Google’s Eric Schmidt Drops in on Japan for Nexus 7 Launch

Photo: Gizmodo Japan, Eric Schmidt on stage

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) held an event in Tokyo this afternoon to announce some new goodies for the Japanese market. We already told you this morning that the Nexus 7 tablet can now be ordered by consumers in Japan.

Further to what we noted this morning, we’re told that the device will soon be available from the nations biggest electronics retailers, like Bic Camera, Yodobashi Camera, and K’s Denki to name a few.

But the big G had more in store as well, with Eric Schmidt in attendance for the event too, as we understand it. The company will be launching books on Google Play, and there are also now movies available from Paramount and Sony on Google Play as well.

Google shared some key metrics about the Japan Android market as well, perhaps most notably that the number of Android devices has nearly tripled in the past year. Naturally, that’s going to boost its apps ecosystem, and the company notes that Japan is the number three country for Google Play app installs.

In addition to the announcements at this event, Google also recently added bus routes for Google Maps in Japan. This comes at the same time when Apple is hearing a chorus of complaints about its new maps service in iOS 6.