My AU phone died on me - by my mistake. Couple days ago, stepping
out of my apartment's front gate on my way to work, I realized I didn't
bring my phone, so I asked my wife to drop it from the window of our
third-floor apartmment. As she threw the phone she got a bit scared and
threw it rather awkwardly.
I'll leave what happened next to your imagination. Lesson: Even if
you are in a hurry, don't have someone drop something valuable from a
third floor apartment.
So I brought the phone to AU shop, and they told me fixing the
phone could cost me up to 10,000 yen (approx $100). Instead of fixing
the phone, I paid that money for lease-breaking penalty and switched to
Softbank. (Had to pay another 5,000 yen for MNP handling fees.)
When I got a shiny new Softbank Samsung phone, I didn't only
notice the phone's service features, but also the lack thereof. I don't know
why, but I kinda expected the phone would have an integrated shortcut
to Myspace Japan.
But apparently Softbank phones don't feature hot keys for Myspace
Japan yet - and this led me to wonder how the service is doing.
But at least for the time being, Myspace Japan isn't that
impressive. I checked out Myspace Japan and I could strongly
sense that the site is quickly turning into the turf for those who have
ties with/aspirations towards the US culture. Some Japanese youths are
following what's often called "LA style" i.e. the culture of rap-listening,
beard-growing, Hummer-driving Asian American hunkies. Myspace Japan
reminded me of that - maybe it's just me but anyway that's how I felt.
I've Googled Myspace Japan and the only fresh news I could find was their launch of the new video service. It will be interesting to see how Softbank will tie up Myspace Japan with the company's existing service assets, thereby winning the mainstream Japanese users back from Mixi and Mobage.
