A new Web community event WISH2009, a sort of mini "TechCrunch50" Japan version, will be held in Tokyo on August 21, 2009.
It is a showcase of start-ups and organizations trying out a new things on the Web, and a place for Web innovators to gather and exchange ideas. Please see the details at the following Asiajin blog.
Asiajin entry
It is held by AMN (Agile Media Network), a premier blog network in Japan, and my Japanese blog is honored to be a part of it. The number of presenters are still small compared to TechCrunch, but am really excited to see such event happening in Japan as well, organized by a start-up.
You can still sign up to attend. Please visit WISH2009 website. (Sorry, Japanese only).
Michi
Japan's desruptive mobile carrier "E-Mobile"
I am at Wireless Japan conference in Tokyo. It is my second time here, and instantly noticed that the number of booths has shrunk quite a bit this year than before, due to the bad economy. Hearing the presentations of the top Japanese carriers is as gloomy as the number of attendance.
The only executives who provided bright spots were DoCoMo, the top carrier, and the underdog E-Mobile. DoCoMo is the Japanese version of Verizon. With its strong network and more than 50% market share, and now with more focused strategy, they are stably strong. They are doing everything you can think of, because they can afford anything. That was expected.
Less boring is the story about E-Mobile. They started as a subsidiary of eAccess, ADSL startup, who is considered the only successful Japanese venture in telecommunication, and raised money mostly from foreign investors, such as Goldman Sachs, Temasec (Singapore), and Hong Kong strategic investors. The company is headed by a foreigner (Eric Gan, COO) so are the majority of the board members.
E-Mobile started the service in 2007, and currently has almost 1.5 Million subscribers. Although the accumulated number of subs is miniscule compared to major carriers (DoCoMo has 50 Million), but in terms of net sub increase share, E-Mobile holds more than 1/4, and is at the top for the first half of 2009. So-called Lehman Shock in fall 09 did not affect their growth pace at all.
Their technology is not anything unique - just an ordinary 3G. What makes them unique is that their service is maximized for data service. They have develped much smaller and cheaper base station (1/10 of investment, lower running cost), proviced by Ericsson and Huawei (instead of tranditional Japanese vendors). They have procured cheap "net books" originally from Taiwan and started selling with subsidy, just as the mobile handsets. "Net book" bundle strategy was hugely successful, and now that Japanese vendors have started to produce, net books accounts for 1/4 of total notebook PC sales in Japan.
Their base package is 1,000 yen per month minimum, and the new "light" plan even goes down to 580 yen if you don't use the data. With such light starting point, most users (90%) only use data (although they DO have voice package, with MVNO arrangement), which means the users have a separate mobile phone. They are introducing 21Mbps service in August, so you can ditch the landline ADSL altogether.
Their largest weak point is coverage, but because they only serve data customers, poor coverage in rural area is not as costly as others. I tried their USB dangle at my parents' home in Tokyo suburb, and had no problem using it - easy to set up, and fast enough for basic net usage. They have prepaid plan, too, so if you visit Tokyo for business frequently, you can buy the dangle and pay only for the days you use.
After 2 years of service, their existance is still quite small among Japanese big 3 carriers, but they are the typical "desruptive" technology, defined in Christensen's "Innovator's Dilenma". They are still a private company and is not announcing the financials, but looks riding along to a pernament existance in Japan - and personally, I am looking forward to seeing such international innovator making it in Japan, and will potentially change its rather closed and slow-moving culture.
Michi
Update of Shogi book open-source translation
As my previous entry, an interesting experiment to translate a Japanese book into other languages is way under way, and there are some exciting updates from the original author Mr. Mochio Umeda.
He showed the 1st version English translation, led by Shota Yakushiji, to his American friends, and their reaction was quite pleasing.
"The translated text is quite clear; there was no sense of “what does this mean?” or, am I getting the right meaning?” So that is very good. In some places, there are Japanese characters still retained in the translation, which gives rise to some ambiguity, but overall the number of such instances is small. There are a few grammatical errors, but I think that is inevitable. Even when there is such an error, the meaning of the text is still clear, which is very good.
So - I would say the quality of English is very good for practical purposes, but not great. Another way to look at it is: a web reader would find the text perfectly fine (i.e., willing to put up with minor inconvenience), but someone who has paid for a translated copy of the book might not. Given that this is an ‘open-source’ effort, I think it is VERY good."
"I've been following the translation project with interest, but today was the first that I've actually taken a look at the English-lang version.
First reaction: Wow. This is actually a readable piece of work!
By readable I mean both (1) not perfect, but perfectly tolerable and (2) probably more enjoyable if I was only genuinely interested in the subject. I think readers who are interested in the topic would be willing to overcome some lumpy / awkward translations anyway, but I -- as someone who doesn't find the subject as interesting (sorry!) -- too find it quite acceptable.
Congratulations. This is a super-exciting example of how an open-sourced volunteer translation can do, on the cheap and with speed!"
While English version was up and is currently edited on open-source manner, French version project manager Mr. Yoshihisa Yamada is expanding his reach. He reached out to English/French bilingual person to help out, based on the 1st draft of English version.
It is unfortunate but simple fact that there are more "English/xxx" bilingual people than "Japanese/xxx" people, so by utilizing the English version, albeit imperfect, they can broaden the potential open-source translation community by probably in the order of x100.
So Mr. Yamada decided to expand his horizon even more, by soliciting volunteers to start other "English/xxx" projects. He sent e-mails to all the embassies in Tokyo from all around the world, asking to forward the request to join the effort to Shogi organization in their own countries. So far, he received a few replies, including good possibility of "English/Polish" and "English/Spanish" projects.
The reason that I am interested in this project is because I - as many other Japanese-origin Net-people, including Mr. Umeda himself - have been struggling to find ways to participate in "English-centric Web world," and this could be a breakthrough solution. It has been a hot topic among Net opinion leaders in Japan, as many are concerned that Japan is becoming more and more isolated from the central trend in the Web. European languages are similar to English to start with, and top intellects in emerging countries have to learn English. But Japanese is so different, and at the same time, Japan is too big an economy and people can do perfectly fine without learning English thus less incentive to do so.
So I am keeping curious eyes on this project. Any of the readers of this blog is welcome to help out, of course!!
Michi
Open-souce style translation project "Shogi" book
There have been lots of pessimism about Japan's future in Japanese blogosphere, but I don't necessarily agree. Here is one breath of fresh air.
Mr. Mochio Umeda, my friend and mentor, is a well-known management consultant based in Silicon Valley, and is a charisma among young and tech-savvy Japanese youth, with a series of his best-seller books, such as "Web Shinkaron (Web Evolution)". He recently published a book about his off-time passion, "Shogi" (Japanese chess), in which he talks about the meaning of "watching" shogi as a layman, including his conversation with the top Shogi champion Yoshiharu Habu.
The Web-guru Umeda, shortly before the book's official release, declared in his blog that he opens up the content of this book to any "open-source translation" effort to any foreign language, under the agreement with the publisher. He says he wanted to let many people know about the wonderful world of Shogi around the world, and he wanted to experiment such "open-source translation" format in the context of Japan, where open source style is not as prevalent as in Europe or the U.S.
That was April 20, and on April 29, a few days after the book's release, a Japanese college student started the English-translation project, with a help of a few core people over the net. The next day, French-translation project started in the same manner.
And today, May 8, the initial translation is uploaded on the Web. It is amazing to see such speed and passion. If you take the normal steps (publisher negotiates the translation rights with a foreign publisher and hire translator....etc...), it probably will take more than a year.
Yoshiharu Habu and Modern Shogi
Now to be honest, I have not read the book yet. I don't know Shogi. But I still think it is just GREAT. Shota Yakushiji, the leader, says in his blog, "I know the quality of translation is far from perfect. But WE WANT TO BRIGHTEN THE NOW GLOOMY JAPANESE WEB."
They need your - English-speaking reader of this blog - help. Please feel free to go to their website and help them with correcting English. They welcome any help, and if you are interested in the Shogi game, that would be even better.
Michi
What is appropriate
The notion of appropriateness, I think, has different kind of weights in Japan and in the US.
In terms of social manner, although codes are different, both cultures share similar sensitivity. It is also same that the older and more conservative segments of people are more keen on taking them seriously.
In political situation, however, US is way more sensitive about appropriateness or correctness (sometimes excessively so, IMO) on race, sex, etc. This is not surprising from historical and cultural background of each country.
But in terms behavioral appropriateness, I don't hear much about it in the US, while in Japan it is a pretty big deal(again sometimes excessively so, IMO). I saw an casual poll on "un-adultlike behaviour" at a Japanese site.(you can see a fantastic translation here.)
This includes things like having no savings, inability to cook or clean, improper use of chopsticks, and calling parents as Mama and Papa. They are cute and harmless for the most part. Heavy things are not in here, probably because most people are trying so hard to do them right under tremendous social pressure.
Japanese expect you to act in certain ways depending on types of job and it is actually one of the reasons why their services are so good, even though there is no tipping involved. But playing the perfect mother, daughter-in-law, subordinate, the nice guy, etc - this never ending list can be daunting challenge for many people.
Now, let me tell you what I thought un-adultlike when I came to the US. Grownups are drinking soda all the time! Men eat lots of sweets in public! These are somewhat wired to me to this day, but that's ok, we love our manga too.
Yuki
Japan-Taiwan semiconductor deal - the end of the end?
It is a distant memory in the 80's that Japanese DRAM vendors dominated the world, and U.S. government pressed Japanese government to slow down the export to the US. As a result, "US-Japan semiconductor pact" was signed to limit the export, which actually worked as an effective cartel and sustained the price of DRAM during that period.
After the pact term of 10 years was over, the market crashed. During this cartel period, Korean manufacturers invested heavily and marketed aggressively, and they quickly surpassed Japanese makers.
Two struggling Japanese semiconductor vendors decided to consolidate together to save the situation. The semiconductor divisions of NEC and Hitachi got together and created Elpida Memory. As a rare case among mergers of major Japanese companies, it has been doing relatively well for the past 10 years. They are currently ranked #3 among the DRAM vendors in the world.
However, with the global economic meltdown, they have to consolidate again. This time, maybe because there seem to be no other good Japanese partners, Elpida is talking to three Taiwanese vendors - Powerchip Semiconductor, Rexchip Electronics, and ProMOS Technologies. Taiwanese government will provide financial support to these companies, and Elpida is considering for help from Japanese government. The combined entity will rise up to the #2 player, behind Samsung.
So there we go. After a full circle, once-mighty Japanese DRAM industry is coming to the end of the end, I guess. No particular opinion about itself, but looking back the time when I came to the US in the 80', I can't help but remember those days. Time flows like water in the river, and it is not the same water anymore.
Michi
Japan's internet ad market shake up
I was aware that Yahoo! Japan is totally a different animal from its U.S. version, and that they have the majority share of searches in Japan, not Google.
But I didn't know that Yahoo's dominance is such, until I saw the article on Nikkei last night.
It reported that NTT (Japan's dominant telecom carrier) and Microsoft are teaming up to form an Internet advertising network. The initial network will include MSN/WindowsLive and Goo/OCN/Plara (NTT group's portal/search engine), as well as third party sites such as Niko Niko Douga (YouTube-like video sharing site), nifty, and Sony's So-net. The entity will sell the ad space to the advertisers and distribute through the network sites.
And according to the chart that goes with the article, the pageview ranking of Japanese domestic internet sites (Dec.08) are:
- Yahoo! Japan 23.710
- Google 3,738
- Rakuten 3,277 (e-commerce site)
- YouTube 1,822
- Mixi 1,774 (social network site)
- MSN/Windoes Live 1,615
- Goo 1,152 (NTT's search and portal)
(numbers are in million pageview, during the month of December 08)
(Source: NetRatings via Nihon Keizai Shimbun)
New NTT/MS ad network would jump up to the #2 position with almost 5 billion PVs, surpassing Google, but it sill is less than 1/4 of Yahoo Japan.
Yahoo! Japan, despite its namesake, is a separate entity from Yahoo!. Yahoo! US has just a minority investment and provide brandname and trademark, similar touch and feel and menu of services, but the strategy and site management decisions are totally up to the Japanese entity, the crown jewel of Mr. Masayoshi Son's Softbank group.
Japan's net advertisement market is said to have gone through a major shakeout in 2007, when SNS site Mixi started to dump its huge page inventory and the price per PV plummeted in order of 1/100's. With the tough economic environment, this move by NTT and MS is seen not only as the challenge to the mighty Yahoo, but also as an effort to consolidate the market, in a Japanese way, to avoid further damage.
Another special factor in Japan is Dentsu's existance. Dentsu is the largest ad agency in Japan, and I am hearing that they still have significant power even in the Internet ad market, through their close relationships with the advertisers. I don't know how Dentsu's position will be in this situation. Dentsu is often accused by "net" side people as the "dark side", who tries to keep the traditional media dominance and suppress the new development in the net media. I am curious how the power will (or will not) shift in this world's #2 ad market.
Mich
Japan's Mobile WiMax starts on Feb. 26
UQ Communications, a group company of KDDI, will start providing Japan's first mobile WiMax service "UQ WiMax" in Tokyo, Yokohama and Kawasaki on February 26, 2009. They will eventually expand the service through Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka corridor. The article reports that they will focus the coverage in major train stations.
The service plan will be 4480 yen (approx. $45) flat per month, and the maximum downward speed will be 40Mbps, upward 10Mbps.
They will provide free trial service until June 30.
Globally, WiMax has shrunk down to a niche service for emerging countries lately, but UQ has to start the service because of their oblitagion to the government as a spectrum licensee. With the economic environment as grim in Japan as everywhere else, it is a tough start for UQ.
But you never know. Things sometimes work differently in Japan. I never expected E-Mobile does such a good job getting people to use their "Net Books" (small and cheap wireless-net-enabled PC, which is provided for free to users with carrier's subsidy), so it may be another case.
Anyway, I HAVE to get there before 6/30 to try it out for free myself.
Michi
Sony is buying Nintendo...? Not so fast!
There was a news on FT the other day that Sony's ex-chairman stated that Japan's electronics industry must consolidate if it is to remain competitive and that it is the cluster of Kyoto-based technology companies, including Nintendo, that makes him confident in the future of Japan's electronics industry.
Quite a comment, isn't it?
One could read into some drastic moves from Sony or other interesting things, but I think it was closer to just a careless remark. I can see how he might say these things casually in Japanese.
I guess he was expressing his view on the industry landscape and separately praised Wii for its very "Japanese style" innovation as a private person / critic / heavyweight /populist. And that sort of mixed standpoint is well allowed in Japanese context especially for someone of his status. I doubt this is the case in the US. Somebody might have sued him already for stock price spike.
Nothing is really wrong with that in and of itself, but these kinds of incidents make me think that Japanese are somewhat politically-challenged. On the other hand, it is sometimes tiring in the states as it is overly political in many aspects of daily life. There should be a middle ground somewhere....
Yuki
Aso's Kanji test
On the same day as the new era finally comes along to the U.S. with Obama's inauguration, across the Pacific Ocean, an opposition party politician was mocking Prime Minister Aso for his inability to read Kanji correctly (=equivalent of not being able to spell correctly).
I cannot really judge Aso's ability to serve our country, because I live so far away and the only way to know his action is through sporadic (and often distorted) media coverage, but aside from that point, I feel ASHAMED to be a Japanese citizen, to see politicians wasting their precious time and the tax money for their salary for such trivial things.
My son is a bit dyslexic, so I understand that some people have trouble memorizing the right way to write/read Kanji, or spelling correctly. It is hard. I even suspect that Aso may have the similar tendency. But so what?
It is one thing that media mock the politician in such a way (I enjoy Colbert Report a lot), but to do it in the parliament environment is totally another. It is a SHAME to see this in the second largest economy in the world.
Michi