Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Jackpot on Links:
http://www.telenor.no/fou/program/nomadiske/artikler.shtml
Sociology of the Mobile Phone
http://www.telenor.no/fou/program/nomadiske/artikler.shtml
Sociology of the Mobile Phone
Monday, July 28, 2003
http://www.jinjapan.org/trends/ev/right_c.html
DIGITAL FASHION:
New Accessories Help Define Look of Today's Youth
April 3, 2000
PHONE PROBLEMS:
Cellular Phone Etiquette Becomes a Major Issue
July 5, 2000
In Tokyo, Street Fashion Goes High-Tech
Children and Mobile Technology:Japanese Experience
Proceedings from Conference !!!!
From Emily's blog: http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/
http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/000820.htm
June 12, 2003
Favorite Ringtones are cultural in Japan
Xeni Jardin reports in a post on boingboing on the changing business of cell phone ringtones in Japan, where roughly 80 percent of the ringtones are Japanese songs with Japanese pop music ruling the ringtone charts. "Song clips, called chaku-uta, are hayatteru ("totally trendy") with the under-30 crowd. And chaku-goe, ("voice,") is "another popular type of ringtone".
::
http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/cat_ringtones_of_note.htm
Elsewhere: Another karaoke application is offered by Japanese ringtone providers, allowing subscribers to 'practice' songs. This service has been widened to include images, and users can send up to four photos which can be 'watched' while the audio clip is playing. (cf The ringtone market remains a surprise to many)
::(from main page:)
Some interesting figures:
-- In Japan and Europe ring tones are already a $5 billion business.
Are Nokia's mobile devices being pushed on to us, or is demand being driven by us?
Business Report questions whether mobile devices are being pushed on to us, or are we the ones driving the demand.
According to initial market research in Japan, where it has been tested with the J-Power mobile operator, there seems to be a genuine demand for mobile imaging and messaging.
The article finishes off by saying "it is great business sense for Nokia and wireless carriers, as offering MMS should entail significant unexploited revenue potential for operators". And for the consumer, well, it's about being enticed into spending more money.
Another interesting point in this article is Nokia's perception of itself, which is not about making phone calls. "Voice, the company says, just happens to be one feature of a mobile device and just happened to be the first feature adopted for the cellphones". The real revolution will be MMS and video
Wired article
"The problem with a new technology is that society has yet to come up with a common understanding about appropriate behavior," said Mizuko Ito, an expert on mobile-phone culture at Keio University in Tokyo. "No matter what the technology, there'll always be people who don't mind their manners."
It's a Wireless World in Japan
DIGITAL FASHION:
New Accessories Help Define Look of Today's Youth
April 3, 2000
PHONE PROBLEMS:
Cellular Phone Etiquette Becomes a Major Issue
July 5, 2000
In Tokyo, Street Fashion Goes High-Tech
Children and Mobile Technology:Japanese Experience
Proceedings from Conference !!!!
From Emily's blog: http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/
http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/000820.htm
June 12, 2003
Favorite Ringtones are cultural in Japan
Xeni Jardin reports in a post on boingboing on the changing business of cell phone ringtones in Japan, where roughly 80 percent of the ringtones are Japanese songs with Japanese pop music ruling the ringtone charts. "Song clips, called chaku-uta, are hayatteru ("totally trendy") with the under-30 crowd. And chaku-goe, ("voice,") is "another popular type of ringtone".
::
http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/cat_ringtones_of_note.htm
Elsewhere: Another karaoke application is offered by Japanese ringtone providers, allowing subscribers to 'practice' songs. This service has been widened to include images, and users can send up to four photos which can be 'watched' while the audio clip is playing. (cf The ringtone market remains a surprise to many)
::(from main page:)
Some interesting figures:
-- In Japan and Europe ring tones are already a $5 billion business.
Are Nokia's mobile devices being pushed on to us, or is demand being driven by us?
Business Report questions whether mobile devices are being pushed on to us, or are we the ones driving the demand.
According to initial market research in Japan, where it has been tested with the J-Power mobile operator, there seems to be a genuine demand for mobile imaging and messaging.
The article finishes off by saying "it is great business sense for Nokia and wireless carriers, as offering MMS should entail significant unexploited revenue potential for operators". And for the consumer, well, it's about being enticed into spending more money.
Another interesting point in this article is Nokia's perception of itself, which is not about making phone calls. "Voice, the company says, just happens to be one feature of a mobile device and just happened to be the first feature adopted for the cellphones". The real revolution will be MMS and video
Wired article
"The problem with a new technology is that society has yet to come up with a common understanding about appropriate behavior," said Mizuko Ito, an expert on mobile-phone culture at Keio University in Tokyo. "No matter what the technology, there'll always be people who don't mind their manners."
It's a Wireless World in Japan
Sunday, July 27, 2003
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/HealthandBeautyarchive349/321/healthandbeautyinc.htm
Marcela says:
how long have you been there? are you student? professor? salaryman?
David M. says:
6 years next month- 1997 started out teaching english at a medium size english conversation school in osaka/kobe/kyoto, got back into computers in year 2, quit the english school in jan 2001, now teach privates, and do computer work- mobile websites, ecomerce, write marketing reports
David M. says:
ah, I also formed a computer group in kansai called CLICK! http://ikaiwa.com/click
Marcela says:
oh, so i guess you've really had a chance to see things evolve then
David M. says:
yep
Marcela says:
i'm still getting a handle on the whole keitai culture thing but since i didn't have a "before" to compare it to and didn't speak japanese it was harder
David M. says:
yeah, well when i first got here, most young people already had either a PHS or cell phone, and they were really tiny compare to the ones in the US
David M. says:
some also had simple email that you had to be on the same network for.
Marcela says:
i'm kind of out of it with the us too--made me feel pretty unhip
Marcela says:
but coming back i notice more
David M. says:
seemed pretty apparent that if people were willing to stare at the tiny screen to read short email, -which they would read multiple times- somethimes reading it outload to their friends, they would be willing to use it for a lot more.
Marcela says:
i was so amazed at the speed and apparent easiness despite all the characters
David M. says:
sorry, i gotta run in a minute- you have any specific questions?
Marcela says:
um--u mentioned how it had changed youth culture
Marcela says:
it was a surprise to see you here--i should really gather more specific questions for next time if you're around
David M. says:
i wouldnt say it changed youth culture- i dont think youth culture ever really changes, just the appearence of what their doing, their toys change
Marcela says:
how long have you been there? are you student? professor? salaryman?
David M. says:
6 years next month- 1997 started out teaching english at a medium size english conversation school in osaka/kobe/kyoto, got back into computers in year 2, quit the english school in jan 2001, now teach privates, and do computer work- mobile websites, ecomerce, write marketing reports
David M. says:
ah, I also formed a computer group in kansai called CLICK! http://ikaiwa.com/click
Marcela says:
oh, so i guess you've really had a chance to see things evolve then
David M. says:
yep
Marcela says:
i'm still getting a handle on the whole keitai culture thing but since i didn't have a "before" to compare it to and didn't speak japanese it was harder
David M. says:
yeah, well when i first got here, most young people already had either a PHS or cell phone, and they were really tiny compare to the ones in the US
David M. says:
some also had simple email that you had to be on the same network for.
Marcela says:
i'm kind of out of it with the us too--made me feel pretty unhip
Marcela says:
but coming back i notice more
David M. says:
seemed pretty apparent that if people were willing to stare at the tiny screen to read short email, -which they would read multiple times- somethimes reading it outload to their friends, they would be willing to use it for a lot more.
Marcela says:
i was so amazed at the speed and apparent easiness despite all the characters
David M. says:
sorry, i gotta run in a minute- you have any specific questions?
Marcela says:
um--u mentioned how it had changed youth culture
Marcela says:
it was a surprise to see you here--i should really gather more specific questions for next time if you're around
David M. says:
i wouldnt say it changed youth culture- i dont think youth culture ever really changes, just the appearence of what their doing, their toys change
http://www.trekjapan.com/gallery/Kinki/Osaka/photo225.htm?c=y
Girls buying keitai straps
http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/ce/cepdf/Nl21_JCN.pdf
Girls buying keitai straps
http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/ce/cepdf/Nl21_JCN.pdf
https://www.thefeature.com/index.jsp?url=article.jsp?pageid=32525
Most of the people who find each other through these dating sites are eager simply to carry out frenzied short text messaging with their new "mairu-tomo" (mail friend). If things work out well, then the two parties can use private mobile phone mail channels to negotiate a meeting place and time, and even details such as price and services. Aside from virtual friends and possible dates, mobile networks turn out to be a perfect place to arrange prostitution.
Underage prostitution, occasional rapes or even murder resulting from a date arranged over mobile phones explain why DoCoMo has had longstanding rules against introducing strangers to other strangers over the i-mode mobile Internet. It's still this way today: the official DoCoMo i-mode sites feature mostly very controlled, almost ceremonial ways for strangers to interact. The hot and heavy dating sites didn't fit in the with the DoCoMo notion that i-mode would be a predictable, walled garden of content online. So they remain shadowy, touch-and-go enterprises in the vast pool of "unofficial" i-mode content.
http://www.well.com/user/hlr/jam/reiko/reiko.html
Here comes a teenage girl from Tokyo who is going to show the world how to create a cult without leaving her room, and make jillions in the process. (Rheingold)
Ms. Chiba can afford to move a reality studio into her apartment, if that's what she wants. Her concerts sell out to hordes of fans who spend their time and money trying to look like her. Her CDs are bestsellers, and she is a popular national television personality. Teenage "idol singers" are nothing new to the Tokyo scene, but Digital Reiko is the first one who has decided to go totally virtual, and knows exactly how to do it.
Most of the people who find each other through these dating sites are eager simply to carry out frenzied short text messaging with their new "mairu-tomo" (mail friend). If things work out well, then the two parties can use private mobile phone mail channels to negotiate a meeting place and time, and even details such as price and services. Aside from virtual friends and possible dates, mobile networks turn out to be a perfect place to arrange prostitution.
Underage prostitution, occasional rapes or even murder resulting from a date arranged over mobile phones explain why DoCoMo has had longstanding rules against introducing strangers to other strangers over the i-mode mobile Internet. It's still this way today: the official DoCoMo i-mode sites feature mostly very controlled, almost ceremonial ways for strangers to interact. The hot and heavy dating sites didn't fit in the with the DoCoMo notion that i-mode would be a predictable, walled garden of content online. So they remain shadowy, touch-and-go enterprises in the vast pool of "unofficial" i-mode content.
http://www.well.com/user/hlr/jam/reiko/reiko.html
Here comes a teenage girl from Tokyo who is going to show the world how to create a cult without leaving her room, and make jillions in the process. (Rheingold)
Ms. Chiba can afford to move a reality studio into her apartment, if that's what she wants. Her concerts sell out to hordes of fans who spend their time and money trying to look like her. Her CDs are bestsellers, and she is a popular national television personality. Teenage "idol singers" are nothing new to the Tokyo scene, but Digital Reiko is the first one who has decided to go totally virtual, and knows exactly how to do it.
June 30, 2003
Digital shoplifiting in Japan, a growing concern for publishers
Conference Panelists See Bright Future for Mobile Publishing
Web-enabled cell phones will allow ordinary citizens to shoot and send news photos and video to the local newspaper or TV station -- or publish them to their own personal Web sites
Bruce Rutledge
Posted: 2003-07-23
One image briefly dominated the TV news in Japan during the afternoon of Monday, June 23: It was a video of a 12-car pileup that occurred earlier that morning on the Tomei Expressway in Aichi Prefecture.
Flames and twisted metal seemed to stretch forever. According to newscasters, four people were dead and 13 injured because a tired truck driver failed to slow down as he approached a congested part of the expressway.
There were no traffic helicopters swooping down to get a better look at the crash and no reporters dispatched to the stretch of highway where the pileup took place that morning. Instead, Japanese TV viewers first saw the crash thanks to another truck driver who used his camera phone to shoot video of the wreckage.
A few e-mails and phone calls later, the trucker was live on Japan’s public broadcaster -- NHK -- describing the crash scene to the nation as the TV station broadcast the grainy video from his cell phone.
Welcome to 21st century journalism, where citizens armed with camera phones can instantly become reporters -- or publishers.
Today’s mobile technology
Keitai!!!
Personalizing mobile phones with keitai straps
Yes, our cell/mobile phones are now fashion statements, and after replaceable fronts and funny ring tones, it is time for the keitai strap (Japanese for cell phone strap).
A massive success in Japan for a while now, equally mobile-phone-crazy Europe could be next. Adorn your phone with 1 euro bead-straps or super-deluxe 100 euro Prada and Gucci hangers, and the world will not only hear but also see what you’re about.
Sure, some of the real Strap Fanatics have turned their phones into cellular Christmas trees, transforming their ultra light phones to early-90’s heavy bricks, but it’s all about standing out in the crowd.
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2002/11/keitai.html
OhMyNews
Using 'citizen reporters', this online-only South Korean newspaper is a big hit
No one wants to read papers online. Or so many of the old school news publishers still want us to believe, even after years of non-stop growth in the number of potential online readers. Well, South Korea's internet newspaper OhMyNews is proving these 'dinosaurs in digital denial' wrong, with a vengeance.
In a country where close to 70% of all households subscribe to a broadband internet service (source: Morgan Stanley), and where next generation cell phones are as widespread as last-generation phones in the U.S., three-year old OhMyNews is getting 14 million pageviews a day, with 1-3 million active readers a day.
The big twist: OhMyNews uses 26,000 'citizen reporters', who send in stories and pictures, which make up 80% of all content. And it is all done online, 24/7. OhMyNews pays up to $20 per article, though for many citizen reporters, getting their name in the paper is the real reward. Facts are checked by a staff of 40.
Fiercely outspoken, OhMyNews has successfully challenged the traditionally conservative press in South Korea. In fact, the online newspaper has already been credited with having swung a presidential election, and influencing the government's stance on the North Korea issue. So much for paper! ;-)
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2003/06/ohmynews.html
Ring Tones, The Sequel
The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Two cases in point -- Nokia's 3300 phone & Korea Telecom's ringback tones.
With the way traditional music sales are going these days, ringtones for mobile phones may soon be the most profitable segment of the industry ;-) Now a USD 1 billion+ global market (source: Informa Group), new generation ringtones are increasingly indistinguishable from 'normal' digital songs and clips, and can be heard in a growing number of places, eminating from a growing number of devices.
Two recent smart new business ideas in this field:
-- The new Nokia 3300 phone, which doubles as an MP3 player, lets users download entire songs as ringtones, creating yet another market that has gone from analog to polyphonic to MP3.
-- And, all the rage in South Korea: personalized 'ringback tones'! A ringback tone is the (usual) boring 'ring ring' you hear when waiting for someone to pick up his or her phone (well, accepting a call, really, there's nothing to pick up anymore). But no longer so in South Korea, where, late last year, Korean Telekom (KT) began offering subscribers top 40 songs to replace the conventional ring. Millions of Koreans now subscribe to the service for about 1 USD per month; companies like ING Bank use ringback tones to get their commercial messages in your face/ear the moment you've dialed their number.
China is next: Beijing Mobile and Shenzhen Mobile, cooperating with KT and its tech partner WiseSpot, recently launched the ringback service, to the delight of 16,000 subscribers who signed up during the first week of availability. The US should follow by Christmas of this year. (Sources: Nokia, News.com, TheFeature.com, Planet Multimedia.)
Opportunities
If you're still sulking about missing out on the SMS and analog ringtone bonanza, new ring(back) tones may come to the rescue! The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Check out TRENDWATCHING.COM's Jingle Casting trend for new applications, or see if you can arrange a meeting with the likes of KT and WiseSpot ;-) >> Email this idea to a friend.
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2003/08/ringtones_the_sequel.html
Korean bang rooms
Well-equipped hideaways for playing games and watching movies
Popular for years now, South Korean 'Video Bangs' (private mini-cinemas) are quickly becoming 'DVD Bangs' ('Bang' is Korean for a public space or room which can be rented for a short period of time).
Ever since the introduction of VHS, video bangs have been doing good business, combining the privacy of a living-room setting with larger-than-at-home screens, top-notch audio system and in-house catering, with the pleasures of escaping one's apartment or flat. The latter being more than a premium for South Korean youngsters, as they often continue to live with their parents for quite a while after reaching partying-age.
Needless to say, PC Bangs (for playing games) are hugely popular as well, with online broadband access turning gaming into a multi-media, global and real-time adventure, all from one's own reclineable leather chair.
You may just want to change the name before you introduce this business concept in English-speaking nations ;-) >> Email this idea to a friend.
Keitai:Culture of Cellular Japan
taken mainly from:
AN EMERGING "THUMB CULTURE":
Multimedia Mobile Phones Usher in New Lifestyles
IT STARTED AS A PHONE:
Mobiles Fast Becoming Pocket-size Computers
July 17, 2003
Smart Personalization
July 22, 2003
cell-phone GPS for pedestrians
Japanese technology company KDDI will begin providing a mobile phone service involving voice messages and maps to help guide pedestrians to their destinations by the end of this year. "We have developed the mobile-phone equivalent of a car navigation system," KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said in a lecture in Tokyo reported Japan today via Mobile Media Japan.
Digital shoplifiting in Japan, a growing concern for publishers
Conference Panelists See Bright Future for Mobile Publishing
Web-enabled cell phones will allow ordinary citizens to shoot and send news photos and video to the local newspaper or TV station -- or publish them to their own personal Web sites
Bruce Rutledge
Posted: 2003-07-23
One image briefly dominated the TV news in Japan during the afternoon of Monday, June 23: It was a video of a 12-car pileup that occurred earlier that morning on the Tomei Expressway in Aichi Prefecture.
Flames and twisted metal seemed to stretch forever. According to newscasters, four people were dead and 13 injured because a tired truck driver failed to slow down as he approached a congested part of the expressway.
There were no traffic helicopters swooping down to get a better look at the crash and no reporters dispatched to the stretch of highway where the pileup took place that morning. Instead, Japanese TV viewers first saw the crash thanks to another truck driver who used his camera phone to shoot video of the wreckage.
A few e-mails and phone calls later, the trucker was live on Japan’s public broadcaster -- NHK -- describing the crash scene to the nation as the TV station broadcast the grainy video from his cell phone.
Welcome to 21st century journalism, where citizens armed with camera phones can instantly become reporters -- or publishers.
Today’s mobile technology
Keitai!!!
Personalizing mobile phones with keitai straps
Yes, our cell/mobile phones are now fashion statements, and after replaceable fronts and funny ring tones, it is time for the keitai strap (Japanese for cell phone strap).
A massive success in Japan for a while now, equally mobile-phone-crazy Europe could be next. Adorn your phone with 1 euro bead-straps or super-deluxe 100 euro Prada and Gucci hangers, and the world will not only hear but also see what you’re about.
Sure, some of the real Strap Fanatics have turned their phones into cellular Christmas trees, transforming their ultra light phones to early-90’s heavy bricks, but it’s all about standing out in the crowd.
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2002/11/keitai.html
OhMyNews
Using 'citizen reporters', this online-only South Korean newspaper is a big hit
No one wants to read papers online. Or so many of the old school news publishers still want us to believe, even after years of non-stop growth in the number of potential online readers. Well, South Korea's internet newspaper OhMyNews is proving these 'dinosaurs in digital denial' wrong, with a vengeance.
In a country where close to 70% of all households subscribe to a broadband internet service (source: Morgan Stanley), and where next generation cell phones are as widespread as last-generation phones in the U.S., three-year old OhMyNews is getting 14 million pageviews a day, with 1-3 million active readers a day.
The big twist: OhMyNews uses 26,000 'citizen reporters', who send in stories and pictures, which make up 80% of all content. And it is all done online, 24/7. OhMyNews pays up to $20 per article, though for many citizen reporters, getting their name in the paper is the real reward. Facts are checked by a staff of 40.
Fiercely outspoken, OhMyNews has successfully challenged the traditionally conservative press in South Korea. In fact, the online newspaper has already been credited with having swung a presidential election, and influencing the government's stance on the North Korea issue. So much for paper! ;-)
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2003/06/ohmynews.html
Ring Tones, The Sequel
The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Two cases in point -- Nokia's 3300 phone & Korea Telecom's ringback tones.
With the way traditional music sales are going these days, ringtones for mobile phones may soon be the most profitable segment of the industry ;-) Now a USD 1 billion+ global market (source: Informa Group), new generation ringtones are increasingly indistinguishable from 'normal' digital songs and clips, and can be heard in a growing number of places, eminating from a growing number of devices.
Two recent smart new business ideas in this field:
-- The new Nokia 3300 phone, which doubles as an MP3 player, lets users download entire songs as ringtones, creating yet another market that has gone from analog to polyphonic to MP3.
-- And, all the rage in South Korea: personalized 'ringback tones'! A ringback tone is the (usual) boring 'ring ring' you hear when waiting for someone to pick up his or her phone (well, accepting a call, really, there's nothing to pick up anymore). But no longer so in South Korea, where, late last year, Korean Telekom (KT) began offering subscribers top 40 songs to replace the conventional ring. Millions of Koreans now subscribe to the service for about 1 USD per month; companies like ING Bank use ringback tones to get their commercial messages in your face/ear the moment you've dialed their number.
China is next: Beijing Mobile and Shenzhen Mobile, cooperating with KT and its tech partner WiseSpot, recently launched the ringback service, to the delight of 16,000 subscribers who signed up during the first week of availability. The US should follow by Christmas of this year. (Sources: Nokia, News.com, TheFeature.com, Planet Multimedia.)
Opportunities
If you're still sulking about missing out on the SMS and analog ringtone bonanza, new ring(back) tones may come to the rescue! The ringtones sector is rapidly expanding, due both to the proliferation of new channels and devices, and technological (quality) improvement. Check out TRENDWATCHING.COM's Jingle Casting trend for new applications, or see if you can arrange a meeting with the likes of KT and WiseSpot ;-) >> Email this idea to a friend.
http://www.springwise.com/newbusinessideas/2003/08/ringtones_the_sequel.html
Korean bang rooms
Well-equipped hideaways for playing games and watching movies
Popular for years now, South Korean 'Video Bangs' (private mini-cinemas) are quickly becoming 'DVD Bangs' ('Bang' is Korean for a public space or room which can be rented for a short period of time).
Ever since the introduction of VHS, video bangs have been doing good business, combining the privacy of a living-room setting with larger-than-at-home screens, top-notch audio system and in-house catering, with the pleasures of escaping one's apartment or flat. The latter being more than a premium for South Korean youngsters, as they often continue to live with their parents for quite a while after reaching partying-age.
Needless to say, PC Bangs (for playing games) are hugely popular as well, with online broadband access turning gaming into a multi-media, global and real-time adventure, all from one's own reclineable leather chair.
You may just want to change the name before you introduce this business concept in English-speaking nations ;-) >> Email this idea to a friend.
Keitai:Culture of Cellular Japan
taken mainly from:
AN EMERGING "THUMB CULTURE":
Multimedia Mobile Phones Usher in New Lifestyles
IT STARTED AS A PHONE:
Mobiles Fast Becoming Pocket-size Computers
July 17, 2003
Smart Personalization
July 22, 2003
cell-phone GPS for pedestrians
Japanese technology company KDDI will begin providing a mobile phone service involving voice messages and maps to help guide pedestrians to their destinations by the end of this year. "We have developed the mobile-phone equivalent of a car navigation system," KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said in a lecture in Tokyo reported Japan today via Mobile Media Japan.
Expat Bloggers Big in Japan
The most active bloggers in Japan seem to be expats writing about what it's like to be an expat in Japan, but Japanese bloggers are slowly getting into the act.
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 10:02:28 -0400
From: Charles Swenson
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
Randy:
Looks like the blogging community in Tokyo has found us.
Chuck Swenson
email: c_sjph@bellsouth.net
Domain: http://www.japan-japan.com
Philatelic Museum
http://www.japan-japan.com/exhib.htm
Karl Lewis Wing
http://www.japan-japan.com/resource.htm
Japanese Cultural Links
http://www.japan-japan.com/jlinks.htm
Translation Aids
http://www.japan-japan.com/translate.htm
Tokyo Blogs
http://www.japan-japan.com/blogging.htm
Japanese Postal History Book Reviews
http://www.japan-japan.com/books.htm
Glossary of Japanese Philatelic Terms
http://www.japan-japan.com/terms.htm
----- Original Message -----
> http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applica
> tions/article/0,,1301_2238831,00.html
Interestingly, the article talks about the languages used in weblogs--and Japanese
isn't noted at all. The sources in the article don't seem to have a clue about the
existence of Japanese weblogs.
In Japan, "blogs" as such are more likely to be called diaries (nikko in Japanese).
They've been around quite a while and while the hosted sites may lack some blog
bells and whistles like RSS and trackback, they do have plenty of users. Check out
these:
http://www.e-nikki.jp/ (1162 writers at this diary site)
http://www.tosp.co.jp/ (2.4 million "homepages")
http://www.yapeus.com/ (photo diaries)
http://diary.fc2.com/ (diary site with many users)
http://www.japan-japan.com/j-blog.htm (a list of 175 Japanese weblogs)
> While every Internet user has the opportunity to
> become an online journalist, only a very small
> percentage actually create their own blog.
But even a small percentage of Internet users is a lot of people. The article estimates
as many as 2.4 million weblogs (about 2 percent of the Internet population) and that
twice as many people read weblogs as write them.
The most active bloggers in Japan seem to be expats writing about what it's like to be an expat in Japan, but Japanese bloggers are slowly getting into the act.
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 10:02:28 -0400
From: Charles Swenson
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
Randy:
Looks like the blogging community in Tokyo has found us.
Chuck Swenson
email: c_sjph@bellsouth.net
Domain: http://www.japan-japan.com
Philatelic Museum
http://www.japan-japan.com/exhib.htm
Karl Lewis Wing
http://www.japan-japan.com/resource.htm
Japanese Cultural Links
http://www.japan-japan.com/jlinks.htm
Translation Aids
http://www.japan-japan.com/translate.htm
Tokyo Blogs
http://www.japan-japan.com/blogging.htm
Japanese Postal History Book Reviews
http://www.japan-japan.com/books.htm
Glossary of Japanese Philatelic Terms
http://www.japan-japan.com/terms.htm
----- Original Message -----
> http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applica
> tions/article/0,,1301_2238831,00.html
Interestingly, the article talks about the languages used in weblogs--and Japanese
isn't noted at all. The sources in the article don't seem to have a clue about the
existence of Japanese weblogs.
In Japan, "blogs" as such are more likely to be called diaries (nikko in Japanese).
They've been around quite a while and while the hosted sites may lack some blog
bells and whistles like RSS and trackback, they do have plenty of users. Check out
these:
http://www.e-nikki.jp/ (1162 writers at this diary site)
http://www.tosp.co.jp/ (2.4 million "homepages")
http://www.yapeus.com/ (photo diaries)
http://diary.fc2.com/ (diary site with many users)
http://www.japan-japan.com/j-blog.htm (a list of 175 Japanese weblogs)
> While every Internet user has the opportunity to
> become an online journalist, only a very small
> percentage actually create their own blog.
But even a small percentage of Internet users is a lot of people. The article estimates
as many as 2.4 million weblogs (about 2 percent of the Internet population) and that
twice as many people read weblogs as write them.
Saturday, July 26, 2003
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030722S0001
Analysts To Cell Phone Makers: Keep It Simple
July 22, 2003 (1:16 p.m. EST)
By Keith Ferrell, TechWeb News
Forget the digital bells and whistles. U.S. consumers want phones that are mostly phones, analyst group Jupiter Research said Tuesday.
Despite aggressive advertising of digital photography-capable and MP3-equipped phones, backed by equally aggressive price points for the combo units, domestic consumers prefer the smaller, voice-only phones offered at no charge by carriers, Jupiter telecom analyst Avi Greengart said.
The attitude paralleled for the U.S. market worldwide findings reported last month by consulting firm A.T. Kearney. According to Kearney analysts, working with researchers at Cambridge University's business school, users in 15 countries wanted longer battery life and better sound quality before adding new features to their phones.
Here, consumers want small size and low-to-no price, Greengart said.
“This is an unbelievably price-sensitive market,” he said. “In the U.S., even at $49 the majority of people we interviewed were not willing to consider buying.”
Larger economic doldrums don't seem to be driving the reluctance.
“We got no real sense that the economy is playing much of a part,” Greengart said. “The functions that are being most aggressively marketed are simply functions consumers don't want in their phones.”
The lack of desire only grows stronger when compromises including larger size and shorter battery life resulting from additional functions are presented to consumers.
Greengart's research posed “willingness to consider” buying questions, rather than “intend to buy,” but the most-hyped digital add-ons for phones still ranked low.
“MP3 capability came in dead last,” Greengart said. “Games were second-from-last, photos third-from last.”
The analyst was surprised by the relatively high ranking of PDA capabilities.
“12 percent of our subjects were interested in having PDA-capable phones,” he said.
The catch? They wanted organizers and address books and calendars added without adding the phone's size.
“Half of that 12 percent wanted both small size and PDA functionality-- you can't have both. It's always going to be tough to get a fuill-function PDA in a small form-factor. Understanding that, you're back to a very small percentage of consumers willing to consider PDA-functions in their phones,” Greengart said.
Nine percent of the analysts respondents wanted to browse the Internet with their phones, but Greengart felt certain that desire would dwindle as consumers discovered the challenges of browsing on a small cell phone screen.
With no widely desired killer application bringing droves of consumers to purchase converged phones, some carriers are beginning to give away higher-tech devices with their monthly calling plans, offering but not requiring additional digital services products.
Such an approach rests on the possibility -- but no more than a possibility -- that the carriers will be able to charge for add-on services later, in Greengart's view.
“We may see a strategy of simply getting as many razors in the market as possible and worrying about selling the razor blades later,” he said.
Greengart suggested that a better and more marketable approach than extending device functionality would be to extend their communications capability.
“Vendors should put Bluetooth in the phones, cameras, PDAs,” he said. “That way the consumer can decide what he wants, synchronize the functions that are most important, and carry that devices that get used the most.
“Instead of manufacturers making compromises to add functions, let the consumers make the compromises,” Greengart said.
Analysts To Cell Phone Makers: Keep It Simple
July 22, 2003 (1:16 p.m. EST)
By Keith Ferrell, TechWeb News
Forget the digital bells and whistles. U.S. consumers want phones that are mostly phones, analyst group Jupiter Research said Tuesday.
Despite aggressive advertising of digital photography-capable and MP3-equipped phones, backed by equally aggressive price points for the combo units, domestic consumers prefer the smaller, voice-only phones offered at no charge by carriers, Jupiter telecom analyst Avi Greengart said.
The attitude paralleled for the U.S. market worldwide findings reported last month by consulting firm A.T. Kearney. According to Kearney analysts, working with researchers at Cambridge University's business school, users in 15 countries wanted longer battery life and better sound quality before adding new features to their phones.
Here, consumers want small size and low-to-no price, Greengart said.
“This is an unbelievably price-sensitive market,” he said. “In the U.S., even at $49 the majority of people we interviewed were not willing to consider buying.”
Larger economic doldrums don't seem to be driving the reluctance.
“We got no real sense that the economy is playing much of a part,” Greengart said. “The functions that are being most aggressively marketed are simply functions consumers don't want in their phones.”
The lack of desire only grows stronger when compromises including larger size and shorter battery life resulting from additional functions are presented to consumers.
Greengart's research posed “willingness to consider” buying questions, rather than “intend to buy,” but the most-hyped digital add-ons for phones still ranked low.
“MP3 capability came in dead last,” Greengart said. “Games were second-from-last, photos third-from last.”
The analyst was surprised by the relatively high ranking of PDA capabilities.
“12 percent of our subjects were interested in having PDA-capable phones,” he said.
The catch? They wanted organizers and address books and calendars added without adding the phone's size.
“Half of that 12 percent wanted both small size and PDA functionality-- you can't have both. It's always going to be tough to get a fuill-function PDA in a small form-factor. Understanding that, you're back to a very small percentage of consumers willing to consider PDA-functions in their phones,” Greengart said.
Nine percent of the analysts respondents wanted to browse the Internet with their phones, but Greengart felt certain that desire would dwindle as consumers discovered the challenges of browsing on a small cell phone screen.
With no widely desired killer application bringing droves of consumers to purchase converged phones, some carriers are beginning to give away higher-tech devices with their monthly calling plans, offering but not requiring additional digital services products.
Such an approach rests on the possibility -- but no more than a possibility -- that the carriers will be able to charge for add-on services later, in Greengart's view.
“We may see a strategy of simply getting as many razors in the market as possible and worrying about selling the razor blades later,” he said.
Greengart suggested that a better and more marketable approach than extending device functionality would be to extend their communications capability.
“Vendors should put Bluetooth in the phones, cameras, PDAs,” he said. “That way the consumer can decide what he wants, synchronize the functions that are most important, and carry that devices that get used the most.
“Instead of manufacturers making compromises to add functions, let the consumers make the compromises,” Greengart said.
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 17:36:39 +0900
From: Daiji Hirata
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
Hajimemashite,
I'm suprising that I saw my name in the mailing list... I want to
add some comments.
Both weblog and diary, I think there is no difference between them to
use for blogging/diary. Both have useful features of content
managements, separation of design and context, publishing via email,
etc...
Almost Japanese diary systems were made for only management of diary
(like many blogging applications were made for only blogging, I
think). Blogging and writing diary are same thing basically. I also
think blogging application is better as content management system.
There are many Nikki services for Keitai users like 'MAHO NO i-LAND'
which has over 2.4 million users ( http://www.tosp.co.jp/ ) and
Yapeus ( Photo diary site, http://www.yapeus.com/ )
I don't think special weblogging services for Keitai users are not good
idea because keitai users feel it very similar to current diary
services.
I think there is a kind of digital divide between Keitai and
PC-centric users. Many of Keitai users told me how difficult to use
PC/Mac, I think Keitai is difficult enough... anyway.
Internet access from Keitai is still limitted because of small
display, HTML browser, narrow bandwidth and too expensive packet
charge. Weblogging from Keitai, viewing weblog from Keitai might be a
solution for the divide. Keitai users might be able to access to
normal internet contents through weblog applications. XML/RSS and
micro-content which are generated by weblogging application are
useful for the limitted access environment.
-- Daiji Hirata, http://uva.jp/dh/mt/
At Fri, 25 Jul 2003 16:18:01 +0900,
Gary Garner wrote:
>
>
> As Stuart said, the 'keijiba' (bulletin board) culture is strong here.
> And as Kristen said, if you mention the word 'nikki' (diary), most
> tech-savvy
> Japanese folks will know what you are talking about.
>
> I asked Hirata-san from Neoteny if he thought there was a difference
> between a `nikki` and a blog, and he said 'NOPE'. However, because the
> diary sites here started when only text was available, they still tend, in
> my eyes, to be more text-heavy than most of the blogs I look at (perhaps
> I'm only interested in blogs with a few pics, and there are as many English
> text-only blogs as Japanese diaries?)
>
> 2channel, the biggest bulletin board site, started a blog service in April
> or May of this year, using the word BLOG rather than nikki or journal.
>
> >Whoever makes the pink Hello Kitty camera with keyboard handheld
> >moblogging and blog viewing device for under 10,000 yen will win the day
> >though...
>
> Finally, Stuart's point above is important for 3 reasons. Firstly, in a
> keitai culture, a mobile device is vital. Secondly, this device has to be
> capable of viewing blogs, not just updating them (a point made by my noisy
> German friend Dirk at the 1IMC). Does anyone here look at other blogs on a
> keitai? How about on a pda? Thirdly, the pulling power of the young
> Japanese woman. If a service is offered which appeals to businessmen, there
> is only a limited potential for growth, whereas if the young women in Japan
> with all the cash latch on to it, Tamagotchi-style, then the market could
> be huge.
>
> Sermon over.
>
> Gary
From: Gregg Tavares
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
I don't remember what the original post was about but there are thousands of
Japanese women participating in moBBSing and they have been for years.
Arguably, the only technical difference between a moBBS and a moBLOG is
anybody can post to a moBBS but only moderators and post to a moBLOG.
There are also plenty of Japanese nikki with photos. Although we all tend
to know lots of fancy blogs if you go to blogger or we::blog or radio
userland or weblogs.com and click on a random site, 9 times out of 10 it
will be a text only blog
There are also 1000s of Japanese picture BBSes where a Java app pops up for
you to add an illustration to your post. No moPICBBSes yet though as far as
I know although I wouldn't doubt if you could find a moBBS that lets you
post pictures.
-gregg
-----Original Message
From: Kristen McQuillin
To: Japan Bloggers
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
On 7/25/2003 13:21, "Rudolf Ammann" wrote:
> Is there a service for centrally hosted weblogs here in Japan?
Depends on what you consider a weblog, I suppose. Most of my Japanese
friends look blank when I talk about my weblog, but when I say it's an
online diary they understand--and some of them even have them themselves.
Here are two hosted "diary" services; I'm sure there are others...
http://www.e-nikki.jp/
http://diary.fc2.com/
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 12:22:45 -0400
From: Charles Swenson
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
finally--japanese blogs!
Try the following site and use Rikai.com
http://www.japan-japan.com/j-blog.htm
Bizarre: http://www.tokyotidbits.com/~dav/lovehotelconf/
http://www.tokyotidbits.com/~dav/lovehotelconf/
From: Daiji Hirata
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
Hajimemashite,
I'm suprising that I saw my name in the mailing list... I want to
add some comments.
Both weblog and diary, I think there is no difference between them to
use for blogging/diary. Both have useful features of content
managements, separation of design and context, publishing via email,
etc...
Almost Japanese diary systems were made for only management of diary
(like many blogging applications were made for only blogging, I
think). Blogging and writing diary are same thing basically. I also
think blogging application is better as content management system.
There are many Nikki services for Keitai users like 'MAHO NO i-LAND'
which has over 2.4 million users ( http://www.tosp.co.jp/ ) and
Yapeus ( Photo diary site, http://www.yapeus.com/ )
I don't think special weblogging services for Keitai users are not good
idea because keitai users feel it very similar to current diary
services.
I think there is a kind of digital divide between Keitai and
PC-centric users. Many of Keitai users told me how difficult to use
PC/Mac, I think Keitai is difficult enough... anyway.
Internet access from Keitai is still limitted because of small
display, HTML browser, narrow bandwidth and too expensive packet
charge. Weblogging from Keitai, viewing weblog from Keitai might be a
solution for the divide. Keitai users might be able to access to
normal internet contents through weblog applications. XML/RSS and
micro-content which are generated by weblogging application are
useful for the limitted access environment.
-- Daiji Hirata, http://uva.jp/dh/mt/
At Fri, 25 Jul 2003 16:18:01 +0900,
Gary Garner wrote:
>
>
> As Stuart said, the 'keijiba' (bulletin board) culture is strong here.
> And as Kristen said, if you mention the word 'nikki' (diary), most
> tech-savvy
> Japanese folks will know what you are talking about.
>
> I asked Hirata-san from Neoteny if he thought there was a difference
> between a `nikki` and a blog, and he said 'NOPE'. However, because the
> diary sites here started when only text was available, they still tend, in
> my eyes, to be more text-heavy than most of the blogs I look at (perhaps
> I'm only interested in blogs with a few pics, and there are as many English
> text-only blogs as Japanese diaries?)
>
> 2channel, the biggest bulletin board site, started a blog service in April
> or May of this year, using the word BLOG rather than nikki or journal.
>
> >Whoever makes the pink Hello Kitty camera with keyboard handheld
> >moblogging and blog viewing device for under 10,000 yen will win the day
> >though...
>
> Finally, Stuart's point above is important for 3 reasons. Firstly, in a
> keitai culture, a mobile device is vital. Secondly, this device has to be
> capable of viewing blogs, not just updating them (a point made by my noisy
> German friend Dirk at the 1IMC). Does anyone here look at other blogs on a
> keitai? How about on a pda? Thirdly, the pulling power of the young
> Japanese woman. If a service is offered which appeals to businessmen, there
> is only a limited potential for growth, whereas if the young women in Japan
> with all the cash latch on to it, Tamagotchi-style, then the market could
> be huge.
>
> Sermon over.
>
> Gary
From: Gregg Tavares
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
I don't remember what the original post was about but there are thousands of
Japanese women participating in moBBSing and they have been for years.
Arguably, the only technical difference between a moBBS and a moBLOG is
anybody can post to a moBBS but only moderators and post to a moBLOG.
There are also plenty of Japanese nikki with photos. Although we all tend
to know lots of fancy blogs if you go to blogger or we::blog or radio
userland or weblogs.com and click on a random site, 9 times out of 10 it
will be a text only blog
There are also 1000s of Japanese picture BBSes where a Java app pops up for
you to add an illustration to your post. No moPICBBSes yet though as far as
I know although I wouldn't doubt if you could find a moBBS that lets you
post pictures.
-gregg
-----Original Message
From: Kristen McQuillin
To: Japan Bloggers
Reply-to: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [JapanBloggers] Centrally hosted weblogs in Japan
On 7/25/2003 13:21, "Rudolf Ammann"
> Is there a service for centrally hosted weblogs here in Japan?
Depends on what you consider a weblog, I suppose. Most of my Japanese
friends look blank when I talk about my weblog, but when I say it's an
online diary they understand--and some of them even have them themselves.
Here are two hosted "diary" services; I'm sure there are others...
http://www.e-nikki.jp/
http://diary.fc2.com/
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 12:22:45 -0400
From: Charles Swenson
To: JapanBloggers@yahoogroups.com
finally--japanese blogs!
Try the following site and use Rikai.com
http://www.japan-japan.com/j-blog.htm
Bizarre: http://www.tokyotidbits.com/~dav/lovehotelconf/
http://www.tokyotidbits.com/~dav/lovehotelconf/
Friday, July 25, 2003
From: Stuart Woodward
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: mobile music / ringtones
On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 11:01:27 +0100
"Mayall, Steve" wrote:
> has the market become so saturated that the value of ringtones is now
> diluted?
Right now the latest thing in Japan is "chaku-uta." (Ringtones are
called "chaku-mero" from "chakushin" (arrival signal?) plus "mero" melody.
So "chaku-uta" are ring tones that play a song ("uta") usually a clip
from a well known band. Once this is popular I think most people will
dump their tinny melodies for the real thing.
However on Au phones, at least, it is possible with a bit of
jiggery-pokery to make your own mmf file from a wav file and mail to
yourself so you can then have any sound you like as ring tone, though
doing so with copyrighted material would cause you burn in the fires of
hell for all eternity. :-).
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:42:39 +0900
From: Paul Lester
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: mobile music / ringtones
This message was written in a character set other than your own. If it is not displayed correctly, click here to open it in a new window.
Its possible on pretty much any AU, TuKa, DoCoMo or JPhone model
to make a wav file into a ringtone. A few years ago, afew DoCoMo models,
and the new JPhones were the only ones. Then AU joined later with qcp, then
cmx could in later models (I think), and now SMAF is the way to go.
AU is still lagging behind a bit (though they market themselves as if they are
in the lead and do a darn good job of it). But the technical gap has gotten very small.
Most of the technology is not in AU's hands but the manufactures like
Fujitsu, Sharp, NEC, Toshiba and so on. So its a little misleading to
say that AU is lagging behind .... rather the small parts of AU that AU
runs are lagging behind what JPhone and DoCoMo are doing. (aka EZweb
and the Java platform that runs on their phones in each generation is
buggier and bulkier than the DoCoMo and JPhone equivalents).
And I could droll on for hours about the little niggly details and why I think
they are behind.
The SMAF ringtones in fact are controlled by none of the above. Yahama
develops that technology.
Chaku uta is quite old now (about 1 year I think) but I haven't seen it catching on yet.
Any Chaku-uta statistics out there?
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: mobile music / ringtones
On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 11:01:27 +0100
"Mayall, Steve"
> has the market become so saturated that the value of ringtones is now
> diluted?
Right now the latest thing in Japan is "chaku-uta." (Ringtones are
called "chaku-mero" from "chakushin" (arrival signal?) plus "mero" melody.
So "chaku-uta" are ring tones that play a song ("uta") usually a clip
from a well known band. Once this is popular I think most people will
dump their tinny melodies for the real thing.
However on Au phones, at least, it is possible with a bit of
jiggery-pokery to make your own mmf file from a wav file and mail to
yourself so you can then have any sound you like as ring tone, though
doing so with copyrighted material would cause you burn in the fires of
hell for all eternity. :-).
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:42:39 +0900
From: Paul Lester
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: mobile music / ringtones
This message was written in a character set other than your own. If it is not displayed correctly, click here to open it in a new window.
Its possible on pretty much any AU, TuKa, DoCoMo or JPhone model
to make a wav file into a ringtone. A few years ago, afew DoCoMo models,
and the new JPhones were the only ones. Then AU joined later with qcp, then
cmx could in later models (I think), and now SMAF is the way to go.
AU is still lagging behind a bit (though they market themselves as if they are
in the lead and do a darn good job of it). But the technical gap has gotten very small.
Most of the technology is not in AU's hands but the manufactures like
Fujitsu, Sharp, NEC, Toshiba and so on. So its a little misleading to
say that AU is lagging behind .... rather the small parts of AU that AU
runs are lagging behind what JPhone and DoCoMo are doing. (aka EZweb
and the Java platform that runs on their phones in each generation is
buggier and bulkier than the DoCoMo and JPhone equivalents).
And I could droll on for hours about the little niggly details and why I think
they are behind.
The SMAF ringtones in fact are controlled by none of the above. Yahama
develops that technology.
Chaku uta is quite old now (about 1 year I think) but I haven't seen it catching on yet.
Any Chaku-uta statistics out there?
Thursday, July 24, 2003
idea of networked individualism: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol8/issue3/wellman.html
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/webphone/Webphone-PC-Norway-FINAL.pdf
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/webphone/Webphone-PC-Norway-FINAL.pdf
Monday, July 21, 2003
from v-2
kawaii tech
By participating in a shared culture of downloadable J-pop ringtones, Doraemon screen wallpapers, para-device artifacts like straps and illuminating antennae, and most importantly the constant flurry of short and (as far as I can tell) largely ritualized messages between friends, the keitai owner assumes his or her place in an intricate pre-existing order.
It's this order - this web, if you will - that iMode has relied on for its undeniable success in Japan, but which doesn't really exist (or exists in a radically different form, which may be saying the same thing) in America.
Part of this order is the aforementioned shared obsession with cuteness. Anyone who has spent any time at all in Japan or around Japanese people knows what I mean; I'd almost say it's a national trait. Everything in Japan is cute, except for Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and the salarymen slumped in their own drool on the night's last train from Shinjuku Station.
I don't mean the local fondness for smaller/lighter/thinner items, which might as well be universal. And I'm not merely talking about those obvious things, by now familiar to US Nippophiles and culture vultures both, like Hello Kitty-branded toaster ovens which imprint each slice of bread with a Shroud-of-Turinesque imago of, yes, Hello Kitty.
I mean the fact that an astonishing range of otherwise-serious Japanese consumer items intended for the domestic market are imprinted with anthropomorphic characters, aspirational if utterly nonsensical Japlish slogans, bright happyland colors. I read an unabashed, entirely serious news release from a major Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles the other day, explaining that their rollout of a new scooter was bound to be a success among the primary target audience - young, single women - because the scooter was being offered in "cute color, with special Chuichi kitty character."
And the scary thing is, they're probably right, even though saying all the above so overtly strikes a Californian as the height of political incorrectness. The Japanese market thrives on kawaii, and the real reasons why would take the combined efforts of a sympathetic army of psychologists, anthropologists and guerrilla semioticians to unmask, uncover and decode.
Accordingly, it seems to v-2 that a critical presupposition in DoCoMo's business model is the desirability of both phones and the services they deliver eliciting the "kawaiiiii!!" reaction. By contrast - and I can't stress this point enough - American early adopters are creatures of a different order. Except for a distinct minority (fourteen-year-old Taiwanese-American highschool girls at the Stonestown Galleria MUNI stop come to mind, or maybe Prada-backpack-sporting party planners taking a late lunch at the Mesa Grill), they simply do not seem to want their cellphones and other technological devices to be cute.
Those autonomous American adults who do not happen to be in the grips of a Disney fetish like to appear just that: adult. Carefree, fun-loving, a little Southern Californian at heart maybe, but adult. This market is not crying out for products which will read, in context, as infantilizing and trivializing.
the bottom line
So my guess is going to be that i-Mode in the States will prove to be somewhat less successful than anticipated. When you subtract cuteness and novelty, i-Mode offers the user the ability to send the briefest of text messages and to painstakingly surf websites as denuded as Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. To my mind, this simply does not provide enough incentive for the user to want to overcome the considerable barriers to entry. Overall, in thinking about my i-Mode phone, I'm reminded of what Alan Cooper says of dancing bears: they don't dance very well, but it's a miracle that they dance at all.
kawaii tech
By participating in a shared culture of downloadable J-pop ringtones, Doraemon screen wallpapers, para-device artifacts like straps and illuminating antennae, and most importantly the constant flurry of short and (as far as I can tell) largely ritualized messages between friends, the keitai owner assumes his or her place in an intricate pre-existing order.
It's this order - this web, if you will - that iMode has relied on for its undeniable success in Japan, but which doesn't really exist (or exists in a radically different form, which may be saying the same thing) in America.
Part of this order is the aforementioned shared obsession with cuteness. Anyone who has spent any time at all in Japan or around Japanese people knows what I mean; I'd almost say it's a national trait. Everything in Japan is cute, except for Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka and the salarymen slumped in their own drool on the night's last train from Shinjuku Station.
I don't mean the local fondness for smaller/lighter/thinner items, which might as well be universal. And I'm not merely talking about those obvious things, by now familiar to US Nippophiles and culture vultures both, like Hello Kitty-branded toaster ovens which imprint each slice of bread with a Shroud-of-Turinesque imago of, yes, Hello Kitty.
I mean the fact that an astonishing range of otherwise-serious Japanese consumer items intended for the domestic market are imprinted with anthropomorphic characters, aspirational if utterly nonsensical Japlish slogans, bright happyland colors. I read an unabashed, entirely serious news release from a major Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles the other day, explaining that their rollout of a new scooter was bound to be a success among the primary target audience - young, single women - because the scooter was being offered in "cute color, with special Chuichi kitty character."
And the scary thing is, they're probably right, even though saying all the above so overtly strikes a Californian as the height of political incorrectness. The Japanese market thrives on kawaii, and the real reasons why would take the combined efforts of a sympathetic army of psychologists, anthropologists and guerrilla semioticians to unmask, uncover and decode.
Accordingly, it seems to v-2 that a critical presupposition in DoCoMo's business model is the desirability of both phones and the services they deliver eliciting the "kawaiiiii!!" reaction. By contrast - and I can't stress this point enough - American early adopters are creatures of a different order. Except for a distinct minority (fourteen-year-old Taiwanese-American highschool girls at the Stonestown Galleria MUNI stop come to mind, or maybe Prada-backpack-sporting party planners taking a late lunch at the Mesa Grill), they simply do not seem to want their cellphones and other technological devices to be cute.
Those autonomous American adults who do not happen to be in the grips of a Disney fetish like to appear just that: adult. Carefree, fun-loving, a little Southern Californian at heart maybe, but adult. This market is not crying out for products which will read, in context, as infantilizing and trivializing.
the bottom line
So my guess is going to be that i-Mode in the States will prove to be somewhat less successful than anticipated. When you subtract cuteness and novelty, i-Mode offers the user the ability to send the briefest of text messages and to painstakingly surf websites as denuded as Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. To my mind, this simply does not provide enough incentive for the user to want to overcome the considerable barriers to entry. Overall, in thinking about my i-Mode phone, I'm reminded of what Alan Cooper says of dancing bears: they don't dance very well, but it's a miracle that they dance at all.
When the Kitty-boom generation from the seventies reached child-bearing age in the mid-1990s, Hello Kitty staged a comeback the likes of which would have made John Travolta weep.
THE COMEBACK CAT
When the Kitty-boom generation from the seventies reached child-bearing age in the mid-1990s, Hello Kitty staged a comeback the likes of which would have made John Travolta weep.
It started in 1996 on the back of the keitai phenomenon when Yamaguchi Yuko, top cat at Sanrio's design department, launched a range of pink satin keitai cases aimed at high school girls. At that time pink was the nail polish and lipstick color amongst hip highschoolers, and the Kitty-chan model soon became the only keitai cover to be seen with anywhere within a kilometer of the 109 Building. An undoubtedly tickled-pink Sanrio sold 600,000 of the things in a year, meaning approximately one in four of the three million high school girls in Japan owns a pink satin Hello Kitty keitai cover.
Unlike the first boom twenty years earlier, this was a calculated move by Sanrio to infiltrate the herd instincts of fashion-fickle teenagers. "We do a huge amount of research amongst the high school girls in Shibuya and Harajuku," says Sanrio's Nakajima Seiji. "It is incredibly important for selling our products because these girls will leap on any trend, if you get the marketing right. But if you get it wrong, they'll leap off just as fast."
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/422/feature.asp
While Japan's fashion industry continues to grin and bear a decade of economic downturn, 109, a culture created not by Nike or Louis Vuitton, but by irreverent, keitai-wielding, style-obsessed Shibuya girls, is booming, defying the soothsayers of Far Eastern doom and gloom.
Victoria College of the Arts
larissahjorth@hotmail.com
Larissa is a writer, artist and lecturer and is currently working on a PhD in Cultural Studies (University of Melbourne) on new media and gender in Tokyo, Japan. She has published in art magazines such as "Art Asia Pacific", "Like", "Broadsheet", "Art and Australia", and has two upcoming chapters: 'Kawaii@keitai' in the forthcoming "Japanese Cybercultures" (Ed) Mark McLelland and Nanette Gottlieb, London, Routledge; and 'Ma and Pop' in the forthcoming "Mobile Cultures", (Eds) Chris Berry, Fran Martin and Audrey Yue, Durham, Duke Uni. Press.
Mimi Ito: http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1043770650.php
THE COMEBACK CAT
When the Kitty-boom generation from the seventies reached child-bearing age in the mid-1990s, Hello Kitty staged a comeback the likes of which would have made John Travolta weep.
It started in 1996 on the back of the keitai phenomenon when Yamaguchi Yuko, top cat at Sanrio's design department, launched a range of pink satin keitai cases aimed at high school girls. At that time pink was the nail polish and lipstick color amongst hip highschoolers, and the Kitty-chan model soon became the only keitai cover to be seen with anywhere within a kilometer of the 109 Building. An undoubtedly tickled-pink Sanrio sold 600,000 of the things in a year, meaning approximately one in four of the three million high school girls in Japan owns a pink satin Hello Kitty keitai cover.
Unlike the first boom twenty years earlier, this was a calculated move by Sanrio to infiltrate the herd instincts of fashion-fickle teenagers. "We do a huge amount of research amongst the high school girls in Shibuya and Harajuku," says Sanrio's Nakajima Seiji. "It is incredibly important for selling our products because these girls will leap on any trend, if you get the marketing right. But if you get it wrong, they'll leap off just as fast."
http://metropolis.japantoday.com/tokyo/422/feature.asp
While Japan's fashion industry continues to grin and bear a decade of economic downturn, 109, a culture created not by Nike or Louis Vuitton, but by irreverent, keitai-wielding, style-obsessed Shibuya girls, is booming, defying the soothsayers of Far Eastern doom and gloom.
Victoria College of the Arts
larissahjorth@hotmail.com
Larissa is a writer, artist and lecturer and is currently working on a PhD in Cultural Studies (University of Melbourne) on new media and gender in Tokyo, Japan. She has published in art magazines such as "Art Asia Pacific", "Like", "Broadsheet", "Art and Australia", and has two upcoming chapters: 'Kawaii@keitai' in the forthcoming "Japanese Cybercultures" (Ed) Mark McLelland and Nanette Gottlieb, London, Routledge; and 'Ma and Pop' in the forthcoming "Mobile Cultures", (Eds) Chris Berry, Fran Martin and Audrey Yue, Durham, Duke Uni. Press.
Mimi Ito: http://www.ojr.org/japan/wireless/1043770650.php
Sunday, July 20, 2003
Streaming video of moblog conference
Synopsis/notes on moblogging conference by GenKanai
From http://www.weblogsky.com/:
Dana Boyd has been researching social networks, focusing specifically on Friendster. She's created a blog called connected selves where she's posting thoughts and links related to her research. In an email she's sent around to let people know what she's up to, she says "As you see new material floating about this topic that i should record and incorporate into my thinking, please let me know. Having an archive of this is really important to me as i will begin to truly process it shortly." This is your chance to contribute to some worthwhile research.
Synopsis/notes on moblogging conference by GenKanai
From http://www.weblogsky.com/:
Dana Boyd has been researching social networks, focusing specifically on Friendster. She's created a blog called connected selves where she's posting thoughts and links related to her research. In an email she's sent around to let people know what she's up to, she says "As you see new material floating about this topic that i should record and incorporate into my thinking, please let me know. Having an archive of this is really important to me as i will begin to truly process it shortly." This is your chance to contribute to some worthwhile research.
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Whatever happened to serendipity? by Adam Greenfield (from Moblogging Conference)
Without wanting to take anything away from her, she was simply doing what just about any observant, curious human being equipped with this technology would get around to doing sooner or later. This is my house, this is my neighborhood, this is my best friend, this is where we hung out last night: this is, in short, any feature of my world that I find interesting or inspiring or worthy of comment.
Constructing Public Discourse with Ethnographic/SMS "Texts"
Cute Inc. from Wired, Dec 1999
CUTIES IN JAPAN
1995 by Sharon Kinsella
Published in Women Media and Consumption in Japan, Lise Skov & Brian Moeran eds.
http://www.allthingskawaii.net/
Without wanting to take anything away from her, she was simply doing what just about any observant, curious human being equipped with this technology would get around to doing sooner or later. This is my house, this is my neighborhood, this is my best friend, this is where we hung out last night: this is, in short, any feature of my world that I find interesting or inspiring or worthy of comment.
Constructing Public Discourse with Ethnographic/SMS "Texts"
Cute Inc. from Wired, Dec 1999
CUTIES IN JAPAN
1995 by Sharon Kinsella
Published in Women Media and Consumption in Japan, Lise Skov & Brian Moeran eds.
http://www.allthingskawaii.net/
girlwonder.com
but. let me backtrack a bit. first: the moblogging conference was an excellent opportunity to meet a bunch of great people. beyond the people i knew: adam, nurri, john thackara, justin, boris anthony, there were a number of people i'd known of and probably should have met long ago (joi ito, for instance: hard to believe we didn't meet in 1996). there's a wonderful community of designers and writers and geeks and bloggers in tokyo. excellent people from places like the sony design center. great conversations with paul baron -- about the concept of cuteness (kawaii) in japanese culture, and the positive and sinister roles it plays. yet
but. let me backtrack a bit. first: the moblogging conference was an excellent opportunity to meet a bunch of great people. beyond the people i knew: adam, nurri, john thackara, justin, boris anthony, there were a number of people i'd known of and probably should have met long ago (joi ito, for instance: hard to believe we didn't meet in 1996). there's a wonderful community of designers and writers and geeks and bloggers in tokyo. excellent people from places like the sony design center. great conversations with paul baron -- about the concept of cuteness (kawaii) in japanese culture, and the positive and sinister roles it plays. yet
more on moblogging conference
Hiptop Nation
Keitai Nation
If you have never been to Japan, one thing that will surprise you is the total saturation of keitai (mobile/camera phones) among the people there. There is simply no comparison anywhere in the US, even in gadget-loving places such as the San Francisco Bay Area. Everywhere, people are one-thumbing emails as they walk or commute, taking pictures of each other or interesting sights, reading messages, or otherwise staring down at their phone. There is no hesitation about using your phone to capture some pictures while in a restaurant (or anywhere else). In the space of one minute, two people playing guitar outside a train station had their picture taken at least 35 times (that I could count. I am sure I missed some). There are ads in newspapers warning users to avoid walking and writing emails at the same time.
There are many, many more mobile phone users in the world than there are computer users. And they are often people who might never use a computer for recreational purposes. And that's what this conference was about - talking about what happens when such a populous and varied groups starts adopting technology that lets them capture and share their lives with increasing effortlessnes, and figuring out what we can do to make this sharing easier and richer still.
http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/gallery/trailblazer/index.asp
Hiptop Nation
Keitai Nation
If you have never been to Japan, one thing that will surprise you is the total saturation of keitai (mobile/camera phones) among the people there. There is simply no comparison anywhere in the US, even in gadget-loving places such as the San Francisco Bay Area. Everywhere, people are one-thumbing emails as they walk or commute, taking pictures of each other or interesting sights, reading messages, or otherwise staring down at their phone. There is no hesitation about using your phone to capture some pictures while in a restaurant (or anywhere else). In the space of one minute, two people playing guitar outside a train station had their picture taken at least 35 times (that I could count. I am sure I missed some). There are ads in newspapers warning users to avoid walking and writing emails at the same time.
There are many, many more mobile phone users in the world than there are computer users. And they are often people who might never use a computer for recreational purposes. And that's what this conference was about - talking about what happens when such a populous and varied groups starts adopting technology that lets them capture and share their lives with increasing effortlessnes, and figuring out what we can do to make this sharing easier and richer still.
http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/gallery/trailblazer/index.asp
Friday, July 18, 2003
http://moblog.uva.ne.jp/1imc/
mpulsehttp://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59582,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/07/10/naughty.camphones.ap/index.html
"Reinvention of Place and Space"
DoCoMo's 505i Handset Features Fingerprint Authentication
mpulsehttp://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59582,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/07/10/naughty.camphones.ap/index.html
"Reinvention of Place and Space"
DoCoMo's 505i Handset Features Fingerprint Authentication
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 19:16:25 +0900
From: Nick May
To: "keitai-l@appelsiini.net"
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: J-PHONE's J-SKY Service to Rebrand as Vodafone live!
Well, the choice was reasonably sophisticated... (I am not suggesting
you implied it wasn't)
She rejected a model because one feature was impractical (external
flash)
She chose a model from a carrier that (presumably....) her friends
used, so she could subscribe to a local defacto standard...
After that she chose on the basis of colour between two phones that had
a feature she may have valued to some extent (camera)
I choose phones on the basis of slimness and lightness, So colour
seems to be a reasonable enough criterion.
I think consumers have a certain "minimum feature set" they are looking
for. After that other considerations come into play. We would not laugh
at someone for choosing a pair of shoes in a particular colour or
design.
Nick
From: EGIS Tokyo
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: J-PHONE's J-SKY Service to Rebrand as Vodafone live!
Dear list,
To share my two cents on branding and customer choice, I have a little story
to tell. Some days ago I met a Japanese young lady, who came to pick up one
of the phones that we were giving away for free. I had them all lined up,
with their accessories and their chargers, sorted by carrier. She looked at
them, obviously troubled to decide which one she should take.
Wanting to help her, I started explaining some of the models and their
technical characteristics. I said something like "This one is a rather new
Sha-mail model from J-Phone, it has a built-in flash, and an advanced
camera. (...) But this ones comes with an external flash. (...) And that one
has an MP3 player..." and so on.
The Japanese woman looked at me as if I am coming from the moon. What the
heck is this woman talking about, she seemed to think. She clearly dismissed
the external flash model, saying: "Oh thats impractical! It will get lost
immediately."
Then she looked at the phones again, and finally asked "Which one is from
J-Phone?" Me: "These two. This one has the better camera though..."
Impatiently she interrupted me and grabbed the other one, saying: "I take
this one. Its pink".
I don't mean to tell this story so that we keitai insiders laugh about her
technical ignorance. I think its a rather interesting story telling us what
choices consumers make, and what the reasons behind their preferences are.
Andrea
Funny, just this morning I had a meeting with 2 people famous for
researching the mobile industry and we all agreed that the people
working in the industry know all statistics and everything, but they
have normally no idea what the average, individual user thinks.
Juergen
--
From: Nick May
To: "keitai-l@appelsiini.net"
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: J-PHONE's J-SKY Service to Rebrand as Vodafone live!
Well, the choice was reasonably sophisticated... (I am not suggesting
you implied it wasn't)
She rejected a model because one feature was impractical (external
flash)
She chose a model from a carrier that (presumably....) her friends
used, so she could subscribe to a local defacto standard...
After that she chose on the basis of colour between two phones that had
a feature she may have valued to some extent (camera)
I choose phones on the basis of slimness and lightness, So colour
seems to be a reasonable enough criterion.
I think consumers have a certain "minimum feature set" they are looking
for. After that other considerations come into play. We would not laugh
at someone for choosing a pair of shoes in a particular colour or
design.
Nick
From: EGIS Tokyo
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: J-PHONE's J-SKY Service to Rebrand as Vodafone live!
Dear list,
To share my two cents on branding and customer choice, I have a little story
to tell. Some days ago I met a Japanese young lady, who came to pick up one
of the phones that we were giving away for free. I had them all lined up,
with their accessories and their chargers, sorted by carrier. She looked at
them, obviously troubled to decide which one she should take.
Wanting to help her, I started explaining some of the models and their
technical characteristics. I said something like "This one is a rather new
Sha-mail model from J-Phone, it has a built-in flash, and an advanced
camera. (...) But this ones comes with an external flash. (...) And that one
has an MP3 player..." and so on.
The Japanese woman looked at me as if I am coming from the moon. What the
heck is this woman talking about, she seemed to think. She clearly dismissed
the external flash model, saying: "Oh thats impractical! It will get lost
immediately."
Then she looked at the phones again, and finally asked "Which one is from
J-Phone?" Me: "These two. This one has the better camera though..."
Impatiently she interrupted me and grabbed the other one, saying: "I take
this one. Its pink".
I don't mean to tell this story so that we keitai insiders laugh about her
technical ignorance. I think its a rather interesting story telling us what
choices consumers make, and what the reasons behind their preferences are.
Andrea
Funny, just this morning I had a meeting with 2 people famous for
researching the mobile industry and we all agreed that the people
working in the industry know all statistics and everything, but they
have normally no idea what the average, individual user thinks.
Juergen
--
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 16:54:41 +0900
From: Juergen Specht
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: EXIF anywhere?
> At 1imc there was some excitement regarding publishing moblogs which
> include locational information. Moblogs owe their success in part to
^^^^^^^
I doubt "success" yet, and would call it hype so far. Even the term
"moblog" or "blog" is rather unknown in Japan (except in a specific
scene of the usual suspects), while the Japanese diary scene is and was
always huge and gets widely ignored (also from the usual suspects).
The book I read right now (The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon) is pretty
much a blog (in American terms), just that it was written about 980
(that's a thousand years ago). Now show me an American blog that old :)
From: Juergen Specht
To: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Reply-to: keitai-l@appelsiini.net
Subject: (keitai-l) Re: EXIF anywhere?
> At 1imc there was some excitement regarding publishing moblogs which
> include locational information. Moblogs owe their success in part to
^^^^^^^
I doubt "success" yet, and would call it hype so far. Even the term
"moblog" or "blog" is rather unknown in Japan (except in a specific
scene of the usual suspects), while the Japanese diary scene is and was
always huge and gets widely ignored (also from the usual suspects).
The book I read right now (The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon) is pretty
much a blog (in American terms), just that it was written about 980
(that's a thousand years ago). Now show me an American blog that old :)
