Ogilvy's Social Media team in Tokyo pulled together a list of some of Japan's top websites.

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Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan)
•
A Sample of 50 Top
Japanese Websites
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan)

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Digital Japan – Hyper Japan
Of the Top 15 countries by Internet population, Japan is
considered to be among the top three 3. (1) But where
exactly is this entire hyper-activity taking place? What
are the Japanese looking at, searching in and blogging
on?
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan) has
compiled a list of some of the most widely used web
sites in Japan.
We have taken some editorial and qualitative judgment
in compiling the list. There are certainly more highly
accessed sites than the ones chosen; for example for
obvious reasons we have omitted adult sites. We have
focused on a sampling of portals, blogs and web
destinations that matter most and resonate with a Japan
audience.
Our aim is to provide a sample listing to help better
understand what Japan is viewing and where the
conversations are taking place.
The main source for the data is alexa,
(http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/JP) with editing done by Ogilvy
Public Relations Worldwide (Japan).
1. http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/23/comscore-internet-population-passes-one-billion-top-15-
countries/)

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A Sample of 50 Top Japanese Web Sites
Yahoo! Japan goo
http://www.yahoo.co.jp/ http://www.goo.ne.jp
Japan's representative portal site. As a search
engine has almost twice the market share of its
No. 2 competitor, Google.
A large portal site operated affiliated with NTT.
Strong on new technology development.
MSN Japan ＠Nifty
http://jp.msn.com/ http://www.nifty.com/
One facet of a large portal site. Fourth overall
in market share as a search engine.
A powerful ISP operated as a subsidiary of
Fujitsu. Widely known these days as the
operator of the cocolog blog service.
BIGLOBE OCN
http://www.biglobe.ne.jp/ http://www.ocn.ne.jp/
An NEC-affiliated portal site. Third overall in
market share as a search engine. Accessed by
many users because it is set as the default home
page for browsers on NEC-brand PCs.
An ISP operated by large communications
company NTT.

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Mixi MySpace.com
http://mixi.jp/ http://www.myspace.com/
Japan’s largest SNS site. SNS site with Japan's second largest user base.
Widely known among music lovers.
GREE Ameblo
http://gree.jp http://ameblo.jp/
SNS site with particular advantages for access
via cell phone.
Company operates the largest blog service.
Features many blogs started by celebrity
entertainers.
FC2 Blog Yahoo! Blog
http://www.fc2.com/ http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/
The only independent player among the large
blog services. Said to have loose rules and to
allow much freedom.
A blog service that attracts many novice users.

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livedoor Blog Cocolog
http://blog.livedoor.com/ http://www.cocolog-nifty.com/
A blog service considered to have relatively
high-level functionality. Affiliated with portal
site Livedoor.
A blog service operated by Nifty.
Google YouTube
http://www.google.co.jp/ http://jp.youtube.com/
Search engine second only to Yahoo. Widely known movie sharing site. In recent
years Japan's Liberal Democratic Party and
other groups have established publicly
accessible channels.
Nikoniko-douga Watch Me TV
http://www.nicovideo.jp/ http://www.watchme.tv/
A movie sharing site with more core-level
users. Formerly had much illegal content; more
recently has featured many independent
creations (user-produced music and movies).
A movie sharing site operated by Fuji
Television. Features many tie-in events with
Fuji Television, but does not boast the same
market share as YouTube and Nikoniko-douga.

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GYAO DMM.com
http://www.gyao.jp/ http://www.dmm.com/
An on-demand streaming movie site rolled out
by USEN, a cable broadcasting concern.
A streaming movie site that grew out of adult-
entertainment content distribution. These days
also features other content such as live concert
films from popular rock bands.
Photozou 2channel
http://photozou.jp/ http://2ch.net/
A photo-sharing SNS. Has made its API
publicly available, allowing users to develop
mashups with external programs.
Japan's largest anonymous bulletin-board
collection. Has a reputation for negativity in the
eyes of many Japanese.
hatena Buzzurl
http://www.hatena.ne.jp/ http://buzzurl.jp/
Operates a number of unique services. Among
the most famous are “Hatena Diary” for
blogging and “Hatena Bookmarks” for social
bookmarking. The employees, including the
company president, have strong personalities,
and many are known as individuals in their own
right.
A large social bookmarking site that originated
in Japan.

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livedoor clip OKWave
http://clip.livedoor.com/ http://okwave.jp/
A social bookmarking site operated by large
portal Livedoor.
A Q&A site of the largest scale that originated
in Japan.
Kotaete-Net All About Japan
http://www.kotaete-net.net/ http://allabout.co.jp/
A personal computer Q&A site operated by
Microsoft.
A site formerly affiliated with Recruit. Uses
"guides" to educate users in a number of
different areas.
asahi.com Yomiuri On-Line
http://www.asahi.com/ http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/
A news site operated by large newspaper
company Asahi Shimbun.
A news site operated by large newspaper
company Yomiuri Shimbun.

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NIKKEI NET Iza！
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/ http://www.iza.ne.jp/
A news site operated by large newspaper
company Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
A news site operated by large newspaper
company Sankei Shimbun. Places heavy
emphasis on interactive content and achieves a
more unique flavor than other newspaper sites
through measures such as allowing reporters to
maintain their own blogs rather than simply
posting news items.
tabelog.com Bob And Andy
http://tabelog.com/ http://www.bob-an.com/
tabelog.com is Japan's largest word-of-mouth
gourmet site
A recipe site operated by the company that
publishes the lifestyle magazine "Pad."
Cookpad @cosme
http://cookpad.com/ http://www.cosme.net/
The largest recipe site. Word-of-mouth cosmetics site. Widely known
as a successful CGM site.

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Wikipedia Oricon style
http://ja.wikipedia.org/ http://www.oricon.co.jp/
An online dictionary with extremely broad
name-recognition.
An entertainment portal site operated by
Oricon, a well-known music information
service company.
sportsnavi golfdigest
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/ http://www.golfdigest.co.jp/
A sports information site under the aegis of
yahoo.
A golf information site linked with the
magazine of the same name. Also allows users
to make reservations at golf courses.
Ranking Japan Environmental goo
http://www.rankingjapan.com/ http://eco.goo.ne.jp/
An entertainment site in which various kinds of
information are presented in a ranking format.
A site specializing on the environment under
the aegis of large portal site goo. Features event
information and columns on environmental
topics.

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eiga.com kakaku.com
http://eiga.com/ http://kakaku.com/
A movie information site. Users may post
feedback on movies in addition to reading
movie-related news.
A site for comparing price data. Includes
features for users to exchange information and
opinions about merchandise.
Ecnavi.jp weathernews
http://ecnavi.jp/ http://weathernews.jp/
A general-purpose EC site with many usage
points
A weather information site operated by the
world’s largest civilian climate-data company
Minna no Kabushiki (Everybody’s
Stock Market)
Mahou no iLand (The Magic iLand)
http://minkabu.jp/ http://company.maho.jp/
A community site for stock information. A mobile community.

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4 travel Oishasan-gaido (Guide To Doctors)
http://4travel.jp/ http://www.10man-doc.co.jp/index.html
A portal site on which users can do things like
submit travel information or make hotel
arrangements.
A site on which users may select doctors based
on factors such as geographical location and the
details of a particular medical condition
Vector Mado No Mori Windows Forest
http://www.vector.co.jp/ http://www.forest.impress.co.jp/
A site that conducts logistical operations,
beginning with software, for digital content
A site on which an editorial team carefully
selects, evaluates, and introduces to the user
online software for Windows.
Zenryaku Profiles About Me
http://pr.cgiboy.com/ http://aboutme.jp/
A profile-creation site popular among younger
users.
A profile-creation site operated by Nifty. Also
provides SNS-type features.

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Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan)
http://www.ogilvy.co.jp/en/
orlando.camargo@ogilvy.com