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.

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.

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.

Newzjapan is a big Google fan, so we’ve written before about the long awaited appearance of  Google Street View  in Okinawa, Hiroshima, and other non-Tokyo locations, not to mention the debate about privacy and Google Street View in Japan.

We even wrote about the first time that Street View came to Japan.

Gigazine Japan recently reported that the Google Street View car will be back on the road in re-filming all of Tokyo after the Golden Week holidays. Golden Week lasts until May 6th. I hope they are doing everything in high quality view. 

An ad for drivers was reportedly seen from a “famous portal site” looking for six people to drive and film something that will be seen all over the world.

The pay is set to be 1600 yen per hour and a half day’s pay on rainy days during which filming is not possible.

Lastly here is a video introduced in the Gigazine article. It shows someone filming the Google Streetview car (Google Maps Camera Car)  from behind.

Google-mania.net reports recent sightings of the Google Streetview car in Okinawa, as well as Hiroshima, Miyagi, Fukuoka, Aichi, Niigata, and Hokkaido.

Various sources reported seeing the Google Streetview car in Naha, Okinawa, as well as Miyakojima. It waqs also reported roaming around Hiroshima City, Nagoya and Kita-Nagoya City in Aichi, Niigata City in Niigata, Ishimaki City in Miyagi Prefecture, and between Furano and Asahikawa in Hokkaido.

It seems like Google’s undeterred by some of the negative press Google Streetview’s received and is making quick work of the major cities on the various islands or our dear archipeligo here.

I’m especially looking forward to coverage of some of the nice historical areas of Hiroshima city.

I just finished this article on Japanese Reactions to Google Streetview entitled Japan: Letter to Google about Streetview.

It posts a partial translation of a letter written by a person named Osamu Higuchi who argues that Google should end its Streetview program in Japan. He sites a series of cultural reasons such as it’s rude to take someone’s picture without their permission, and that the Japanese everyday lifestyle is not to be shown to people all over the world. He discusses whether people keep their houses tidy or not, whether looking at someone’s front gate is peeping or not. Higuchi even argues that the demerits of Google Streetview in Japan were never discussed in the mass media because of the Japanese media’s anti-microsoftness.

I wish the translator had also looked at the comments section as well. There are lots of comments from people who completely disagree. Most people said that he was just thinking too much. Some also accused him of having the kind of thinking that keeps Japan separated from the rest of the world, the kind of thinking that presumes some kind of uber-uniqueness of the Japanese people over other country’s people (with the fault of not knowing enough about other people in the world to see the similarities).

People who don’t know a lot about Japan or don’t read a lot of Japanese will probably agree, but we know better don’t we. There are already tons of blogs on which interesting Streetview views have been found, a lot of them do not promote the kind of image of Japan that some people in Japan will want to show. Japan is gradually becoming more open and real, and it’s about time for Japan to start staring its social problems in the eye and stop hiding them.

What Mr. Higuchi may actually be most concerned with are images caught of high school kids walking down the street together in which the boy has a hand on the girls breast, images of people walking into love hotels and brothels. Some of these places are on major streets, and people living here in Japan see these things everyday. A lot of people here want to continue to portray (and themselves believe) the image of Japan as a pristine, polite nation.

Here is an example of something I often see driving down the street that people like Mr. Higuchi and other people unrealistic about the realities of modern life in Japan don’t want you to see. There’s a lot of road peeing going on here.

The photo comes from a blog called “Google Map Streetview Collection” it has beautiful pictures, funny pictures, crazy houses, even one that caught a model in the middle of a photo shoot.

I encourage everyone to play with Google Streetview in Japan if you want to know what some of the streets look like. It will also help if you are planning to do some walking tours, because as you probably know, most streets in Japan have no names. It could be useful for finding good landmarks to use on your travels.

I hope Google streetview covers even more of Japan. Anything that will open up and loosen up Japan is very welcome here!

People on some of the social sites in Japan have been claiming they’ve seen the Google Streetview car in Kyoto and Tokyo! Anybody else see this! They’ll definitely have to blur faces because it’s illegal to take someone’s picture in Japan without permission.