Market Snapshot - Japan
Real cameras in cellphones and other surprises

Each month the Japanalyzer takes you inside one of Japan’s IT industries- showing you who’s who and where the market is heading. This month we focus on some observations from our most recent visit to Tokyo, where we continue to be impressed by the way technology and the economy affects every day life. What particularly caught our attention was the camera-enabled mobile phones that are adding a new dimension the way people interact with others and the world around them. We also couldn’t help but notice the dynamism of new commercial construction in Tokyo, which is surprising given the prolonged recession of the Japanese economy. Our overall conclusion on the state of the Japan: in spite of deflation and a staggering economy, new technologies and business opportunities are plentiful in what is still the second largest economy in the world.

The 1.3 Megapixel Camera-Phone

After our last trip to Tokyo 6 months ago, we commented that camera-enabled phones were becoming increasingly sophisticated, offering 310,000 pixels and an external display to enable self-portraits. Today these features are not only standard, but the resolution has arrived at the point of competition with real digital cameras. The bar was raised recently with the release of DoCoMo’s 505i camera which offers enhanced Java, mobile Flash display capability, enhanced onboard memory, removable memory sticks, a 1.3-megapixel camera, QVGA-resolution displays, finger-print-scanning authentication, and enhanced i-mode mail. DoCoMo competitors Au (KDDI) and J-phone (Vodafone) offer similar phones, proving that these innovations are not only here to stay, but stand to have a real impact on the digital camera market. Everywhere you go in Tokyo, you’ll find ads featuring these 1.3 Megapixel phones and in some places you’ll be offered a demonstration. While shopping for cameras in Ikebukuro (one of Japan’s major shopping districts), a J-phone representative took our picture with the J-SH53 phone (from Sharp). After removing the SD memory card, the J-phone rep inserted the card in a nearby printer and a few minutes later we had our picture. The quality was surprisingly good- perfect for both Internet publishing and travel memories.

Camera-Phones and culture

As with most technology innovations, the camera-phone is creating new behavioral phenomena and social activities. The phones (some of which can also capture short video) empower the public, essentially turning everyday people into “on-scene” reporters. From traffic accidents to bizarre happenings, images from the scene of an event are increasingly showing up on nightly broadcasts. Some camera-phone enthusiasts are even using the phone to chronicle their lives by uploading the images up to the Internet. Known as “moblogging” (for mobile web logging), the hobby is mostly centered around one’s family but serious mobloggers think of the activity as nothing less than art. Mobloggers in Tokyo (which feature a high proportion of expatriates) recently had their first conference. Mobloggers represent a positive and constructive form of image documentation but not all camera-phone activities are welcome. Publishers of Japan’s leading magazines and bookstores have begun to complain that camera-phone users are taking pictures of magazine content for personal use. They’re billing it as a form of shoplifting- reading content without paying for it. The higher resolution of the camera apparently makes it possible to even read articles, albeit with a little bit of squinting.

Never enough shopping

Just when you thought that Japan’s continued economic malaise meant there was little room for major new commercial construction, in comes not one but two new major hotspots for work and pleasure: Caretta Shiodome and Roppongi Hills. We visited both of these trendy campuses to find hordes of both workers and tourists willing to pay extra for the new Tokyo experience. Caretta Shiodome, completed at the end of 2002, features an underground shopping mall, an impressive ground floor terrace, and a series of restaurants from the 47th floor with stunning views of Tokyo from 200 meters up. Roppongi Hills, meanwhile opened in April of this year, and had 6.35 million visitors in its opening month, according to the Yomiuri Shinbun. The complex has 210 shops and restaurants (most of which featured long waiting lines when we visited) and a great view of Mount Fuji from the 270-meter high centerpiece Mori Building.

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