saw it via twitter from Jeremiah:
@jonathanbrowne was telling me about this Japanese Web 2.0 list: http://tinyurl.com/6dv4vl compares and contrasts US vs Japan
I wrote a comment on the post but decided to elaborate more on the topic. So here it goes.
Since I have lived in Japan for a year in Hokkaido I feel like I might have learned some stuff about Japanese web services and the way people use them from a different perspective. What does this mean? I had mainly been in touch with people NOT in the tech industry, not early adopters.
Booking travel plans online:
If a Japanese person HAVE to book travels online they’d go to:
Jalan.net. (entirely in Japanese, also no mobile version)
Jalan also has publications on traveling which ties back to the website. The magazines are popular as they publish specific area or holidays specials.
I tried out Jal tours recently and it was a pleasant experience. It is the tour department of the Japan airline.
However, most of the people I know, being not techies, they still prefer going to travel agency and read the travel booklets and let the travel agency find the best package.
(also, on the topic of traveling in Japan. Most of the hotels charge per person instead of per room.)
Social networking:
The Japanese version of facebook is painful to read. really. My Japanese is not that good but it still hurts my face reading it. They do however use mixi religiously. I have an account and people would add me as a friend and want to be friends with me. lots of random connections. It’s a bit hard to use. Also, it’s a trend in Japan to not put your own photo as your profile photo. Most of the girls have their dog, hello kitty, cute model, or scenery as their profile photo.
Gourmet:
My personal favorite is hotpepper. I am not sure how often the website is actually being used, but hotpepper releases free publication at the end of the month (Friday?) in every major cities. You can find hotpepper yellowpage-look-alike books in 7-11 mostly. (I believe that other convenient stores do not carry them) The publication introduces new restaurants in the area and special deals. In Tokyo area it’s even divided down to the area. Try finding a hotpepper in the Shinjuku area, kinda hard. It’s that popular.
Electronic and such:
The biggest empire is yamada denki. Yamada promises the lowest price possible. I saw it in the news recently that they are being sued for monopoly because such reason like their reward points can be used in many other places (hotels, flights, and more).
((by the way, Japanese culture, big on points & rewards. Every store has a point card))
I am not sure how many people actually use the yamada denki website, but it really is always that slightly cheaper than the other shops. They also match competitor’s price.
Online translation service:
Yahoo Japanese translate. it’s not a good translator, but I don’t think there’s a good one out there…
Artsy:
There’s this Tokyo Art Beat that has design/artsy events in it. Lots of new contents all the time.
Music:
Probably much like the Live Nation website, there’s wess.jp. However, most of the people I know are on their favorite band’s mailing list. (mails to their cellphone.) Did you know that the super popular band in Japan - Exile - has a show on Dec 31 in Hokkaido? More amazingly is that they did not sell tickets in the first while, they were doing a lottery for people who can even purchase tickets. (it really is that popular.)
There are just my 2 cents on what I have observed in Japan during my stay here.
If one thing I have learned about the interconnectivity of Japan, is that the convenient stores really are convenient. It’s where you see new posters for things, it’s where you buy magazines, and it’s where you purchase your bus ticket or movie tickets. You can send your printing to 7-11 photocopier and it’ll print and wait for you at the store. I also pay most of my bills (i.e. cellphone, internet, electricity) with a barcode on my bill to scan in any convenient stores. They call the convenient store combini here. It’s probably my favorite Japanized English word.
Do you know more? As a gaijin in Japan this is as good as I can go.
