Japan's Information Grand Voyage Project

Western academics in Japan-related research often use the term "iron triangle" when referring to a nexus of power which they say comprises private business, the bureaucracy in this country and its mightiest political party LDP.

If the iron triangle really exists, the boldly titled "Information Grand Voyage Project" (情報大航海: Jouhou Daikoukai) must be one of its offsprings in the IT field. This is the English site provided by the initiator, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (unfortunately the link at the bottom of the page is dead). This ministry (aka METI) is by far the most influential political institution in Japan.

Information found in Non-Japanese media about the Information Grand Voyage Project is curt to say the least. In other words, almost no one outside Japan knows about this initiative although it is planned to last 3 years and involves the METI and major Japanese technology companies. Thus it makes sense to shed some light on this project in the scope of this blog.

Here is Hitachi Consulting's more useful site on the project in English.

Key points and goals
- project began in 2007, lasts until the end of fiscal 2009 covering different phases from development, testing to deployment of innovative technologies
- parties involved: METI, Hitachi, JAL, NTT DoCoMo, Oki Electric, Blogwatcher and other companies
- main principles: user orientation, global contribution and use of open source technology

METI claims the goal of this project is to categorize the amount of information worldwide which exploded in recent years due to advancements in Information Technology and make it usable for human beings. The project partners aim at developing a new kind of search and analysis technology which helps filtering information specifically tailored to the individual in question.

However, the METI is not reluctant to say there is one more intention behind its initiative: proactively boosting Japan's global competitiveness in the IT industry.

There have been LOTS of other projects comparable to the Information Grand Voyage Project in the past (many of them not rooted in the technology sector). Usually, these programs are established to improve infrastructure, enhance competitiveness or to pave the way for revitalization of selected regions or industries in Japan.

How is this abstract project plan turned into concrete activity?
The project covers a number of seperate "mini-projects"/experiments which in the end should lead to the "establishment of an innovative environment". This would just mean bla-bla in a lof of other countries but as usual the Japanese mean it.

One example for such a "project within the big picture" is the "My Life Assist Service" jointly developed by NEC and NTT DoCoMo.



Testing by approximately 2,000 volunteers began last month. Testing sites include Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba. The experiment is scheduled to stop at the end of next month.

Using the GPS function in mobile phones, the service provides users with filtered/useful information specific to their location.

This is not really sensational news but there is more to it. Based on inference technology developed by the University of Tokyo, the My Life Assist Service also takes into account the individual's Web browsing behavior! By combining a user's location with the analysis of (let's say guessing of) his or her tastes and preferences based on web sites previously accessed, the service is presumably able to offer highly individualized information.

I read an interesting example here [j]. If a user listens to a particular song from a movie soundtrack (via his mobile phone-not unusual at all in Japan) very often, the service can recommend trips to sites where the corresponding movie was shot. Another example: If a person seems to browse through sites for vegetarians a lot, the system could display suitable restaurants in the user's vicinity during lunch time.

Cool and bold ideas but some serious privacy issues have already been raised. The companies involved are working on solving the problem though. That may be one of the reasons the My Life Assist Service is still called an "experiment" [j] by DoCoMo itself.

The Japanese government will evaluate which systems (as said above, other companies are developing projects as well) turn out to be worth integrating into the big picture.

While some of the "experiments" sound promising the budget for the Information Grand Voyage Project as a whole is a mere 40 million USD.

Can Facebook make it in Japan? Pros and Cons

Facebook has flaws. Some management decisions are sometimes debatable to say the least. And yes, some requests get can get on your nerves. But in my view, Facebook is still the best place to connect with people. Much better than Friendster, Bebo, MySpace etc.

No Facebook Japan yet
Update: Facebook Japan launched (May 20th, 2008), see my post.
As of now, Facebook does not offer a Japanese version. But it seems that the company finally makes some serious moves towards internationalization. This month, my fellow Germans Alexander, Marc and Oliver Samwer have invested in Facebook, supposedly to prepare the entry into Europe. In November last year, famous Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing decided the service is worthy enough to shell out 60 million USD of his pocket money to them (he is Asia's richest man).



So a "Facebook Japan" might come closer even though it is undecided yet when this will become a reality.

MySpace offers a Japanese version now. Friendster followed in December. Both sites offer no incentives for many Japanese people to join however. I am sure most "ordinary" Japanese people never even heard of these services.

The same is true for Facebook.

The Japanese don't really care much about other SN than Mixi. As regular readers of this blog know by now, Mixi rules the Japanese SN market (my Mixi review). Mixi is supposed to have a user base of 12 million people.

Can Facebook emulate this tremendous success? Time to think about some pros and cons.

Pros:
1)
Japanese people love innovations and Facebook will be new to a LOT of users over here.

2)
Compared to domestic products, foreign goods and services are often viewed as cooler, more exotic and desirable. This is especially true for consumer goods but may be a plus in the Web world as well.

3)
Facebook is totally different from Mixi and would be quite unique in this country's Internet market. In my view Facebook is actually "better"/more useful than Mixi. Especially some of the applications are quite cool.

4)
More and more Japanese people have international friends they would like to be connected with. A Japanese version of Facebook might overcome the language barrier in online networking (Mixi is only available in Japanese).

Cons:
1)
Facebook is too late. They are late-comers yet super-successful competitors to MySpace and other services in the US and internationally. But WITHIN Japan, we have a "the winner takes it all" situation in my opinion. The cake is baked and Mixi took the largest bite already.

2)
The Japanese are the most quality conscious people in the world. Users here would not forgive any mistakes. Especially security/privacy problems are serious issues in this country. I am not sure if Japanese people would trust a foreign social network service to keep their personal data safe.

3)
Facebook does not have a "Japanese identity" which would certainly help (although it would set off the "gaijin bonus factor").
Some sites like Youtube were successful in Japan BEFORE localization/translation. The reason: No Japanese company managed to push a similar product into the market in time. German Facebook clone "StudiVZ" (sold for 100 million USD last year) is much more successful than Facebook mainly because it has roots in the country's university scene. At the very least Facebook needs a physical presence in Japan (MySpace established an office in Tokyo some time ago).

4)
Facebook applications are cool but mostly in English. This will remain unchanged even if Facebook will offer a localized version of their site. Most Japanese people will not have the nerves to struggle with English menus, texts and "How-to"s. In this case, only applications written in Japanese and tailored for users over here would help.
Facebook without its thousands of applications is almost "just another social network".

Conclusion:
It will be VERY hard for Facebook to continue its success story in Japan. They are in a situation like Web giant Ebay 5 years ago when Ebay lost to Yahoo Japan's well-established auction service. The world's No.1 auction site closed their office in Tokyo after a few months.

My guess is Facebook will go for a cooperation with a Japanese player (like Ebay finally did with Yahoo Japan some weeks ago). Maybe they are on the prowl already.

The question is: Which Japanese service can that be?

IT/Web events in Tokyo: ICA Japan New Year Party & UltraSuperTube v2

I had the pleasure of attending two IT/Web industry-related events in Tokyo on Wednesday.

1) UltraSuperTube Vol. 2
The UltraSuperTube Vol. 2 party was well attended. It was organized by Tokyo-based interactive agency UltraSuperNew.

The company also celebrated its first anniversay (Congratulations, Mike!) on this occasion. I went to the venue (SuperDeluxe in Azabu) at about 11 pm and saw/listened to Vanilla Ice's infamous "Ice Ice Baby" video (amongst others) which was streamed on multiple big screens from Youtube.

The whole event basically centered on the idea of throwing a party for people from the IT, art and media world in Tokyo using Internet videos as a background. The audience was well mixed (gaijin and Japanese).

I thought it was cool but had to leave pretty early. Attendance was free.

2) ICA Japan New Year's Party
The ICA Japan (International Computer Association) party was REALLY packed. The ICA Japan is considered to be one of the most important technology and business-related organizations in Japan.

I can confirm this, judging from the many people I had the pleasure of speaking with. The overwhelming majority of attendees had a business background: IT company owners, Marketing managers, Business development managers, consultants, sales people etc. etc. So the party was particularly interesting for me.

Unfortunately, Japanese people were a little underrepresented in my opinion. It is beyond my understanding why a Japanese IT/Web company would not send someone to attend a party of that scope and importance. The party was an excellent platform to expand a company's network, get new ideas and speak with competitors and potential clients. The same goes for any gaijin-run company from the technology sector.

At the very least, you get to converse with high-profile people, enjoy good food and a bit of entertainment. Many gaijin spoke Japanese very well so that the language barrier shouldn't be considered a problem.

Attendance cost 6,500 Yen. I really liked the venue (Club 57 in Roppongi).

Web event in Tokyo: Report on Asiajin

I know quite a bunch of people are expecting to see a report on Tuesday's tokyo2point0 event here in Tokyo on my blog.

This time (and maybe in the future as well) I am writing on Asiajin about it. As previously announced, I became editor there.

So please check out my report on Asiajin and sorry for the inconvenience.

Contents:
- ONGMAP (award-winning bilinual Google maps mash-up)
- HTML 5
- Web Trendmap by Information Architects (version 3)

Tomorrow, I will write something about two other events I attended in the last days (in this blog).

Review: Japan's No. 2 social network GREE

Mixi is the quasi-standard when it comes to social network usage in Japan (read more in my Mixi-review).

Japan's second largest social network is called GREE. There is no information in English available about GREE online. That means outside Japan almost no one knows about this Web site even though MILLIONS of people are using it (mobile and Web version). So I decided it is time for a write-up to present this service to Non-Japanese speakers.



I will review GREE in the following order:
I) General Info
II) Starting Page
III) Functions and Features
IV) Business Model
V) Opinion

I) General Info
Gree, Inc. currently employs 74 people in its HQ in Tokyo. The name GREE is derived from a sociological concept named "Six degrees of separation".

The company published a press release last month claiming they have over 3 million users now. Impressive, but still a far cry from Mixi's userbase of well over 12 million. Both services started operations in Japan at about the same time.

GREE's president Yoshikazu Tanaka is 30 years old and founded the company in 2004 (!). Before, he was responsible for operating Rakuten's auctions operations.

Click here for a detailed statistic on details how GREE clearly trails Mixi in the Japanese SN market.

II) Starting Page
GREE's top page is rather minimalistic as you can see from the JPEG below for which I translated key items:


III) Functions and Features
GREE is an invite-only service like Mixi.

In essence, GREE offers the following functions:
- blogs
- photo albums
- video uploads
- messaging system
- forums
- reviews
etc.

What's more interesting is GREE's mobile version. The service is called "au GREE" for KDDI's carrier "au". The company invested 31 million USD in July 2006 to develop a mobile version of the Web site. Softbank and DoCoMo customers know it as "GREE mobile". Mobile GREE is "integrated" into the Web version so that PC-only users are able to interact with handset-only users if necessary.

au GREE in particular proved to be a huge success. Its user base passed one million in July 2007 (information from the latest official press release related to this number).

What's the difference between the mobile and the Web version?
For example, - besides the usual features - au Gree users can send each other html-rich emails (called "decoration-mail"), play games based on flash and get their fortunes told. Click here for screenshots.

However, there is also a mobile version of Mixi which is even more successful. No Japanese Web company would dare to offer a PC-only service!

IV) Business Model
GREE makes money in the following ways:
- advertisements
- affiliate links to online shops
- premium accounts

A GREE premium account costs 315 Yen/month (2.80 USD/1.90 Euros). Premium users get 1 GB of storage for uploading videos and pictures and unlimited Email storage. Moreover, users can keep provisions if the products they reviewed are purchased after clicking an affiliate link.

V) Opinion
GREE can keep up with Mixi as far as basic features and functions are concerned.

The huge marketing pull with which Mixi managed to conquer the Japanese SN market is the decisive reason for GREE being a distant second.

Another reason is to be seen in GREE's design and usability approach. The Web site has a business-like, rather "cold" feel to it. Not exactly like LinkedIn or Xing obviously but Mixi somehow exudes more fun and looks more casual.

GREE doesn't do anything terribly wrong but suffers from the "The winner takes it all"-law pertinent to a lot of Web 2.0 services. That is why in my opinion it will be VERY hard for GREE to enjoy a Mixi-like success in Japan in the near future.

New article at Asiajin (I became editor)

I am happy to announce today that I am new editor at Asiajin (here is my former post about this amibitious blog project in English).

Asiajin's mission is basically the same as Tokyotronic's: To expose the power of the Japanese IT industry to the world. In my view, genuine IT and web services from this country are ridiculously underrepresented in the West. This means less business opportunities for Japanese companies and less chances for an exchange of innovative ideas, thoughts and concepts among IT professionals.

Both Asiajin and Tokyotronic would like to work against this development. Asiajin's scope is broader since it is planned to integrate news from other Asian nations as well. I will keep up the work here at Tokyotronic by the way.

In my first posting as Asiajin editor I analyze an original Japanese web product: The Japanese blog search engine and blog analyzer kizasi.

Japan's top 50 blogs

Following up on my recent article about Japan's top 50 web sites, I now decided to publish what is probably the only hit list in English covering this country's most popular blogs in detail. As you may know, Japan is THE country of bloggers with some sources claiming there are more blogs written in Japanese than in English (!).

The following list is based on information from Technorati which is the world's most influential search engine for blogs. All blogs are Japanese only but I added a short description in English to all of them. Also I converted the Japanese title into Romaji (the Latin alphabet) whenever necessary.

The rank is decided by the number of blogs on the Internet which include a link to the blog in question. That means for example that Technorati will add one link count to all blogs on the following list after crawling my blog and this article.

Without further ado, here are Japan's Top 50 blogs (according to Technorati Japan, accessed January 4th, 2008-Japanese time):

1. GIGAZINE ブレーキをかけられず暴走する車を複数の監視カメラがとらえる
("GIGAZINE Breeki o kakerarezu bousou suru kuruma o fukusuu no kanshi kamera toraeru")
Tech and geek blog
7,147 links from other blogs on the web to this blog

2. Gizmodo Japan（ギズモード・ジャパン）, ガジェット情報満載ブログ
("Gizmodo Japan (Gizumoodo Japan) gajetto jouhou mansai burogu")
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Gizmodo)
4,684 links

3. Engadget Japanese
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Engadget)
4,458 links

4. にゅーあきばどっとこむ
("Nyuu akiba dotto komu")
Otaku blog
4,024 links

5. アキバBlog（秋葉原ブログ）
("Akiba Blog (Akihabara burogu)")
Otaku blog
3,171 links

6. しょこたん☆ぶろぐ
("Shokotan☆burogu")
Official blog of Japanese super idol and otaku dream girl Nakagawa Shouko
2,922 links

7. Nネタフル
("NNetafuru")
Tech blog
2,812 links

8. Garbagenews.com
Tech and geek blog
2,156 links

9. 404 Blog Not Found
Japanese coder Dan Kogai's personal blog
1,906 links

10. Yahoo!ブログ ★彡次男坊にゃ虐待弁当＆ダンナは倦怠期弁当＝逆切れギャク弁！★彡
("Yahoo!burogu ★彡Jinanbou nya gyakutaibentou&danna wa kentaikibentou=gyakugire gyakuben! ★彡")
Blog about lunch boxes (!)
1,746 links

11. らばQ
("RabaQ")
News blog
1,744 links

12. レオナルド・ダ・ヴィンチの旅日記
("Reonarudo da Vinchi no tabi nikki")
Blog about Leonardo da Vinci (!)
1,553 links

13. 若槻千夏のブログ『マーボー豆腐は飲み物です』 Powered by アメブロ
("Wakatsuki Chinatsu no burogu 『Maaboudoufu wa nomimono desu』 Powered by Ameburo")
Official blog of Japanese TV personality Wakatsuki Chinatsu who gave up blogging recently
1,534 links

14. MOON PHASE 雑記
("MOON PHASE gikki")
Otaku blog
1,314 links

15. 眞鍋かをりのココだけの話 powered by ココログ
("Manabe Kaori no koko dake no hanashi powered by Kokorogu")
Official blog of Japanese TV personality and idol Manabe Kaori
1,270 links

16. TechCrunch Japanese
Japanese version of the world's most influential Tech blog
1,253 links

17. P O P * P O P 世界のニュースをクオリティ重視で
("P O P * P O P Sekai no nyuusu o kuoriti juushi de")
News blog
1,195 links

18. まんたんウェブ (アニメ・マンガ・ゲーム) 毎日ｊｐ(毎日新聞)
("Mantan web (Anime・Manga・Geemu) Mainichijp (Mainichi Shimbun)")
Blog about anime, manga and games
1,150 links

19. *ホームページを作る人のネタ帳
("*Hoomupeeji o tsukuru hito no netachou")
Internet design and programming blog
1,099 blogs

20. 夕刊フジBLOG
("Yuukan Fuji BLOG")
News blog specifially targeted for males
1,032 links

21. 百式（100SHIKI.COM） 世界のアイディアを今日も明日も明後日も
("Hyaku shiki（100SHIKI.COM） Sekai no aidia o kyou mo ashita mo asatte mo")
Tech blog
1,023 links

22. IDEA*IDEA 百式管理人のライフハックブログ
("Hyaku shiki kanrinin no raifuhakku burogu")
Tech blog (similar to #21)
1,013 links

23. メディアファージ事業部 ブログ
("Media faaji jigyoubu burogu")
Official blog of IT and media company Crypton
966 links

24. ガチャピン日記
("Gachapin nikki")
Blog of wildly popular Japanese children's TV character Gachapin
945 links

25. 竹原慎二 オフィシャルブログ
("Takehara Shinji ofishiaru burogu")
Offical blog of former boxer Takehara Shinji
940 links

26. 小太郎ぶろぐ
("Kotarou burogu")
Otaku blog
914 links

27. 新垣 結衣オフィシャルブログ
("Aragaki Yui ofishiaru burogu")
Official blog of one of my favorite super idols: Aragaki Yui
908 links

28. まこという名の不思議顔の猫
("Mako to iu na no fushigigao no neko")
Blog centered on (strange-looking;)) cats
891 links

29. Yahoo!ブログ ごんざえもんの館
("Yahoo!burogu Gonzaemon no kan")
Otaku blog
847 links

30. Life is beautiful
Japanese coder Nakajima Satoshi's personal blog
829 links

31. FPN 新規事業とイノベーションを考えるビジネスニュースコミュニティ
("FPN Shinkijigyou to inobeeshon o kangaeru bijinesu nyuusu komyuniti")
Business blog
812 links

32. 日刊サイゾー, マスコミの裏を読む！体制の裏をかく!!
("Nikkan Saizou, masukomi no ura o yomu! Taisei no ura o kaku!!")
Otaku news blog
769 links

33. ルーブログ｜ルー大柴オフィシャルブログ『TOGETHER』
("Ruu burogu｜Ruu Ooshiba ofishiaru burogu 『TOGETHER』")
Official blog of comedian Lou Oshiba
768 links

34. SlashGear Japan
Blog about the newest electronic gadgets (Japanese version of Slashgear)
751 links

35. 池田信夫 blog
("Ikeda Nobuo blog")
IT and economics blog written by renowned university professor Ikeda Nobuo
750 links

36. 忍之閻魔帳
("Shinobi enmachou")
Game and movie blog
729 links

37. Yahoo!ブログ ジャブログに散る!
("Yahoo!burogu Jaburogu ni charu!")
Official blog of Ryuichi Ogata, member of Japanese boy band w-inds
709 links

38. Geekなぺーじ インターネット技術メモ
("Geek na peeji intaanetto gijutsu memo")
Geek and programmers blog
695 links

39. ◆めっつぉ Intermezzo
("◆Mettsuo Intermezzo")
Tech, game and geek blog
690 links

40. きくちＰの音組収録日記 フジテレビ
("KikuchiP no otogumi shuuroku nikki Fuji terebi")
Blog about production at major Japanese TV network Fuji
676 links

41. うちの3姉妹～マンガで見る今日の出来事～
("Uchi no 3shimai～manga de miru kyou no dekigoto～")
Blog about 3 manga siblings
661 links

42. Google Japan Blog
Google Japan's company blog
652 links

43. きっこのブログ
("Kikko no burogu")
Blog by Japanese hair stylist Kikko (!)
638 links

44. phpspot開発日誌 PHP/Ajax/JavaScript/CSS等の最新技術情報をお届け
("phpspot Kaihatsu nisshi PHP/Ajax/JavaScript/CSS nado no saishin gijutsu jouhou o otodoke")
Internet programming blog
625 links

45. DesignWalker
An L.A.-based Japanese web designer's blog
614 links

46. 小倉優子のこりん星のお食事って？ powered by ココログ
("Ogura Yuuko no korinsei no oshokujitte? powered by kokorogu")
Official blog of ultracute super idol and alleged alien life form Ogura Yuko
609 links

47. 佐藤健のOfficial Blog
("Satou Takeru no Official Blog")
Official blog of Japanese actor Sato Takeru
608 links

48. 茂木健一郎　クオリア日記
("Mogi Kenichirou kuoria nikki")
Official blog of Japanese multi talent Ken Mogi (his English blog is here)
602 links

49. モModern Syntax
("Mo Modern Syntax")
Private blog by the founder of Japanese blog service "Blogpeople"
595 links

50. Lifehacking.jp
Geek blog
591 links

There are a lot of blogs from celebrities in the top 50, aren't there? You can view Technorati America's Top 100 blogs here for a comparison.

For an excellent resource about Japan's blogosphere in English make sure to check out Global Voices Online's Japan section.