We will be posting news and research activities here.
U.S.-Japan Council Annual Conference November 9-10, 2015, Tokyo Japan
Earlier in 2015, I was invited to join a distinguished organization called the U.S.-Japan Council. This non-profit organization was founded in 2009 to contribute to strengthening the U.S.-Japan relations by bringing together diverse leadership and engaging stakeholders in the communities, businesses and government entities in Japan and in the U.S. The Council Members are Japanese Americans who aspire to contribute to the mission of the organization and represent major corporations, academia, research institutes, government entities and thought leaders.
The 2015 annual conference was held in Tokyo on November 9-10 for the first time since inception. I had the opportunity to participate in the conference that featured keynote presentations and panel discussion with leaders from academia, government and major corporations. Japanese Prime Minister Abe was the featured keynote speaker on the first day.
If you wish to learn more about the annual conference, please read the summary that I compiled based on my personal notes. However, please note that this is strictly a subjective summary based on my notes and the document is not meant for any public distribution, reproduction or any other means of general consumption.
Denver Mayo Michael Hancock lead a delegation of city, business and community leaders on a trade mission to Japan to promote economic and cultural relations between Denver and Japan. The mayor also attended the Annual Conference of the U.S.-JAPAN Council as a panelist in the session focused on successful models for political leadership.
I had an opportunity to attend a luncheon with the mayor in Tokyo during my trip for the U.S.-JAPAN Council conference.
CEATEC 2015 October 7-10, 2015 Makuhari Messe, Japan
We have been attending and covering the CEATEC (Cutting-Edge & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition) trade fair in Japan since 2009. Under the theme of “NEXT – Today’s Dreams, Future Realities,” 2015 CEATEC” was held in Chiba, Japan. According to the organizer, there were 531 exhibitors, including 151 companies from 19 foreign countries, with visitors surpassing 130,000 over the four days.
This year’s focus was on CPS/IoT (Cyber-physical Systems/Internet of Things) focusing on the technologies and proof of concept to showcase the integration of computing devices, smart objects, human and the environment. Under this umbrella theme, exhibitors and participants included a wide scope of industries from electronic parts, devices, home entertainment, personal productivity tools, robots, service, broadcasting and automobile companies.
We believe that this trade show has successfully positioned itself to the the premier showcase of technology integration spanning multiple industries for improving our quality of life experience and it is a unique event to understand the positioning of Japanese companies in various industries. Please contact us for further information and any particular research topic that you may be interested for us to cover during the visit in 2016.
CEATEC 2014 October 7-11, 2014 Makuhari Messe, Japan
CEATEC (Cutting-Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition) 2014 was held at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan on October 7-11,2014.
This event is co-sponsored by CEATEC Japan, CIAJ(Communications and Information Network Association), JEITA(Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) and CSAJ (Computer Software Association of Japan.) The event showcases leading edge technologies, products and services with both Japanese and overseas exhibitors and speakers. It is said to be the largest event of this kind in the entire Asian region.
This year's venue attracted over 150,000 attendees and showcased 547 exhibitors in three main theme zones, Life & Society, Key Technologies and NEXT Innovation Plaza areas.
Please contact us if you have any specific question about this event or any particular vendor.
CEATEC 2014
Toshiba's Interactive Android Receptionist
NTT Docomo's Smart life Booth featuring Wearbles and Portable SIM
CEATEC 2014 Awards
Minister of Internal Affairs Award: Sharp FUll Spec 8K LCD
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award: NEC Realtime Demand Response Technology
Lifestyle Innovation Awards: Epson, Garapon and NTT Docomo
Social Innovation Awards: Tagcast, Stanley, Rohm
Technologies Innovation Awards: Panasonic, Murata Manufacturing, Nippon Electric Glass
Green Innovation Awards: Sharp, Pioneer, Omron
Interop Tokyo June 2014
INTEROP TOKYO 2014 June 11-13, 2014
Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
We attended the INTEROP Tokyo 2014 held in Japan, June 11-13. We have covered this event since 2011 in order to keep abreast of the IT (Information Technology) and related industry trends in Japan.
Over the three days, this event attracted a total of over 132,000 people according to the organizer.
This year's themes were;
Cloud Computing, Work Style Innovation, Smart Devices, Wireless Broadban, Security, IoT/M2M, Virtualization, Next Generation Data Center, Green ICT and Software Defined Network/Network Function Virtualzation.
Interop consists of three components: Exhibits, Conference/Keynote Speeches and ShowNet.
Please contact us if you have any specific questions about this event or any of the themes mentioned above.
Why Colorado ?
December 2013 Why Colorado?
We recently participated in the creation of a short webinar by Japan America Society of Colorado to introduce the state of Colorado to Japanese companies that may be intereseted in expanding presence in the US. Please click on the image to the left to view the webinar.
We attended the CEATEC Tokyo 2013 held in Japan, October 1-4. We have covered this event since 2011 in order to keep abreast of the High-tech industry trends in Japan.
Please contact us should you wish to learn any particulars of the CEATEC 2013 visit coverage.
INTEROP TOKYO 2013 June 12-14, 2013
Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
We attended the INTEROP Tokyo 2013 held in Japan, June 12-14. We have covered this event since 2011 in order to keep abreast of the IT (Information Technology) and related industry trends in Japan.
Over the three days, this event attracted a total of over 131,000 people according to the organizer. In addition to the exhibit floor with over 300 companies, there were series of lectures and presentations by domestic and overseas vendors. The Exhibition was devided into four separate areas, IMC(Interop Media Convergence), DSJ(Digital Signage Convergence), SDJ (Smart Device Japan) adn LBJ (Location Business Japan).
This years's event featured 9 tacks: Cloud Coumpting, Communication Collaboration, BYOD, Security, M2M, Virtualization, Future Data Center, Green ICT and SDN (Software Defiend Network.)
One new feature that was seen in the Digital Signage area was "interactive interface." While the hardware for the signage itself continues to aim higher resolution, voice recognition/response and sensor based hand/body gesture capture interfaces were demonstrated by several vendors. Given the wide acceptance of digital signage throughout Japan, such intuitive interactive interface may help to accelerate even wider usage for new applications.
Please contact us should you wish to learn any particulars of the INTEROP 2013 visit coverage.
Interop June 2013
Interop Keynote Presentation
Displayed content control with hand gesture
Digital Signage Exhibits
Trying on dresses with hand gesture
City of Ueda Chamber of Commerce Delegation
Visit to City & County of Broomfield, Colorado
November 12-16, 2012
The city of Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, Japan has a decade long sister-city relationship with the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado. As a extension to this relationship, the Ueda Chamber of Commerce recently sent a delegation of local business owners, city government and a research institution representative to Broomfield in order to investigate business opportunities and business relationships with local high-tech firms that would be mutually beneficial. We had an opportunity to support this visit from the planning stage to accompanying them on all local visits in Colorado.
Multiple factors such as current economic stagnation, appreciating currency and flat domestic demand are forcing the traditional small to mid-sized domestic Japanese technology companies to look directly at expanding international business endeavors. To this end, the delegation from Ueda visited a number of representative local businesses, small and large, as well as local research institution. We hope that this visit would open further business discussions between the involved parties.
Ueda Delegation with the Mayor, City Manager, Council members of Broomfield, and the Consul General of Japan
INTEROP TOKYO 2012 June 13-15, 2012
Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
We attended the INTEROP Tokyo 2012 held in Japan, June 13-15. We have covered this event since 2011 in order to keep abreast of the IT (Information Technology) and related industry trends in Japan.
Over the three days, numerous key note addresses were delivered by both domestic and overseas industry leaders. Topics that stood out were: latest trends in cloud computing, latest trends in Security requirement and solutions, ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Integration and SDN (Software Defined Network)/OpenFlow initiative.
Of particular interest was the Session on OpenFlow, delivered by the Representative of the Open Networking Foundation, founded in March of 2011. This organization has membership companies from around the world, working together to develop a common managment framework in order to deliver seamless, versatile and integrated management of network infrastructure comprised of heterogenous vendors' equipment.
The intent of this initiative is to allow for equipment and vendor interoperability, versatile and streamlined management approach and nework flexibility to satisfy the continously evolving demands for network availability, throughput, flexibility, intelligence, security and ease of management. There was a large exhibit area inside the Exhibition Hall, showcasing numerous POC (Proof of Concept) demos for this initiative.
Please contact us should you wish to learn any particulars of the INTEROP 2012 visit coverage.
OpenFlow Showcase Exhibit Area
OpenFlow Showcase Exhibit - Platinum Sponsors showcasing POC demos using the OpenFlow management framework
SMART GRID Exhibition 2011 June 15 - 17, 2011 Tokyo Big Sight, Japan
SMART GRID 2011 was held in Tokyo, June 15-17, 2001, sponsored by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), Japan Smart Grid Alliance, Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, with support from the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Here is a short summary of the event coverage.
Tokyo Big Sight
Presentation by the Embassy of Spain on Malaga Project
This event featured several tracks over the course of three days. The Smart Community Track was focused around building energy smart communities and EV (Electric Vehicle) integration. The track featured a Key note speech by the Embassy of Spain on their initiative at the city of Malaga. The Smart Grid and ICT Track was focused on the role and integration of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) for the SG deployment. The track was kicked off by the Ministry of Economics outlining the support from the ministry for the deployment of SG in Japan, followed by vendors’ presentations on their approaches. The underlying theme was the lessons learned from the March earthquake disaster.
The last track was the Smart Grid Summit, with focus on introducing the state of SG initiatives around the world and a series of industry leaders’ discussions around why and how Japan should and can embrace the technology in building the next generation of productive, yet energy efficient society.
According to the organizer, the seminars had a total of over 5,300 attendees across the three days.
Smart Grid Summit Track
The Expo area featured over 130 vendors, research organizations and government agencies, attracting over 44,000 visitors. According to the organizer’s post-event report, the interest level of the attendees based on their questionnaire is as follows, in this order.1. Smart Meter2. PV (Photovoltaic) and related equipment3. EV (Electric Vehicle) and EV related equipment4. Wind power generation
5. Battery and related equipment
Following the March 2001 earthquake and the nuclear plant disaster, the need for a higher power efficiency and stable supply is the hottest topic in Japan. As apparent by the high interest level of Smart Meters, the market is quickly embracing the urgent need for smarter electrical infrastructure, with smart meter as the first step.
Toshiba showcased EMS (Energy Management System)
Mitsubishi Electric booth
Toyota showcased EV & SG integration
While we do not plan to publish a general report of our coverage of this event, we have more information and observations around Smart Grid market trends in Japan.We would be glad to share the information on an individual consulting basis, so please feel free to contact us.We also have a copy of the event report (in Japanese) published by Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun. info@cc-biz.com Y. Usui
INTEROP TOKYO, June 8 - 10, 2011 Makuhari Messe, Chiba Japan
INTEROP TOKYO 2011 was held at Makuhari Messe, Japan, on June 8 through 10, 2011. INTEROP is one of the the leading business technology events held around the world with comprehensive IT conferences and vendor exhibits.The major themes of this year’s Tokyo event were: Cloud Computing, IPv6, Data Center, Networking, Green ICT, Smart Grid (SG) and Business Contingency Planning (BCP.)
The Keynote speech by Akamai Technologies Inc. on IPv4 address exhaustion and IPv6 conversion was very well attended. As we see increasingly more devices being interconnected, the current 32-bit IPv4 addresses are expected to be exhausted before the end of 2012. The new 128-bit IPv6 is being introduced to meet the ever-increasing device interconnection, but the need to coexist with IPv4 is not a small task, requiring gateways such as a CBN (Carrier grade Network Address Translation) node to interconnect the v4 and v6 networks. The transition is expected to take at least 10 years to complete.
IPv6 Are you ready?
On the Green ICT front, University of Tokyo School of Engineering presented its results of over 25% power reduction with better energy management system (EMS with visualization and controls) and computer resources virtualization, without having to sacrifice staff comfort levels by reducing air conditioning.
An example of an EMS solution was showcased at the UBITEQ booth on the left.
UBITEQ's EMS Solution
The theme of the NTT Communication booth was focused around the experiences gained from the March earthquake and tsunami disaster. In the aftermath, they focused on recovering the networking infrastructure, restoring business enterprise services, data center services, deploying communication services to the general population in the disaster area and providing numerous hot-spots in the area.
NTT Communication showcased the BCP services and cloud computing approaches, focusing on how the solutions can be used to minimize the impact of disasters.
NTT Communications booth
Other large Japanese ICT vendors, Fujitsu, NEC and Hitachi were also at the Expo, showcasing their services in the cloud services, BCP and other vendor unique areas.
The EXPO traffic was very high and the interest level in the BCP and energy saving seemed especially high, in the aftermath of the March disaster.
A special Keynote speech was delivered by the former chairman of the Global Smart Grid Alliance. According to the presentation, the power grid network will undergo more changes in the next 20 years than the combined changes of the last 100 years. The Smart Grid (SG) will be the foundation of future value chain with distributed and multi-directional power and communication flow, contrasted against the conventional one-way model.Therefore, the SG deployment will drive an explosive growth of data (predicted at 45% CAGR during 2010-1025) in the energy related IT infrastructure and a huge investments must be made in this segment. Various SG initiatives around the world were also introduced.
PV Panel outside of Makuhari Messe Convention Center
At the entrance of Makuhari Messe convention and Expo center, a large Solar PV panels are installed to offset the power requirement of the buildings. An indicator (red lights) shows the current power generation level. According to the organizer, this event had a total attendance of over 128,000 people. While we do not plan to publish a general report of this event coverage, we have much more notes and intelligence gathered at this event around Japan IT market status and directions. We will be happy to share the information on individual consulting basis. Please contact us if you are interested in discussing further or contemplate on leveraging this venue next year for your marketing activities in Japan.
info@cc-biz.com
Y. Usui
Japan in the Aftermath, April 21, 2011
We created a short summary of the recent earthquake disaster that hit the northestearn part of Japan on March 11, 2011.
This summary contains some facts about the earthquake and a short analysis of the impact to both Japan and global economy. Please contact us if you any questions regarding this writeup.
According to the show organizer, Reed Japan, the 2010 exhibition reached a record number of visitor at 122,371 total visitors during the three days. During this exhibit, industy key-note sessions and multiple technical track sessions were held by various sponsoring vendors with over 19,000 attendees in participation.
DSE and GRIX 2010
Although the Data Storage EXPO is in its 12th year at the event, the number of vendors this year has declined to just over 35 supplier booths. Many of the major exhibitors of the past DSE have moved over to the first CLOUD COMPUTING EXPO (see below).
Some of the major storage vendors at the EXPO were Hitachi, Isilon, Dell and Quantum. Large storage distributors/integrators like Marubeni and Tokyo Electron Device were also present. The exhibitors displayed equipment and showcased storage centric solutions, focused around availability, security, back-up and archival.
While the importance of robust storage infrastructure continues to be a key enabler for cost-efficient and innovative IT solutions, the industry focus is shifting to creating storage solutions in the cloud and security centric applications as observed in the movement of some of the past DSE exhibitors onto the IST and CLOUD EXPO floors.
IST 2010
The Information Security EXPO is now in its 7th year at the event and the number of vendors is growing very rapidly. There were over 120 exhibitors booths divided into nine zones: UTM(Universal Threat Managmenent), Mail Security, Forensics, Data Eradication and Recovery, Quarantine, Remote Mobile Access, Thin-Client, Document Security and Authentication/Encryption. The amount of visitor traffic in this EXPO indicated a very high awareness and the urgent need for effective information security solutions in the Japan market.
CLOUD JAPAN 2010
With rapidly growing interest and available solutions in the Cloud computing space, this year's exhibition featured the 1st CLOUD JAPAN EXPO. Many major vendors that traditionally had exhibits on the other EXPO floors have moved into the CLOUD EXPO area to showcase their solutions in this space.
A very high visitor traffic and the enthusiam throughout the duration of the exhibit also indicated a high level of market awareness and the market is rapidly moving to embrace solutions in this space. The second CLOUD JAPAN is being planned to take place this year in November at Makuhari Messe, Japan. This event should provide an ideal launching pad for vendors to showcase thier solutions in the CLOUD space.
Please contact us at info@cc-biz.com should you require further information about the exhibition as well as our observations of the event.
NEC Booth CLOUD JAPAN 2010
Hitachi Booth CLOUD JAPAN 2010
Salesforce.com CLOUD JAPAN 2010
CEATEC Japan 2009, October 6 – 10, 2009 at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
I attended the CEATEC (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) 2009 which was held in Makuhari, Japan, October 6 to 10th. Claiming to be the world’s most comprehensive exhibit of cutting-edge information (IT) and electronics technologies, CEATEC celebrated its 10th anniversary this year under the theme “Digital convergence – Defining the Shape of Our Future.” According to the organizer, the event attracted a total of 150,000 participants over the 5 days. The exhibit featured a wide range of categories from electronic components and devices to home digital appliances, mobile appliances, as well as a wide variety of services, IT and digital content.Over 600 exhibitors, both domestic and foreign, showcased their products and services in line with the primary theme, the digital convergence of communication, information and human interface technologies.
The exhibit also carried a supporting secondary theme created by the Organizing Committee “Challenge! Aiming to better people’s lives and create a low carbon society.” As such, there was a special focus on Green IT, energy conservation, solar energy use and energy management technologies throughout the exhibit floor.The Green IT Pavilion, a joint exhibit by the leading technology companies, showcased new technologies and R&D efforts in Japan focusing on environmental issues.
The Green IT Pavilion
CEATEC Exhibit Floor (National Institute of Information and Communication Technology Booth)
Sharp Electric Vehicle with PV
Key Note by Mr. Ohtsubo, President of Panasonic Corp.
The CEATEC event also featured a number of key note speeches by industry leaders and technology sessions around key recent technology topics. The first day key note speech was delivered by Mr. Fumio Ohtsubo, the President of Panasonic Corporation. Mr. Ohtsubo’s speech revolved around the need for resource conservation to minimize environmental impact and how the recent advances in technology can support this objective. He noted that the Green Revolution will likely drive the 21st century economy, as compared to the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution of the past centuries.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss further details of our observations and findings from this event.
10th Data Storage Expo Japan Research Notes Available (6/20/2008)
We have just completed the research notes for the recent multi-client research project covering the 10th Data Storage Expo held in Tokyo, Japan on May 14 - 16. The research notes covers distributors, SI and other companies who were represented at the event and details their business focus, products they carry and other pertinent information about the companies. It will be a great guide if you are investigating Japan entry strategy options. Download the table of contents of this research notes.
Even if you did not have a chance to sign up as a sponsor of this project, we can make this research notes available at the same sponsorship price of $650, including an hour of personalized briefing about the storage market in Japan. Please download the PDF file below that details the terms of sponsorship for this project.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper Visits Japan, May 2008
The Mayor of Denver in Japan
Mr. John Hickenlooper, the Mayor of Denver, hosted a reception at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on May 23, 2008 during his visit to Japan .
The Mayor visited Japan to further the goodwill between Denver's sister city of Takayama as well as visiting local airline company to request direct air services between Denver and Japan.
I had the honor of joining the Mayor's reception and meeting many guests from both the US and Japan..
Cross Cultural Business fully supports Denver and Colorado's efforts in promoting business and cultural ties with Japan, and we hope to volunteer our services for this very important initiative.
Research Coverage of Japan Data Storage Expo May 14-16, 2008 in Tokyo Japan
We will be conducting a multi-client sponsored coverage of this largest data storage expo in Japan.
We will conduct a customized research of the players, both vendors and channels, in the data storage market in Japan and deliver our research findings to you. Please let us know (info@cc-biz.com) if you wish to participate in this research, along with the particular area of interest that you wish us to focus. Research note will be available in early June, 2008. Please download the Prospectus and contact us for details of this research project. info@cc-biz.com
