Not only Japanese vendors but also the Western IT giants IBM, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and even Apple are doing well in Japanese business markets. Laptops are especially popular. Software for handling the notoriously complex kanji character set is now widely available. The head of a large consulting firm's Asian practice told me that his clients realize they are well behind the West in technology per capita and are determined to close the gap-just in case U.S. managers are right. Japanese consumer IT markets in some ways surpass the West.
Cell phones are everywhere and cost less to use than in the States.
And Tokyo's Akihabara district puts our Circuit City to shame, with every electronic consumer product you can imagine highlighted by strobe lights and loud music. On the consumer side, some new technologies like ISDN just aren't being used. Hardly anyone works at home or uses a laptop in a phone booth. At work, the new technology push also hasn't changed things much. Desktop PCs are often not on desks but in separate computer rooms.