Many people have heard that new technology products are developed in Japan and sold there first before being exported.  Japan is a country that, because of its size and geographics, has limited resources and so it must rely heavily on importing and exporting for its economy.

To be competitive in the world marketplace, Japan has specialized in manufacturing and automation techniques, and many people have come to appreciate the added value one gets from the quality of Japanese products. On a recent trip to Japan, I wanted to get a look at the electronics and home theater market and do some reconnaissance along the way.

My first stop was Akihabara, which is a district in Tokyo that is lined with huge multi-story electronics shops that were open late into the night.  Building after building lit up the street with neon lights, and there were countless choices to shop for anything from cell phones to plasma displays.  One shop was selling home theater interconnects priced at 85,000 Yen which is approximately $800. I would have thought that this area could use some SAF warning signs though, because having that many choices for buying gadgets at bargain prices was irresistible on the pocketbook.  For that matter, I ended up buying an eight megapixel Olympus digital camera for a little less than two hundred dollars. While I looked around at all the shops, I found that there were more choices for products than in the states and more products had features that were frivolous.  For instance, there were plenty of cell phones that doubled as tiny televisions with built-in antennas.

One of my missions while I was abroad was to try and obtain some more information about Pioneer’s up and coming infinite contrast Kuro plasma display that was recently demonstrated at this year’s Las Vegas CES show.  Fellow Secrets writer Steve Smallcombe and I were both impressed at the quality of images we saw during that demonstration.  I felt that the black level was so pure that images appeared three dimensional, and the display’s color was so vivid and accurate that it created a more satisfying and emotional viewing experience.  I traveled to Pioneer’s showroom in Meguro, Tokyo, in hopes that I could get another hands-on demonstration in a different environment, as the demonstration in Las Vegas had excellent lighting control and would potentially be better than the lighting in most living rooms.  Unfortunately, there was no display on hand, but I spoke with Pioneer’s global public relations manager, Mr. Kesanobu Yamagishi about the display.  While he couldn’t tell me any hard set details such as the release date or the expected price point, I did find out that there is only one prototype model in creation and it is being transported around the world to various product shows.  Next stop for the demonstration is Russia.  It looks like we are all going to have to wait a bit on this one.  Well, I did try to get some more info at least, and I’ll be following this story closely.

Even though I didn’t get to see the Kuro infinite contrast display again, I did get to hear a full 5.1 demonstration of Pioneer’s EX line of home theater speakers which draws from the design of Pioneer’s more expensive TAD line of loudspeakers.  This demonstration used the taiko drum scene from House of Flying Daggers and it sounded crystal clear with excellent presence and movement across the sound field.  I would have liked to spend more time with them.

One of my final stops in Japan was the Sony Style showroom.  Here at the showroom, I saw some of the latest LCD models for 2008 and I saw Sony’s camera lineup.  A feature that many of the newer digital cameras have is the ability to recognize a person’s smile and automatically focus and take a snap shot accordingly.  Surprisingly enough, I didn’t hear any cameras say “cheese”.

Overall, I didn’t get the impression that Japan was creating products that were dramatically more advanced than products available in the States, but I did get the feeling that Japan loves electronics and the Japanese consumer has many more choices available to satisfy every whim.

To finish this blog on that thought, here’s an image of Sony’s Rolly.  Rolly is a small MP3 player with built-in speakers that has the ability to dance to music by using gyrations and other robotic movement.  Surprisingly enough, Rolly should be coming to the U.S.

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