IP: Tokyo Journal 2002 Part 1 of 3

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

As is my custom, I am documenting our trip to Tokyo. The main purpose of the
trip was to attend the NTT DoCoMo USA Advisory Board meeting on the 6 June.
GG and I left the USA on the 31 st after a wonderful dinner with Douglas
Krone of dynamism.com -- they import the latest in Japanese ultra small PC
laptops. After a long non stop to Narita, we arrived to be met by Toshi --
the representative of the Travel Service that handles much of DoCoMo's
travel.  DoCoMo supplied us with two FOMA 3G phones with video capability.
They also supplied one of the most current iMode phones in case we wandered
into an area that did not have 3G service -- very few dead spots in greater
Tokyo and Kyoto (and the train between).

After a fast limo drive into Tokyo we arrived at the Four Seasons -- the
"best" in Tokyo but rather outside the main part of Tokyo so there were a
lot of cab rides but the room size, service and view were worth it.

After a good rest I went to the Akihabara escorted by Tadashi Yanagi
(Willow) and Masato Saito -- two graduate students in Hidi Tokuda's Lab at
the Keio SFC campus. It is wise to be accompanied by  Japanese speaking
people on a visit. You get lots more information and better prices and
besides they know the best coffee shop in the Akihabara -- a cyber café
devoted to Linux and it is fun to talk with young Japanese grad students.

There was only a few new interesting things I saw. There were a number of
very small WiFi access points at cheap prices and some 802.11a devices at
non cheap prices. There was a neat Sony TV set that was coupled to its
charging station and tuner by a 802.11 link. Real neat -- I want one. There
were a flock of small digital cameras and the usual pile of little gadgets.
I did not buy much.

That evening we met Hidi and his wife Chikako for dinner (GG and Chikako
spend the day being tourist while I did the Akihabara). We had a fine
vegetarian Japanese dinner.

Sunday we had lunch with Hiro Hashizume  at a great Soba restaurant in the
Roppongi area and then wandered a bit around Tokyo. That evening we went
with Mario Tokoro of Sony Corp and his wife at another great small
restaurant in the Roppongi area. Mario is one of the best technologists I
have met in Japan and was/is professor at Keio and founder of the Sony
Computer Science Labs in Japan.

On Monday I went down to Keio SFC campus to give a  talk to a seminar  that
Hidi and Jun  Muri give on technology and policy. It was a fun class and
once you break the ice with Japanese students there is good interaction. The
Lab Hidi and Jun have focuses of wireless appliances (and IP v6). Lots of
fun stuff going on.

That evening after returning to Tokyo by car, I had dinner with Joichi Ito
at a neat Japanese place somewhere downtown Tokyo. Ito is one of the "young"
turks trying to change Japan . He runs a venture operation and other
activities and may yet get the changes he hopes for.

Part 2 to follow shortly

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