IP: Policy proposal: Japan's information infrastructure

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1998 22:31:30 +0900
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: ajp () glocom ac jp (Adam Peake)


Dave, for the past 2 or so years a group of experts from the Japanese
corporate, public and academic sectors have been meeting to review the
country's information infrastructure policy.  You were one of the
International experts who spoke before the group (Sept. 1997.)


The group, the Information Technology and Communications Policy Forum
of Japan, recently released its policy recommendations, "Japan and
International Society in the Age of Information Revolution", an
English translation is online at
<http://www.glocom.ac.jp/proj/jitcpf/teigen-e.html>


That Japan faces serious problems is well captured by the following
paragraphs from the report's introduction and review of key findings:


   In the area of data transmission use, expectations are highest for
   the development of electronic commerce, and even Europe within
   the next three years is forecast to see annual sales of US$64.4
   billion, 50 times the current level. The US Department of Commerce,
   in a report entitled "The Emerging Digital Economy" released in
   April 1998, essentially declared victory on behalf of the US, which
   has played a leading role in the information revolution of recent
   years.


   By contrast, Japan, which is said to have systematically pushed
   liberalization and openness even further than the US, seems clearly
   to have hit a ceiling in its use of information technology. The
   brakes have been slammed down hard on growth in the use of personal
   computers and the Internet. If the US can be said to be in an
   "upward spiral" in terms of progress in this area, then Japan can
   certainly be said to be in a "downward spiral". Taking, for example,
   investments in information technology, the serious economic
   recession has forced Japan to suspend new investment in information
   technology. Even if policies were adopted that would spur domestic
   demand and lead Japan out of this recession, the delay in the
   introduction of information technology means that the existing
   commercial environment and facilities lack international
   competitiveness and these moves would still fail to produce a steady
   recovery and an expansion of production. Laying a wider network of
   communications trunk lines would not likely improve demand locally,
   discouraging companies from boldly setting out on this course. Even
   the introduction of a high-speed Internet access network to spur
   local demand, given the inadequate area presently covered by trunk
   lines, would not allow full advantage to be taken of such a network.


The challenge now is to effectively use the Obuchi government's new economic
stimulus packages to reverse this downward spiral, and the report
recommends focusing on promoting community area network activity, e.g.
finding solutions to local access problems, rather than backbone
investment that was the feature of previous IT infrastructure proposals.


Adam


Adam Peake
GLOCOM  Tokyo