GW-148

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
G A D G E T W A T C H
The Hottest Gadgets and Gizmos from Japan
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Issue No. 148

Wednesday, June 16, 2004
(Long URLs may break across two lines, so copy to your browser.)

========================= ICA Event ====================================
ICA June 17 Event - Special Double Header

PRESENTER: Greg Ascolese Principal, ABeam Consulting
TOPIC: Case Studies and Approaches for Implementing Customer
Analytics.
PRESENTER: Jenny Sutton Partner, ABeam Consulting
TOPIC: Extending the Life of Legacy Systems

RSVP required, complete event details at http://www.icajapan.jp/
Date: Thursday, June 17
Time: 6:30 Doors open, sit down dinner included
Cost: 3,000 yen (members), 5,500 yen (non-members), Open to all
Foreign Correspondents' Club
http://www.fccj.or.jp/static/aboutus/map.php

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Name: Sharp UX-F34CL and UX-F34CW
Category: Copy fax machine
Price: 34,440 yen for the UX-F34CL, according to Bic Camera's
Web site as of June 14.
Release date in Japan: UX-F34CL on June 12, UX-F34CW on June 19.

The Gist: These two models, dubbed Fappy, are photocopy and fax machines
that have Home Sensor functions, which alert users when doors and windows
are open. (Users need separately-sold sensors to install at entrance doors
and windows.) Users can forward these alerts to their mobile phones.
Also, when users receive prank calls, the UX-F34CL and UX-F34CW play
messages to reject such calls and hang up automatically. And when calls
are made from the same phone number again, the machines automatically
replay the rejection message.

More info:
http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/040526-a.html

================= Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar =====================
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 12 start-up companies in Japan will be
giving a English-language seminar and Q&A on starting up a company in
Japan. This is an ideal opportunity to find out what is involved, and
to ask specific questions that are not normally answered in business
books.

Time/date: 10:30am, June 26th, 2004
Place: 7-8-1 Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107
Price: 15,000 yen prepaid, 20,000 at the door
Included: Lunchbox, refreshments, handouts

Bookings: maria@japaninc.com, in English or Japanese.

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Name: Canon PowerShot S60
Category: Digital camera
Price: 62,700 yen, according to Bic Camera's Web site as of
June 14, 2004.
Release date in Japan: mid-June.

The Gist: THe PowerShot S60 is the newest model of Canon's PowerShot S
series. It contains a newly developed 3.6x zoom lens, and has a wider-
angle view and a more powerful zoom function than the current PowerShot
S50 -- which went on sale in March 2003. The PowerShot S60 has a so-
called UA lens that helps achieve the downsizing of its lens unit and
body size. According to Canon, the UA lens has the greatest refractive
index on the worldwide market as of May 31, 2004. The PowerShot S60
has several other functionalities that are improvements on the current
model, such as shorter stand-by time before startup, increased battery
capacity and a greater variety of accessories.

More info:
http://cweb.canon.jp/newsrelease/2004-06/pr_pss60.html　

========================= Tennis in TOKYO! =============================
Want to play tennis but don't know how to find a court in Tokyo?
JINJI TENNIS CENTER provides the ideal tennis environment for foreigners
living in and around Tokyo. For info on tournaments, summer camps for
kids, tennis equipment and much more: Contact US! :)

**SPECIAL OFFER for JAPAN INC: the first 30 new players that
contact us can save 15,000yen. Want to know how?

click "English" for details.

http://WWW.JINJITENNIS.COM

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Name: Canon FV M20 KIT
Category: Digital video camera
Price: 104,700 yen, according to Bic Camera's Web site as of
June 14, 2004.
Release date in Japan: mid-June.

The Gist: The FV M20 KIT is an updated version of the FV M100 KIT that
debuted in March of this year. The 2.2-megapixel video camera has a
14x zoom lens that offers higher resolution and better visual quality.
It has a round grip, which lets users hold the FV M20 KIT for a longer
time without getting tired. Users can also print digital images by
simply pushing the "Easy Direct Button" if they have a printer
compatible with the PictBridge standard. Canon expects worldwide sales
of digital video cameras to have increased 35 percent to 8.62 million
units last year -- and to reach a whopping 10 million units this year.

More info:
http://cweb.canon.jp/newsrelease/2004-06/pr_ixydvm3.html

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Subscribers: 5,851 as of June 16, 2004

STAFF
Written by: Minoru Matsutani
Edited by: J@pan Inc editors (editors@japaninc.com)

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