Japan: The State of the Net, Revisited
In the second installment of his column (January 1995), Forest noted that, although general public access to the Internet became available only in late 1993, "there is already a strong Net community in Japan, and it is growing quickly." Now, nearly one year later, he surveys just how much that community has grown.by Forest Linton
This marks the first anniver-sary of "The Internet" column. The past year has literally flown by. Japan's fledgling Internet has developed into a full-blown industry, and it has now become positively impossible to keep track of what is happening on all fronts. In the first "Japan: The State of the Net" (January 1995), I listed several benchmarks and even made some predictions as to Japan's growth. This month, we'll take a look at those and see how close I was.
Benchmarks
Japan currently ranks sixth in the world in terms of the number of host computers connected to the Internet. The most recent survey (by Network Wizards), taken in July 1995, puts Japan behind the US, Germany, UK, Canada, and Australia, with 159,000 connected hosts.Last year, I predicted that Japan would move into the number 2 position by the end of 1995. It doesn't look promising, but it is important to note that #2 Germany has only 350,000 hosts. In the 2nd quarter, Japan's hosts grew by 33%, and I think that the next six months will see greater than 50% growth. Germany, meanwhile, is slowing down after its recent burst past the UK, and although it is a long-shot, it is still possible that Japan could slide into that #2 spot.
Domain growth has been significant as well. As of October 13, 1995, there were 2,275 "co.jp" domains (companies) registered. This compares to 1,196 "co.jp" domains registered just 11 months ago, and represents a yearly growth of over 100%. Also, twelve months ago, there was just one Japanese magazine devoted to the Internet. Now, there are at least eight, including Internet magazine, Internet User, Internet Access, Media Front, Doors, and Internet Surfer.
Finally, we can be sure that the Internet in Japan has "arrived" as evidenced by the abundance of e-mail addresses and World Wide Web URLs printed on business cards and in advertisements; the familiar http:// can be seen everywhere. The Media, especially, has taken to promoting the URLs of their Web sites.
World Wide Web
A year ago, I remarked that there were over 40 companies with Web pages promoting products or services. That number has now jumped at least 1,000%, to over 400 companies, and is still growing dramatically. (Don't confuse this with the over 2,000 companies that have registered domains. A look at http://www.jicst.go.jp/dir-www/com.html will show you a fairly current list of Japanese corporate Web servers.
The number of Japanese Web pages has increased dramatically, and so has the number of Japanese-capable Web browsers. Netscape started a Japanese branch, Netscape KK, and has selected nine large Japanese companies as partners. Although the English version of Netscape 1.1N supports Japanese text, a fully localized version is also on sale. Other Japanese capable Web browsers include MacWeb, InfoMosaic, and -- most interesting -- a custom browser built into JustSystem's Ichitaro Windows word processor. It may just be the first original Japanese-created Web browser -- a good sign for Japan's growing software industry.
Internet commerce
The online shopping boom has hit Japan. In late September 1995, CommerceNet announced the formation of CommerceNet Japan and the Smart Island Consortium. The Japan Research Institute, NTT, and Fujitsu have teamed up with several dozen other Japanese companies to create an alliance to study Electronic Commerce on the Internet and how it could work in Japan.CommerceNet America is a large consortium of major American companies studying e-commerce business models in the States. The creation of a Japan affiliate is good news indeed. Information on CommerceNet America and Japan is available at http://www
.commerce.net/.
World Wide Web shopping malls are springing up all over. The following online shopping malls are all located in Japan:
http://www.cyber-bp.or.jp/
NTM Shopping (NTT)
http://www.ntm.co.jp/
Eccosys
http://www.eccosys.com/index.html
NetBiz Town
http://www.stellar.co.jp/index-e.html
Kajima
http://www.kajima.co.jp/welcome.html
Virtual Shop
http://heart.coara.or.jp/VSHOP/
http://www.win.or.jp/shopping/shopj.html
Internet providers
The number of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) has grown from a meager two early last year to over 45 at present. There is now something that resembles a commercial connection point, and most of the big providers are connecting through it to each other at high speeds.The base price of a 64K-bps leased line from one of the bigger providers seems to have stabilized at around ¥200,000 per month. (Those wishing to start up a provider business of their own will often pay double that.) An individual account can now be had for less than ¥3,000 per month, while full-year, all-you-can-use plans range from ¥20,000 to ¥40,000 per year. A large number of providers offer unlimited usage and ample disk space (3 to 5 MB).
Support for fast 28.8K modems and ISDN connectivity at both 38.4K bps and the full 64K bps is beginning to hit the mainstream, but it is still best to check those points carefully. Personal Web and FTP areas abound, and the number of private home pages has jumped dramatically. And, most importantly, access points outside of Tokyo are beginning to appear. A list of Internet providers is available on my Japan Web Guide: http://www.twics
.com/~forest/jguide.html.
Software
A ream of new Internet-related software is hitting the streets in Japan. Japanese server software, authoring tools, and client-side browsers and viewers have arrived. Recent important software offerings include Webstar J from Software Research Associates; HTML authoring tools from Koyosha Graphics, Matsushita, and SGI; Internet Servers from SGI, Sun Microsystems, and all of the major workstation manufacturers; and, as mentioned above, Japanese Web browsers from Netscape, Fujitsu, MacWeb, and JustSystems.Aside from commercial offerings, it is good to see Japanese-created and localized shareware and freeware on the Internet. Shareware is really what got the Net going, and it will remain an important driving force for new technology online. Japanese versions of Eudora, Newswatcher, and lots of utilities are all available.
Trends
The Internet in Japan is shaping up a bit differently than in the rest of the world. Japan's Internet boom sprang forth from corporations interested in a new business opportunity, which contrasts starkly with the (at least until recently) home-grown academic nature of the US Internet community.I guess that right now, the average Net surfer in Japan is the sarariman hunting for his next business opportunity. Because of this, the World Wide Web quickly became the primary Internet focus in Japan -- possibly more used than e-mail. In the US however, many years of slow growth and text-only communication have shaped quite a different online culture.
I am not judging Japan as better or worse than other countries; I am simply noting that this difference exists. In fact, I think that the local corporate orientation has allowed the Japanese to quickly catch up and created a desire to get wired and "do business" online. I think this desire will ultimately lead to success, in one form or another, for both businesses and end-users in Japan's cyberspace.
Comments or questions? Drop me a line at forest@gol.com.ç
Forest Linton lives in Tokyo and, when he's not busy exploring the Internet, works at Koyosha Graphics. He can be reached by e-mail at forest@gol.com. His personal Web page, The Digital Forest, can be accessed at http://www
.twics.com/~forest/theforest.html.
