Joshua Schacter, who runs the del.icio.us community url service is going full-time on it. Good luck to Joshua!
I can't wait to try this out- I have high hopes for this new service from Yahoo!
Simon Richmond, author of The Rough Guide to Tokyo, The Rough Guide to Japan (Penguin UK), veteran tourist, and onetime Tokyo resident, has a pretty interesting op-ed in Japan Today.
I think that the Japanese government and the Japanese people as a whole are not really fully invested in the idea of having more tourists in Japan. Japan's the second strongest economy in the world. Being the 33rd most popular tourist destination means that Japan's economy is not reliant on tourism. That's both good and bad.
I think Yokoso! Japan is a tatemae issue.
...as a one-time resident and frequent traveler in Japan over the last 14 years, I'm not holding my breath on lasting benefits from the [Yokoso! Japan] campaign. I know that Japan's international tourism problem cannot be fully solved by extra foreign-language signs or snazzy electronic gizmos. Larger issues need to be tackled, among them communication and coordination of policy between various government and private bodies.
...
In addition to thinking of ways to tempt foreign visitors here, the Japanese government should be encouraging more of its own citizens to travel overseas, improve their language skills, and get used to interacting with foreigners. Only then will Japan be able to extend a sincere and meaningful Yokoso to overseas visitors.
The trouble with 'Yokoso' [Japantoday.com]
Michiko Kakutani savages Peter Carey's new book on his travels through Japan with his son.
"Wrong About Japan" does not give the reader a tactile appreciation of manga or anime or any other aspect of Japan's pop culture. It does not probe, save in the most superficial manner, the dynamic between East and West that informs much of that youth culture. And while it provides a couple of touching glimpses of Mr. Carey and his son, it does not delve into their relationship or their feelings about their joint trip. Instead, "Wrong About Japan" turns out to be a thoroughly cursory travelogue that feels as though it had been written on a tight deadline for an airline magazine.
A Father-and-Son Adventure to the Heart of 'Japanese Cool' [nytimes.com]
Ouch!
A review like this (Carey is a Booker Prize winner, no less) is depressing for a few reasons. It is yet another person who merely added to the noise and did not work to help to bridge the cultures. It seems to reinforce stereotypes about the "other"-ness of Japan. Nippon Goro Goro says
"This is probably one of the worst non-fiction books ever written about Japan in the post WWII era."
Robert Alan Feldman of Morgan Stangley (Tokyo) has some interesting thoughts on the whole Livedoor/FujiTV spectacle. This is the first time that I've actually touched upon this topic, even though it is a daily discussion topic for Japanese people everywhere.
Basically the short story is that there's a 32-year old Internet entrepreneur, Horie, who's CEO of Livedoor, an Internet portal. He's raised a lot of money with Lehman Brothers and is trying to do a hostile takeover of FujiTV, one of the main TV companies in Japan.
Because Japan is new to hostile takeovers, it is a big discussion issue. In general, I don't think too much of Horie and Livedoor itself, but I do think that hostile takeovers should become more common in Japan- if only to clear out bad management and moribund businesses.
The boardroom and the population are way ahead of the politicians. At recent seminars and discussions in Tokyo, the debate on the Livedoor/Fuji TV battle has shown many nuances. Boardroom people have limited sympathy for either side, in view of the tactics used and the histories of the companies involved. Moreover, the boardroom understands that (1) corporate law changes will create many more opportunities for Japanese companies than for foreign companies, (2) the public largely supports Livedoor — not because of the proposed deal itself but because it sees a crying need for aggressive agents of change. One CEO of a major company said to me, “Two-thirds of the boardroom wants Fuji TV to win (despite reservations about their methods), but two-thirds of the population wants Livedoor to win. We cannot have strong companies if the people do not support us.”
I do think it is very telling that the Japanese people want Livedoor to win- they've invested heavily in Livedoor and it would bolster the stock. Whether it is the right thing to do for Livedoor, I think this debate is healthy for Japan. There should be more hostile takeovers in Japan.
The iPod vs. Walkman comparison has been discussed so many times, but it really is worth repeating because it is such a stark comparison. It's a perfect example of Clayton Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma," as well. Randall Stross of the New York Times has a good overview of the situation vis-a-vis Sony's new CEO.
Sony Connect, the late-arriving, woefully designed answer to the iTunes Music Store, still lamely insists on using Sony's proprietary compression standard. Apple got away with holding to its own standard only because it got everything else right, and was early to boot. Sony Connect must lag somewhere around 300 million song sales behind Apple, but pretends otherwise.
Arguably, Walkman product managers are even more blind to market reality than those at Connect. Today, they are selling the 20-gigabyte Network Walkman for $50 more than the comparable iPod, even though it cannot use any music sold on Apple's site or on those of the many competitors that use Microsoft's widely licensed compression standard.
A company thrives when it has all that it needs to make a compelling product and is undistracted by fractiousness among divisions that resent being told to make decisions based upon family obligations, not market considerations. Mr. Jobs appreciates the advantages of keeping content separate from distribution. At Pixar, he's in the digital movie business, which uses many skill sets that are used over at Apple, too. Yet he has elected to let the two live happy separate existences, without falling for the synergy myth.
I've long since stopped even looking at Sony products for my own purchases. There was no reason to do so until the top management changed, but now that it has, I'm doubtful that it will make a difference at the product level, especially considering Stringer is from the media side of the business. Does anyone see Stringer taking a different path with respect to DRM than what the company has done to date? Consider me skeptical.
My fear is that Howard Stringer won't rock the boat in Japan as much as I believe he needs to. He is not of that personality, and even if he has an office in Tokyo, he's made it clear that he will stay in NYC. This is not the profile of a person required to turn around a sinking ship.
I wonder what's worse for a large Japanese company - a Japanese CEO who no one within the company cared about (Idei) or a non-Japanese CEO who isn't going to be hands-on (Stringer.) The problem with Sony is in Japan. If Stringer isn't based in Japan, there's less of a chance that he can drive the necessary changes.
The future for Sony is still unclear.
How the iPod Ran Circles Around the Walkman [nytimes.com]
Pretty big news today that Microsoft has purchase Groove Networks.
Gates definitely wanted to work with Ozzie, but more importantly, Ozzie's team is bar-none when it comes to really understanding the Internet and the future of work on the Internet.
Microsoft, Groove Networks to Combine Forces to Create Anytime, Anywhere Collaboration [microsoft.com]
Microsoft to buy Groove Networks | Tech News on ZDNet [zdnet.com]
Red Herring Blog: Bill Gates gets Ray’s groove on [redherring.com]
Software Only: Microsoft: Groovy Baby! [Jeff Clavier's Typepad Weblog]
!!! Google Suggest in Japanese !!!
The New York Times today covers 2 weblogs written by celebrities.
Rosie O'Donnell
Need Some New Luster? Try Rosie O'Donnell's Method: Create It by the Blogful
and
Wil Wheaton
A Computer Is Also a Screen, Wil Wheaton Discovers
It's a bit strange that they decided to cover two celebrity weblogs on the same day, but it makes for an interesting pair of reads.
