Internet and web in Japan

For my XMas holidays I’ve been to Japan.
It’s been a fantastic experience and I had the opportunity to enjoy an extraordinary cuisine, amazing traditions and breathtaking places.
But also several aspects related to technology and the web that surprised me (even though they might not be that surprising for some of you):

• Ask still exists and they even buy billboards and offline ads (here an example in the supertrendy Shibuya)
• I expected to find wi-fi connections everywhere and to be able to use my iPhone all the time, while on the contrary they are extremely difficult to find (even in hotels, where it’s easier to find a cable connection) and not even Starbucks offers this service. I guess the main reason is that everybody use their mobile phone to access the internet since many years already and they do not need a wi-fi to do so
• Google is not that popular and they even use tv commercials to gain aawareness (unfortunately I couldn’t find the video anywhere). Since I’ve been back to Amsterdam and I’ve found it plastered with Chrome ads I’m less surprised by those Google’s commecials though…
• “Western” Blackberries do not work. “I couldn’t care less”, you could say. But to me that meant completely pull the plug and relax :)
• Apparently most companies realized that URLs are difficult to remember and consumers google (or “ask”…) everything. The solution is telling people what to google rather than asking them to memorize a long address: in almost all print and outdoor ads you can see a search bar with the suggested term to search. I’ve been looking for some images and I’ve found this post, talking about that in 2008 already…

Versione italiana: se vuoi leggere questo post in italiano puoi farlo qui.