Last Updated September 4, 1998

Japanese Information Infrastructure

This page contains links relevant to the Japanese information infrastructure, also referred to as the Japanese "info highway" or jôhô infura. This also includes discussions about how the Internet is changing (or will change) business and society in Japan (but not how to find information about Japan on the Internet, which is listed elsewhere.)

I would like to keep this list complete and up-to-date, so if you have any additions or corrections, please E-mail me.

Articles

Academic Papers

• Aizu Izumi. (1993). "Building Japan’s Information Infrastructure: Create new user demands through innovation that brings ’increasing return’," Nihon Keizai Shimbun , Apr. 16.
• Anderson, Stephen J. (1995). "From Crisis to Information Society in Japan," Japan Studies Association of Canada conference, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Sept. 30.
• Kumon Shumpei. (1994). "The GII Initiative:Its Significance and the Challenges for Japan," Symposium on Multimedia Communications and the High-Speed, Intelligent, Distributed, Cooperative Computing Environment of the Year 2010, Tokyo, Sept. 13.
• Kumon Shumpei. (1995). "A Japanese Perspective on the Significance of the Information Revolution," GLOCOM working paper.
• Laird, D. Burgess. (1996). "Japanese Government Policies for the Development of an Advanced Info-Communications Infrastructure." CyberJapan: Technology, Policy & Society conference, Washington, D.C., May 31, 1996 . (Also published as a Los Alamos National Laboratory unclassified report, LA-UR-96-1831).
• Latzer, Michael. (1995). "Japanese Information Infrastructure Initiatives: A politico-economic approach," Telecommunications Policy, 19, 7 (Oct.): 515-529.
• West, Joel. (1995). "Building Japan’s Information Superhighway," Japan Policy Research Institute Working Paper No. 7.
• West, Joel. (1996). "Utopianism and National Competitiveness in Technology Rhetoric: The Case of Japan’s Information Infrastructure," The Information Society, 12, 3 (July 1996).
• West, Joel, Jason Dedrick and Kenneth L. Kraemer. (1996). "Back to the Future: Japan’s NII Plans," National and International Initiative in Information Infrastructure conference, Harvard University, Jan. 26. (An updated version is forthcoming in Brian Kahin and Ernest Wilson, eds., National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press)

Popular Press

The best regular source of English-language news on the subject are:

Computing Japan, formerly published a map of the Japanese internet as reprinted from the Japanese-language Internet Magazine. See in particular

• "Special Internet Issue" (Nov. 1995) and also

Nikkei publications, including

• Nikkei Weekly
  • Kaoru Morishita, "Online Debate Looks At Internet Prospects," 36, 1812 (Feb. 16, 1998)
• Nikkei BP’s AsiaBizTech web site
  • NTT Readies Optical Fiber Network for Connection to Homes (July 27, 1998)

Conferences

The conferences held specifically about the Japanese information highway have been:

• "Joho Haiueaa he no Michi" (The Road to the Information Highway), sponsored by International Systems Research and the Science Educational Foundation of Japan, Tokyo, Sept. 14, 1994.
• "The Future of Japan’s National Information Infrastructure," Stanford University, US-Japan Technology Management Center, Oct. 5, 1994
• "CyberJapan: Technology, Policy & Society", Library of Congress, Japan Documentation Center, Washington, D.C., May 31, 1996

Online Reports

Some of the key reports available online are:

• MPT’s "Vision 21 for info-communications," June 17, 1997 (see also the outline and summary)
• "Flow of Information on the Internet: Report of the Study Group for the advancement of the condition for the use of telecommunication," MPT Telecommunications Bureau, December 1996.
• MPT’s often-quoted report "Reforms toward the Intellectually Creative Society of the 21st Century" (May 1994) and MITI’s parallel "Program for Advanced Information Infrastructure" (also May 1994).
• A "Summary of Japan’s Positions at G-7 Information Summit" (Feb. 1995) prepared by the German National Research Center for Information Technology.
• The table of contents for the Japanese journal Joho Kanri, Vol. 37, No.7 (Oct. 1994) (as translated into English by the University of Arizona) which contains articles on the national information infrastructure.

Other Sites

Online Directories

• List of references at Yahoo (see also US references) and an older (more interesting) list that’s been deleted from Stanford University
• List of references at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Key Sites

• GLOCOM: Center for Global Communications, International University of Japan, and its Project for Global Information Issues
• MITI: Ministry of International Trade and Industry
• MPT: Ministry of Posts [and Telecommunications]
• NTT: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone

In addition, please see the list of Japan-related research groups and general directories of Japan-related information.

Related Topic: The Future of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone

A key question in Japan’s digital telecommunications future is the future of NTT. Will it be split into two local service companies (call them "Baby Den-den") and a national long distance company, as proposed by an MPT advisory council in February 1996?

MPT reports available online include:

• "The Policy on the Restructuring of NTT" (Dec. 1996)
• "The Deregulation Action Program" (Apr. 1995)
• Status of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp" (April 1995)

GLOCOM has prepared a number of reports on the issue, including

• Stephen Anderson’s Feb. 1996 speech "From Crisis to Information Society in Japan: NTT Reform" to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
• The March 1996 proposals of the Information Technology & Communications Policy Forum of Japan to increase telecommunications competition.

Also see newspaper and magazine articles such as:

• Aizu Izumi, "Not problems, opportunities," Wired, 2, 12 (Dec. 1994), an interview with the president of NTT by which is also available from GLOCOM.
• Joshua Ogawa, "Posts ministry’s NTT-breakup called selfish," Nikkei Weekly, Feb. 26, 1996.
• Maya Maruko, "NTT Breakup a Minor Issue: Telecom priorities said to be misplaced," Japan Times, Mar. 1996.

This page is among those on Japan-related topics prepared by Joel West of San José State University, College of Business. Please send any comments to <west_j@cob.sjsu.edu>..