Trend: Romance Games for Mobiles

Softbank has announced that a long-distance romance role-playing game for mobile phones, called, amusingly, the “Marginal Prince” from Serendipity will be available this month for users of the latest phone models. The game has become immensely popular since it was released exclusively on Docomo a few years ago.
What exactly is a long distance romance role-playing […]

Trend: Nike PhotoID

Nike has launched a large-scale pan-European mobile marketing campaign in which it unveils a customization service called Nike PhotoID, which invites Nike fans to submit their randomly cellphone-taken pictures with brilliant colors to the company. The service will then analyze and withdraw from the pictures two dominant colors, make customized sneaker designs and send pictures […]

Trend: Modular Design

Driven by a combination of consumer needs and desires, modular design is taking off.

Trend description

Modular design is being introduced to a range of new product categories, helping businesses cash in on a number of larger trends. These include lifestyles that are more flexible and unpredictable, creating demand for products that can meet a range of […]

News: Japan Inc - Digital POS

The CScout team in Tokyo provides expert insight into developments in Japan’s digital POS market.
The latest issue of Japan Inc is out, on the shelves and tucked into the seat pockets of select airlines. CScout Japan’s fourth contribution focuses on digital POS trends, including digital signage, that are making significant progress in Japan […]

News: CScout Japan on CNN Today

Michael Keferl shares his expertise on the latest in Japanese food trends.
CScout Japan Managing Director Michael Keferl was a guest on CNN Today with Kristie Lu Stout and Andrew Stevens to talk about some food trends in Japan. The focus was on our recent posts about character lunch accessories, “udon” pudding, and a new […]

Trend: Eco-fashion in Japan

CScout Japan share their expertise in print (again).
Our Japanese Trend scout Rebecca wrote CScout Japan’s latest piece for the March/April issue of popular magazine Japan Inc., with which the Tokyo office has an ongoing collaboration. This time they reported on eco-trends in fashion, though it’s safe to say that the “eco” factor had a […]

News: CScout Japan covered in Forbrukerteknologi

CScout Japan CEO Sven Kilian was featured again recently in the Norwegian technology magazine Forbrukerteknologi. It looks like a great piece, but we’ll have to make a point of brushing up on our Norwegian for the future.
Also included in the article are references to the Sega Homestar Pro home planetarium and the Sony Rolly.

News: VDZ Online Publishers Asia Trend Tour

From February 10 - 15, 2008, CScout conducted a Trend Tour in Seoul and Tokyo for VDZ, a German magazine publishers industry association. Executives of German media companies spent the week with visits, including: social networking virtual world, Cyworld; online citizen journalism innovator OhmyNews; Naver, Korea’s most visited web portal; Japan mobile giant KDDI’s […]

News: CScout Japan on CNN Business Traveler with Richard Quest

Last month, CScout Japan was featured on CNN’s Business Traveler, a show that highlights the globe trotting exploits of one Richard Quest, CNN’s resident business guru.
We spent the afternoon in Akihabara, checking out new gadgets and technology, and generally giving an impression of what’s out and what’s to come in the world of Japanese mobile […]

News: AOTS and CScout - “Made in Japan”

CScout’s collaboration with the G4 Network’s Attack of the Show began recently and will be an ongoing project about twice a month.
Check out our first foray on AOTS. This resulted in a regular show now titled “Made in Japan”.

The first “Made in Japan” show featured:
- Canned ramen
- Portable disposable toilet
- CAM-007 camcorder
- Bone conduction
- […]