I was just reading this story at Tech Crunch. They seem to be using the same technique to promote themselves in a market where they still play second fiddle to Yahoo. I didn't see 'dofollow' links in the posts so they seem to be fine with pay per post with nofollow (or no links) and only using PPP for branding.
I'm not so sure I agree with that statement. First off, the post on this site, is definitely dofollow. Secondly, with the hard stance they took on pay-per-post blogs, I find it extremely hypocritical that they would pay ANYONE to positively promote their features. Dofollow, nofollow, it doesn't make any difference. This isn't about PR, we are talking about Google here. This is about pushing their own brand. This is absolutely no different than Belkin buying good reviews on Amazon and Newegg. On that note, I just finished writing my own blog post on this subject... You can find it at here: Google Buying Reviews Through Cyberbuzz? (I basically just re-iterate the thoughts I posted here)
Sounds like the kind of hypocritical move that Google would make. I doubt they take the time to ensure those links are all nofollow. Even if they are nofollow, they know that such links will still help their Yahoo rankings.
The new winning strategy according to Google: "Do as I say, not as I do". Is it possible that this is a case of the Google Japan team failing to adhere to Google HQ standards or wouldn't there be clear communication and a familiar SOP between all divisions?