Yahoo! Japan

 is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho complex in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Yahoo! Japan's web portal is the most visited website in Japan, and its internet services are mostly dominant in the country.
In March 2021, the company merged with Line Corporation, placing both companies under parent Z Holdings.
History.
Yahoo! and SoftBank formed Yahoo! Japan in January 1996 to set up the first web portal in Japan. Yahoo! Japan went live on April 1, 1996.
Yahoo! Japan was listed on JASDAQ in November 1997. In January 2000, it became the first stock in Japanese history to trade for more than ¥100 million per share. The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October 2003 and became part of the Nikkei 225 stock market index in 2005.
Yahoo! Japan acquired the naming rights for the Fukuoka Dome in 2005, renaming the dome as the "Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome". The "Yahoo Dome" is the home field for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, a professional baseball team majority owned by SoftBank.
Since 2010, Yahoo! Japan's search engine has been based on Google's search technology. In exchange, Google receives user activity data from Yahoo! Japan's various products.
In 2017, Verizon Communications purchased the core internet business of America-based Yahoo!, and merged them into Oath, Inc. Yahoo! Japan was not affected. It continued as a joint venture between Softbank and what remained of Yahoo! Inc., renamed Altaba. Yahoo! had been declining in popularity and economically since the late 2000s, but the situation has been quite the opposite for Yahoo! Japan, which continues to dominate Japan's internet industry. Following the sale, Yahoo! Japan will continue to use the name "Yahoo!" under license from Verizon Communications.
In July 2018, SoftBank bought $2 billion worth of shares in Yahoo! Japan from Altaba, increasing its stake to 48.17 percent. Yahoo! Japan, in turn, bought nearly the same amount of stock from SoftBank. In September 2018, Altaba sold all of its remaining shares in Yahoo! Japan for roughly $4.3 billion.
Industry body affiliation.
Yahoo! Japan was a founding member of Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani's Japan e-business association in February 2010, but after Rakuten withdrew from the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) in June 2011 and made moves to become the Japan Association of New Economy as a rival to Keidanren, Yahoo! Japan withdrew from the e-business association in March 2012. It joined Keidanren in July 2012.
Design.
Yahoo! Japan continues to use the site design from prior to 2007 and logo used by Yahoo! internationally prior to 2013 in the pre-2009 red color.
Search Engine.
One of Yahoo! JAPAN's main businesses. Originally it was mainly a directory-type search engine like Yahoo! in the United States, and a crawler-type search engine was attached to it, but because the use of a crawler-type search engine gradually increased, after October 3, 2005 It switched to use a crawler-type engine as the subject. On June 29, 2017, Yahoo! Japan announced that the directory-based search engine "Yahoo! Category", which has been in operation since its establishment, will be abolished on March 29, 2018.
As a crawler type search engine, initially using the search engine of goo, using Google's engine from May 2000, then switched to Yahoo Search Technology (YST) which is an engine originally developed by Yahoo! in the US.
In addition to regular search engines, it has partnered with Twitter to provide real-time search for tweets. It also receives data feeds from partner companies, and COOKPAD and NAVER information is displayed in search results.
"Yahoo! Search Custom Search" was discontinued on March 31, 2019 
Services.
Ymobile.
Ymobile Corporation (ワイモバイル株式会社), stylized Y!mobile, is a subsidiary of Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Group Corporation that provides mobile telecommunications and ADSL services. The current CEO of the company is Ken Miyauchi. It was formed in 2014 through the merger of Willcom and eAccess, and uses the Y! moniker brand from Yahoo! Japan, which is partly-owned by SoftBank.
Yahoo! Japan Auctions (ヤフオク！）.
Yahoo! offers Japan's largest Internet auction service. As an auction site in Japan, it boasts an overwhelming number of users. In the past, it was called Yahoo! Auction, and Yafuoku, which stands for this, was called, but now It is Yafuoku! Has become the official name. EBay,the world's largest eBay company, also entered Japan in 2001, but was unable to compete with its predecessor, Yahoo!, and withdrew in March 2002 (re-entered in partnership with Yahoo! in December 2007). From the beginning of August 2007, the maximum bid amount (5,000 yen) has been set for non-premium members.
Yahoo! Japan T-Point.
If you use a specific service of Yahoo! JAPAN, you get points, and you can use it for 1 point = 1 yen by shopping such as Yahoo!Shopping and transfer of Yahoo! easy payment (only if you choose to use points by credit card payment). In addition, it is also possible to cash for 100 points = 85 yen.
When you register T-points, personal information is provided to CCC.
Yahoo! Net Fundraising uses T-Points to donate to a variety of areas.
Yahoo! Points has partnered with T-Points since 2010 and can now choose whether to earn or use Yahoo! Points or T-Points, although they can't be exchanged. In October 2012, yahoo and Culture Convenience Club established a joint venture to integrate Yahoo! Point into T-Point on July 1, 2013. Integrated into THE JAPAN ID
Even in T points, Yahoo! There was a fixed T-point that can only be used for Yahoo Japan and other Yahoo Services, but from August 2019, it will gradually switch to PayPay Bonus.
Yahoo! Premium.
By paying a flat fee, you can use various paid services, such as being able to bid on Yafuoku! listings and specific categories (real estate, automobiles, etc.), and there is a membership system that has benefits such as a rise in Yahoo! Points acquisition rate.
However, to use it, only three banks are registered as a member of Yahoo! Wallet and, in principle, a bank account designated by Yahoo! (as of February 2020: Japan Net Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, and Rakuten Bank). Mizuho Bank closed new applications as of December 31, 2019, but will continue to be available. For subscribers with Softbank,Y!mobileoperated by SoftBank Group mobile company SoftBank Mobile, a service that can use Yahoo! Premium (SoftBank collectively pay, Y-Mobile Enjoy Pack, Yahoo! Wallet) In the past, there is a pack to smartphone, Yahoo! Premium for Soft Bank (feature version is newly recruited end in December 2015)there is, in this case since the membership fee is debited from the smartphone debit account of the user, it may not be the above designated bank or financial institution.
As of 2015, there are monthly free campaigns, but not all Yahoo accounts are eligible. Most of the campaigns are free of charge for "up to two months". In addition, the actual period is up to 1.5 months because the campaign starts around the middle of the month. Campaign registration is not automatically canceled, and you will be charged a usage fee after one day of the free period.
Yahoo! Bookstore.
A sales site for e-books operated by Yahoo! JAPAN. It is different from Yahoo! Books described below. Yahoo! Comics, which was paid/distributed free of charge in manga, was renewed in November 2011, becoming a comprehensive e-book site that offers not only comics but also characters and photo books.
Yahoo! Japan News.
Yahoo! Japan partners with outlets including Mainichi Shimbun and Juju News Agency to distribute articles. The news section includes a bulletin board section.
Yahoo! Japan Mail.
Yahoo! Japan Mail maintains the classic look of Yahoo! Mail, but remains a separate service operated in Japan. Another notable change is the 10 GB storage limit, in contrast to Yahoo! Mail's 1 TB of storage and its former unlimited-storage offering.
Yahoo! Japan GeoCities.
GeoCities was available until March 2019 via Yahoo! Japan.
Yahoo! Japan Toto.
A sales site for sports promotion lotteries (soccer lotteries such as toto and toto BIG) operated by Yahoo! JAPAN. As a payment method for Yahoo! Wallet, users who have registered a payment method that can be used with Yahoo! toto can register for Yahoo!toto. You can pay from a savings account at Japan Net Bank or use credit card payments (Yahoo! Card, VISA, MasterCard, JCB, Diners), and you can also use T-Points. For purchases from a Japan Net bank account, there is an upper limit of up to 50,000 yen per purchase procedure per lottery, but you can purchase as many times as you like. In the case of credit card payment, the maximum amount of purchase per month is set to 50,000 yen. In addition, the announcement of the results may be delayed by a few days from the toto official website.
Yahoo! Shopping.
A store website like Rakuten.
Yahoo! Travel.
Sales site for travel products.
Yahoo! Roko.
A new service created in June 2011 by integrating Yahoo! Map, Yahoo! Gourmet, Yahoo! Route Information, and more. It is a service that combines map information and regional information, and Yahoo! calls it "the largest geoservice in Japan."
Yahoo! Box.
The Japanese version of the now discontinued Yahoo! Briefcase. Yahoo! Box was launched in October 2011, offering up to 5 GB of free storage and up to 50 GB for Yahoo! Premium members. The desktop app was disabled on March 31, though smartphone access is still available.
Yahoo! Mobage.
A service that operates as a PC version of the mobile phone portal site "mobage (formerly known as Mobage Town)"of D.N.A. Co., Ltd. (DeNA). In the past, DeNA's own PC version of the service was operated, but it closed on September 21, 2010, and opened as a beta version on the same day. It officially opened on October 7.
Yahoo! Wisdom Bag.
Knowledge community similar to Yahoo! Answers knowledge search service where users teach knowledge and wisdom to each other on electronic bulletin boards.
In 2006, it became available on mobile phones and other applications. The "Wisdom Note" service was also launched in 2011, but it ended in 2017.
Yahoo! Browser.
A multi-function browser app that incorporates many functions such as automatic optimization function, voice-to-speech function, QR code reading function, etc. Only android version is present.
Yahoo! Japan GyaO.
GyaO is a Japanese video on demand service by Yahoo! Japan.
Programs include: