miki eto’s memo

Some foreigners believe that Japan is a manufacturing country that is in decline; I wholeheartedly disagree. Instead, I believe Japan is evolving from a manufacturing country to a nation of pop culture. To fully understand this distinction, I would suggest that a foreigner moving to Japan go to three specific locations in Japan.

The first location is Tora-no-ana, the strongest anime retailer in Akihabara, a world-renowned electric town in Tokyo. Since it was founded in 1994, Tora-no-ana has developed its revenue from $3.5 million to $81.4 million. Visitors could see both famous anime, such as Spirited Away, an Oscar winning film by Hayao Miyazaki, and several shorter works by lesser-known creators.

I would then suggest that the visitor go to the intersection before Shibuya Street in Tokyo, where he could watch the young people. In this area, he would see the most popular Asian fashion, and I might even suggest that he go down the street to Shibuya 109 department store to find some fashionable clothes that strike his fancy.

Finally, I would suggest that the foreigner visit Fukuoka and observe the street musicians at Ekimae-hiroba. Fukuoka has produced many famous Japanese singers, and many young musicians from across Japan congregate in Ekimae-hiroba. All of the various modern music of Japan is represented here.

Therefore, if a foreigner were moving to Japan, I would advise that he visit these places in order to realize that contemporary Japan is not merely a mixture of traditional culture and manufacturing, but instead has transformed itself into a modern pop culture.

A new Internet communication concept known as Blog can allow the Internet to develop soundly. The Internet cuts both ways. It can allow us to communicate with others in new ways, and it can also allow some people to hide behind their anonymity to take irresponsible and malicious actions. Matchmaking sites are good example for this undesirable situation. As they are in the United States, matchmaking sites are very popular in Japan. I have managed one of the most popular matchmaking sites in Japan and have had to spend a lot of costs on maintaining the site safe for the subscribers. Unfortunately, despite our considerable efforts, these web sites gave rise to a lot of legal problems, such as slanders and leaking of privacy information. As a result, most people have come to believe that such matchmaking sites might be dangerous for them. Matchmaking itself is not bad, but some people who do irresponsible actions in matchmaking sites, misusing the anonymity of the Internet, is bad. Because of the high anonymity of the Internet, the Internet would hurt the development of itself. This is a very unfortunate situation which I would like to help change.

The Blog (or ‘weblog’) concept would mitigate the drawback that results from anonymity on the Internet, thus allowing each person to communicate with others responsibly and honestly. Basically, the Internet is not safe now because most people do not have their own home on the Internet, so it is difficult to make people responsible for themselves. Using the Blog concept, most people would have their own home. Each blog owner, or blogger, communicates with others by recording their experiences on their own blog, or ‘online journal.’ In this way, the blogger creates a home and personality for himself. 　This makes it more difficult to carry out irresponsible actions. 　Moreover, since readers would better understand each blogger, there would be fewer slanders and misunderstandings. All in all, blogging would make online communications in Japan safer and more pleasant for everyone.