As we gear up for what is going to be the 4th SF New Tech Japan Night on April 25th, one of the Japan Night alums caught the eye of many at SxSW. What Americans think of Japanese culture is quite interesting. From Sumo wrestlers, Sony Playstations and Samurais, our view of the Japanese come from books, games and movies.

So, on flip side, it is interesting to see how the Japanese App makers want to market themselves here in the US.

Texas Rangers pitcher, Yu Darvish, wasn’t the only Japanese to make a splash in Texas in 2012. KAYAC, Inc. who presented Reengo at SF New Tech Japan Night II, interested many at SxSW by highlighting two apps – Photobag and MusicParty.

Photobag

Photobag is a signup-free service that allows the user to select the photos that they want to share with other mobile devices through a user generated access code.

After choosing the photos on the user’s phone to upload, the user enters a secret code and the app automatically uploads the pictures into a cloud server for storage.Check out the Nerd Stalker review here.

To market the Photobag app, KAYAC’s geisha or Kabuki actor took a picture of a SxSW attendee and gave it to a Manga artist. The Manga artist would then turn your digital photo into a Manga-style trading card and upload it with a “Magic” number. The attendee can then access the Manga card through the Photobag app. KAYAC pumped over 200 attendees cards to the mobile space.

This app is downloadable in the iPhone App Store and the Android Market.

See the Nerd Stalker Review of this app here.

MusicParty

MusciParty also allows a user’s friends to share music with through bluetooth or wireless to their iPhone. It can share music with up to five people. This app can be useful for parties, roadtrips or events where a music background is needed.

This app is available in the iTunes App Store.

See Nerdstalker’s, review of this App here.