Since I’m no longer based in Tokyo I can’t really comment on the access to free wi-fi in the city, but while I was there (until March 2015) it was horrible, and so it’s nice to see that our big green friend is taking care of covering Shinjuku ward in beautiful free internet vibes. The photo was taken by the always awesome Patrick Macias, Tokyo senpai to us all.
When it comes to searching on the web, Google is king pretty much everywhere in the world, but not Japan. Nope, here, Yahoo! still reigns supreme, and Google has just started a new big push in the country to try and get more people using the G-rated search engine. The new campaign includes of course plenty of TV commercials (like this one), but also free wi-fi access in a few participating chains (Tully’s, Pronto, and Lotteria) in Tokyo and a few others places — but the catch is that you only get 30 minutes of use. Japan Probe has more.
Anyone who has tried to find some free wi-fi spots in Tokyo will know just how big a deal this is: Starbucks is set to offer free wi-fi in 94 of its stores in Japan starting November 1, with plans to expand after that. Tokyo web workers rejoice. Via Jason Jenkins.
Update: The service may not be as free as I had hoped, and may be limited to customers of NTT’s Flet’s.
Update 2: Some good news — it’s been confirmed that the service is indeed free.
Update 3: Well, looks like we were wrong. The service is indeed only for customers of Flet’s and Mzone — here’s the press release from Starbucks.