This year's theme will be Broadband Technologies and Mobile Internet. I have already written here about Japan's upcoming broadband big bang - as a sequel, Usen reduced the rates of its 100 MBPS (read "one hundred"!) to under $50 per month (say "WOW" to that, Bezeq). We expect again to see all the major players - I can guarantee visitors from DoCoMo, KDDI, and J-Phone, NTT, and all the relevant VC's.

The 2 hour seminar, which I am in charge of again this year, will have speakers from Mitsui, Toshiba, Usen, and other major players.

This exhibition is intended for Israeli high-tech companies ONLY. Many of the Japanese executives know of Israel’s technology superiority and come to see what is new from Israel. At larger international exhibitions in Japan Israeli companies stand in the shadow of the US companies. At the Nikkei BP the Israeli companies take center stage.

Mid to upper level decision making Japanese executives from leading Japanese companies are the attendees of this event. Last year had over 3,500 such people attend in two days. Nikkei BP uses its selective mailing list to invite attendees matching the exhibitors target.

If you want more information, please contact Amir Lewkowicz (03-5758636 or a_lewkowicz@triangletech.com) - get your space now! And let us make this a major "must" event for the years to come.

***If any of you have any helpful hints or interesting stories about doing business with Japanese that you wish to share, please send them to a_lewkowicz@triangletech.com ****

Table of Contents:

• Israel-Japan News
• General Technology News
• New Technologies

Exchange Rate as of March 11,2001

$1 US = 119.49 Yen

+TOYO INK TO INVEST $5 MILLION IN APRION DIGITAL

Digital printing-press and ink products maker Aprion Digital has secured $5 million from the Japanese printing corporation Toyo Ink. The companies agreed that Toyo will manufacture and market ink products that are compatible with Aprion’s print presses.

+ OVER 20 MILLION SUBSCRIBERS FOR DOCOMO’S I-MODE

The number of subscribers to NTT DoCoMo’s i-mode mobile Internet service, passed the 20 million mark. DoCoMo launched the i-mode service two years ago. As for similar mobile Internet services by other carriers, "EZweb" of the au Group affiliated with KDDI acquired about 6 million subscribers and J-Phone Group had about 5 million.

+VODAFONE TO PAY $1.35 BILLION FOR 10% MORE IN JAPAN TELECOM

Vodafone plans to buy an additional 10% stake in Japan Telecom from AT&T for $1.35 billion. The deal will increase lifts Vodafone's stake in Japan Telecom to 25%. The acquisition will deepen Vodafone's presence in Japan's mobile-phone market through Japan Telecom's fast-growing local mobile network, J-Phone Communications and its regional wireless operating companies.

+ JAPAN 3G MARKET TO REACH $358 BILLION BY 2010

The market for third-generation (3G) mobile phone services in Japan is expected to grow to $357.9 billion by 2010 according to a Japanese government official. Japan will be the first country to offer 3G mobile phone services, which will allow users to download high speed Internet, data, video and CD-quality sound over handsets.

+ TOSHIBA TO MASS PRODUCE BLUETOOTH LSI CHIPS

Toshiba plans to mass-produce large-scale integration (LSI) chips that would enhance the performance of devices using Bluetooth technology. Toshiba aims to produce three million units a month of the chips in 2001. Bluetooth technology enables users to connect computers, digital cellular phones, hand-held devices, network access points and other devices via wireless links, eliminating the need for connecting cables.

+SONY AND CTC DEVELOP HIGH-SPEED IMAGE TRANFER TECHNOLOGY

Sony and Itochu Techno-Science (CTC) will form a joint venture to construct systems that accommodate high-speed image transfer via the Internet. The unit will offer its services to businesses, government entities and others. It will build and provide related services for systems used for purposes like teleconferencing and training. The venture will combine Sony's expertise in image technology with CTC's know-how in computer systems.

+USEN TO OFFER 100 MBPS FTTH

Cable music company Usen has said its subsidiary Usen Broad Networks will offer fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) Internet access at speeds of up to 100Mbps. The service will initially start in Tokyo and available to most other parts of the country by 2002.

+ SEMICONDUCTOR ORDERS INCREASE

The volume of orders placed for semiconductor equipment made in Japan for December jumped 28.4% year-on-year to $1.47 billion, according to the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). Orders in the domestic market including imports increased 50.7% to $883 million ,while Japan’s exports increased 54.3% to $1.48 billion.

+ 36% OF CORPORATES REVIEW THEIR LANS

A Nikkei survey has found that 36 % of major Japanese companies are either reviewing or will review their in-house LANs this year, and that of these, 60% will reconstruct their networks.

+WIRELESS ADS ON MOBILE PHONES GET HIGH RESPONSE RATES

According to the Japanese advertising agency, Dentsu, advertising services targeted at mobile phone users are generating a huge response and attracting interest from a broad range of businesses in Japan. In contrast with the declining click-through rates for PC-based Internet advertising, click-through rates for mobile phone ads are exceeding 24%.

+BROADBAND NET ACCESS SET FOR 430K HOUSHOLDS

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation will provide some 430,000 public housing units with broadband Internet access within the next five years. Over half of existing units slated to receive the service will use ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) connections, while the rest will have cable connections.

+MORE JAPANESE USEING E-COMMERCE TO BUY GIFTS

According to a study done by Nikkei Market Access about 12.9% of Japanese Internet users used e-commerce to buy Christmas and New Year's gifts in the recent holiday season, up 5.2% from the previous year. Of those responding in the affirmative, 56.1% said they had used e-commerce this gift-giving season for the first time. The most popular e-commerce gifts were regional specialty foods, at 28.3%, followed by clothing, at 23.7%.

+DSL SUBSCRIBERS INCREASE 60%

The number of subscribers to DSL (digital subscriber line) services jumped 60% to some 16,200 in January, the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said. The figure stood at 9,700 at the end of December. The government aims to make high-speed Internet connection services available to 30 million households nationwide by 2005.

+KDD SENDS DATA 11KM VIA WIRELESS LAN

KDD Research and Development Laboratories and a team from Kagoshima University have succeeded in testing a wireless LAN (local area network) system that can transmit data at 10Mbps between two islands about 11km apart without using repeaters.

+NEC DEVELOPS CHIP FOR NEXT-GENERATION SET-TOP BOXES

NEC has developed a system chip for the next generation of television set-top boxes, featuring a built-in hard-disk drive. The new device provides a one-chip solution combining the functions for signal decompression and image processing with a hard drive interface. The new system chip comes with a microprocessor that operates at a speed of 225 million instructions per second and an MPEG decoder that can decompress and display two programs at the same time.