)/

Some people challenged to build at home, too.

Plug-in Cat For Smartphone Is Under Development

The sample text means “Chinese letter’s stroke order”

The font is avaiable here.

via Modern Syntax Blog

Japanese Font With Stroke Order

Referred pages are all in Japanese, unless otherwise stated.

• Amazon Japan Begins Video Games Trade-In. US Amazon’s one is since March 2009.
• Twitter Releases Feature Phone Client [En], 2.5 Years Later For Japan [En]
• “Hello Call” – Laundromat Washer Machine Calls You When It Is Done –

  
  

• Ministry of Foreign Affair Begins Twitter PR Targeting Youth
• Xevious x Sprite Game via Cnet Japan Wired [En]
• The World First Laser AR Head-Up Display(HUD) Car Navigation To Be Sold In July By Pioneer

  

• Hatsune Miku Version PS Vita [En]
• Virtual AR Mixed-sex Bathing App For Android Released

  via IT Media

• “I stole your iPod!”, @qoo9qoo saw when he woke up at school

  

  It turned out to be his birthday prank by his friends.

• Naver Line Takes In Celebrities – Starts With 7 Talents/Units
• NHN Japan’s LINE for Windows Has A Dreadful Bug To Remove Whole “Program Files” On Uninstall – when you had installed non-default folder. Bug fixed days later.
• Some Docomo Androids Listed As End Of Production Only Within A Year including Galaxy Nexus, Android 4.0 reference model
• Idol M@aster On Mobage Releases New Set Gacha After Kompu-Gacha Self Regulations News Rush
• Consumer Agency Defines Fake Reviews By Shopowner (so-called Stealth Marketing = Sutema) Is Bad – still not so restrict like US FTC
• Gree’s Doriland To Become Animation
• Google Bans Nifty’s Android App Which Cache YouTube And Niconico Video For Offline
• Actvila’s subscribers are 520,000
• Bic Camera to acquire majority in Kojima: Nikkei | Reuters [En] Nation’s #5 electronics chain-store purchases #6, becomes #2 next to Yamada
• KDDI Launches Flat-rate Music Service LISMO unlimited for iPhone. The service is not restricted within KDDI iPhone. non KDDI iPhone user can use it as well.
• Social Game Vendor Klab Uplisted To TSE First Section From Mothers – fastest upgrade in TSE history. Klab also announced to buy back 3.27% stocks
• Right To Be Projected On Tokyo Gundam Cockpit At Yahoo! Auction
• Accused Upskirt Photo Taker Eats Up His Memory Card Just Before Arrest, denied the charge

If you want to know any specific news more, but unable to find them in other English blog/media, please let us know.

Japan’s Web News Week 19

Some social networking competitors, such like Gree and DeNA(who runs Mobage), who had turned over Mixi recent years in number of registered users and corporate values mainly by social games, were being proposed to participate in the bidding secretly, sources closed to financial interest told to Nikkei.

The share to be sold off Nikkei says is 55% of the company owned by the Mixi founder & CEO Kenji Kasahara. He established Mixi in 2004 and soon that becomes a giant business based on real friends network and advertising sales.

On May 5, 4 days ago, Mixi announced a board reshuffling, including Akinori Harada’s steps down from the co-representative director & vice-president, he has been leading Mixi’s recent major measures like Mixi Pages, Mixi Mall, etc.

Mixi promptly issued a short release saying “There are no such truth reported on a certain media.”

See Also:

Asiajin » A Summary of the Latest Studies about Japan & Social Media

Mixi Gives Up? Nikkei Business Report CEO Considering To Sell His 55% Ownership

Apple's Siri is Apple's buttocks in Japan | Technically Incorrect – CNET News

Shiri, not Siri

Paperbooya has released “Dr. Teeth,” their first title, as a game application for iPhone.  Download is free.

Paperbooya is a joint venture company established [J] by paperboy&co.  [J] and gooya [J] in January of this year with the purpose of developing and managing smartphone game applications.  Their release at this time, “Dr. Teeth,” is a game where you frantically tap on germs thriving in a patient’s mouth and kill them off.  Bust out a combo by connecting fellow germs with a swipe, scrub the teeth with a brush when a germ sticks on, and rinse with mouthwash when inside the mouth is full of germs.  There’s many types of patients and germs, and you can collect as you go.

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Paperbooya Releases “Dr. Teeth” For iPhone

Kayac [J] has released “ZangPang,” an iPhone application for sharing leftover food.  Download is free.

“ZangPang” is an app based on the concept “Share with everyone what you can’t finish.”  With this social sharing platform for publicly announcing leftover food, when you unintentionally order too much food at a restaurant, you post information and photos of the leftover food on “ZangPang,” and you can get people who want to eat to come and finish.  Kayac aims to preserve the environment and reduce the chances of wasting food through this application.

Translation authorized by VSMedia

Kayac Releases iPhone App For Sharing Leftover Food

From this morning, Klab (major third party provider), DeNA, Cyber Agent and Gree respectively expressed their plan to stop or shrink Kompu Gacha features on their games.

Six Japanese Social Game Platformer Announced To End Complete Gacha

This is huge news for PayPal’s Japan unit, which has been operating in this country for years but hasn’t achieved the success it has seen in other countries so far (see Asiajin editor Akky Akimoto’s comment on Quora from last year for reasons why).

The plan is to establish a joint venture company, “PayPal Japan”, and introduce the “PayPal Here” service in the Japanese market (following the US, Canada, Hong Kong and Australia – visit TechCrunch for more information).

Each partner will hold a 50% stake in the new company and commits to invest 1 billion yen (US$12.5 million).

SoftBank explains:

The joint venture will bring together the strengths of both companies – PayPal’s global online and mobile payment solutions with 110 million active accounts in 190 markets and 25 currencies, along with the SOFTBANK Group’s local market knowledge, 29 million mobile subscribers^*2 and vast distribution network including thousands of retail outlets and sales staff across Japan. By bringing together these global and local assets, the joint venture will provide the premier digital wallet for online, mobile and offline transactions to connect millions of Japanese consumers and merchants and expand the use of digital payment solutions, such as PayPal Here, in the Japanese market. (…)

PayPal and SOFTBANK expect PayPal Here to revolutionize the Japanese retail commerce market worth JPY134 trillion (USD1.7 trillion) in 2011and support the growth of 4.7 million small businesses, which account for 99% of all businesses and 70% of all employment in Japan.

What’s interesting is that the new partners aren’t losing time: the iPhone app for merchants and “PayPal Here” card reader are already available today at several “select” stores in Japan before SoftBank plans to roll out the reader “in the next several weeks” in their stores all over Japan.

The reader costs 1,200 yen, while each transaction will be taxed with 5% (there will be no fixed fees).

“PayPal Here”: SoftBank And PayPal Join Forces In Japan For Smartphone Payment Solution