Paul Papadimitriou

Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. You can go to a coffee shop, leave your belongings in a table, go to the toilet and when you come back, everything is right there. Nobody will touch it. Anyway, Japanese do worry about security. There are tons of gadgets and even books to help people increase “security” in their lives. Of course, iPhone applications are not an exception. In fact, just think about it. Do you think that it’s easier to loose your wallet or your iPhone?
Usually you will keep your iPhone in your pocket or in your hands. You will always think about it to check emails, browse the web or you’ll just try to keep it right away in your hands to play some game in spare moments. How many times do you think about your wallet? Usually people think about it, only when they have to use it.

Japan Mobile Inc created an application to keep the content of your wallet safe in your iPhone.
The idea is simple. As soon as you realize that you lost your wallet or think it got robbed, the first thing to do is to block the credit cards, and inform the police about the loss. In that case you will need the following information: credit card number, expiration date, driver’s license number and so forth. Usually nobody remembers this information.

Wallet Guide uses the camera and it has many options to edit the picture. It also organizes the image from the front and back and it has a table to choose what kind of document you want to store.

The application protects this information with a security code, so in case your iPhone gets lost, nobody will be able to get the content.
Link to iTunes Store

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It has been reported by Japanese tech media outlets Impress and CNet Japan that Apple has removed top downloaded app Sekai Camera and several other applications from the iTunes App Store.

Sekai Camera, created by TonchiDot, was one of the first AR (Augmented Reality) apps available for the iPhone and quickly gained popularity not only in Japan, but abroad as well. The application makes us of Place Engine, a service similar to Skyhook Wireless that uses know wi-fi hotspot signals to enhance GPS location readings. Yahoo!地図 published by Yahoo Japan and a number of applications released by Koozyt, another application developer using PlaceEngine have also been pulled.

TonchiDot CEO Takahito Iguchi has responded by confirming the removal was due to the Apple App review process and that an update to the software will be released soon.

At this time it is unclear if PlaceEngine is indeed the reason that these apps were pulled, and why the system may be a problem for Apple. We will continue to monitor and post updates as they are made public.
For real-time updates on mobile news from Japan, follow us on twitter!

Updated: 4.3.10 21:20 Added Yahoo!地図 app removal.

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Japan based 30min Inc. has just updated their local navigation app with foursquare check-in features and twitter integration.

Just over a month ago, the foursquare phenomenon reached Japan and the growth has been explosive with weekly check-ins likely to soon hit six figures. It was only a matter of time before we started to see similar functionality from local Japanese applications.

First was iButterfly. An Augmented reality game from Dentsu, offering twitter integration a coupons for catching location tagged virtual butterflies. I am more interested however in the response to this new update from 30min, a popular local assistant app.

The concept behind 30min is things you can do within 30 minutes of your current location. This service offers restaurant listings, reviews, and photographs, as well as local services and businesses, attractions and events.

This new update adds a check-in function similar to foursquare and twitter interaction so your followers can track your mealtime check-ins. You will be able to look back at your previous activities log and track check-ins of other users by location. Particularly in dense cities like Tokyo, these social based recommendation systems are gaining popularity as population of information can outpace more tradition forms of advertisement.

It should be interesting to see if other services and applications will turn this into a trend of geo-location based social applications.

30min is an iPhone application and you can download it for free from this link. Unfortunately it appears to only be available on the Japan iTunes store and the application catalogs only information on locations in Japan. There is also an Android app, however these new features have not been added at this time.

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So Fast Company has released their list of most innovative companies in 2010.
Fast Company: The World’s Most Innovative Companies 2010
Hardly surprising is that Japan is hardly present on the list. In fact, only one Japanese company made the list.

In fact, in recent years only two other Japanese companies have made this list; Nintendo (#21 in ‘09, #10 in ‘08) and Toyota (#39 in ‘09, #48 in ‘08). What’s most concerning is that this year’s Fast Retailing (The parent company that runs the clothing chain/brand Uni-Qlo) was certainly not brought in for technology.
Meanwhile, mobile and technology companies littered the list, with Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Huawei taking the top five slots, well over half the list has strong ties to mobile technology, mobile services and media.

So is Japan completely out of the loop?

Well, yes, and no.

In a global sense, Japan is a non entity. Language being one of the major factors has kept a wall keeping Japanese customers and trends from participating with the global market. As much as has been commented on regarding the difficulties involved with foreign businesses operating on the ground in Japan, it’s equally difficult for Japanese companies to operate abroad. (Ironic that one of the only Japanese companies from Fast Company’s lists is experiencing that right now).

But at the same time, we are seeing great innovation in Japan, particularly in mobile technology and services.

This year’s #5 is Huawei, who has been doing gangbuster business in Japan’s new high speed mobile network as the largest manufacturer of 3G data cards and adapters. The whole 0yen netbook Emobile revolution has created a cheap laptops market that is the envy of both hardware manufacturers and data network carries across the globe.

And what about Gree? The mobile based social network has seen enough growth in this down market to make the President Yoshikazu Tanaka the youngest billionaire in Asia. This game based social network has achieved domestic success that makes global SNS’s like facebook green with envy. Most of that growth taking place in just the last two years.

So why the shun? The tech isolation of Japan has to end. For Japan and to benefit the rest of the world. Until we demystify and bring both Japanese companies and Japanese consumers into the global market, a place for this country in the most important technology field of the next decade is in doubt.

This is my first post in out newly redesigned Mobile in Japan. It’s my hope that this website and community will be a strong positive influence on the communication between Japan and the rest of the world. Would be great if we can make a difference and maybe see more Japanese influence in the mobile market.

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