JAPAN: SUICA PASS AND 1-SEG TECHNOLOGYThis was a year rich in Japanese technological innovations.
Nintendo's Wii Fit introduced the world to the concept of full-body video games and turned millions of front rooms into makeshift gyms; Kyoto University developed stem cells from human skin, potentially by-passing the tortured debates on the ethics of using embryos; and Toyota began mass producing hybrid cars in America for the first time.
Though first introduced several years ago, the astonishing popularity of the Suica commuter pass makes it the clear 2007 runner-up. The credit-card sized pass, which is equipped with RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, is now swiped across ticket barriers by over 20 million Japanese every day and is increasingly used to pay for thousands of other items, from coffee to clothes.
This year, the entire Tokyo transport network agreed to accept a single e-money pass, joining the thousands of other businesses that are saying goodbye to cash.
As a sign of things to come, the number of coins in circulation fell this year for the first time since 1971.
But for sheer science-fiction colour, it is hard to beat 1-seg digital TV.
We've all seen that staple of cheap sci-fi drama, the television wrist watch with its crystal-clear screen. Japan brought this one step closer to reality when telecom giant KDDI recently began selling 1-seg-quipped mobile phones. The technology, which takes advantage of government rules allowing mobile phone providers to use one segment of the terrestrial digital TV bandwidth, streams sounds and visuals at over 400 kilobits per second into a handset receiver. Technically, that means seven Japanese TV channels are available for the viewing pleasure of anybody with the right phone.
Early buyers have reported problems including poor or non-existent reception, especially on trains which is where most people here are likely to watch them. Battery power only lasts for three hours and the phones are heavier than normal.
These problems have not stopped Japanese manufacturers from selling 15 million 1-seg handsets, most of them this year.
So far, 1-seg technology has been slow to take off in car TV sets, but that's where it will probably go next. "Millions of car owners here spend hours trapped in traffic jams with only a snowy TV screen for company. But most car-TVs are coupled with navigation systems which are much expensive to replace than handsets, so consumer pickup is slower," says Sharp spokesman Yoshihisa Ogura. "We expect people to start replacing these systems soon," he said.
Sony has recently given 1-seg a giant thumbs up by incorporating the technology into its Video Walkman, a sleek 74 gram machine with a 100-hour recording function. Currently, it is only available in Japan. Analysts are already predicting that TV content will have to change to accommodate the popularity of 1-seg phones.
Forecasts include shorter, easier to digest programmes, as well as more advertising and sport.
"I'm very impressed with 1-seg TV," says Dermot Killoran, a Tokyo-based Irish businessman and executive producer of Calderwood Productions. "In terms of quality is it very watchable. The kids are sitting at the table and watching Japan play football on their mobile phones. People . . . keep it set to another channel while they're watching TV at home.
"When there is anything big going down, you'll see everyone looking at their cell-phone TVs. It needs a big news event to push it over the edge and once you can use it on trains, it will take off," he says.
