English Premier League football club Manchester City looks set to expand its brand presence into Japan, having recruited a firm to build a local mobile website in the country, according to Reuters.

The deal will give MLJ, a Tokyo-based website developments, the rights to develop the club’s official site for Japan’s i-Mode mobile Web, which is supported by the majority of devices in the country.

Details on the site will mirror City’s official website, with visitors able to read club news in Japanese and access a range of club data, merchandising and memorabilia. There will also be an option to by tickets for those who are contemplating a 5,000 mile trip to the City of Manchester Stadium.

Ian Cafferky, chief brand & commercial officer for Manchester City, was buoyant about the  deal and its potential to bring the club closer to its fans in Japan:

This deal marks another chapter in the club’s digital strategy to engage with our international fan base, bringing supporters as close as possible to the match-day experience, through greater interaction online and on mobile.

The club is emerging as a digital pioneer with some of its recent moves in the space. City became the first English club to agree a content agreement with YouTube, where it became one of the earliest professional channels, and it tested the waters further still by broadcasting a selection of fans’ tweets on the giant screen in its stadium.

Last month, City announced plans to appoint TV and online exec Russell Stopford as its head of digital media, as PaidContent reported. He replaced former Trinity Mirror and Tiscali director Richard Ayers who stepped down as planned after a year in the position on an interim basis.

As revealed on his blog, Ayers will stay on at the club “in a roving role looking at  digital business development, new products and innovation” as City continues to push the boundaries on digital media.

The club’s on-field activities are stronger than ever after being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008. The new investment has heralded an era of big spending on transfers and wages as the club has recruited some of the world’s most talented players, and its challenge for the Premiership title is regarded as particularly strong this season.

Google+ is now up to 90 million users worldwide and while the spotlight shines on its battle with Facebook and Twitter, and the ongoing enhancements it makes to its platform, Google says that the social network is making strong progress in Asia.

Asia is a regional that is largely dominated by Facebook, which has overtaken a number of rivals that once ruled markets across the continent, including Friendster, Hi5 and Google’s own Orkut. There are notable exceptions however, namely China, Japan and Korea, but in the latter two things are moving Facebook’s way slowly.

While Google carefully guards its user figures and doesn’t break out data based on country or region, Ryan Hayward, who oversees marketing for Google+ across Asia, told The Next Web that the social network is making good progress in the continent.

Hayward points to a number of areas which he says are helping Google+ record significant uptake from users and content creators across Asia.

Celebrities

Google has made a concerted push to gain visibility through the acquisition of high profile users, and that same methodology has been applied to Asia. The most pertinent example was the recent collaboration with Japanese super girl band AKB48 in December.

Hayward reveals that the girls, and there are 48 of them in the group, have accumulated more than 3.5 million followers collectively and “have been quite impactful about getting people to engage with Google+” in Japan, and other parts of Asia where they are popular.

Hayward cites the example of Yuko Oshima, whose 143,645 followers make her the most followed AKB48 member on Google+). Although she has considerably less followers than Britney Spears (1.6 million), Oshima’s fan engagement is considerably greater than the US popstar’s.

As stats from allmyplus show, the average post from Oshima receives more reshares than that of Spears (by 26 to 21), more than four times as many +1s (932 to 226) and more than five times as many comments (475 to 91).

Though Twitter is well established in Japan, which holds Twitter’s record for tweets per second, and Facebook is showing signs of growth there, it took both services some time to gain traction. Hayward says Google+ has made a promising start to life there.

With the AKB franchise set to expand across Asia — there is already a ‘sister’ group in Jakarta, and two others in Japan — Hayward is optimistic that the band will help Google+ bring more users on board along the way.

Politics

Politics has been a big driver of social media adoption in Asia generally, as noted watcher Dr. Michael Netzley observes, and Hayward says that Google is seeing impressive results in the area.

During the recent election in Taiwan, which drew global attention due to its links with China, Google+ usage “exploded” amongst political candidates. Indeed, the uptake was such that Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (77,428 followers) had ten times more followers than Barack Obama, although the US President’s recent usage of the hangout feature has seen his following grow to 380,000.

Defeated political rival and the country’s first ever female Presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen also built a significant following. Though her account details are set to private, allmyplus reveals her impressive engagement rates.

Hayward says that it isn’t entirely clear how Google+ took off amongst Taiwanese politicians, but the popularity of YouTube as a political communications tool may be key, given the work that Google has done to link its video service with the social network.

While Hayward notes that the recent State of the Union address helped increase Google+ profile amongst politicians in the US and elsewhere, he explains that political use of the site “started in Asia”.

Businesses

Google is particularly proud of the business usages of Google+ in Asia, which have been put to work in a number of ways by NGOs (non-government organisations) in particular.

In Japan, popular musician Ryichi Sakamoto hosted a hangout with fans before going on stage to perform in a charity which raised funds following the country’s tsunami disaster.

Google opened an office in Bangkok last year and it used its presence on the ground to run a Web education session with a number of NGOs and charities that operate in the country. Google showed the basics of Google+ and a number of other techniques to use data from the Internet and communicate via the Web.

As a result of the sessions, Google+ hangouts were used by a number of NGOs to help “puts a face on the tragedy” and attraction donations to help with the fallout from the worst flooding in more than a decade.

Away from non-profits, Google is seeing interest from corporates, two of its biggest examples of which are based in Japan. Toyota and Sony are strong users of Google+ and have both racked up an impressive followers number of 280,000 and 250,000 respectively. Both firms have users from across the world, of which Asia accounts for a significant number.

For Hayward, the attraction of Google+ for brands is the way that it allows them to personalise communication with customers like never before and nowhere else:

It’s the ability to communicate with more than just text, and beyond 140 characters,” he says. “Brands are using video to reach customers too, maybe not everyday, but it is more than just a neat feature to have.”

China

No talk of social media is complete without mention of China. The country recently passed half a billion Internet users and its authorative stance on foreign Webs service — which has seen a number blocked — makes it a hugely challenging market.

While Google has insisted that China is still a key part of its plans for the region, Google+ is blocked in the country, where it is only accessible through a virtual private network (VPN) system which bypasses the Great Firewall Web censors.

However, Google does still count on the support of one of the country’s most visible social media figures, artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, whose has quickly built 47,000 Google+ followers away from his 120,000 Twitter followers.

Weiwei ”made a concious choice” to use Google+, Hayward explains. “Even with it being blocked, he opted to use Google+ to help reach out” when rallying to raise funds to pay a tax bill levied upon him by the government last year.

The artist recently threatened to boycott Twitter in the wake of its move to permit censorship, however it is notable that his last update on Google+ is dated 18 January. While he has used it for key communications, his daily communications is dominated by Twitter and Weibo.

Real-name policy drawbacks in Asia

One notable roadblock for Google+ in Asia is the service insistence on real-names for its users. The company has introduced support for aliases but that is dependent on the registration of a full name first.

Culturally, a great number of Internet users in Asia use an alias online, some for fun reasons and others out of caution. Hayward admits that Google is aware that things are different in Asia, revealing that “there is a lot of debate about the topic at Google, as we try to support as many usage cases as possible.”

“There’s an understanding of a need to support pseudonymous but we are wary of anonymous users,” he continues. “You can see the impact that this has in the West [after the Anonymous group has brought down a number of sites] where a lot of people associate it with toxicity, whereas in Asia it’s a totally conventional thing. It’s a difficult question.”

Encouraging organic growth

Google is focusing on the markets where it is initially seeing growth, including Japan and India, and Hayward admits that it is taking a reactive position on building the social network. Rather than actively driving it, the company is watching to see where activity heats up before acting to develop it.

“When we see organic adoption,” Hayward explains, “We then try to figure out why it happened before we go out to try to make more of it by giving experts and celebs a platform.”

With that approach, Google if focusing on ramping the product up in markets where it is showing promise, such as Japan and India, rather than adopting an all out blanket-approach.

Lack of figures

One key area that Google+ is missing, particularly in comparison to other social networks, is hard figures to back its claims.

While Larry Page recently claimed that Google+ has 90 million users with an apparent daily usage rate of 60 percent, the latter of which raised questions, it does not break out data by country.

Google points out that a glance at the follower numbers of certain users that are prominent in Asia or Asian markets, for example AKB 48′s combined 3.5 million, is testament to its success in the region. However, it just leaves us a little unsure of exactly how much interest there is compared to Facebook, which puts user numbers on its site  and can be seen on Socialbakers among other places, and Twitter, which has had it user numbers approximated by country and by language of late.

Google isn’t trying to take over the world, and Hayward points out that “there’s a place for all social networks online, and we’re not looking to change that. People are adding it as a third of fourth pillar,” he adds, “and who knows what may happen with that going forward.”

While there is no doubt that it is bringing something new to Asia and seeing pick-up, the lack of hard data leaves us unsure as to whether Google+ is cutting into Facebook and Twitter in the region, and if so by how much.

Japanese mobile social gaming firm DeNA has announced a strategic alliance with Baidu that will see its Mobage games platform get its own dedicated section on the mobile app store for Baidu-powered smartphones.

The link-up will see Mobage titles available on the Yi Store, which comes preloaded on devices than run the Chinese search giant’s Baidu Yi operating system (OS). According to the firm, owners of Baidu Yi-based devices will be able to access the full catalogue of supported Android titles in China with just two taps from their home screen.

Writing on its Beat blog, Baidu described the addition of Mobage as a sweetener and perk that incentives the purchase of the Dell Streak Pro D43, which became the first Baidu Yi device to launch when it went on sale last month.

Baidu launched the Yi Store in September with an announcement that also laid out plans for the release of its own OS, which had been expected since March when company CEO Robin Li called it the first step in its “box computing” strategy.

Baidu Yi is a highly customised version of Android, in which all of Google’s services are replaced by Baidu’s own with access to books, maps and music services. The OS is heavily cloud-focused, with cloud-based backup, sharing and storage features built in.

The tie-up represents another step that DeNA has taken to increase its presence in China, as it looks to gain traction in the world’s largest mobile market. DeNA first launched Mobage in China for Android in July before adding support for iOS devices in November.

The company has already inked a similar deal with Alibaba to bring its Mobage gaming platform to Aliyun OS devices, which began with the DeNA service being preloaded on the K-touch W800.

The Japanese government is planning to carry out a rather interesting project to deter Internet users in the country from downloading content through file-sharing sites.

While the US government is actively clamping down on such sites following the closure of Megaupload, which has seen a number of sites scramble to make changes, file sharing has been illegal in Japan since 2010, as tech blog Asiajin explains.

A government notice [Japanese] explains that, in conjunction with NTT DoCoMo and a number of government agencies, authorities will release a series of files that are made to look like a popular drama show on local sharing-sites, including Winny and Share, a Japanese peer-to-peer (P2P) freeware application.

Unsuspecting users that download the files, which will be out January 23-29, are in for a shock however. On opening the content, they will get an alert which reminds them that both uploading and downloading copyrighted content are illegal activities in Japan.

The experiment will trace those who download the files, although it remains to be seen if any downloaders will be prosecuted in a honey-trap, or sting-type operation.

The prospect of getting a note from the government after downloading what you think is a TV drama might well scare a number of people and it is certainly a unique way of raising awareness around the subject.

Would such a message stop you from downloading content, or would you carry on regardless of the government’s efforts?

[Image courtesy of Dmitriy Shironosov / Shutterstock.com]

Japanese mobile operator KDDI has revealed plans to introduce Near Field Communication (NFC) services to its customers before the end of this month, making it the first carrier in the country to bring a commercial service to market, according to a report from NFC World.

While KDDI will hit the switch over the coming weeks, customers will need to wait a while for things to ramp up. Japan Airlines will begin offering NFC airline tickets and boarding passes from the summer, while KDDI anticipates that other partners — which already include a number of credit card firms and loyalty programs – will increase their offerings from spring.

Initially the number of supported devices is low, with KDDI’s service only available for the Samsung Galaxy S II only, however the operator will expand support to other phones in the coming months.

KDDI has enlisted a number of firms to help it provide the service, including Toshiba and Gemalto, which have helped develop the dedicated SIM cards, MasterCard, which has ensured its payment system is supported, and local companies Dai Nippon Printing and Toppan Printing.

The move comes one month after a ground-breaking Japan Mobile NFC consortium was founded between the country’s leading operators; KDDI, DoCoMo and Softbank. The partnership was formed to coordinate the introduction of NFC services across the country, and it seems likely that the other two will follow KDDI’s lead in the not too distant future.

NFC has been touted as a service that could heavily shape the future of mobile and it received a huge boost when more than 40 operators from across the world signed up to promote it in their respective regions, following the Mobile World Asia event in November 2011.

It not surprising to see Japan take to NFC quickly, when you consider its telecom heritage — which includes ‘virtual wallet’ services and the pioneering of the mobile Web — and let’s not forget the fact that it has Wi-Fi enabled vending machines, amazing toilets and other technological wizardry.

Clarification: this introduction is the first commercial service in the country from an operator, as NFC has, and does, already exist in Japan in other industries.

Sony, a company founded in Japan, wants you to send messages to those affected by the horrific earthquakes and ensuing tsunamis that happened on March 11th of this year.

The company has teamed up with Save The Children for the “RESTART JAPAN” project, which is helping rebuild the society that was devastated in March with a special focus on children. In addition to making a donation, Sony is asking you to send messages to those who are still facing an uphill battle in rebuilding their lives.

By visiting http://messagetojapan.sony.com/, you can send words of support and encouragement to those who may have been forgotten in the months after the disaster.

I can’t say enough how great it is to see a company as big as Sony doing something that means so much to so many people. While donating will directly help the country rebuild, collecting short messages from people all over the world will go a long way in letting Japan know that they are not forgotten.

In scrolling through the messages, I’ve seen most countries and languages represented, which is heartwarming to say the least.

Get involved today by sending your message to Japan and donating to RESTART JAPAN.

It appears that Cup of Noodles is on an advertising tear in Japan, with the following video involving Yoda of Star Wars fame:

Speaking of celebrity endorsements, it’s safe to say that no matter what Yoda gets behind, it’ll be a hit. If only it had this playing in the background.

They come in three different colors; red, blue, and black, and have a price tag of $64.00. They’re pretty ‘James Bond’ in how small they are.

According to the video below, these Clap cameras take pretty decent photos and video:

The USB camera is about palm-sized and is made in Japan. You can even insert a MicroSD card for extra storage. Pretty handy!

➤ Clap Mini USB Camera

Enjoy this? Discover the smartphone-controlled iHelicopter.

If you ever need proof that mobile gaming is huge in Asia, and particularly Japan, take a look at the example of the Gundam Masters game.

The Sci-Fi game, available on Japanese mobile gaming network GREE, has just picked up more that 1 million registered users since launch on 1 September – that’s an incredible 1,262 new player sign-ups per hour!

If you thought that was impressive, the number of gamers playing Gundam Royal, on GREE-competitor Mobage, reached six figures in just six days, as Serkan Toto explains on his blog.

Gundam, for those outside of Japan, is a hugely popular anime series featuring giant fighting robots. Its trademark was worth reportedly worth 50 billion yen (around $652.25 million) back in 2008. Given the growth of mobile gaming and content, that figure is likely to be even greater today.

A screenshot from the Gundam Masters game on GREE

These two examples are testament to the appetite for mobile gaming that has flourished in Japan in recent times. The increase in smartphone ownership, and the likely growth of the iPhone now that Softbank’s exclusive hold of the device is over, is creating an ever-increasing audience of potential mobile gamers.

Equally significant is the international focus that Japan’s mobile social gaming networks are adopting.

• Earlier this year GREE bought OpenFeint, the acquisition of the US-based mobile gaming start-up took its international reach to 100 million members.

• Also this year, DeNA, which already operates in the US through Ngmoco, took its Mobage mobile gaming network outside of Japan – where it has 30 million members – for the first launching into China, the US and other English-speaking regions of the world.

While Japan is undoubtedly the world leader in mobile social gaming, as the success of these two Gundam titles demonstrates, the rest of the world will follow if its leading companies have its way. The growth of smartphone ownership in the western world, coupled with the popularity of gaming, in particular social games, has laid the foundations to popularise mobile social gaming.

Image via gunjap.net