Buy.com has changed its name to Rakuten. com.

Seriously.

Discarding a memorable/clear/short name in favor of one that’s (apparently) familiar in Japan might be the result of provincialism, always a danger in international commerce. Renaming is always treacherous, but this break new ground for self-inflicted damage.

Rakuten seeks to deliver, according to their website, Omotenashi. Well, that clarifies everything.