Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about Japan

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Sunday 13th March 2011

• Big in Japan: Outreaching to a Unique Market

  by Akinori Koto, Ryan Holmes, Fumi Yamazaki, Marcus Nelson and Robert Laing

  Web and mobile technology have developed differently in Japan than any other country with hardware, features and social communities which are completely unique to this singular market. But Japanese companies are now realizing this introverted market position isn't sustainable and are now looking towards technology from outside and exploring way to create technology for outside of their country.

  Japan has ubiquitous high-speed coverage and a voracious appetite for tech gadgets, however, their tools have developed with entirely different features than other countries. For example: Japan's "Galapo-phones" commonly include streaming TV and multi-character sets, Mixii and Gree each have more than 30 million users on their social networks, and Yahoo is a whole different experience from US counter-part.

  With meteoric growth in Twitter and network tools, Japan aims on becoming the regional leader for emerging social web technologies -- much like their early leadership in consumer electronics and gaming industries. This presents opportunities for collaboration and partnerships but localizing requires more than translation.

  This panel will discuss the unique characteristics of Japanese web and mobile market including tactics for connecting to markets, identifying opportunities, and outreaching to audiences, plus understanding unexpected cultural nuances and consumer expectations.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Japan
  • Mobile
  • Social Media

  At 12:30pm to 1:30pm, Sunday 13th March

  In Salon D, Hilton Austin Downtown

  Coverage sketch note

Monday 14th March 2011

• Japanese Mobile Leaders Forum

  by Taisei Tanaka, Takuya Miyata, Serkan Toto, Takahito Iguchi and Eiji Araki

  "Japan" "Mobile" "Social Media" - what do you see when you have these words together? Cyber utopia? Shrinking Galapagos? Ninjas with high-tech swords? It's about time we know what the real scenes are in Japan. With the leaders of the mobile social media in Japan, we will discuss what the Japanese mobile social media world looks like, where they are headed, and how the "outer world" will affect / or be affected. Needless to give examples like the explosive rise of Twitter in Japan, the question is not whether the country is the "land of the rising sun" in mobile social media or not - it's how high has the sun risen, and why.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Japan
  • Mobile
  • Social Media

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Monday 14th March

  In Salon H, Hilton Austin Downtown

Tuesday 15th March 2011

• Japan Web: A New Beginning or the Galapagos

  by Ko Orita, Naoki Aoyagi, Paul Papadimitriou, Ken Brady and Serkan Toto

  Japan remains a big question mark. Sometimes qualified as strange, sometimes thought as very innovative, often unknown to many. Can you name one Japanese startup? Can you name one Japanese web service that you use? Do you know Facebook is almost inexistent there? With the recent successes of Twitter (almost 20% of worldwide tweets are in Japanese), the iPhone (shaking a very insular mobile market), is Japan opening up to the US and the world? Similarly, with Rakuten, the Japanese eBay, acquiring Buy.com & opening offices in the US, but also entering China and elsewhere, are we witnessing a new era of Japanese companies' expansion? Japan remains a land of opportunities. A country where innovative models are popping up every day. Let's learn about Japan.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Japan

  At 11:00am to 12:00pm, Tuesday 15th March

  In Salon K, Hilton Austin Downtown