Keyword Culture

Back to Contents of Issue: July 2001


A look at the top search terms on the sites of some popular Japanese tech magazines reveals some interesting trends.


The Watch series of magazines by publisher Impress -- Keitai Watch, PC Watch, and Internet Watch -- are a big hit in this country. We asked what the top search terms were on their sites.

Keitai Watch
1 Chakumelo (Ring Melody)
2 P503iS
3 SO503i
4 C406S
5 FOMA
6 iAppli
7 Wallpaper
8 SH07
9 WAP
10 J-Phone
Note: 2 and 3 are iAppli handsets, meaning they run Java apps; 4 is an au brand phone (from NTT competitor KDDI); 5 is "Freedom of Multimedia Access," the marketing name for NTT's 3G service; 8 is a J-Phone handset with a camera installed.

Internet Watch
1 ADSL
2 Broadband
3 Myline
4 Napster
5 Security
6 Radio
7 RSA
8 Electric Commerce
9 Commerce 21
10 Rakuten
Note: Seems to be a lot of concern about security
(5, 7) and a strong interest in e-commerce (8, 9, 10).

PC Watch
1 ADSL
2 Digital Camera
3 Libretto (Toshiba notebook)
4 Wireless LAN
5 PS2
6 iMAC
7 DVD-R
8 Caravelle (CD-drive maker)
9 Mouse
IXY 200 (Canon digital camera)
Note: Interesting that wireless LAN already ranks so high. (The Japanese love their mobility.) ADSL is more "here and now" for consumers, though.

Source: Impress Corp., rankings on May 15, 2001

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