picture of the day

Hulu hoop

38 Comments

Hulu CEO Jason Kilar poses with model Izumi Mori at an event Thursday to launch the online streaming site Hulu.com in Japan. The new service provides access to popular television shows and movies on computers, TV and mobile devices for a monthly fee of 1,480 yen (Hulu is offering a one-month free trial in Japan). Hulu said it chose Japan for its first international expansion because Japan is a major producer of world-class TV and feature films. The company added that Japan is a particularly attractive market for delivering video over the Internet because of its extensive broadband penetration and ubiquitous presence of Internet-connected mobile devices.

Kilar said Hulu is going to adopt not only Hollywood movies but also Asian movies in the future. Mori said: "I'm going to have a great vacation with Hulu and am looking forward to Japanese contents being adopted in the future." As part of the launch, Hulu says it entered an exclusive mobile marketing partnership with NTT DoCoMo.

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38 Comments
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I'm just saying....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Isn't it awfully hot in Tokyo? Wearing a sweater or T-shirt under a shirt and a coat over all that?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why do people pay for TV packages nowadays? Like Japan Gal said, all you need is a computer, a PS3, an internet connection and a TV and you can download anything you want, and watch it whenever you want.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Great. Pay 1,400 yen per month to sit in front of your TV/computer watching ridiculous shows while you inhale and consume cesium/strontium/iodine, etc. Sounds like a great idea. Ridiculous.

Secondly, Hulu will never take off in Japan until they get Japanese movies and TV shows on board.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I would never pay for Hulu content. What a rip.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

yeah Hulu CEO guy maybe you should actually get something we want to watch on your site before you come to Japan and have a press conference.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The Japanese portal is 3 times the cost of the American one and it has only a fraction of the shows:

http://www.hulu.jp/content

I was pretty excited because I watch 30 Rock, Community, The League, Modern Family, etc. on regular Hulu but none of those shows are on the Japanese site. Maybe in the future, but until they do it's nothing really special.

You can use Netflix with a US credit card and IP blocker and watch from Japan. Amazing movie selection, literlly blows everyone else away. But not that great for new TV shows where you have to order a DVD.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@paulinusa I did Netflix with a VPN for a while,but then it stopped working for me :(.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Poke me awake when they start streaming ''Family Guy'', ''The Simpsons'' and ''American Dad''. I'm a VPN user too,so that's how I can see some of my favorite shows.

Judge Judy would be great too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

very unattractive campaign

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Looking at their content they only seems to have about 20 TV shows with most of it very old... x-files, desperate housewives? I'm gonna wait until they get some actual content I want to watch.

Until they have the latest seasons of Breaking Bad, Dexter, Mad Men, No Reservations, Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy... etc., I won't bother. (Who says America has bad TV. It's great!)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ever heard of Netflix? If done right it could be very successful.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I too would be surprised if this pay model worked in Japan either

0 ( +0 / -0 )

there are no movies when i filter 2010+ ..

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I can barely stand Japanese TV shows for free; why on earth anyone would actually pay for it is a complete mystery and I doubt very much it will take off here. I note the "pay model" they are trying here in Japan has been largely a failure in the US. It is called Hulu Plus and it has not been successful.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Iva, go to Piratebay and download torrents. Fast and easy. Make sure there are a lot of seeds.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Ivan : Unfortunately, that's dictated by the big movie studios.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Fastpasstv.ms is pretty good too and you do not have to pay.

But if you want better quality, get the VPN. I use watchmyass(dot)com. Cost a little bit but worth it, plus secures you when doing business on wi-fi hot spots.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Will this Hulu allow us to watch films at the same time as other countries, or will we have to continue to wait for 6 to 12 months after Croatia gets them?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Interesting, they have an english section on their Japanese site:

http://www.hulu.jp/en

Looking at their content they only seems to have about 20 TV shows with most of it very old... x-files, desperate housewives? I'm gonna wait until they get some actual content I want to watch.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Who wears a dark t-shirt under a white dress shirt anyway?

A guy making millions off the internet. He can pretty much wear whatever he wants.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Are they the US versions or Japanese TV shows?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

why would anyone pay to watch anything? it's all free on the internet.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Australian youth are already stuffed up by terrible American tv shows, now they want to destroy Japanese youth?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

usninJapan2 sorry I dont pay attention to her shoes heh

1 ( +1 / -0 )

if they stream american tv shows then i'm signing up!

hulu hoop? come on!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Who wears a dark t-shirt under a white dress shirt anyway. And if you are going to button a three button jacket, then you go for the middle one. Soapbox. Off. Have a nice day.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Papigiulilo

Izumi is cute, very down to earth and funny.

Cute, yes. Funny, yes. But down to earth?! You're kidding right? Izumi Mori would float away if she wasn't wearing shoes to weigh her down.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Izumi is cute, very down to earth and funny.

I agree, she seems to be a genuinely happy person, and doesn't take herself too seriously.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan is a major producer of world-class TV and feature films

I think he meant "Japan is a major producer of world-class TV sets, and Kurosawa's feature films from the 50s are highly regarded".

Surely he can't be talking about anything coming out of Japan recently can he?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Izumi is cute, very down to earth and funny. But yeah like gaijinfo said, hulu sucks.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

He looks a little embarassed. She seems to be wagging her finger and saying...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Japan is a major producer of world-class TV and feature films"

What?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Hulu is entertaining for about 2 to 3 weeks. It dries up very quickly. Anyway, you don't want it to be in Japanese. If so, it'll be localized and that means it'll just be another Japanese site for most English speakers.

As JapanGal said. Proxy while you can. The day is coming when the Internet will be completely chopped up. I'd say we are about 80% there already.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@gaijininfo

Get a VPN and you can watch anything and everything!

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I hate Hulu. Everytime I try to play a video, it says "Sorry, this video cannot be streamed in your area."

4 ( +4 / -0 )

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