dot asia, .asia

I'm quoted in SFGate on a long-ish profile of .Asia, a new TLD that is coming in 2008.

My two quotes are:

".Asia will fill a niche for organizations that target 'Asia' as a whole or that are based in Asia," says Gen Kanai, a leading Tokyo-based blogger who has actively followed the DotAsia initiative. "A good example would be 'MTV Asia' or the 'Asian Games.' I'm sure there are numerous other examples of businesses or organizations who want to be larger than a specific country but not global."

and

"In sports and entertainment, there's evidence of a growing sense of 'Asia,'" says Gen Kanai. "There are competitions like the Asian Games that are focused on Asia as a region, and there are certainly entertainers that have expanded regionally out of their original countries -- good current examples are singers like Rain and Ayumi Hamasaki. Korean dramas are popular in Japan and China, and Japanese pop stars are often popular throughout Asia. It's not a science -- more of a global trend that's fueled by the ease with which media now travels."

I thought the article was well-balanced with both pro and con voices, and seemed to be pretty accurate as far as I can tell.