Why is Japan so far behind in terms of the Internet?

Can anyone who knows their stuff tell me? I tried to figure it out by researching this topic on my own, but all I can find is people commenting how "conservative" and "narrow-minded" the Japanese people are and that is not explaining it for me.

How come the average Japanese website still looks like it was the year 1999? They use all those crummy frames, Times New Roman font, links that turn blue upon clicking them and usually the entire website fits on 1/4 of my laptop screen because of the low native resolution. What is wrong with Japan? They used to be so far ahead with computers in the early 1990's and their cell phones were years ahead from Western ones until around 2006.
The economic crisis affected the entire world, they can't just blame it on that. So what else happened?

Can anyone who has a background and experience on this field teach me a bit how exactly Japan completely lost its position as a technology pioneer and leader?

 

I thought the Japanese had more advanced Internet service than we do in America, but then again so do ALOT of countries. Regarding their tastes in designing websites, that is different than saying they are behind us in technology.

 

Their Internet may be fast, but their websites are crap. It's not a matter of taste in design... the difference is that outdates (web 1.0) technology is still commonly used in Japanese web-design.

 

Maybe this is why it's fast...?

Three possibilities in my mind-

-Companies like Microsoft and Apple (NA based) probably brought the whole tech world over here. And seeing as NA is really the hub for tech (as the general populace knows it), there's not a lot of people wanting to start up in Japan.
So, if you've got less companies based there, you've got less devices rolling off the line, and so there's no real need to update. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

-It's a cultural thing. I'm not one to say anything about culture there, but maybe they're not into upgrading tech ever half a year?

-tech is more expensive there, so people hold on to older devices longer. If more people have older devices than people with new devices, then it would be bad for a company to update a popular site to something that the older devices can't support and lose the web traffic.


Am I doing it right?

 

x

 

in all honnesty i'd prefer the internet to warp back a few years, all this flash and java and insane full page surround video ads et all, just no need for it.

 

i really miss the AOL days XD altough it was a pain in the ass to get online i relly loved the chats that aol provided.

 

For real? I also used AOL from 1999 - 2003 and it was a REAL pain in the ass. Worst way of browsing the Internet by far... not having to use that interface anymore felt like someone took off my chastity belt. Fuck AOL, worst interface of all time and it should be remembered as such!

 

Agree, it's really annoying when page loading time is more than a minute on 150Mbit/s and it takes 2 cores of quad core CPU like it's PS2 emulator or some insane scientific calculations app when it's finally loaded.

 

they didn't.

 

The reason why Japanese web sites are so crap has nothing to do with the tech or software but the people. Ave, you said yourself the only reasons why Japanese net pages are crap is because of how "conservative" and "narrow-minded" the Japanese people are. That's the basic jist of it. I came to Japan 15 years ago and I can honestly tell you that TV hasn't changed a single bit. It's still the same shite every day every year. Same show formats, no twist, no originality, no nothing. The Japanese are just stuck in their ways. It's the same in all walks of life here.

Not all Japanese sites are old in style though. Only the ones made by "normal" people such as us. Some big companies have better sites (still basic). However they all follow the same basic set up. See, they are a race that don't like to differ from the norm.

http://www.uniqlo.com/jp/?gclid=CJGOrMr_17YCFYhfpQodmEYAQg
http://www.softbank.jp/mobile/customer/
http://www.jal.co.jp/
http://www.yamada-denkiweb.com/

 

It has to do with the fact that they use their phones for everything, and smartphone penetration is overall less than it is here in the US. Japan only recently hit 40% penetration a few months ago when the US hit that over a year ago. Personal computer ownership is also less. This means that the Japanese use their cell phones for everything. As such, the websites need to be both smartphone AND old school cellphone friendly. There are still a lot of people in Japan who don't even want a smartphone, and although that is slowly changing over time, the standard flip phone continues to remain a popular beast. Here's an old article on the decline of PC sales:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21624720/...adgets/t/japan-pcs-are-becoming-sooo-version/

Interestingly enough, the tablet market is creating a similar phenomenon here in the US. PC sales are dwindling, the netbook is basically dead, and the mobile tablet market is on a huge rise. The difference is, tablets basically offer full-featured browsing. Companies don't need to worry about making shitty looking websites due to old world tech. In Japan, they do.

Next, you ask why Japan isn't the king when it comes to technology anymore. Well, the US has pretty much always been the king when it came to technology. Japan was just clever at taking technology and adapting it in different ways. WiFi, RFID, Intel, AMD, Windows, Mac, the first personal computer, the first mobile phone, the internet itself, etc... This was all invented right here in the US.

Lastly, it's really true that Japanese tend to be very conservative and narrow-minded when it comes to a lot of things -- technology included. It's nearly every day that I want to smack some of the idiots here for their old ways of thinking. Even the dumbest stuff like how you can't go home until the boss leaves, but the boss won't leave until the employees leave. Whoever gives in first shows a lack of "hard work" for the company, so you have to wait until the last damn train. So stupid...

 

japanese sites have phone versions so that has nothing to do with why the internet sites look like crap. Also EVERY Japanese person I know owns a computer of some sort, be it a lap top, desk top or mini note PC. I've never been to a Japanese home that didn't have a PC.

 

Not saying anything bad about your statement, but wouldn't this be true for basically any household in NA as well? Computers can be really cheap nowadays and they're rapidly becoming a necessity.

 

Assuming you're a run-of-the-mill end user who has absolutely no interest in anything too tech savvy, what can you do on a computer that you can't do on one of today's mobile phones or tablets? I've been to quite a few homes where they don't have computers anymore or just never bothered to get one. Anything they need to do could be done directly from their phones, or in the case of a few recent homes I've been to here in the US, on their tablets. You can surf the web, check your email, pay bills, order stuff, and so on. More and more software is moving to the mobile platform, so there is becoming less of a need for the typical PC that most people think of. Hell, even schools are starting to do away with computers here and switching to tablets. If you include tablets and smartphones into the "computer" category, then you can basically ignore all of what I said, though, as I may have misunderstood the post a bit.

Anyway, back to the topic - here's an article that I found on the subject that may interest you:

http://www.tofugu.com/2012/05/15/japanese-web-design-why-you-so-2003/

 

Play actual video games?




I'm sorry but it had to be said. This bothers me too much when people say they're gamers and they game on their iPhones and iPads and whatnot.

 

You realize that PC gaming over in Japan is basically nonexistent, correct? Also, mobile games are HUGE over there, especially the ones where you have to pay for every little thing. Oh, and don't forget that I was just talking about the average person. I wasn't talking about gamers specifically. Not to mention that Japan is basically the holy land of arcades, so anybody can simply pop into one of the many that are conveniently scattered throughout the country, play a bit of the latest games and be on their way without the hassle of dealing with PC or console gaming.

 

Not talking about Japan either- I'm just mentioning it because it's a serious issue I have with people in general.

 

Yes it would be true. Which makes the original post that said "Personal computer ownership is also less" in Japan. Just not true unless in other contries they have more than 1 computer in the house. Saying that there are 4 PCs in my house.

 

Seems like Japan is the Galapagos Islands of technology. They evolve at a different rate to the rest of the world. Advancing in some ways, trailing in others.