Technorati Japan closing

Technorati has announced that it is closing its Japanese service as part of a shift in focus towards running a leaner operation.

In a blog post on the Technorati Japan blog, the company said it was difficult to develop and support the Japanese version of the site under the new company structure and that the site would cease operations October 23.

“We would like to apologize to all our members and users for the inconvenience caused and, at the same time, thank you for your patronage,” the post read.

The move follow Technorati’s announcement of a new look and ranking system yesterday. The new look Technorati is the first major change for the core site under current CEO Richard Jalichandra.