Dear editor(s),
I've been very impressed by Mr. Sabin's articles of late in the J@panInc. Newsletter (JIN). In particular, I thought his piece of the visit by the Emperor and Empress, and the most recent piece of the Japanese peoples' reverence for their language, showed a deft appreciation for the nuances of the culture that usually escape most foreign observers, myself included.

I think what Steve Mollman meant to say in his article "The 'New Economy' in Japan (And Never Mind the Net)" is that if he weren't "coddled" by the Japanese-style service he'd be suffering "UK-style" service levels, rather than, as he wrote, "US-style service levels". (See JIN No. 133.) The service level here in the US is not really that bad. Go in a restaurant in England if you want to see bad service.

I am a subscriber and regular reader of JIN and thought I'd send you a quick email to say thank you and how much I enjoy reading the newsletter each week. The information you include is interesting, and I particularly like your personal commentary and viewpoint. I am based in Israel but spend nearly a quarter of my time in Japan. However, not living in Japan means I miss out on some of the understanding that I find your newsletter, and particularly your personal commentary, helps provide.

So thanks again, and keep it up!

All the points justifying use of Web-related activities in the West are either technical or financial (see Wireless Watch No. 8). Mr. Scuka failed to present even a single point relating to content itself. Hello Kitty cartoons are attractive to Japanese. What is the alternative to westerners? Flinston on a Keitai? Not. Streaming videos on thumbnail-sized displays? Are they better than on full-sized screens? Most people will appreciate 42", 50" or even larger screens, so why bother with a cellular phone disguising itself as a home cinema?

Your JIN [The J@pan Inc Newsletter] is by far the most informative and well-written e-newsletter that I get.

Please keep it up.

Peter Schuetz
peters@marcusevansjp.com

We appreciate the information [responding to JIN 129]. Keep it up.

Marc B. Ira
Stamford, Connecticut

[Refers to April 13, 2001 Wireless Watch newsletter]

"It's also remarkable that Natsuno, an outsider parachuted cellphonein from failed, free ISP Hypernet, and Matsunaga, also an cellphone outsider, were able to get a bunch of NTT DoCoMo cellphone 'we're-a-telco-and-customers-come-last' mindset engineers to cellphone accept the proposition that if i-mode wasn't easy to use, and cellphone cheap, and that if there wasn't sufficient content to compel cellphone people to use it, then the service would go nowhere."

[In response to a piece of commentary in the April 11 J@pan Inc Newsletter]

Gentlemen:

While it is true that the ATM is a machine and certainly could be run 24 hours a day, you are failing to consider the back office system needed to make the ATM network operate.

[What follows is an exchange between reader Dante DeVallier and writer Steve Mollman in reponse to a (mildly controversial, certainly challenging) essay posted in the April 4 J@pan Inc Newsletter. Because of the length of the first post, we'll present this from last to first. We've left Mr. DeVallier's comments unedited.]

Your essay this week was right on the money! I spent nearly seven years in Japan trying to convince Western leaders of multinationals to see things this way, and finally gave up in frustration, particularly when they would downsize folks who had given years of work to the company. Thanks!

Steve Larson
steve_larson@msn.com