interviewed by Wm. Auckerman
interpretation provided by Geoff Leach (Impress Corporation, Manager
of International Operations)
Impress Corporation was founded four years ago by Keiichiro Tsukamoto (formerly executive VP of ASCII) as a digital publishing company. In its first year, the company concentrated on publishing computer-related books. In its second year, it moved into the digital area of publishing, with a target of issuing one CD-ROM title per month, and began marketing book-plus-CD combinations.
Among
the staff (including several former ASCII employees), there was considerable
UNIX, e-mail, and networking interest and expertise, so in its third year,
Impress entered a network phase. This coincided with the arrival of public-access
Internet to Japan, so the company decided to publish an Internet-related
magazine -- named, quite succinctly, Internet magazine.
How does Internet magazine differ from the
other Japanese Internet-related magazines on the market?
Masanobu Iseri: One of the differences of our magazine from the others --
and there are at least five other Internet-related magazines out there on
the Japanese market -- is that most of the magazines came after the "boom"
started: they saw it happening and said, "We'd better catch this wave
and write about it." We began our magazine before the boom started;
we took it more or less as an extension of the PC -- from the PC level to
the PC-plus-Internet level. It was basically just an extension of the PC
market for us. We didn't really know just how well the magazine would sell,
but we thought that it was a market we should be in.
OK, so you were the first. But readers care about now, not history.
Just what differentiates Internet magazine from
other Internet-related magazines on the market now?
Iseri: The Internet is still in the start-up stage in Japan. It isn't like
the US, where you can get a provider very easily, very inexpensively. It's
still in the start-up stages, so what you will find in our magazine is a
lot of "how to" information. Not just how to use the Internet
-- how to check out Web pages and such -- but how to actually get started,
how to find a good Internet provider. That's why we provide so much detailed
information; we give our readers the news on how to find the right providers
to work with, and how to go out and buy the right computer. So, more than
the other magazines, we offer how-to, practical, detailed information for
the new users.
Also, right from the very first issue, we've kept track of Japan's Internet
providers. You'll see that there are just a few in our first issue [October
1994]. We have grown with the market; there are some 60 or 70 Internet providers
now. We like to think that maybe we have helped to grow the market, by being
there when there were only a few providers around.
But more than that, our catch phrase is, "We love Internet people."
One of the policies I have established, at least at the individual level,
is that we don't refer to the people on the Internet as "users."
They are "Internet people," and we are concerned with the whole
Internet community. You'll find an article in our present issue on "Internet
politics" -- we cover social issues and political issues as well as
provide information on tools and everything else.
It's the whole community we're interested in, not just certain kinds of
"users" or Web sites. We cover the entire Internet community.
There is undeniably high interest in the Internet in Japan, but
can the market support a half-dozen or more Internet-related magazines?
Iseri: Not all of the magazines on the market now are growing profitably,
and some eventually may die out. But the market itself is also growing.
It's not an issue that we are concerned about ourselves, but truthfully
the present status is that we probably have more magazines than the market
can support. The future of some of those magazines depends on how big the
market grows, and how fast.
What is the current circulation of Internet
magazine, and how have you grown in the past year?
Iseri: For the first issue, we printed 35,000 copies. Those sold out within
a week, and the distributor asked us for more. We printed another 15,000,
and those also sold out.
Our circulation right now is about 120,000. And we've gone from being a
bimonthly to a monthly.
I know this is a difficult question, but who is your typical
reader?
Iseri: That is difficult; the user profile is very difficult to come up
with. The Japanese Internet probably faces a situation that occurred in
the US as well. First, you have the people who have been using UNIX and
e-mail for a long time, and those who have known about the Internet and
been using it for a long time, maybe in schools. And then you have the new
people, who read about it in newspapers and magazines, or hear about it
on TV; so they say, "That looks interesting. I want to get involved
too." Our readers are probably a 50-50 mix of new Internet people and
those who have been involved in some way over the years.
Do you target any particular audience?
Iseri: When we came up with our magazine, we felt that the market was not
yet established enough to segment it, and say, "OK, we'll do this type
of magazine for this type of reader." We just wanted to do a general
publication, one that would have articles that UNIX people would understand,
and articles that beginners would understand, or information for people
who were previously unaware of the Internet but heard about it and decided
they want to try it out... We're trying to cover all the bases here.
An important point, though, is that we don't deliberately divide our coverage
into half difficult articles for the technical people, and half easy articles
for the non-technical, new users. What we are doing is trying to keep abreast
with the birth of a new type of community: the Internet community. Our goal
is that all the articles should be readable by anybody, whether they are
technical or non-technical.
The technical articles should be written in such a way that the people who
are non-technical can enjoy them, while the non-technical articles should
also hold the interest of the technical readers. In essence, we're trying
to provide readable articles for people at all different levels as this
whole new culture evolves.
What changes have you observed in the Japanese Internet over
past year -- aside from its explosive growth?
Iseri: One trend has been the major increase in the number of non-technical
people. Lots more providers. And a lot of individuals who are interested
in getting their message out on the Internet -- especially students and
people in the academic community wanting to broadcast the knowledge that
they have.
This may be somewhat analogous to the original development of the PC community.
The PC came out, and BASIC language came out, and then people started trying
to write programs or games for themselves -- that type of growth.
In much of the popular media, the attitude seems to be that the
Internet equals the World Wide Web. Are Japanese users limiting themselves
to browsing the WWW, or are they using the Internet for other things, like
e-mail or ftp?
Iseri: For new Internet people, our magazine proposes that the two main
uses of the Internet are the World Wide Web and e-mail. These are the two
things that people will get the most value from, and enjoy the most. Modern
browsers have ftp and other capabilities built-in, so in using a browser
they can do other things; there's no need to go outside and learn UNIX commands
when you can use a WWW browser to do the job.
Are new Japanese users limiting themselves to the Japanese Web
because of language, or are they exploring the global Web?
Iseri: If you mean just looking around, searching, they are probably all
over the place, on English-language as well as Japanese sites. If you're
talking about posting information themselves, though, then in most cases
that would be in Japanese. Some of the higher level people who speak English,
and maybe are writing a thesis, might be posting information in English.
Writing in English, though, is not the average way for the Japanese Internet
person.
Is there enough Japanese content online to satisfy the typical
user?
Iseri: No, definitely not enough Japanese content yet. That's something
that must continue to develop.
There are several English-to-Japanese translation packages that
will translate HTML documents on the fly. What is the potential for similar
Japanese-to-English translation packages, so that English speakers can explore
the Japanese Internet?
Iseri: The answer probably comes down to market size. For going from Japanese
to English, there is not yet much of a market. Possibly when more people
get involved in the Net, and there are business opportunities that will
be lost if they cannot broadcast their information in English, then you
will see developers coming up with something that will fill the void. Right
now, it hasn't quite evolved yet.
It depends, ultimately, on how many people in Japan will view the rest of
the world as their marketplace. If there is an interest in reaching a global
marketplace in English, then obviously more translation software will be
developed.
Briefly, how does the Japanese Internet differ from the US Internet?
Iseri: [laughs] That's something I'd like to ask you.
Probably, there are major differences in the basic infrastructure. There
are a lot more PCs out in the US market, and people are more used to keyboards
and typing. A lot of people in Japan are just now learning how to use a
keyboard; Japan has not traditionally been a keyboard culture, as such.
So the whole infrastructure, the way people look at typing and recording
information, and maybe the familiarity with networks and voice mail -- the
infrastructure is already there in the US, so it's a pretty easy sell for
a lot of people. Whereas in Japan, actions like using a modem are still
very special, for a certain select group. That's just starting to change
now. Most people are not yet comfortable using computers and modems.
That's perhaps why there is no magazine in the US quite like ours: one that
carries a CD-ROM in each issue, and teaches readers how to do things. The
types of articles that US magazines, like Internet World, carry for
their typical reader are not quite the same as the ones that we have in
our magazine. Our aim still is to really bootstrap the market.
What effect will the release of Japanese Windows 95 and the launch
of Microsoft Network (MSN) have on the Japanese Internet?
Iseri: Probably a very big effect. There are quite a few Windows 3.1 users
in Japan, but for those people to actually get on the Internet is somewhat
of a difficult installation process. But with Windows 95, everything becomes
much easier. I think there is a good possibility we'll see a huge explosion
of new Internet users once this becomes available in just a couple of weeks.
[This interview was conducted in early November.--Ed.]
As for MSN, you have people interested in the Internet, but you also have
the possibility of a special group of people forming a new market that will
be born overnight.
Will MSN have an effect on services like NIFTY-Serve or PC-VAN?
Iseri: Yes, it should be a quite large effect. MSN will probably have a
major impact on what is happening in Japan. But, because it originated in
the United States, it may have a lot of good English content, but for people
to actually build up a lot of good Japanese content -- that won't happen
overnight. It will take MSN a while to catch up with the established services,
because it will need good local content.
What's happening in Japan now is that the Microsoft Network people are going
around to all the content providers and potential content providers and
trying to work out deals for provision of data, online shopping services,
and so on. It will be a while before the final results are evident.
What effect will the Internet Expo 96 have on the Japanese Internet?
Iseri: A major effect. It will be like a festival. One of the major results
should be that the infrastructure in Japan will start to catch up with that
in the US. It won't become the same, but it will be a chance to come close
to the provider infrastructure of the US. Right now, Japan doesn't have
a backbone, and so it will develop a backbone. That will bring us closer
to the reality in the US. Developing a Japan backbone will be a major step.
One other thing is that the US is far ahead in digitizing its analog resources.
There are massive amounts of information in Japan that have not been digitized.
Possibly, in order to have material ready for the Internet Expo, organizations
will start to digitize some of their information to provide content. That
is what I hope.
What do you see ahead for the Japanese Internet in the next six
months or year?
Iseri: For the six-month time frame, things will basically stay much as
they are now, with connection speeds getting higher. There will be more
growth, both in users and providers. If you look a year into the future,
though, then you're talking perhaps about a major breakthrough with the
Expo -- entry into the market of a lot of non-computer people who are not
concerned with the technology aspects but just want to use the Internet
as a tool to sell their products or whatever.
A final question: With the high-cost of telecommunications in
Japan, can small providers succeed, or will it come down to just the large
providers with economy of scale?
Iseri: That's a difficult question to answer. The US has about 300 providers;
in Japan, we are approaching 100. Given the relative size of the markets,
there is no reason to have that many providers in Japan.
What is probably happening is that the small providers are doing quite well
so far because the big guys have only just put their toes into the water,
and haven't yet taken the plunge. AT&T, NTT -- all the big companies
are interested. If and when they decide to enter the water, then what will
happen to the little guys is difficult to predict, but there will be major
impacts on the small providers.
Unless Japan lowers its communications costs, there will be a lot of problems.
At some stage that will have to happen, because there are just too many
problems if it doesn't.ç
To reach Impress on the Web:
Internet magazine http://home.impress.co.jp/magazine
/inetmag/
Impress Corporation htp://home.impress.co.jp/
Impress Group http://www.impress.co.jp/
Anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.impress.co.jp/pub