Finding Japanese Resources on the Web
Some tips on where to start your search for Japan-related Web pages, and a brief sampling of sites. For some useful general, technical, and business pages, see "Scenic Japanese Web Sites" (page 21) in our August issue, or follow some of the links provided on the Computing Japan Web pages (http://www.gol.com/cj/).by Wm. Auckerman
When I wrote about the Internet for Computing Japan's premiere issue, one industry pundit described the Net as "a 19-story library, with books scattered about and no card catalog -- and you have to crawl in the through window." If we pursue the analogy, then today that library has expanded to more than 100 floors of materials (thanks to HTML and the World Wide Web), the front doors finally have been opened (courtesy of browsers like Mosaic and Netscape), and some primitive card catalogs have been installed (search engines such as Lycos and Webcrawler).
Never before has there been an information resource (or advertising and sales medium) like the World Wide Web. It's as close as your computer, and open round the clock. You don't need to dress up to visit (except to don your favorite browser). And you never have to wait because someone else has borrowed the "virtual book" you want, since the original never leaves the library. (Though, like a real library with a lazy cataloger, the card catalogs list "books" that no longer exist, and may be missing entries for the newer additions.)
The initial search
If your interest is some aspect of Japan, where do you start to look for information in the vast and disorganized Web library? Unless you're lucky enough to stumble across a Web page that has links to other pages in your area of interest, then you probably will start with one of the popular Web search engines.
Which is the best? That depends on a lot of factors, including the topic (or key words) of your search. Which is my own least favorite? Well, I just did a search for the key words "computing AND Japan." Infoseek (http://www2.infoseek.com/) turned up 100 matches (its "free" search limit), but most of the locations returned by the search seem to have only a tenuous Japan connection -- and Computing Japan wasn't even on the list.
Webcrawler (http://webcrawler
.com/) claimed to find 829 matches, with Computing Japan's URL appearing 29th on the list. Lycos (http://lycos.cs.cmu
.edu/) turned up just 33 matches, but the results here seemed to be the most precise -- with Computing Japan 13th from the top. And Yahoo (http://www
.yahoo.com/) turned up just 3 matches, but Computing Japan was one of them.
Search engines are either passive (relying on Web authors to "register" their pages with the site) or active (using a program to actually traverse the Web to search for and analyze relevant new sites -- something that has been know to crash less-than-robust servers on occasion). And most of the search engines still rely on English listings. (Think you'll get any matches if you try to search for a kanji on Infoseek?) The only Japan-related pages you'll be pointed to are those with at least a summary written in English or other European language.
In the realm of search engines, Japan lags far behind, although some kanji-based ones are now in development. The best I have seen (or should I say "better," since I've seen only one other) is that at CyberSpace Japan (http://www.csj.co
.jp/), which hopes to become the Yahoo of Japan. (CSJ has both English and Japanese pages; the Japanese side is much more extensive, and that's where the search service is.)
Some Japan-based sites
http://www.ntt.jp
In my younger days, I used to bypass the card catalog (unless I needed to find a specific book for a homework assignment). Instead, I spent many pleasant hours wandering through the library shelves, looking at the spines of books in search of serendipitous treasures. And I did find a lot of enjoyable and educational books that I otherwise never would have encountered through a more systematic approach.
If that kind of search appeals to you, check out the What's New page of the NTT server (http://www.ntt.jp/WHATS
NEW/). Be patient, though; unlike the typical What's New page with a screenful or two of text, this "page" is continuously added to and compiled on a monthly basis. Even though the file is nearly all text (with links to listed sites), by the end of the month it can reach well over 150K. Back issues, by month, are also available. (The size of NTT's monthly What's New in Japan "pages" serve as a good indirect measure of the growth of the Japanese Web. The December 1994 file is just 14K, and the April 1995 file 22K; the August 1995 file is 79K.)
What kind of things get posted on the What's New in Japan page? While wandering through the September file earlier tonight, for example, I stumbled across the Lotus Notes Tour (http://
www.cac.co.jp/notes/) by Scott Nash, author of the "groupware" article in our Sept./Oct. issue; Chubu Weekly Online (http://www.cdc.toppan.co.jp/CW/), the Web version of a biweekly regional paper; Asia Business Watch (http://
shrine.cyber.ad.jp/~dwhit/), which includes some good Japan market information; Internet Comic Plaza (http://www
.ifnet.or.jp/~001-comic/), sample works by Japanese manga artists (text in Japanese only); and the APEC Official Home Page (http://apec.tokio.co.jp/index.html). All interesting Japan-related sites that I never would have thought to search for -- assuming they are even registered with any search engine.
There's more to the NTT server than just links to other sites. There's a lot of useful information here, on what is probably Japan's pre-eminent Web site. Nearly every Web page with pretensions to offering Japan-related information provides a link to www.ntt.jp.
http://www.etl.go.jp/People/
yamana/inet_info_e.html
If you're looking for linked information about Japanese networks --regional networks, scientific networks, and a comprehensive listing of commercial Internet providers -- plus Internet data, look no further. This is a page that definitely deserves a link from the Computing Japan Internet provider information page.
http://www.nbn.co.jp/
Yes, there is culture as well as technology on the Web. This site is an online museum that introduces some of the ukiyo-e (Edo-period woodblock prints) in the collections of Nagoya TV, Inc. Within the Ukiyo-e Gallery section are several thematic categories, and within each is a page that of thumbnail-size prints with title and artist. Clicking on one brings up a page with a larger size print and brief description of the work, and clicking on this print downloads a full-screen version. Shown here as an example is "Mishima Pass in Ko Province" (from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji" by Hokusai, 1760-1849).
http://www.fix.co.jp/kabuki/
kabuki.html
Kabuki is a traditional Japanese theatrical form established in the 17th century; plays are about historical events or everyday life in the Edo period, with all roles performed by men. Ichirmura Manjiro, an onnagata (female-role specialist), has contributed greatly to creating this resource. Here, you'll find information about the history of Kabuki, make-up techniques, the current month's Kabuki-za program, sound clips, and an online theater (video clips). There are also links to other pages that focus on traditional Japanese theater.
The never-ending quarry
Using (and writing about) the Internet reminds me of some words of wisdom by an Oriental sage that I read many years back. (He was talking about "truth," but the metaphor is apt.) To paraphrase: "Trying to find useful information on the Internet is like trying to hit the side of a barn with a bow and arrow: it's so big that you're sure to hit a part of it, but it's impossible to cover the whole thing no matter how many times you shoot."
Start with the right key words and a good search engine site, and then follow the most likely links, and you'll probably find information on the topic you're researching. But no matter how much you find, you'll never get it all. Like the book collection in a library, the Web is always changing, constantly being added to (mostly) and subtracted from -- but at an exponentially faster rate. The information you were searching for and couldn't find may not have been online this morning -- but it might be tonight.
It's not yet the "sum total of human knowledge," but the collection of information on the Web grows more massive every day. The perpetual problem is sorting through the chaff to find those nutritious grains of wheat.ç
The topic of doing key word searches on the Web brings up an interesting side issue. Search engines generally rank matched pages by "relevance," listing those deemed to be the best match to the query first. But what judgment criteria does your favorite search engine use?
If Joe's Internet Pizzaria comes out at the top of the list in a search for the key word "pizza," Joe will undoubtedly get more "hits" (and by extension, for a commercial site, more paying "customers") than Tony's Italian Kitchen, which appears 20th on the list. But what if Tony pays a small fee to the search engine operator, and he suddenly starts appearing first on the list and Joe in position 20? Is it ethical? (No.) Is it legal? (Well, ....) An even better question for a "free" (to the user) search service might be: Is it inevitable?
