April 2001 Issue

On the cover: A red-hot buzzphrase at the peak of its hype. Only really big letters on the cover could do it justice.
Design and Photo: Andrew Pothecary

April 2001
No. 18

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April 2001 Issue

In Touch
	From the Editor

Features
	P2P: The Japanese Angle How the emerging P2P scene in Japan could mix with the country's ubiquitous mobile phones to create a pocket-pocket, person-to-person, impossible-to-monitor network.

	Exploring the Possibilities of P2P Wireless This idea is under the radar at the moment. It won't be for long, and the implications are huge.

	Freeing of the Press The Net is introducing new elements into Japan's mass media -- disclosure, diversity, personalization -- and threatening to transform the world's biggest newspaper audience into the biggest online-media one.

	How It Works (PDF-formatted file, Acrobat 4.0 or later required) We draw out for you how: video can be delivered on demand over copper phone wires, US and Japanese stocks can be traded over a cellphone in Japan, and global expansion can save a cellular operator money.

	DoCoMo's Java Jive-Talkin' i-Appli -- Java on i-mode -- is the coolest thing since, well, i-mode. For developers, though, its controlled rollout was a reminder of who's boss -- and how that boss likes to operate.

Filter
	An Interface Designer Does Japan A US-based software usability consultant shares her impressions on how Japan interfaces with machines -- and vice versa.

	What's Wrong With PHS? Enough with i-mode, already. PHS -- Japan's neglected mobile phone service -- is in many ways better.

	Idees Fortes How about a fingerprint reader on the back of handsets for secure m-commerce?

People
	Masayasu Ariyoshi After 10 years with Nomura Research Institute, he's heading up a product evaluation site "for the people, by the people, and of the people."

Research
	Statistics (PDF-formatted file, Acrobat 4.0 or later required) Japan's usage of media changes, the online content market begins to take off, and B2C gets a boost from mobile.

	Japan Studies How Japan's aging society is perceived -- by the aged.

Investor
	Bento-Box Infotech ipTrend sees a big market in wiring Japan's small-time shops. Simplicity, it knows, is key.

	Less Share-Sharing A new accounting standard puts another dent in corporate cross- holdings -- the glue holding many Japanese keiretsu together.

	Betting on B2B Cynomix is betting Japan's trading giants will adopt its system for automating Web-based B2B efforts -- assuming there are such efforts.

	Charging into Japan eCharge thinks Japan's consumers will take to its Net-based payment system. Question is, will online merchants?

	On Our Radar Screen This month: studybox and step.com.

In Parting
	Art Department How an art duo called exonemo lets you engage in minor acts of technological terrorism.

	Blowfish Japanese shoppers are infatuated with clothes retailer UNI-QLO -- and prices alone don't explain it.