The Search Is Out There -- Way Out

Back to Contents of Issue: May 2000

ONE OF THE BEST -- if most unscientific -- ways get your finger on the pulse of a nation is to visit a search engine and view the list of terms most searched for. Recently we looked at the top items at Lycos Japan.

  • PlayStation2 tops the list. No surprise here. (See page 6.)

  • Chaku-melo came in 8th place. These are ring melodies you can download for your cell phone. Cell phone terms were popular in general, with i-mode coming in 12th and cell phone in 27th.

  • Japanese pop singers are listed 3rd, 9th, 11th, 18th, 20th, and 23rd. One member of the pop group Curio (11th place) was arrested for using illegal drugs, hence the interest. Other celebs: Hidetoshi Nakata (2nd), the soccer star who now plays in Italy, and Yuka (24th), an actress.

  • Pokemon came in 13th place, though during the same period it topped the list on the US Lycos site.

  • Animal fortune telling (14th) is one of the most popular methods of seeing one's future. It's a mixture of horoscopes, divination, and other kinds of fortune telling, based on the type of animal you're cosmically tied to by your birthdate. Another variety of prognostication involves sushi, and then of course there's insect-based fortune telling. Of course.

  • Love hotel ranks 25th. This term, according to Lycos Japan, is getting higher ranks these days. Maybe it's just spring in the air.

    For more... (though in Japanese only)

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