Hey, I'm Rick Martin. Thanks for stopping by!
I live in Tokyo where I mostly write about technology. So if you like, feel free to browse my work or my reading list, follow me on Twitter or my blog, or send me an email if you'd just like to chat.
What I'm Writing
A fine line: Shantell Martin projects freestyle performance art
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At a recent FITC event in Tokyo I had a chance to hear renowed artist Shantell Martin speak about her artwork, as well as her connections to Japan, a place that has played a central role in her development. Her work is sometimes so simple that it resembles doodles that you might have done the margins of your school text book – but yet at the same time it sometimes has overwhelming detail and scale.
Why Angry Birds prefer not to be early birds in Japan
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It has been a while since I last spoke to the folks from Rovio, the Finnish company behind the wildly popular Angry Birds mobile game. But I recently had a chance to catch up with a few members of their flock in Tokyo, as the company gears up to open a new office in the Japanese capital, likely this spring. And while it might make for a more dramatic story to say that the company is making a furious push for Japan, that’s not the case. In fact quite the opposite. They are taking it slow, and that’s how they want it.
Rage of Bahamut and Japan’s quest for global gamers
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I recently got in touch with some representatives from Cygames to find out more about the process of bringing Rage of Bamahut to markets outside Japan. Cygames’ Yuito Kimura was one of three directors, along with Akihiro Iino and Koichi Watanabe who originally developed the Rage of Bahamut concept. I asked him if they were confident that such mobile game genre like card battle games – which at that point were only really proven in Japan – could excel in overseas markets.
Tokyo Otaku Mode has 10 million Facebook fans — But now what?
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When I first heard of Japan-based startup Tokyo Otaku Mode it was little more than a Facebook page sharing content about Japanese Otaku subculture. But as far as Facebook pages go, there wasn’t really anything little about it. At that time I think they had about half a million fans, and since then they have gone on to crack through ten million.
Toxic Roots: The Challenge of China’s Tech Expansion
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Recently there have been a number of Chinese technology companies that have enjoyed moderate successes abroad. Just last week we featured UCWeb’s mobile browser, which has surpassed 100 million downloads globally [1]. Similarly, Tencent’s chat application Weixin, which has been promoted in foreign markets as WeChat, also looks to be doing well. It was recently featured in a New York Times piece, overviewing its global aspirations.
Read full article on TechInAsia.com
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