September 2002 Issue

On the cover: John Wocher of the Kameda Medical Center
(photograph by Craig Mod)

September 2002
No. 35

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September 2002 Issue

Upfront
	Radar Screen Rock bands with fishy names? We've got just the site.

	Switched On Justin Hall puts the bite on a very small digital camera.

	From the Editor

	To The Editor

	Contributors

	Future City's Wireless Hotspots For Kids Mitaka's hotspots will initially be for educational purposes only, but the city is considering expanding usage to residents some time in the future...

	Best of the Rest -- Taking Japan's Pulse IY Bank, KDDI, SESC Monitors, Jal to offer inflight Internet Service and Toyota and Honda in tight race tp the first with fuel-cell car

	Softbank CEO Son Says Government Pressuring Him to Keep Aozora Bank Shares in the Family

	The Pulse 2 The best of J@pan Inc's newsletter: Gadget Watch, Wireless Watch and Music Media Watch

	Pulling Japan From its Socialist Roots The largest opposition party's No.4 man is 38, savvy and focused on just one thing: wresting power from the "socialist" party better known as the LDP.

	Forging a Path for Homeschooling One family thinks it might have a better way than Japan's notoriously staid schools.

	Tepco's Power Play Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s move to team with Internet Initiative Japan looks set to stoke telecoms competition.

	Hold That Call... So, what's the story -- are cellphones frying our brains or not?

Features
	Wireless and Fries Next time you pick up a Big Mac, don't forget your laptop, your Wi-Fi card and your ISP subscription. Gail Nakada gets wireless in Tokyo's fastest-food joints.

	TOKYO: The High-Tech Slum Stephen Mansfield uses pen and camera to explain why the capital city can look like such a mess and still be on the cutting edge of technology.

	Japan's Medical Revolutionary Kameda Medical Center on the southern tip of Chiba is shaking the Japanese medical establishment by showing what's possible on the high end of health care.

Research
	A Yokohama Neighborhood's Battle to Cut Through Red Tape The regulation of business in Japan -- red tape galore in Yokohama.

	IT Penetration: Japan Just Fair to Middling We all know Japan is a high-tech heaven, but when it comes to IT penetration, its numbers are, well, mundane.

Investor
	Network Democracy An intimate discussion with one of the leaders in Japanese networking hardware

Blowfish
	Blowfish Little mountains, money laundering, dependency on China and the roundest heads in the world.