Ito's columnwill appear in the first Cyberworld page each month. Unlike other countries, Japan has an education system thatsuppresses the creativity needed to dominate information industries. Politicians, business and financial institutions have been criticized forthe delay. Whoever is to blame, Japanese may not be able to thrive inbusinesses that rely on new information infrastructure. In this light,cryptographic technology may be the key to Japan's business survival.
Cryptography is the study of ciphers.
Ciphers are systems that usecodes to scramble messages, preventing anyone without a proper decodingdevice from making sense of the message. Cryptography is a very old science. Caesar's emissaries usedciphers when carrying messages to generals on the battlefield. Cipherscontinued to develop, becoming ever more complex and playing anincreasingly important role in warfare. Edwin Reischauer and his team ofcryptographers broke Japanese codes prior to World War II-a move thatproved critical in formulating the United States' Pacific War strategies.