| Japan's Information Strategy for the 21st
Century |
| |
by SAKAMURA Ken
March 2002, 190 x 138 mm, 272 pp., JPY1600 |
 |
| Professor SAKAMURA Ken has attracted
world attention since 1984 as the leader of the TRON Project and his
design of computer systems of stunning originality. TRON is a fundamental
software program able to be utilized by a variety of computers and
is the program most used in pre-installed OS programs in the world
today. |
| Professor Sakamura argues, “...
a global standard is a fantasy. Because systems and cultures differ
by country, one cannot simply import a the surface of the American
method into Japan.” He further emphasizes that “Isn't the
greatest puzzle for Japanese, after all, Japan itself? Because we
don't know who we are, we cannot establish the individual. We don't
have to do everything according to the American way. We must establish
a strategy based on what Japanese people can do, and then be able
to explain that to outsiders.” What Japan needs most of all is
strategic thought that embodies the maxim, “know others, know
oneself.” |
| Contents |
| Prologue |
| 1 Lessons from the collapse
of the IT bubble in the U.S. |
|
1.1 |
From the peak to decline — what did the collapse
of the argument of “the new economy”mean? |
| |
1.2 |
The bursting of the dotcom phenomenon — Quick growing
dotcom companies / From B2C to B2B / Flush with the potential of the
internet / The precepts of Amazon.com/Stock and securities analysts/Distribution
of broadband and content/Electronic business has just begun / Problems
remaining |
| |
1.3 |
Telecom's over investment in infrastructure — Spurred
on by the deregulation of the telecommunications industry/Enormous
debt among large scale makers of communications devices |
| |
1.4 |
Reduction in demand for personal computers — Growth
in personal computers has ended/From multi-use to special use devices |
| 2 America and Japan |
| |
2.1 |
Japan's Way — Japanese and Americans / Why have
things gone well so far? / Island rules/Japan's insistence on form |
| |
2.2 |
Trying to imitate America's way — The collapse
of the American way / A country that allows for second chances/The
trap of the global standard/America's basic research |
| |
2.3 |
Why did Japan fail? — The tragedy of Japanese Morse
Code/The tragedy of the English-language keyboard/Fields in which
the Japanese way does not work / Never deciding / The collapse of
the Japanese way / Unchanging dilemma / Incompetent but hard-working
/ The digital divide |
| |
2.4 |
A third path — Are Japanese capable of originality?
/ Anxiety about the present / “Project X” / Presentation
is the story |
| 3 Japan's Strategy |
| |
3.1 |
Various strategies — OS strategy as
information infrastructure / Security strategy / Strategy for character
codes / America's character code strategy / Stubbornness over international
standards when inconvenient / China's character code strategy / Japan
needs a character code set that it can control / What is the right
character code for electronic governance? |
| |
3.2 |
What's next? — Ubiquity and information-based
household electronics / Can IT help save energy? / Japan's educational
system / The mysterious "educational computer" / Super article
301 / lifelong learning / What knowledge is necessary? / Prioritizing
knowledge / Knowledge about information rights / The idea of enable-ware |
| |
3.3 |
What the State should and shouldn't do
— How to think about echelons / The government shouldn't be a
buyer / What do you standardize? / The murkiness of IT / About TCP/IP
/ The uniqueness of standardizing IT related fields/Why there is great
intelligence on the terminal side / The philosophy of how society
should be |
| Afterword |
