Internet In and Out of Japan

Lauren Kocher, Charlotte Soesanto, Miho Goto

Top 15 Countries -Internet users for 2005, in millions Top 15 Countries -Internet users for 2005, in millions and percent of total users.and percent of total users.

1. US 197.8 (18.3%)

2. China 119 (11.1%)

3. Japan 86.3 (8.0%)

4. India 50.6 (4.7%)

5. Germany 46.3 (4.3%)

6. UK 35.8 (3.3%)

7. South Korea 33.9 (3.1%)

8. Italy 28.8 (2.7%)

9. France 28.8 (2.7%)

10. Brazil 25.9 (2.4%)

11. Russia 23.7 (2.2%)

12. Canada 21.9 (2.0%)

13. Indonesia 18.0 (1.7%)

14. Spain 15.8 (1.5%)

15. Taiwan 9.5 (1.43%)

Source: eMarketer, April 12, 2006

PC and Cell Phone Per 100 PC and Cell Phone Per 100 Inhabitants in JapanInhabitants in Japan

Unmediating Community, Akiyoshi 2004

Mobile Phone and Internet Use Mobile Phone and Internet Use in Different Groups of Countriesin Different Groups of Countries

Beyond Mobile, Lindgren, Jedbratt, & Svenson, 2002

Internet on Keitai DenwaInternet on Keitai Denwa(Cell Phone)(Cell Phone)

• Books• GPS navigation• TV and Radio• Crime Prevention Buzzer• Pedometer• Alarm Clock• Suica - train tickets• Osaifu Keitai - cell phone wallet• Cmode -Vending machines

• RPGs such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest

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Keitai Culture–So many Japanese use high tech cell phones with internet capabilities

Web-enabled Mobile Phone Per Web-enabled Mobile Phone Per 100 Inhabitants (2003)100 Inhabitants (2003)

1. Japan 34.08

2. Iceland 14.28

3. Finland 14.07

4. Austria 13.43

5. Luxembourg 13.34

...

25. South Korea 9.26

30. USA 2.33

Mito Akiyoshi called Unmediating Community: The Non-Diffusion of the Internet in Japan, 1985-2002

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Abundance of imode KeitaiAbundance of imode Keitai

In 2003: 75.5 Million Cell phones in Japan

Out of those phones, 62.5 milllion had imode - internet capabilities

That’s 82.6% of keitai in Japan had internet!

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Why Internet on Keitai?Why Internet on Keitai?

• Talking on the cell phone in public places is found as rude in Japan.

• Phone minutes are very expensive, texts and emails are inexpensive

• Therefore Texting and Emailing became very popular in Japan.

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ギャル文字ギャル文字

Gyaru-MojiGyaru-Moji• Due to privacy issues,

young women started using a special code for messaging on their keitai.

• They use a language similar to l33t. They use various symbols, numbers, kanji characters to imitate the actual letters.

Activism Via InternetActivism Via Internet• Masu Komi vs. Mini Komi

– Mini Komi is ideal for specialized political groups, especially feminist groups have been known to use these channels of communication, outside the mainstream communications industry.

• These groups in the past had passed out handwritten newsletters in hopes of getting their word out.

• Thanks to the internet, they can reach out to whomever they want whenever they want in great ease.

• Online Petitions- very easy to get signatures using internet

Internet/manga cafesInternet/manga cafes

• Places to use internet• Cubical with PC, pay per

hour

• Read manga• Sleep/shower• Eat & drink

• Places to use internet• Cubical with PC, pay per

hour

• Read manga• Sleep/shower• Eat & drink

• In a single month the number of videos on the site grew 20% to 6.1 million

• YouTube has some 45 terabytes of videos

• Video views reached 1.73 billion• 70% of YouTube's registered users are

American, roughly 50% are under 20

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/08/youtube_by_the_.html

• In a single month the number of videos on the site grew 20% to 6.1 million

• YouTube has some 45 terabytes of videos

• Video views reached 1.73 billion• 70% of YouTube's registered users are

American, roughly 50% are under 20

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/08/youtube_by_the_.html

• YouTube• Pop culture Blogs• J-list, and other English

language Japanese product sites.

• YouTube• Pop culture Blogs• J-list, and other English

language Japanese product sites.

Internet Vehicles for Japanese Pop CultureInternet Vehicles for Japanese Pop Culture

2 Channel2 Channel

• Started in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura

• Annonymous Forum for all interests

• 2.5 million posts a day• http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/08/youtube_by_the_.html

• Started in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura

• Annonymous Forum for all interests

• 2.5 million posts a day• http://www.micropersuasion.com/2006/08/youtube_by_the_.html

StatisticsStatistics

1,059 people from their monitor group. 51.9% were male, 26.9% in their twenties, 25.1% in their thirties, 24.6% in their forties, and 23.4% in their fifties.

1,059 people from their monitor group. 51.9% were male, 26.9% in their twenties, 25.1% in their thirties, 24.6% in their forties, and 23.4% in their fifties.

Anonymity and Community

Anonymity and Community

• Lack of physical information allows people to befriend others easily based only on interest• A “careful construction of anonymity”• Lacking social position etc.• However, once known….

• also facilitates “Matsuri” behavior• Nori’s hatemail/2chan targetting• Corporations forced to apologize for being rude to

someone who needed help with VCR

• Lack of physical information allows people to befriend others easily based only on interest• A “careful construction of anonymity”• Lacking social position etc.• However, once known….

• also facilitates “Matsuri” behavior• Nori’s hatemail/2chan targetting• Corporations forced to apologize for being rude to

someone who needed help with VCR

Japanese Pornography on the Internet

Japanese Pornography on the Internet

“Hentai”“Hentai”

Google searching (in English) “hentai” gives 32,400,000 results, including a Romanian fan site

The first English language site from the search receives 300 million visits per day

Why “hentai”? (relates to other readings on “why manga?”) Historical? Shunga prints? (direct connection:

Hokusai print.) Escaping censorship?

“Hentai” is English

Google searching (in English) “hentai” gives 32,400,000 results, including a Romanian fan site

The first English language site from the search receives 300 million visits per day

Why “hentai”? (relates to other readings on “why manga?”) Historical? Shunga prints? (direct connection:

Hokusai print.) Escaping censorship?

“Hentai” is English

Scholarship on HentaiScholarship on HentaiFrom “Way Better Than Real: Manga Sex to Tentacle Hentai” by Joel Powell Dahlquist and Lee Garth Vigilant

• ambivalence among dedicated fans and scholars of Japan in how to address flooding of American pop culture with Japanese materials• “ambiguously gendered characters” as “disturbing”• the cognitive jump necessary for a translation of corporeal experience to representation in hentai

•Genshiken - Madarame• Moral evaluation of “hard-core”

• Contrast with ladies’ comics article•Hentai as “postmodern pornography” in its ambiguity

Net.seXXX: Readings on Sex, Pornography, and the Internet. Waskul, D. Dennis, ed. New York, Peter Lang Publishing, 2004.

From “Way Better Than Real: Manga Sex to Tentacle Hentai” by Joel Powell Dahlquist and Lee Garth Vigilant

• ambivalence among dedicated fans and scholars of Japan in how to address flooding of American pop culture with Japanese materials• “ambiguously gendered characters” as “disturbing”• the cognitive jump necessary for a translation of corporeal experience to representation in hentai

•Genshiken - Madarame• Moral evaluation of “hard-core”

• Contrast with ladies’ comics article•Hentai as “postmodern pornography” in its ambiguity

Net.seXXX: Readings on Sex, Pornography, and the Internet. Waskul, D. Dennis, ed. New York, Peter Lang Publishing, 2004.

“Hentai” as Japan“Hentai” as Japan•How many Americans know about “panty-vending machines” or “tentacle porn!”? •How many Americans (especially non-Asian-Americans) know Japan once colonized Korea and Taiwan? • Things like hentai are found only through a medium like the internet.• my opinion: The new Japanese Version is someone who lectures on “panty-vending machines”

•How many Americans know about “panty-vending machines” or “tentacle porn!”? •How many Americans (especially non-Asian-Americans) know Japan once colonized Korea and Taiwan? • Things like hentai are found only through a medium like the internet.• my opinion: The new Japanese Version is someone who lectures on “panty-vending machines”

That’s all!

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