Ms. Howe was the opening speaker in Japan's New Entrepreneurs, a Corporate Lecture series examining how the Internet and changing attitudes toward lifetime employment are fostering a new spirit of entrepreneurship in Japan. The Internet economy is growing swiftly in Japan, Ms. Howe said. Traditional business and social culture works against Japan's Internet entrepreneurs, offering less access to capital and limited stock option incentives, even under normal economic conditions. But those seeking to maximize e-market share in Japan or capitalize on Internet innovations must observe critical differences between Japan and U.S. Internet user demographics.
Numerous factors make the Japanese Internet user different.
In Japan, work is still where the connection is. While approximately 60 percent of Japanese Internet users report that they are logging on from home, Japanese spend most of their time online at work. Technological trends are also a factor. A very small percentage of Japanese Internet users currently access the Internet using voiceless communication devices such as cellular phones, personal handy phones or personal digital assistants. As many as 20 percent, however, would like to use their mobile devices to access the Internet.