Uneasy Steps: Japan and the Development of the Digital Society

Abstract

Fifty years ago, only the most visionary dreamer would have conceived of Japan as being at the cutting edge of the digital revolution. In the early 1980s, it would have been a relatively safe bet to guess that Japan would be a world leader in the evolution of computer-based technologies and consumer electronics. Both assumptions, ironically, would prove to be wrong. Through the 1960s, Japan emerged as a major innovator in retail and industrial technologies and played a critical global role in introducing the world to the opportunities posed by transistors. Having established itself as the leading producer of consumer electronics and as major player in the emerging field of personal computers, the country nonetheless reacted very slowly to the potential of the Internet and delayed the nation-wide implementation of this crucial technology. Continuing the unusual pattern of leading and then falling behind on technological innovation, Japan again reverted to its position in front of other nations in terms of the mobile Internet, becoming the first nation to establish cell phone-based Internet services as the key element in national innovation and transformation. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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