[Air-L] Benkler, Bandwidth, and the State of the Internet in Japan

[SUGIMOTO Taku]

Andy,

Japanese Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and  
Telecommunications publishes White Paper "Information and  
Communications in Japan" every year.  The most recent one is of 2007.   
You can download the English version at
http://www.johotsusintokei.soumu.go.jp/whitepaper/eng/WP2007/2007-index.html

You may especially be interested in Chapter 1-3 "ICT and Life and  
Society" where you can find some detailed stats on Internet use in  
Japan.

One thing you perhaps need to keep in mind in considering this issue  
is the widespread use among Japanese people of cellular phones with  
Internet capabilities.  It might be possible that cellular phones have  
much bigger impacts than broadband infrastructure.

Good luck,

Taku

> Hey all!
>
> I've been doing some writing about the Political Economy of Web 2.0  
> and
> happened across this recent piece by one of the giants of Network  
> political
> economy, Yochai Benkler:
>
> http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/04/recovery_prescription_build_br/
>
> In it, he calls for a massive public program to build communications
> infrastructure in the United States. He makes a reference near the  
> beginning
> of the piece to Japan, where 100 Mbit connections to the home have
> apparently been common place for awhile now.
>
> Here's my question. The basic premise of Benkler's thought is that
> widespread cheap computational power and bandwidth should lead to a
> decentralized network full of horizontally collaborating  
> smallholders. Is
> this what has happened in Japan? Does anyone know of any work on the  
> current
> state of the Internet there that might address this question? Is  
> Japan a
> FOSS paradise? Or have the forces Nicholas Carr describes in his "Big
> Switch" lead to greater centralization?
>
> The Japanese case seems like it ought to provide some great evidence  
> on this
> one way or another, but I never see any referenced. Can anyone get me
> started? Thanks.
>
> - Andy
>
> -- 
> -
> Andrew Famiglietti
> PhD Candidate
> Bowling Green State University
> Bowling Green Ohio
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