On the Magazine Rack

An Overview of Japanese Computing Magazines

by Tina Lieu

Since this was an Internet-based survey, the strength of Internet-related magazines is perhaps not surprising. Most significant, though, was the "other magazines" category - which garnered 35% of respondents in earlier 1996 surveys, and grew to over 40% in the 1997 survey. This "other magazines" category could encompass more than 100 Japanese magazines (including Japanese editions of English-language magazines) on computers and technology.

CSJ notes that although the rankings of the top magazines have not changed much over its three surveys, the share for most magazines has been falling. This suggests that the existing body of readers is being spread more thinly over a growing field of publications.

ASCII and Windows were the only magazines to gain share between CSJ's 1996 and 1997 surveys. These two magazines target readers with a relatively high level of technological expertise, and have apparently gained a loyal readership.

The computer/electronics category is particularly volatile, seeing new magazines being launched or folding with regularity. In fact, 14 computer/ electronics publications were suspended or closed in 1996, whereas most other categories of magazines lost only one to three during the same period.

The overview below confines itself to a small selection of the major computer and technology magazines. For the purposes of discussion, these are divided into four categories: general, business-oriented, technical & academic, and niche.

General computing
General computing magazines are those targeted primarily at the average computer user. They usually feature one or two extensive articles covering a broad topic, such as the MMX Technology Pentium Processor, Java, or Windows NT. Extensive coverage of products and testing of computing equipment is also common - in some cases, even overwhelming.

Many of the leading general computing magazines are quite thick - typically 200 to 300 pages, or more, with lots of ads. This can be handy if you're wondering what equipment and software is out on the market. The rest of the magazine is rounded out with interviews, news stories, computing tips, and regular columns.

Three publishers dominate this general computing area: Nikkei Business Publications (Nikkei BP), ASCII, and Softbank. Each puts out a number of magazines, covering almost every aspect of computing.

The monthly Nikkei Byte (Nikkei BP) is particularly well balanced, with one long feature divided into a several parts, and a good balance of long and short news items, analysis articles, and reviews of products. The product reviews do not threaten to overwhelm the rest of the magazine, as they do in some. Nikkei Personal Computing, which is published biweekly (every other Monday), is another popular and well-known Nikkei BP title.

Then there are the inch-thick-plus monthly magazines such as ASCII (ASCII), Internet Magazine (Impress), MacLife (BNN), and DOS/V (Softbank). The breadth of coverage of each of these publications seems designed to make sure you won't feel the need to buy another rival magazine.

In a more weekly news magazine-like format is Asahi Pasocon (Asahi Shimbun Publishing), published twice each month. With plenty of graphics, relatively large print, and a layout that breaks up text into easily digestible segments, Asahi Pasocon stays well under 200 pages.

Super ASCII (ASCII) stands out because it is "for advanced PC users." This monthly magazine delves more deeply into technical topics, getting into the nitty-gritty of "how do you do it yourself." It also offers reviews of hardware and software, a "technical report," and articles for various computing environments.

The Mac magazines on the market are rather unremarkable - heavy on Internet-related coverage and basic "how to" advice. The major Mac magazines in Japan include MacLife (BNN), Nikkei Mac (Nikkei BP), Mac Fan (Mainichi Communications), and Mac People (ASCII; biweekly).

Internet-related magazines include I/O (Kohgakusha), which is cross-platform and looks at multimedia. Internet User (Softbank) generally includes HTML tips, interviews, multimedia, and some games. Internet Magazine (Impress) has a nice balance of news, trends, recommended sites, and CD-ROMs, as well as news from the US.

Business computing
Magazines grouped under the "business" category cover the happenings of the computer industry and markets in more depth than the general computing magazines. Their other distinguishing feature is that they have fewer product comparisons and reviews.

Nikkei Electronics (Nikkei BP), a self-described "technology newsletter," is published biweekly (every other Monday) and covers both the electronics and computer industries. It includes a balanced mix of news reports, technical discourses, and statistics that set off a main feature story. An English-language table of contents is tucked in the back of the magazine.

Another business publication of note is the monthly Telecommunication (RIC Telecom), which marks its feature articles on the contents page with symbols to indicate the area of focus: transmission devices, multimedia, mobile transmission, networks, or LAN/WAN. The articles offer a mix of business news, industry and market trends, market statistics, interviews, analyses, opinions, products, and helpful tips (such as how to set up an intranet). Many of the articles are written by people in the industry.

Technical and academic
magazines
Most of the technical magazines target software designers and focus less on general consumer-oriented systems than on specialized platforms, such as Unix or Linux. Software Design (Gijutsu Hyoron) straddles the border between the specialist and general categories, with technical treatments of topics that are not so esoteric as to be totally beyond the interests of the average user.

Computer Today (Saiensu-sha) and bit (Kyoritsu Shuppan) take an academic approach to computer science. These discuss topics ranging from computer theory to the relationship between humans and computers. (bit footnotes its articles.) Try! PC (CQ Publishing) is for the hobbyist computer user; its articles include strings of code or offer advice on such topics as how to put together your own PC.

Other prominent "specialist" magazines include Unix Magazine (ASCII), Unix User (Softbank), and Interface (CQ Publishing).

Niche publications
Heaped into the "niche" category are the various website guides. The monthly Yahoo! Japan Internet Guide (Softbank), for example, features a lot of color pages and screenshots of almost every website listed, grouped by topic.

One side of Japanese computer publications not often found in the US is the proliferation of magazines for beginners. An example is Paso (Asahi Shimbun Publishing), which advertises itself as "being there for your first computing step." Paso opens from the left (as do most Japanese books), unlike the majority of computing magazines that open from the right, Western-style - perhaps to cozy up to timid Japanese beginners. It's chockfull of "how to do it" step-by-step instructions and interviews with.

One publication to know about if you're in the market to buy computer equipment is the Japanese edition of Computer Shopper (Softbank). It features an extensive product index plus helpful tables and charts for easy comparison.

New to Japan - and possibly to the computer publication world - are computer magazines targeting women. These magazines often can be found in the fashion section of the magazine rack.

Figaro Japon publishes Dis (TBS Britannica) irregularly as a supplemental edition. Despite its non-serious appearance, the articles are generally focused and useful. Dis recommends computer shops in Akihabara that are "nice" to women (i.e., that will not look condescendingly down on the woman shopping for a computer - not an imagined problem! - and are willing to answer questions). It also profiles women working in computer-related fields and introduces computer schools that are popular with women.

MacLife Lisa (BNN), published initially as a supplemental edition to MacLife, is more of a lightweight. It includes the usual mix of horoscopes, and advice plus dining, travel, shopping, and make-up articles that you'd expect from a women's magazine. In the April issue, the strictly computer-related articles covered how and where to buy a computer (Shinjuku is the place, it says), a Q&A on computer buying, and website recommendations.

Most of the magazines covered in this article can be found in major bookstores. The more specialized magazines may be more difficult to locate; you can special ordered them from your local bookstore or purchase them directly from the publisher. (See the sidebar above for phone numbers).

The Computer Salon in Tokyo has a computer magazine reading room open to business people and researchers. Call 03-3778-8122 for information.

Curious about what is being covered in the Japanese information technology press? Beginning in September, Computing Japan will launch an all-new bimonthly "What the Japanese Are Reading" column.

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