Twitter fills a void in Japan. Unlike Facebook, Twitter doesn’t require people to use their real names. A lot of Japanese consumers sign up with user names that correspond with a specific interest. This enables people to connect with others who are interested the same niche subject.

They don’t use their real names so that they can hide!

I used my real name to communicate publicly with a CEO, I know for sure that he got my message.....

Actually there are a lot of fake names on FB, too.

loads of perverts are happy to be in disguise so that they can pounce on their prey veiled in fake user names :)

Wasn't that the reason why Mixi was popular for so long and Facebook didn't take off for a few years because of the whole anonymity thing?

Riskymosaic that’s funny lol

They did this to hide in that Japanese start-up Mixi, too, and it died because what was supposed to be an SNS became a scattered group of public interests with no faces, no names, and no real heart. Why are Japanese so scared of using their names?