How Japan's Otaku are changing the way we do business.
By David Meredith, President, Bates Asia Japan Inc.

You've seen them shuffling around Akihabara, shopping bags held closely to chest containing prized comics or lined up outside computer stores waiting for the latest release of limited edition action figures. These Otaku, or geeks who have a passion for animation and manga, are a ubiquitous modern symbol of Japan.

The Gist: Toshiba is getting ready to release the first HD DVD recorder that fits inside of your PC: the "SD-H903A." It's unlikely that you'll actually see the drive actually marketed towards consumers by Toshiba, because you'll probably see it packaged as a product by Buffalo, I/O Data, or another OEM customer.

Over the past few years, I've often been asked if file sharing - especially music file sharing - is as widespread in Japan as in the US and Europe. My answer has generally been something along the lines of 'it certainly exists here, but...