Web 2.0 expo opened with a conversation between Tim O'Reilly and Joichi Ito. While Tim needed no introduction, Joichi is a highly regarded IT evangelist that preaches entrerpenuership to Japan. The stark contrast of culture between the East and West was evident and now Web 2.0 offers the new platform to bring about collaboration in a new way. In US, stalwarts of Web 2.0 such as Facebook and Second Life builds virtual community on the web to help connect people together. In Japan, companies like Mixi (www.mixi.jp) builds practical communities using mobile devices that help people to find workers and vice versa using GPS to locate opportunities. I believe its service rating feature will help create "power workers", the same way that eBay created "power sellers". Reputation do matters!
But seriously, I can't really tell because mixi is only available in Japanese. Here lies the difference; English has permeated the world and hence whatever that is created in English has the potential of reaching the world. The Japanese has adopted an unspoken attitude that Japan is the only market that matters. Even even in this expo which appeals to an international audience, only the Japanese are served; the entire afternoon sessions by the local presenters for the first day was conducted in Japanese only. Much to the chagrin of other attendees who do not understand Japanese.
Not knowing what to expect, since this is the first time the Web 2.0 conference is held in Asia, the tracks covered by Tim and gang was merely introduction materials. I have expected much more :( The exhibition was a non-event for me as well. All materials were available in Japanese and I practically embarassed the exhibitor (and myself) whenever I asked a question in English. As they fumble for a respond in English, I can almost sense an inaudible response that sounded like "When in Japan, speak Japanese... arigato". Note to myself, learn Japanese ;)
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3 comments:
Happens to me as well... They fumbled as I was aking questions in English...
I can't say enough on how if the Westerners want to really reach Asia, they'd better come to Malaysia instead (or next), the Truly Asia destination... ;) [TAKE NOTE, Tim!] After all, Malaysians in this tiny country of no more than 28-million people are 20% of Friendsterians! (at least 1 in 8 Malaysia inhabitants are on Friendster, showing how we'd like to "share" as much as possible) -- the true vibes of Open and Sharing...
And we surely do speak English a lot, in addition to Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, Tamil, Urdu, Malay, Indonesian, Jawa, Arab etc.
Imagine coming to one place and being able to reach people of distinctly varied races from several countries at once: Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philipines (now, that's over 80% of Friendsterians already!!). And Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Americans, Australians, Africans, Middle Easterners will come too, definitely... (hmm, that's about the whole world, right?)
Still waiting for Web 2.0 ala Asia... (Sorry, but Japan is no Asia -- Japan can stand on its own with its market of 120+ million inhabitants).
Just try to post first comment.
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