Year

Our Very Best Wishes to everyone for 2014 - Year of The Horse - it's gonna be an Awesome Ride folks! http://bit.ly/1fqJbbT

NEC consolidates mobile JV taking outstanding Casio and Hitachi shares to become wholly-owned subsidiary http://bit.ly/1iFN8HK

LINE warns traditional New Years eve 'Akeome' voice & message traffic may crush telco networks, use WiFi! http://bit.ly/1ezB3Rh

It's been another exciting ride for everyone in the Biz.. expecting (much) more of the same awaiting us in 2014 - Year of the Horse! http://bit.ly/1eCsOsD

Latest @AppAnnie report shows Japan has passed the U.S. for global top spot with combined iOS and 'droid app revenues! http://bit.ly/1hQBSKB

Check-out the Manga Drive AR iPhone app by Zenrin combines real driving with virtual future city modes: http://bit.ly/1h5hgeX

DoCoMo campaign to prevent accidents, walking while using mobile phone, now has Safety Mode 'droid app: http://bit.ly/1bJBRUX

DeNA announces new service area offer with free daily manga app for 'droid and iOS, launching today! http://bit.ly/1hQgh5c

There's plenty of chatter about the global startup scene along with so-called 'innovation' opportunities and many challenges faced by players at all levels in that space. It would be easy to pepper this with a gazillion links to material describing how Japan is risk-adverse and/or has no VC base to build next-gen. companies.. bla-bla-bla. Such simplistic points, seldom well balanced, need another post to counter with a wave of my magic reality wand. No, the tight focus today is two-fold: we are headed into a "Startup Renaissance" in Japan and, therefore, considering carefully near to mid-term road ahead with that being the case.

DoCoMo Innovation Village debuts their 2nd class, of 6-teams, running in the program over next 4-months http://bit.ly/1jWBrLw