Begining of the Conference
　 -Infrastructure

Our prime interet is to look into affect of US info/telecom policies and market trend on Japanese policies and business and to develop distance education market in Japan. Now back to discussion. I have following quick observations.

1. Conversion of Telecommunication and Broadcasting
(1)More business opportunities.
(2)More complexed and sophisticated technologies required and developed.
(3)While ease of use of hardware and software will be pursued, too many and too much sophisticated functions are developed. This will confuse and scare consumers.

2. How development of Info.Infra affect organizations in Japan.
(1)Whether "flat organization" is to be created by inter/intranet is reality at lower and middle management levels, but questinable between lower/middle level employees and senior coroporate management level. We have heard of many complains from senior executives that they received too many e-mai ldirectly from lower level employees and limited access to their e-mail addresses.
(2)The current fashion of making organizations thinner or fat-free, not neccessarily flatter,is attributable to unfavorable economy.

3. Big business vs. Small/Untreprenuel Operation
I have a question here. In the past small/untreprenuel individuals developed or created innovative technologies and business opportunities. Then big business bought them. However,as technology becomes more sophisticated and market gets more competitive, more capital and more sophisticated management become to be required. What is future prospect of untreprenuers?

4.Language
(1)As far as Japanese is used as a communication media, registance is minimal.
(2)Question here is, whether English is require, is it a critical bostruct to further development of info.society or Japanese consider that is given matter and go for it.
(3)Does young generation have a hope?

5.Government
(1)Japanese government is either too slow or duplicating many aspects of info.infra.
(2)Among ministries, the Ministry of Education is most conservative for new development/requirement.

6. Politicians
(1)Most politicians do not understand what is going on.
(2)Political leadership to promote info.infra does not exist.

I just want to relate my thought to previousely given comments to some extent.

Yuki points to the organizational, leadership and cultural aspects of electronic commerce and IT. They are probably more important than the technology alone, or the volume of investment. Industry studies and my own interviews in many countries indicate that the biggest determinants to 'E Success' are precisely Leadership, Institutional adaptation, Vision, and Execution ('L.I.V.E.'). This seems to hold for firms, universities and for nations. Can we capture this process even more in our discussions? Are there L.I.V.E. lessons from Japan and the US?

Before leaving for California I was interviewed by CNN in my Roppongi office about JPNIC and their role in slowing Internet venture business growth in Japan. As usual I am a strong critic of JPNIC and call for the resignation of Mr. Nakayama of JPNIC and the immediate change of rules for registering .jp domain names. I expect the piece to air on CNN worldwide this week or next. I will email this list if they give me a set time/date of the piece.

The Bank of Japan is printing the cash. Sony is restrucuturing. MOF is lowering interest rates to make money "free". GIS can make a difference by lobbying the Japanese government and Internet community for the breakup of JPNIC. We have a duty to encourage Internet venture business growth in Japan. Freedom in capitalism is one key.

I believe that there is NO leader in any Internet segment on the Internet in Japan. The Japanese market is just starting and the coming heated competition for the title of "Number 1" will be great for everyone. This GIS needs to encourage Japanese and foreign businesses to invest and grow their Internet businesses in Japan. It is the right time. The Japanese Internet community needs to lobby the world players and get them involved in competing and contirbuting to the Japanese Interent market and more importantly, selling roducts/services directly to Japanese consumers.

One of the key issues in supporting growth of the Japanese Internet market is Venture Capital and other forms of financing. This GIS can also help educate Japanese companies and entrepreneurs that they can do IPO's on NASDAQ using American Deposit Receipts or other vehicles to raise tens of millions of dollars in the US market. It would be great to encourage a fast-track JASDAQ IPO system for Internet companies in Japan, but I just don't thinks rules/opinions will change quickly enough for Japanese Financial Raising Systems to contribute to the growth of the Japanese Internet.

New Internet companies need tens of millions of dollars, not 20 to 50 million yen. I wonder if Nikkei can act as an Incubator for Japanese Internet companies? Can Nikkei start a "adopt an entrepreneur" program to get seasoned Japanese managment to teach and encourage individual entrepreneurs?

The other issues I feel should be considered are:

1. Nationalize all ISP's and make NTT provide free Internet access as part of the monthly fee we aleady pay for the phone lines. ISDN can reach 94%+ of Japanese homes. If we get every home online quickly Japan can become a dominant future player in the worlds Electronic Commerce society. Remember, trade is war. As with Electricty or Gas, Internet Access is a commodity. Let's all fight for a piece of the Value Added Internet.

I also wonder if Shizuoka-ken could become the first NTT-FREE Prefecture by using the Shizuoka-ken Cable franchise to provide all data and voice traffic switching. The DIET should make all Japanese phone numbers portable so we can switch domesitc service providers but still keep our home phone number. This is already happening in Australia. Maybe laws on Cable TV ownership need to be relaxed to encourage BIG investments for Cable data/voice infrastructure.

2. Credit Card Transactions. This GIS could ask the Japanese DIET to make the maximum percent for merchant fees for Internet transactions to below 3%.

Thank you for allowing me to express my opinions. I hope that this GIS will make an impact.