Fans of Japanese comedy know TKO well. The manzai pair can often be seen on TV. The members of TKO are Takayuki Kinoshita and Takehiro Kimoto, both also have popular blogs on Ameblo where Kimoto has confirmed that it is indeed him that was captured by the Google Streetview car camera in Setagaya Ward and posted on the internet for all the world to see.

Kimoto’s confirmation on his blog can be seen here – Kimoto on Streetview. He is seen walking with his stylist.

The streetview link can be seen here: Setagaya Ward, Kinuta 3-5-3

Here’s an embed of the Google Streetview shot.

大きな地図で見る

If you live or work or have anything to do with the internet in Japan, you may have marveled at how ubiquitous Yahoo! Japan is. From Yahoo! Japan BB to Yahoo! Japan Auctions to Softbank… it’s like ebay, verizon mobile, and comcast internet all rolled into one. Not to mention that they also have their own baseball team!

It is important to note that Yahoo! Japan is a separate company from Yahoo! USA and can do what it wants. This news does not say a lot about the relationship between Yahoo! and Google in the U.S., but may be a sign that Google Japan and Yahoo! Japan can coexist, especially if it will help cut Microsoft out of the picture.

Numbers  I’ve seen don’t seem to show Bing making a dangerously large impact on the search market in Japan, however I have a feeling that many people in Japan choose not to change the default on Microsoft Internet Explorer, still the most popular browser in Japan.

Both Yahoo! Japan and Google Japan have issued press releases announcing the change. This will not have much effect on your everyday user for whom any search engine will return relevant-enough results, but it may have a large effect on the growing SEO industry in Japan.

The ranking algorithm will change somewhat when Google takes over so it will be interesting to compare how traffic to Japanese language sites changes. I also don’t know how much emphasis current SEO companies in Japan have been putting on the big G amidst the dominance of the big Y, but it could get interesting as Japanese webmasters start to prepare their sites.

This is not the first time the two search giants have teamed up. Google provided Yahoo! Japan with its search engine from 2001 to 2004, so this is more of a return to the way things were 6 years ago. Google may be customized to accomodate Yahoo Japan’s uniqueness and specific search needs.

Google’s announcement specifically mentions ads, meaning Google Adwords ads will be featured on Yahoo! Japan’s search results and will probably get a great shot in the arm from new clients and investors, however for the time being the data and advertisers for both ad delivery systems will be kept separate.

It may even be a relief for Japan’s number one content provider (Yahoo Auctions, Yahoo Chiebukuro (question and answer site), Yahoo Shopping…) to be able to outsource its search needs and focus more on the moneymaking aspects of the operation.

As I said, this is big news for SEO companies, and some savvy webmasters, but will not really be a big change for your average search consumer.

This design was only released on the Japanese language Google homepage but a lot of thought was put into it. The young 20 year old coming of age ceremony participant in a traditional kimono is prominently featured, but there is also the subtle adjustment of the Os in google to look like the number 20!

In an interview with Nikkei Business Online, Yahoo President Masahiro Inoue said that Google is not so great, and implied that Yahoo Japan has done great things while staying in the law. This comment may be a reference to Streetview which is one of Google’s most popular products in Japan, and for which Yahoo Japan has no competing service. There is also mention of Yahoo Book Search which was strongly opposed by publishing companies in Japan.

(A little NewzJapan commentary here: This is partially because of how powerful Japanese companies are, their relationships with the government and media, and how they stick together. Sometimes it seems like it’s the companies competing with the customers except for a few companies like Ikea and Uniqlo that have come in with non-traditional business plans and found success.)

Although Yahoo is still king in Japan in the search market, internationally savvy Google has been making headway with useful products such as the YouTube, Streetview, Gmail, Google Sketchup, and especially the new Google Japanese Language Input System.

Some people have commented that this could be a last ditch attempt to try to hold off Google’s gradually increasing success in Japan, and Yahoo Japan’s weakening.

Inoue mentions that Yahoo has put out some amazing products recently but mentions none by name.

Google has been gradually gaining ground in Japan thanks mostly to solid products and a growing knowledge of what niches have still not been filled by other companies in the Japanese market., all the while growing in its bread and butter search field.

Google Japan has entered another unexpected market with the release of a free Japanese input software. Reviews on the net hail it as a very natural and easy to use system posing a huge threat to the standard issue ATOK, Anthy, WinAnthy, and other input systems.

Google’s Japanese input can be used with Windows XP and later, as well as Mac computers. It is free and currently listed as being in Beta.

It gets wonderful reviews from people in Japan because it is very natural, and allows for input based on shortenings. If you speak Japanese, you know how often words are shortened. The Google Japanese software gives you the option of choosing the extended version even when you put in the shortened version.

Basically, it seems that Google has taken it’s “Suggest” feature often used in its search engine and applied it to the Japanese input system.

For people who don’t use Japanese computers, when you input Japanese, you basically type in the phonetic rendering of the words using either the English “romaji” lettering or the kana. Then when you hit the space bar, a list of possible Kanji (or Chinese-type characters) for that phonetic rendering.

Google’s input software takes the next step and offers suggestions for what you may be trying to write, or expansions of what you’ve shorthanded.

This feature is common on cellphones in Japan where having to input by repeatedly clicking on those little buttons. In fact, because of the suggest feature on cell phone Japanese language input software, typing on a cell phone in Japan is much faster than typing in English.

Since its a free download, it may also be worth a try for people using non-Japanese keyboards but who also want to be able to type Japanese text.

I use google alerts as a great way to get news about certain specific topics that I have an interest in. I have a google alert for “kindle japan” because I’ve written about my what I want from the Kindle in the past, my wish that it would be able to handle manga, and that Amazon would work with Japanese publishers so that I could read my Japanese novels on a Kindle as well.

Another google alert I have set up is for “street view japan”. This is actually my least favorite google alert… the reason is that any time there is any tiny protest against google street view, any time there is an anti-google street view comment on any tiny blog anywhere in the world, I get an alert because the news story, blog post, or letter to grandma that comes up in my alert inevitably refers to the ”

Recently there is word that the Swiss government would like Google to cease filming with their street view cameras in Switzerland. Many of the stories also bring up the “protests” against Google street view that took place in Japan. The problem is that there were no protests that I know of, there were bulletin boards on which the legality and appropriateness of Google street view was debated. Later Google lowered its cameras to film again, but this was not a response to these “protests” or “outraged bloggers”, this was just the right thing to do for a Japan with tiny streets. The higher cameras were unable to get good shots of some of Japan’s major streets which happen to be really tiny roads with 2 lanes which require cars traveling in opposite directions to slow down and make room for each other.

I am not saying that there were not a certain number of people speaking out against Google street view in Japan, I am saying that the case of Japan is a horrible example of people considering street view a violation of privacy and “forcing” Google to acquiesce to their demands for privacy. Google street view exists in Japan and is often used by people who know of it. There are enough people that don’t even know enough about street view in Japan to want to protest it.

I also mentioned in other posts how many businesses and cultural centers are welcoming street view Japan with open arms as a means of getting publicity. When the google street view tricycles were introduced in Japan, many of the temples and smaller areas in Japan jumped at the chance to have their streets and roads filmed.

I think the weak journalism that we see here also a sign of the “pop-japanology” I often mention on the blog. See my short editorial rant on how Japan is represented on CNN. There is a belief somewhere in the media that Japan is an easy country to explain, and that such basic ideas as “saving face” and “being shy” and “the education system making them automatons” can be used to explain behavior in Japan.

These are undoubtedly people unfamiliar with the intricacies of Japanese society (which are surprisingly similar to American society and other cultures and societies… funny that with all of us being HUMAN, there would be similarities, and complexities) who believe that things are simple and one-sided. They follow the rules. They are polite. They are shy. They don’t want to lose face. They take care of their elderly. They respect teachers. I could write a few more pages detailing things I have heard said about people in Japan (with no reference or evidence). Some of the worst perpetrators are people who have lived in Japan for a year or two without learning the language or culture on a deeper level and come away with a lot of misconceptions based on having lived in Japan as a “guest” for two years. I liken this to people vacationing in Hawaii for a few weeks and thinking that Americans go to the beach and eat out every day based on their experience there.

This article in Business Weekly about the Swiss Ban on Street View claims that the cameras for street view in Japan were lowered because the Japanese government “insisted” they be lowered. However, it seems more likely that Google decided internally to do what was best for the company and customers they served. There was a committee formed in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, but there was no overt edict issued.

I’ve written a long article to make my point, but I do believe that there needs to be better fact checking in articles referring to Japan, and more open-eyed, open-minded view of the reality of Japan. It is difficult to understand Japan culturally on the level of someone raised here, but part of that is because there is not a lot of conscious self-reflection happening here. There are not a lot of watchdogs from the media, or tell-it-like-it-is radicalism going on.

I also believe that there is room for a lot more, deeper study of the spoken language in Japan. Scholars often talk about the indirectness of the Japanese language, but I find it quite direct, although I understand that if you thought of the English language counterparts to the Japanese words that are spoken, one might think the people are being indirect when they speak. Trust me, however, when I say that those words in Japanese can be as direct as a sentence in Hemingway novel no matter how flowery and oblique they may seem.

I’m not going to explain the obvious ones like

and

but I’ll go down a little list of some that I think people might find interesting or useful…
refers to the Japanese version of the expression “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil”

good for “sorry” or “pretty please” (although it looks like someone praying)

referring to rock-paper-scissors

celebration or congratulations

refers to hurrying, being busy, or sometimes trying hard
throw this one up around your words or sentences when you are ANGRY

ramen curry and rice pasta pizza breaded fried shrimp fried chicken candy burger and fries bread fried egg sukiyaki or some other dish with boiled meat and vegetables at the table that the family eats together sushi “oden” or various things boiled in a soup, often eaten in fall or winter a bento or Japanese boxed lunch rice onigiri, or a rice ball sake this is the red lantern outside of some food shops kakigori, crushed ice with syrup or other toppings pudding honey sembei, the rice based crackers wrapped with a little seaweed (nori) dango (mochi on a stick)
New Year’s Hinamatsuri, the girls’ doll festival

this is the kind of backpack most Japanese kids carry with them to school. If you live in Japan, you have no doubt seen these and wondered why they are so expensive.

This is the koi nobori, the flags flown outside of homes with sons on Boys’ Day (Kodomo no Hi)

Tanabata Japanese wind chimes Tsukimi, a moon watching festival, the one when they eat dango and look for the rabbit in the moon

Mt. Fuji or Sunrise sunrise tsunami

western clothes kimono nail art

fishing onsen (hot spring) fortune teller mah jong pachinko (can also be used to mean “lucky”)

Sixth ezweb
shinkansen (bullet train) school junior high school hospital work hospital live hotel train station church castle castle gas station convenience store

beginner (this is a mark that all new drivers have to put on their car during the first year they drive so now it can be used to refer to a beginner in anything)

money

ticket mail or post
secret special discount full (as in a parking garage, train seats, etc) vacant, or space available… the opposite of the previous one this one refers to something set or chosen, like assigned seating on a train business, or in business

Eighth docomo
yes… this is Munch’s Scream… used for surprise, or “Oh no!” type occasions

secret forbidden, or not allowed open, vacant (as in seating, parking lot, schedule) passing, as on a test, you could use this to say you passed your driving test, or something similar full, no vacancy
shinkansen hot spring or onsen no way (NG refers to no go, I believe)
hurry fire, hot passion another poop rock-paper-scissors bye-bye please or sorry

maru, or a circle, meaning OK! batsu, or an x, meaning no

profuse apologizing
fireworks, specifically a kind called Senkou Hanabi that looks like little tiny fireworks dripping off a sparkler type thing

Japanese wind chimes
ramen

school post office hospital love hotel hotel church, or something like a wedding chapel church park
here  refers to their being something as opposed to which you would use if there’s nothing, or if something weren’t somewhere… kind of hard to explain so I’ll give an example… if you went to rent a certain dvd and someone sent you a text asking if the dvd you were looking for were there, you could use these two emoticons to answer succinctly

restroom (comes from the WC used in some countries, I believe referring to the “water closet”

the blood types (which are still a big deal in Japan as they are believed to reveal something about a person’t personality)

So that’s my interpretation of a bunch of these emoticons that have been taken directly from the major cell phone carriers in Japan and dumped into the gmail system. If there are any more symbols people want to know about please feel free to ask in the comments and I’ll see what I can do to explain them.

They can be useful in Japan for efficiently communicating an idea in a short amount of time. This used to be useful when people had to write their texts and cell phone emails as briefly as possible, but now they are fun and fashionable.

As the iPhone went to Softbank (owned by Yahoo Japan), I was wondering if the Google Android phone would ever come to Japan.

Well, the Google Android Phone Japan Version is here, and it went to Docomo.

Other Docomo phones have gradually been increasing its compatibility with Google products such as YouTube and Google Maps here in Japan, and has always been cooperative with Google. (obvious if you consider that their competition in the mobile industry is Softbank, you certainly wouldn’t want to send any love toward Yahoo).

The good news for anyone who is a fan of Google or just a fan of healthy competition breeding innovation, then the good news is how much Google is using ads for the Android phone to introduce users to Google’s various services and alternatives to Yahoo.

Let’s see if the iPhone steps up. Maybe we’ll see some improved features in Japanese, and a little more on the GTD side of things instead of the flash things.

Maybe we have a future in Japan when finally all this mobile technology will pay off. We’ll have board meetings full of people with their iPhones and Androids and whatever AU KDDI comes up with to meet the demand. They’ll by synchronizing calendars and doing on the spot search, sharing files, projecting graphs and presentations from their phones.

Maybe kids in schools will be able to put this mobile technology to use, these phones they stick their noses in every waking moment outside of class will become learning tools. The instant access to information will convince schools of the importance of analytical skills over rote memorization of facts. More emphasis on the big picture, on analogy, on synthesis.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but if people can dream of world peace, then can’t a guy dream of world access to knowledge, and motivation to learn… can’t a guy dream of evolution?

Anyway, here’s an ad for the android from Google Japan’s YouTube channel. It’s interesting to take a look at this short video and what Google chooses to showcase.

• First search
• then business news and stock reports
• then Google maps, showing route searches and STREETVIEW!
• next, Gmail and its functionality
• followed by YouTube (possibly Google’s most popular feature in Japan), also emphasizing the ease with which one can upload videos as well

The commercial I saw today (during the Gokusen Reunion show) went by fast, but I’ll try to get it or find it on YouTube soon.

As I was perusing the Google Maps page to check out information about the new Street View filming in Japan I happened upon another link that shows that Google Street View Japan is looking for “partners”. The following video illustrates:

This video features the first ever Google Street View Japan partner filming which took place at Kodai-ji, a temple in Kyoto which is nicknamed the maki-e temple. Maki-e is an artistic style of Japanese lacquering sprinkled with gold or silver.

The Google Street View Japan Partner Program is designed to give people the chance to share their location with the world. I think it’ll be especially useful for helping Google Street View get into some of the harder to reach areas in Japan… ancient small streets, temple paths, and other similarly exquisite but exclusive areas through use of a Google Street View Bicycle!

The refilming of Japan by the Google Street View team has begun and media reports say that the camera is about 40 centimeters lower this time. The new height for the camera is 205 centimeters from ground level. 

The camera’s height reduction could be in response to people complaining that the Google Street View Car’s camera was high enough to see over walls they’d put up to prevent passers by from seeing in.

Google is also giving people the chance to have their residences or their address and name plates blurred or deleted from Google Street View, and have iven set up telephone lines so that people who are not used to the internet can call in and request exclusion from Street View.

Here is the page Google provides with information on how to be removed or blurred in Street View Japan.