Tokyotronic

Danny Choo is awesome because he invited me to CGM Night 2 and put my picture up on Boing Boing

2009-02-13T04:14:00.009+09:00

I went to Danny Choo's Tokyo CGM Night Episode 2 (organized with the ubiquitous Andrew Shuttleworth) last Friday, a gathering of Japanese and gaijin geeks, super-bloggers, top vloggers, idols, media folks and what not.

For those not in the know, Danny Choo is a British guy who has been living in Japan for 10+ years now and runs a super-successful blog that covers things like anime, manga, figures, Japanese lifestyle and culture, gadgets, games etc. etc.

And here are five reasons why this man (who I met just three days earlier at "my" event for the first time) is awesome:
1) He personally invited me to that event.
2) The event was very cool.
3) He said I am his networking idol with Andrew Shuttleworth standing next to me.
4) He is a nice and decent man.
5) He put the only picture he shot with me in it up on Boing Boing, one of the top 5 blogs worldwide (TechCrunch is still lots bigger and better but whatever).

The pictures below are taken by me but Danny's blog posting features a lot more and much better ones.

Thanks for coming: The Tokyo TechCrunch meetup was awesome

2009-02-13T03:48:00.004+09:00

I know I am a tad late (cough, cough) but better late than never: Many thanks again from my side and in the name of Peter Ha for coming to the TechCrunch/CrunchGear Tokyo meetup on February 3 (Japanese version of the meetup notes is here).

Thanks also to Umihiko Namekawa and Nob Takahashi from TechCrunch Japan for being of great help during the meetup (TechCrunch Japan wasn't directly involved in the event though).

The "casual event" turned out to be much bigger than expected with over 100 guests coming in on very, very short notice. Sorry that not everyone could get on the guest list. I will try my bestest to make sure that in the future, we announce events like this earlier!

Here are some pictures (Flickr'd, I didn't have time to take pics or eat!).

Join the CrunchGear/TechCrunch meetup in Tokyo

2009-02-02T01:07:00.004+09:00

Japanese geeks, tech start-ups and TechCrunch groupies, listen well: Peter Ha of TechCrunch and CrunchGear fame is in Tokyo, coming in directly from the TechCrunch HQ in California.

Peter and I are organizing a little get-together on Tuesday night (February 3) in Ebisu or Shibuya (place and time: depending on how many people can come on short notice).

This is the perfect chance to pitch us your web services, products and gadgets!

Drop me a line and I will let you know when and where the meetup will take place exactly tomorrow (Monday):
serkan at techcrunch com

Again, the meetup will take place Tuesday night (February 3)!

Short reports: Two events in Tokyo I attended last month

2009-01-31T22:17:00.008+09:00

I went to two web industry/tech events last month (December 2008).

The first was organized by Ryo Shimizu, CEO and President of Ubiquitous Entertainment, a Tokyo-based web and technology company. Ryo was kind enough to also invite Tetsuya Mizuguchi, one of my absolute heroes.

Tetsuya is a legendary video game creator who used to work for Sega and now runs Q Entertainment. He is also making music videos and lots of other stuff (his English Wikipedia entry is here). I LOVE his stuff (he is the man behind Sega Rally, Lumines and Rez amongst others). This month, I received an email from him when he went to Paris: Very cool!

Ryo's event was a total geek fest. See the pictures below for an example (look at the guy with the LCD glasses - totally crazy). Ryo himself introduced Zeptopad, a cool sketch pad for the iPhone.

The second event I attended was VENTURE BEAT's year-end party. As always, the invitation-only event, backed by CNET Japan, was attended by a vast number of high-profile CEOs, VCs, tech journalists etc.

99% of people are Japanese but this month some guests from the Valley were there. Dave McClure (who has a Japanese wife) and Sean Ellis.

Dave doesn't need an introduction I believe (he is a famous VC, entrepreneur, blogger etc.). Sean is Marketing Advisor at Xobni and currently a self-employed web marketing consultant (he also blogs). Again, famous people but very modest ;).

Thanks again to Hisashi Katsuya from IBM's Venture Capital Group for the invitation.

I am now Director of Marketing of iKnow!, the world's social learning platform

2009-01-10T16:44:00.009+09:00

New year, new role and big news:
I am happy to announce today on my personal blog that I became Director of Marketing at iKnow!, the world's social learning platform this week.

iKnow! is run by Cerego, a technology company headquartered in Shibuya/Tokyo. Cerego has a 14-year old history of applying research in cognitive science and neuroscience to learning technologies (more info here).

iKnow! is Cerego's flagship product and even though the main focus was "only" the Japanese market for most of the time, iKnow! has attracted nearly 400,000 registered users since the launch in October 2007. The service won a Demogod award and was featured in TechCrunch (picked up by yours truly), Mashable, ReadWriteWeb and countless other international super blogs - don't even get me started in Japan ;).

Initially, Japanese users could use iKnow! to learn English but the service has dramatically expanded in the last few weeks: Now Polish people learn French on iKnow!, Russians study German and if you speak English, you can now learn Thai on iKnow! as well. All for free.

Users are welcome to create, share and remix content themselves and they do so like crazy: Almost 30,000 user-made lists (courses) are now on the platform, partially enriched with pictures, audio and video. iKnow! supports creating content in 191 different languages.

Before I get too excited over iKnow! in this posting, I suggest you try the service out for yourself (what a surprise, right?). Please feel free to add me as a friend.

You can find some more info on my position here and here.

PS
I am not leaving TechCrunch.

CrunchBase Information

Cerego Japan Inc.

Information provided by CrunchBase

Attend the Japanese iPhone app media event in SF on January 7

2009-01-04T16:53:00.007+09:00

Estimates suggest that the Japanese iPhone market is about one tenth of that of the US, which is in my view a pretty impressive number. Quite a number of enthusiastic engineers are developing apps for the device that are also of interest for Non-Japanese people.

Now Nobuyuki Hayashi, one of Japan's most renowned IT journalists, has put together a special media event (that will be held in English), which takes place in the US to more aggressively promote made-in-Japan iPhone apps to English speaking users.

The Macworld Expo: Japan iPhone App Developer Special Media Event will be held in San Francisco on January 7 (Wednesday) during the MacWorld expo.
(you can register via the link above directly on Mobile in Japan)

Here is some more information on Asiajin.

This is the first official press release:

Join us for a special press event to find out iPhone secrets from Japan such as:

- Watching TV on your iPhone – the hottest topic right now in Japan
- Draw on your computer screen using an iPhone
- Real-time 3D animation on iPhone
- Beautiful mahjong games
- Samurai chess
- Enjoy a private geisha dance for only 99 cents

WHEN: JAN 7 6.30pm

WHERE: A Venue 10min walk from Moscone; we will email you the detail
after your registration

REGISTRATION REQUIRED:
http://www.mobileinjapan.com/page/macworld-expo-japan-iphone-app

At this event, Nobuyuki Hayashi (aka Nobi), one of the most famous
Mac/iPhone journalists from Japan will be briefing and taking
questions about iPhone market in Japan.

You will also meet ten of the top iPhone developers from Japan including:

Conit (Samurai Chess), GClue(iKoto, iGeisha), HIcorp (Mascot Capsule),
Hudson Software, J's Avenue (Realtime 3D animation library), JYProduct
(FingerPiano), PokeDía (PokeDía), Royal Gadget, SunSoft (Mahjong
Solitaire), UEI (aka Zeptotools, showing ZeptoPad 2.0, ZeptoLiner,
iShodo).

Watch our video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l5Am1xYDCw
http://www.dothehudson.net/en/index.html

This is the second official press release:

Press are invited to join our special evening press reception on January 7th to learn about the state of the iPhone market in Japan and meet 12 leading iPhone app developers, including Ryo Shimizu, the CEO of UEI, creators of Zeptopad (video).

See a video message from the other developers: Vimeo / YouTube

Date/Time: Wed. January 7th 2009, 6.30pm

Venue: Close to Moscone Center. Details will be sent to qualified registrants. (Please register below)

Agenda:
7 pm - 7.10pm Nobuyuki Hayashi (aka Nobi), a Japanese iPhone journalist will brief the state of the iPhone in Japan and take Questions
7.15pm - A dozen iPhone developers from Japan will be showcasing their latest/greatest iPhone applications

To join the event for the best sushi in San Francisco, the latest and greatest iPhone apps and some Japanese gadgets to play with, please register using the form below. Event is only open to press and qualified bloggers. Confirmation and venue information will be sent by email.

Please send any inquiries to macworld-event-reg @ iphoneinjapan.com

Asiajin is 1 year old

2008-12-17T16:25:00.005+09:00

Asiajin, one of the very few (and I dare say most successful) blogs in English focusing on the Japanese and Asian web industry, is now 1 year old. 233 blogs were written in 365 days, which is not bad for a non-commercial blog. Details can be found here.

It has been very cool working with the Asiajin crew so far and I will continue to help expose Japanese tech and web stuff on a global level in the future.

Jason Calacanis, Japan's super bloggers and entrepreneurs plus myself

2008-11-11T00:57:00.006+09:00

Silicon Valley hero Jason Calacanis (founder of Weblogs and Mahalo, legendary blogger,VC etc.) is on his first visit to Japan (which lasts until Wednesday) and I had the possibility to meet him tonight.

What can I say, it was pretty cool to talk to Jason and also meet Japan's best-known bloggers, i.e. Dan Kogai (who is also the ex-CTO of Livedoor), Masato Kogure from Netafull (English version), Masaki Ishitani from Mitaimon and many more.

Take a look at the pictures below: It was (thankfully) a very "intimate" get-together - in the same Tokyo restaurant Quentin Tarantino used for the final scene in Kill Bill 1!

I took part at Digital Garage's New Context Conference 2008

2008-11-06T22:15:00.004+09:00

Today and yesterday, Joi Ito's Tokyo-based Digital Garage held the New Context Conference, an event which (at least for this year) took over the place of a relevant conference for the local web industry (instead of the Web 2.0 Tokyo, which was canceled).

The conference slogan was "Open Networks come to life - post Web 2.0", with celebrities like Joi Ito (CEO of Creative Commons, investor, entrepreneur etc.), Loic LeMeur (CEO of Seesmic), Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn but video/Skype only), Lisa Sounio (CEO of Dopplr), Natsuno Takeshi (the father of Docomo's imode system) and many more attending.

My god, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, ex-Sega mastermind and now CEO of Q Entertainment) was there and I could see him live. That alone was awesome!

And I think it's great that Digital Garage managed to get all these outstanding web celebrities to come to Japan (yet Reid Hoffman appearing via video only was disappointing) - and the event was totally free for attendees!

Reminder: ObenWebAsia conference in Seoul takes place October 14th

2008-10-04T00:58:00.004+09:00

Although I will most probably not be able to make it to Korea (shame on me, I am part of the initiative), I would like to remind the readers of my blog that you can still register for the first Openweb Asia 2008 that will take place October 14th in Seoul.

Here is my former post on the 1-day conference.

There will be a number of panels, presentations and speeches, for example by
- Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo and co-founder of TechCrunch50
- Loic Le Meur (CEO of Seesmic and responsible for LeWeb3, Europe's biggest web industry conference)
- James W Kim, CEO of Yahoo Korea
- Kent Lindstrom, Senior VP of Friendster
- Yozo Kaneko, Director and COO of ngi group (the Mixi incubator)

and many more.

Registration just costs $200!

10 things I learnt and saw during this year's TechCrunch50 conference

2008-09-13T20:42:00.008+09:00

Yesterday, I came back to Tokyo from the TechCrunch50 conference that took place in San Francisco.

Here are 10 things I found particularly interesting about the event (in no particular order):

1)
The three days of the conference began with a professional singer who sang the Star-Spangled Banner. Speak about culture shocks!

2)
At the afterparty (held by Seesmic) of the last day, Michael Arrington stood in line for 10 minutes in the cold to enter the venue. And Michael is a) the organizer of TC50 and b) an investor in Seesmic.

3)
This was a highly international event with Israel and Japan being particularly strong. But Europe was VERY weak this year. I think my home country of Germany (Europe's biggest Internet market) was represented by one company only (Plista).

4)
TechCrunch has a reputation of being sometimes too "commercial" but gave dozens and dozens of students 149 USD-tickets for the whole conference (which I think is awesome).

5)
The selection of the winner of the conference, Yammer, was heavily criticized by the blogosphere. I liked FitBit best.

6)
90% of people in the American web industry don't have the slightest clue of how to pitch a blogger (about the same in Japan, I would say). Learn it here, here and here, for example. A very simple Google search will get you hundreds of similar results.

7)
I always thought launching a web service in the course of a conference is a somewhat ambiguous thing: Too many companies trying to attract attention, too much "noise" in the background (panels, speeches, networking etc.) and not enough time to bring the idea across. But TechCrunch50 changed my mind (I would try it elsewhere if I couldn't make it to TC50).

8)
I had the chance to chat with MC Hammer. Kevin Rose from Digg told me he loves reading Asiajin.

9)
While browsing through all companies that made it as TC50 finalists and to the DemoPit, I found a big number of participants that were too lazy/disrespectful/stupid to provide TechCrunch readers and CrunchBase with information about their companies and products. Here is an example of what I mean. This is beyond my understanding (this company gets it).

10)
The quality of some companies taking part in the DemoPit was really, really HIGH. Some of them should have made it as finalists in my view. IAMNEWS has a terrible name but is (as the DemoPit winner) only one of many examples.

I am currently at TechCrunch50 in San Francisco

2008-09-11T04:03:00.010+09:00

I am at TechCrunch50 in San Francisco now, the web industry conference/contest organized by mega Tech blog TechCrunch - which I happen to write for ;). Today (Wednesday) is the last day of the conference.

TechCrunch50 is much better than I expected actually: A positive vibe, perfectly organized (OK, the Internet connection was an issue but is solved now), tons of VIPs, VCs, "technical people", entrepreneurs etc. etc.

Please check out my Twitter, my articles on Asiajin and of course TechCrunch (my articles only) itself for more of my personal impressions of the conference, especially on the three Japanese companies presenting here: Opentrace, Tonchidot and Gazopa.

Here are some photos from TechCrunch50 (partly courtesy of TechCrunch and Satomi Ichimura, a US-based writer for Nikkei and other Tech publications):

This month's Mobile Monday Tokyo event: Japan's VC scene

2008-08-31T20:28:00.005+09:00

I attended this month's Mobile Monday Tokyo event, which took place in a bar in Akasaka.

Two presentations were given and both were focused on the venture capital industry in Japan.

Aki Ohashi, partner at venture capital firm NGI, explained how to get financial support from companies like his, what venture capital actually means and highlighted a number of differences to the situation in the US (he is American).

For example, Aki pointed out that funding in Japan is normally relatively modest in comparison and that the US has a longer history in terms of venture capital, resulting in a more vibrant venture capital market and consequently a more active culture of entrepreneurship.

To learn more, please take a look at my earlier report on Aki's presentation at Tokyo2point0 on Asiajin.

Keis Ide from VC powerhouse Globis Capital followed up with a similar presentation. Globis Capital is one of Japan's biggest VC companies and actually an investor in NGI. In contrast to NGI however, Globis Capital doesn't focus on early-stage funding and seeding but prefers financing more developed start-ups. Also, Globis invests in non-IT companies and hardware-based start-ups (NGI usually doesn't).

Here are some pictures (Aki is on the first picture, Keis on the second):

This month's Venture Beat event

2008-08-21T23:44:00.004+09:00

Yesterday, this month's Venture Beat Networking Party took place, this time in a new venue near Roppongi.

As always, the invitation-only event, backed by CNET Japan, was attended by a number (over 50) of high-profile CEOs, VCs, Tech journalists...and me.

For example, I was fortunate to meet Batara Eto who is the former CTO of Japan's biggest SNS, Mixi. Not only that, Batara-san even came up with the original idea for Mixi for which he is still a technical advisor for! And I have to say he is a very friendly and surprisingly modest person.

Another cool thing worth mentioning is a full-fledged DJ application for the iPhone I saw, developed by Atsushi Hoshino (who is also president of a web company called New Forestar). The app is still unofficial but you can have a quick look at it below. Nice work!

My older reports on Venture Beat can be found here.

Join the Open Web Asia '08 conference in Seoul in October

2008-08-18T00:39:00.003+09:00

My friend Gang Lu and a few of my other friends ;) from the OpenWeb.Asia work group managed to organize what looks to be a kick-ass web industry event. Some really interesting speakers will be in Seoul on October 14th (it's a 1-day event), i. e. Loic LeMeur of Seesmic plus representatives from a number of Japanese, Korean, American and Chinese web companies.

I blogged about the work group before and actually Tokyotronic is part of it (OK, I don't update this blog that often): On the site, you can find summarized a network of blogs reporting about the Asian web industry in one way or the other.

Open Web Asia has also established a dedicated web site for the event where you can find more info and register (starting late August, $200).

Here is the English press release (the Japanese translation -courtesy of my buddy and co-organizer Shunichi Arai- follows):

August 14, 2008
For information contact:
Andrew Shuttleworth
www.openwebasia.com
media@openwebasia.com

Open Web Asia Conference ‘08

“The first pan-Asia web technology event bringing together executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from throughout Asia”

October 14 2008, Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, Seoul, Korea

in association with the 9th World Knowledge Forum

Open Web Asia ‘08 marks the birth of a new conference that will be the first truly pan-Asia web technology event. Top technology executives, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists from throughout Asia will gather for this premier event to be hosted in Seoul, Korea in its inaugural year.

The event is organized by members of the Open Web Asia Workgroup and other prominent entrepreneurs, thinkers, and bloggers from within the Asian web industry. It was spurred by a desire to create a high quality, informative and practical technology conference focused on the Asian internet industry. To date this has been lacking.

Open Web Asia will be held in association with the World Knowledge Forum (WKF). The WKF has established itself as one of the most prestigious conferences in Asia with speakers and attendees such as Bill Gates, Colin Powell, Jack Welch, Alan Greenspan, Michael Dell, and Paul Wolfowitz.

The theme of the 2008 conference is ‘The Social Web’. Socialization has been a game changing development in the internet industry and the social web is an area where Asia has its own strength and vibrancy. Asian countries have a distinct internet cultures and market players, so informative and educational cross-country comparisons can be made.

The one day conference will be divided into four sessions focusing on the following key areas: Insights and Best Practices, Innovations in Asia; Collaboration - An Introduction to Asia’s Social Web; and East Meets West - The challenges of Internationalization To and From Asia. The topics were chosen as a platform for information, education and debate.

Confirmed speakers include some of the most experienced and knowledgeable people from the Asian internet industry and a selection of business leaders and thinkers from outside the region.

Kevin Day (CEO, Comsenz) (China)
Arthur Chang (VP of Global Sales, Alibaba) (China)
Yongjoon Hyoung (CEO of StoryBlender & Founder of Cyworld) (Korea)
Yongseok Jang (Senior Director, eBay Asia Pacific) (Korea)
Yozo Kaneko (Director and COO of ngi group, inc.) (Japan)
James W. Kim (CEO of Yahoo!’s Korea Region) (Korea)
Jimmy Kim (Executive Vice President, Nexon Corp.) (Korea)
Loic Le Meur (CEO, Seesmic) (USA)
Ram Lee (Head of Communities, NHN Corporation (Naver)) (Korea)
Kent Lindström (Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Friendster) (USA)
Shusaku Maruko (General Manager, Corporate Strategy Department, Felica) (Japan)
Jean K. Min (Communications Director, Ohmynews) (Korea)
Akio Tanaka (Partner, Infinity Ventures) (Japan)
Bill Wang (VP of Overseas Business, Perfect World) (China)
Andreas Weigend (Consultant & Lecturer; Former Chief Scientist of Amazon) (USA)
Kwan Yoon (Partner, Bluerun Ventures) (USA)

This premier conference will offer web professionals from inside Asia and those from outside with an eye on the Asian web market an opportunity to learn, network and create business connections that will benefit both the regional and global internet industry. For more information and registration please visit www.openwebasia.com

IMAGES
The Open Web Asia logo is available for media use at http://www.openwebasia.com/downloads/

SPONSORSHIP
A limited number of sponsorship packages are available. For details, please contact sponsor@openwebasia.com

REFERENCE

World Knowledge Forum http://www.wkforum.org
The World Knowledge Forum is an independent organization committed to promoting knowledge-driven society and creating balanced global prosperity. Incorporated as a foundation in 2000, and based in Seoul, Korea, the World Knowledge Forum is non-profit.

The Open Web Asia Workgroup http://www.openweb.asia
The Open Web Asia Workgroup is a network of premium blogs focus on Asian Web industry. These sites build efficient channels between Asia web and global industry, and also enhance the inter-communication of local Internet markets.

世界初、アジア各国が中心となるウェブテクノロジー国際会議が開催されます。

Open Web Asia Conference '08

2008年10月14日、アジアのインターネット企業経営者やベンチャーキャピタリストが集まる国際会議「Open Web Asia Conference '08」がソウルのシェラトングランデウォーカーヒルホテルで初めて開催されます。今年度はWorld Knowledge Forumとの共同開催となります。

Open Web Asia '08は、初めてのアジア各国をカバーするウェブテクノロジーの国際会議です。トップクラスの経営者、起業家、ベンチャーキャピタリストが、初年度の開催地であるソウルに集結します。

本会議は、Open Web Asia Workgroup及びアジアの有力な起業家やブロガーによって主催されています。アジアのインターネット業界が一堂に会する国際会議を開催したいとの強い熱意を持って各国から主催者が集まりました。

今年度のOpen Web Asiaは、World Knowledge Forum (WKF)との共同開催となります。WKFは、アジアで最も有力な国際会議の一つで、これまでにビル・ゲイツ、コリン・パウエル、ジャック・ウェルチ、アラン・グリーンスパン、マイケル・デルら、一流の講演者が参加しています。

本会議の今年度のテーマは、「The Social Web」です。インターネット産業において、ソーシャル・ウェブは世界を変えるほどの革新的技術であり、またアジアが大きな存在感と躍動感を持っている分野でもあります。アジア各国には、独自のインターネット文化と、各国市場を代表する強力な企業があり、それらを比較することは非常に有意義であると考えます。

会議は、以下の４つのセッションが行われます。

・Insights and Best Practices
・Innovations in Asia
・Collaboration - An Introduction to Asia's Social Web
・East Meets West - The challenges of Internationalization To and From Asia

現在、予定されている講演者は以下の通りです。

・Kevin Day (CEO, Comsenz) (China)
・Arthur Chang (VP of Global Sales, Alibaba) (China)
・Yongjoon Hyoung (CEO of StoryBlender & Founder of Cyworld) (Korea)
・Yongseok Jang (Senior Director, eBay Asia Pacific) (Korea)
・Yozo Kaneko (Director and COO of ngi group, inc.) (Japan)
・James W. Kim (CEO of Yahoo!'s Korea Region) (Korea)
・Jimmy Kim (Executive Vice President, Nexon Corp.) (Korea)
・Loic Le Meur (CEO, Seesmic) (USA)
・Ram Lee (Head of Communities, NHN Corporation (Naver)) (Korea)
・Kent Lindstrom (Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Friendster) (USA)
・Shusaku Maruko (General Manager, Corporate Strategy Department, Felica) (Japan)
・Jean K. Min (Communications Director, Ohmynews) (Korea)
・Akio Tanaka (Partner, Infinity Ventures) (Japan)
・Bill Wang (VP of Overseas Business, Perfect World) (China)
・Andreas Weigend (Consultant & Lecturer; Former Chief Scientist of Amazon) (USA)
・Kwan Yoon (Partner, Bluerun Ventures) (USA)

Open Web Asiaが、日本のインターネット業界の皆様に、アジアと世界との人脈を作り、最新事例を学ぶ機会をご提供します。

詳しい情報はウェブサイト(http://www.openwebasia.com)をご覧ください。

発表日: 2008年8月14日
お問い合わせ先: 新井俊一 (openwebasia@mellowtone.co.jp)

---
・ロゴ (http://www.openwebasia.com/downloads/)

誌面に掲載されるOpen Web Asiaのロゴは上記URLから取得して頂けます。

・スポンサー

当会議のスポンサー様を若干名募集しております。詳しくは sponsor@openwebasia.com までご連絡ください。

・World Knowledge Forum (http://www.wkforum.org)

World Knowledge Forumは、独立した委員会により運営される、知識社会と均衡の取れた世界の発展を目的とする組織です。2000年に韓国で非営利の財団として発足しました。

・The Open Web Asia Workgroup (http://www.openweb.asia)

Open Web Asia Workgroupは、アジアのウェブ業界における有力なブログが集まったブログネットワークです。これらのブログは、世界とアジアをつなぐ架け橋として、またアジア各国間の架け橋として機能しています。

Facebook's co-founder taken to Tokyo Venture Beat by yours truly

2008-07-24T03:40:00.009+09:00

I met Facebook's co-founder and former CTO (until May this year) Adam D'Angelo yesterday in Tokyo. Adam came to Japan on a private trip. He was "guided" by his long-time friend Matyas who recently graduated from the California Institute of Technology and can speak perfect Japanese!

Although Adam is here just for vacation, I had the pleasure to introduce him to some people in the Japanese web industry. After eating dinner together (we had Kyuushuu ramen in Harajuku), it was time for some Japan tech talk.

I brought Adam and Matyas to this month's Venture Beat event where Hisashi Katsuya from IBM's Venture Capital Division treated them as special guests (thank you very much, Katsuya-san!).

Check out the pictures I made below (click to enlarge).

11 Venture Capitalists+me in the Japanese woods

2008-07-22T02:48:00.007+09:00

OK, not of all these people were VCs. Some of them are also presidents of web companies. And we were not really in the woods but in the amazingly beautiful Fukui prefecture, hometown of Taisuke Fukuno. All this under the umbrella of Venture Beat, to my knowledge the most influential network in Japan's web industry.

Taisuke is CEO and CTO of mobile browser company jig.jp (my earlier report) and organized the whole trip (which was invitation-based). Hisashi "Sam" Katsuya, the leading figure of the Japanese VC scene and mover and shaker in Japan's web industry (employed by IBM Japan), co-organized the event.

We traveled to Echizen, a town 530km west of Tokyo. And what can I say, the trip (last Friday to Saturday) was totally awesome!

Friday:
- Radio interview in Japanese with Tannan FM Radio, a radio station based in Echizen
- Drinking ;) plus dinner

Saturday:
- Sightseeing at Eiheji Zen Temple, one of the biggest and oldest in Japan (founded in 1244!)
(the coolest temple I have ever seen)
- Tour of the Fukui Spectacle Museum
- Tour of the jig.jp R&D offices (very American-style)
- Tasting of "Born" sake and tour of the sake "factory", personally lead by the charismatic CEO Mr. Kato who actually delivered a one-man show
(Born from Fukui is widely regarded as Japan's best sake and also served in Japan's equivalent of Air Force One)
- Tour of Shimizu, a spectacle manufacturing company
- Spectacle shopping at Tanaka Gannkyou
- Tasty and BIG tonkatsu for dinner

In case you might wonder: Fukui is known in Japan for its glasses.

I can totally recommend Fukui to tourists who want to see a piece of the "real" Japan, outside the big cities. Food, people, pace of life: Everything there seemed different to me.

Again, the trip was really great and I want to go there for a second time in winter.

Katsuya-san blogged the trip - in Japanese, but his pictures and descriptions are WAY better than mine ;). The reports and photos on the Venture View blog: 1,2,3,4 and 5.

Some of my pictures:

My 3rd Techcrunch article+USA trip to TC 50

2008-07-21T17:49:00.005+09:00

My 3rd article on Techcrunch is now online, this time I blogged Mixi. The Japanese version can be found here on Techcrunch Japan, the French version on Techcrunch France. A blogger published an unofficial Chinese translation.

Although the company is worth $1 billion, almost no one outside Japan knows about it (my earlier reports). I am hoping the coverage on Techcrunch will improve that situation to some extent.

The Washington Post also put it up.

Please digg the article here - only if you like it, obviously ;).

On a (slightly) similar note, I will be attending the Techcrunch 50 conference in San Francisco this year. The event takes place from September 8-10 (tickets are still available here). Please contact me in case you would like to meet up for some Japanese Tech talk ;).

As always, please make sure to also follow my articles on Crunchgear (on Japanese technology, gadgets and subculture) and - last not least Asiajin - (on the Japanese web industry).

Thank you for your support!

I took part in the Mobile Monday Tokyo event (July 2008)

2008-07-17T03:05:00.007+09:00

After not being able to attend last month, I went to the Mobile Monday Tokyo event last...Monday. This time the event took place in a lounge-like club space in Akasaka.

Unfortunately, I was too late for Sadayuki Matsumoto's presentation on trunc, a personalized homepage service focused on Japanese web applications. Matsumoto-san is Director of Operations and Chief of Web Operations at web and mobile solutions provider Xtone.

However, I was in time for Tomohito Kinose's introduction to Nico Nico Douga and its mobile version. I have featured Japan's answer to Youtube many times here and on Asiajin.

After Kinose-san's presentation, I took the chance to tell him the I am the guy exposing his service to the Non-Japanese world through my Techcrunch article on Nico Nico (Japanese version) - and he was shocked to see me in person ;). Kinose-san told me he is Director both at Niwango (the company running Nico Nico) and Xtone.

I think the Mobile Monday events are always very, very valuable networking-wise and will attend the next one on August 25th as well. A friend of mine will hold a presentation next time. I don't know if I can tell the topic here and now and therefore prefer to keep it secret.

Please keep in mind the event requires registration and that the organizers are selecting attendees individually!

Here are some pictures:

Article about me on Turkey's leading Tech blog Webrazzi

2008-06-27T16:38:00.004+09:00

Here is an article Erhan Erdoğan wrote about me and my activities here in the Japanese IT and web industry.

His "Webrazzi" is Turkey's leading web industry blog. The article is written in Turkish (I am German but my parents hail from Turkey, I speak the language and I love that country).

Teşekkürler, Erhan!

I just met with MobileCrunch boss Greg Kumparak

2008-06-27T16:23:00.004+09:00

My colleague Greg Kumparak is in Japan for a few weeks and -of course- I had to meet him here in Tokyo, which I did today (on very short notice!).

Greg is the editor-in chief of MobileCrunch, a relatively new -yet very successful- blog belonging to the Techcrunch network. MobileCrunch covers everything related to mobile devices: hardware, phones, gadgets, business-related news, rates and prices, rumors, technology, you name it.

Gotta say he is a cool guy (typical Californian) and pretty good in playing Half-Life 2 as well ;). This is Greg:

My second article on Techcrunch (TC USA and Japan)

2008-06-25T20:51:00.004+09:00

Following the story about Quillpill (a microblogging tool for writers and readers of fiction), my second article on Techcrunch is online now. The Japanese translation of the second TC article is here.

Topic: Nico Nico Douga, Japan's answer to Youtube!

Please remember to take a look at my CrunchGear articles as well ;).

Venture Beat Networking Party June 2008 in Tokyo

2008-06-20T05:30:00.003+09:00

On Wednesday, I took part in the Venture Beat Networking Party again. Japan's Mixi in human form, Hisashi "Sam" Katsuya from IBM Japan, was kind enough to invite me (and believe me, this man knows EVERYONE in the Japanese IT world).

The "closed" event (invitation only) is backed by CNET Japan and was completely star-studded, as always.

It was great fun, and famous designer Naoki Sakai held a unique and very cool presentation on product design. Check out Sakai-san's personal web site in English here.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but I will do that better next time for sure! Katsuya-san's blog posting includes some great pictures though.

Here is my posting on the March event.

My first article on Techcrunch is online!

2008-06-14T14:11:00.005+09:00

You can read my first article on Techcrunch here.

The Japanese version (on Techcrunch Japan) can be read here.

Please sphere, digg and bookmark it by the thousands ;).

Some pictures from the Ultrasupertube Youtube event in Tokyo last week

2008-06-07T01:01:00.005+09:00

The 4th Ultrasupertube event, organized by Tokyo-based creative agency, UltraSuperNew, took place last Wednesday in Azabu, Tokyo.

The event's concept:
Submit a couple of cool videos you would like to see projected on the big screen during the event at the venue (a place called SuperDeluxe). And it will happen!

I went there late (around 11 pm or so) and may have missed a lot of the action, but it was still fun.

Find some photos of the event below.
Credit for all pictures in this posting goes to Michael Sheetal, UltraSuperNew Inc.!