Sony is buying Nintendo...? Not so fast!

There was a news on FT the other day that Sony's ex-chairman stated that Japan's electronics industry must consolidate if it is to remain competitive and that it is the cluster of Kyoto-based technology companies, including Nintendo, that makes him confident in the future of Japan's electronics industry.

Quite a comment, isn't it?

One could read into some drastic moves from Sony or other interesting things, but I think it was closer to just a careless remark. I can see how he might say these things casually in Japanese.

I guess he was expressing his view on the industry landscape and separately praised Wii for its very "Japanese style" innovation as a private person / critic / heavyweight /populist. And that sort of mixed standpoint is well allowed in Japanese context especially for someone of his status. I doubt this is the case in the US. Somebody might have sued him already for stock price spike.

Nothing is really wrong with that in and of itself, but these kinds of incidents make me think that Japanese are somewhat politically-challenged. On the other hand, it is sometimes tiring in the states as it is overly political in many aspects of daily life. There should be a middle ground somewhere....

Yuki

SPAM goes to Japan - not mail, but meat

For whatever reason, Hormel Foods is starting to sell SPAM for the first time in Japan.

IT Media 12/11

It refers that SPAM has been sold in Okinawa for a long time, and for most of non-Okinawan Japanese, SPAM has been only known as a part of Okinawa cuisine.

Some commenters mention "SPAM Nigiri", rice ball with a grilled/sliced spam on top, which is popular in Okinawa, as well as in Hawaii.  Here in Northern California, Japanese supermarket sells SPAM nigiri at lunch deli corner.

With the original SPAM absent in the food market, the term "SPAM" is only known as "junk mail" in Japan.  Richard Bross, president of Hormel International, states on that fact, "Laughed at or ridiculed, as long as the name SPAM is mentioned, I don't mind."

Itochu, one of the major trading houses in Japan, is the distribution partner in Japan for SPAM.

Michi

De-Japanized Wii

Nintendo Wii finally arrived in my home beginning of the month. As many of you probably know, this is pretty fun and addictive even for "non-gamers" like me. It’s been giving me sore muscles.

Although I was quite familiar with this kind of sensor based immersive controller technology, I am still surprised by the well-made and cleverly inclusive software.

Especially Wii Fit is a fascinating application. The first set of default programs may not be the most effective workout, but it has certainly brought enjoyment of games into fitness and showed lots of potential for third party development. I could not believe that it turned even my super lazy husband into a daily exerciser.

But what struck me most was the global nature of these games.

There are some Japanese cartoon like emotion expressions and other Japanese things in the games, but the language and context seem quite natural or at least “not odd” in US version. The encouraging training method is rather “western” to me.

With 2 out of 3 game console companies being Japanese, it may be granted that these companies know plenty about attracting gamers outside of Japan. And I am sure they have long history of doing business that way. But knowing how many of even the most prestigious Japanese companies screw up at crossing the border in any significance, it seems remarkable to me.

With regards to globalizing software, lots of people know that mere translation of language would not be enough and many other cultural things have to be localized.  I don’t think companies like Nintendo have huge product development organizations outside of Japan (as many complains “everything gets decided in Japan”), and wonder what kind of teams and processes they employed to embrace the global view.

It could be that entertainment like music, game, and movie have certain commonality and easier to get across, but there might also be some secrets these companies have obtained over the years that others could learn from.

Yuki

Joining this blog - 2

Hello everyone. I am another blogger joining this Japan Tech blog. My name is Yoko "Not Ono" S - I don't remember how many Americans have asked me about her well known better half John Lennon. :p

I've been a hardcore reader of Michi's blog and a friend of Yuki, who's been contributing to this blog for a while. Thanks Yuki for offering me this great opportunity!

 Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Fukuoka, grew up in Tokyo and moved to San Francisco 4 years ago. I've been working for an accounting firm and a full time CPA ever since I graduated from the college. Yes, I am not a "Tech Person" in my career, but I am a person who is having a lot of fun with technologies. In fact, I didn't get to know Yuki and Michi if blog technology doesn't exist in my life. So, I guess I have some good reason to join Japan Tech Blog!

Besides working as an audit manager with the firm, I've been writing monthly articles for online edition of Nikkei Business, which is considered as Japanese version of Business Week. (Nikkei has an alliance with BW at least). On Nikkei Business, I am delivering articles about US finance/accounting issues to Japanese readers. On this blog, I will bring some taste of finance/management matters relating to Japan. And maybe other fun stuff. We'll see.

On the personal side, I've been having fun in belly dancing, traveling, playing the violin, and dining out at good restaurants in the bay area (and yelping about them, of course) etc. Living in San Francisco has been a lot of fun for me. I still remember when I arrived in San Francisco on a cold rainy day by myself...it was the beginning of my real life after living in Japan as a girl who never lived out of the tiny island. In San Francisco, I learned how to cook, how to drive a car, how to negotiate my rent, how to deal with many diverse people in the team, and all other important things in the life. It's been full of eye opening experience.

Okay let's move on to the next topic. I am looking forward to posting some entries and introducing more about my home country to the world.

Yoko

Looking for a Japanese ... what?

Nothing to do with technology, but I got to write about what I encountered today.
 
I was walking down to my favorite sandwich shop for lunch and saw this guy crossing the street wearing a black T-shirt that says “I am looking for a Japanese girlfriend” in Japanese and in huge font.

Bold, to say the least. I was stunned.

Sometime you see T-shirts with funny but a bit off or wrong foreign words which I am sure the people who wear them have no idea what they actually mean. But this one, it is right-on and obviously intentional.

First I though it was a custom-made for the purpose, but decided to google it just to make sure. Boy, I was wrong. Apparently, that’s a rather popular product.

There is no way Japanese girls would line up before you wearing this shirt. However, it is a very clever way to screen Japanese out in this Asian heavy city of San Francisco. They will certainly look at you, good or bad. Then you have a choice either to strike up a conversation or to walk away if the girl isn’t your type. Nothing to lose, I guess.  Oh, except that you might look too light.

Nonetheless, this is one of the most targeted, direct and perhaps effective ads I’ve ever seen.

Anime, manga, wii, Toyota … a number of Japanese things exist that are quite popular globally, but Japanese girls could still be the most popular thing of all made in Japan.

Me, apparently, wasn’t up to the standard. He just walked by.

Yuki

Vice presidential debate, "Nico Nico Douga" style

I just learned that tonight's vice presidential debate will be broadcasted on Current.tv, partnering with Twitter.

Hack the Debate - Current.tv

While you watch the debate on Current.tv either on cable TV or on the Web, you can send you comment through Twitter and a part of the comments will be displayed on the screen in near-real time.  (They say they cannot show all the comments, though.)  To participate, you have to have an account with Twitter, and are supposed to add a tag "#current" on your comment to be included.

This "user comments on the screen" style is already common in Japan, with the popular web service called "Nico Nico Douga".  The service allow users to comment on the YouTube-like video uploaded by a user.  The strength of it is that even though different users are watching the video at different times, you can see the comments synchronized with the video, making you see the comment at exactly where another person make a comment, so it feels like you are watching the video with many other people at the same time.

This time, the debate is the real rea-time, but the concept probably is easy to understand for Japanese net participants.  But as always, US does it in bigger scale in major event.  Interesting.

Michi

Joining this blog

Hello world. I am a friend of Michi's, or more precisely her fan, and I’ll be contributing to this blog from time to time.

Although I've been running my own tech/startup blog in Japanese, I hadn't been able to get round to making English version. I was hoping that translation technology would advance eventually, but it looks to be years away before reaching a practical level. So, when Michi offered this wonderful opportunity to join forces, I said, "why not".

Let me start with a brief introduction of myself.

I moved from Tokyo to San Francisco about 4 years ago. As a day job, I am an M&A advisor for tech startups. That means, I help early stage tech startups to get to the next level by finding acquirers or strategic partners for them. Before that, I was a management consultant working closely with internet and enterprise software solutions.

Traveling has been my longtime passion. I have visited over 40 countries so far and hope to keep backpacking around. It is fascinating to observe the lifestyles of people in different places and learn different perspectives.

My favorite things about Japan are the food, computerized bathtubs, and considerate people. It is a great country after all.

Well, I guess that's enough about me. I am looking forward to putting our Japan-related stories and thoughts through Japanese eyes out to the world...before everybody forgets about the tiny islands in Asia.

Yuki

My blog entries were taken up by Global Voice Online

I wrote several entries in my Japanese blog and Newsvine (English) about Mainichi newspaper problem, and those were taken up by Global Voice Online.  This works as a good summary of what I wrote.  Please read if you are curious.

Global Voice Online

Michi

iPhone is resembling more to iMode in Silicon Valley venture world

I was at MobileBeat conference last week.  There, the buzz around iPhone apps very much reminded me of the time of "iMode boom" in Japan, circa 1997-98.  iMode is the mobile contents service by NTT DoCoMo (Japan's largest mobile carrier), that pioneered mobile entertainment service such as ringtones and mobile games.

iPhone/iPod and iMode sometimes confuse me, not just by their lower case "i" on the top.  Of course, they are different, but in American life style, I feel that iPod in the US has taken over iMode's position in Japan; a very personal entertainment device, coupled with micro-payment platform that is wide open to various long-tail contents.  Over there, interactivity of mobile phone fitted well in train-riding lifestyle, whereas in the US, niche time to use such device is the time while you are driving, when you really cannot handle the device, so connecting iPod to the car audio and keeping it playing make more sense.

Now with iPhone, wide variety of interactive apps and softwares, ranging from Light Saber toy to deeply integrated Google apps, are available at iTunes Store.  As in the case of iMode, iPhone application providers don't have to worry about distribution and collection, the two biggest demons for start-ups, so it is a bonanza for venture companies.  No wonder, at MobileBeat conference, everybody is not just talking about it, but is working on iPhone apps.

Venture capital community is excited too.  Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers has iFund, dedicated to iPhone apps, and other VC's are naturally interested in this iPhone bonanza.  People and money are rallying around iPhone.

And this enthusiasm is exactly the same as the one during iMode boom in Japan 10 years ago.  Back then, everybody wanted to become an iMode star, hundreds of startups sprung up, money flooded in to this community.  Eventually, the rule of survival of the fittest kicked in and only a handful remained to this day, but some, like Index and Dwango, still are operating as major players, though they have their problems here and there.  And this enthusiasm built the foundation for one of the world's most sophisticated mobile cultures at the other end of the Pacific.

Today, 10 years later, some criticize that the most featured iPhone apps are from the established players such as Facebook, Google and Pandora, but you can still feel this iPhone enthusiasm in the venture community.  I can easily see that some of the iPhone players today will survive to become majors later on, and some new culture or mini-industry will emerge.

So again, I am getting more confused between iPhone and iMode.  Sigh.

On Vox: MOMOYA TVCM archive - "public domain" video effort in Japan

The first major public domain video-sharing project in Japan, by Research Institute of Digital Media and Contents, Keoi University (Keio DMC), in collaboration with Kawasaki City Museum, is now open to public.

Mmi_showa_02

The site, "History of Showa, reflected upon Japanese dinner table", is a neat collection from the long-standing animated commercial series by a processed food company Momoya, broadcasted on television between 1953 and 1993.  The main character, a big-nose guy with round glasses, is Norihei Miki, one of the great comedians in Showa era.  Momoya contributed its entire CM video archive, 218 pieces in total, to Kawasaki City Museum to be used for the purpose of study and education.  Half of the collection have already made available on Keio DMC's own video sharing platform "Volume One" since last October on trial basis, and at this time, the team has selected 20 of them that show the historical background of the time it was broadcasted, with explanation of these backgrounds both in Japanese and English.  For foreign visitors, the site has a separate page to explain the food items in subject, as well as some of Japanese-specific CM characters that Norihei inpersonates, such as Sumo wrestler and ninja.

The project is significant, not only because it is the first case of comprehensive collection of TV CM video in Japan, but also because it is open to public for free, for academic purposes.  In Japan, the video copyrights holders has much stronger control than in the U.S., and the debate over the legitimacy of video sharing on the Internet has much harsher tone against free sharing.

The project leader and my long-term friend, Junko Iwabuchi of Keio DMC, says she wants to make it an example of the public domain effort on the net, and let people know that the museum contents can be shared with much ease and low cost through the net.

Please visit:
http://www.documentshowa.jp/

(You need the latest version of Flash Player.)

Anyway, the videos are quite fun to watch, and you can see the early days of Japanese animation.  Enjoy!!

Originally posted on enotech.vox.com