This fortnight: Japan On the Web

By Vivek Bhatia

As fellow-surfers, you would agree with me that there are times when one stumbles upon a site so strikingly well-designed that instead of using it as a resource, one cannot help but think of it as a benchmark for website conceptualisation and execution. Take, for instance, a topic that has a few dozen sites dedicated to it: Japan. You could either learn about Japan from the different websites, or you could see the best -- I, at least, am convinced that it's the best -- the web has to offer, and go to Global Windows at http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/research/japan.

The address indicates the unusual antecedents of this website: it's run by the Anderson School of the University of California in Los Angeles as a research project along with the Asahi University and the Meikai University in Japan. This site divides information about Japan into a matrix of three levels of detail and nine areas. The three levels are an executive summary; take home pointers, which are instructions on how to go about things; and in-depth articles that go behind the instructions, so to speak. The nine areas are straightforward: Japan at a glance; Conducting business; Understanding your counterpart; The consumer; The economy; The financial structure and institutions; Legal considerations; People and culture; and Tips for the business traveller.

To demonstrate the rich fare available at Global Windows, let me take you through a couple of these areas. First, Conducting business. The executive summary explains the Japanese way of doing business, saying, essentially, that it is heavily influenced by local culture and history, and this results in rule- and group-centric behaviour, and that personal contact and after-hours are much more important than in the West.

Underlying this executive summary is a detailed document of pointers, each point leading to an in-depth article. The first pointer says: ''The Japanese rarely respond to cold calls or unsolicited letters. Thus, it is essential to approach a Japanese company through a Shôkai-Sha (intermediary). This person should be someone known and trusted by the company with which you want to do business.''

Let me take you into another of the nine areas: Japan's financial system. The pointer page starts with a note on the liberalisation of the system: ''The Japanese financial system has been undergoing liberalisation since the mid-1980s. These changes are making it easier for foreign companies to do business in Japan. By staying informed of these changes, Western businesses will be better able to perceive new opportunities as they arise.'' This is linked to a detailed analysis of how the changing ground-rules lend advantages to foreign companies operating in Japan.

The next point is something that would be impossible to guess. While interacting with bankers, it is useful to know if their bank was the result of a merger even if it occurred several years ago. For, bank mergers in Japan are not as final as Westerners might expect. Often, the banks are re-arranged into factions of staff from the former banks. Similarly, the section on the Japanese distribution system and retailing infrastructure has quality information that is nearly impossible to find anywhere else.

Whether you want know how to conduct business in Japan, or merely want some tips on how to design the perfect information site, Global Windows is the place to first go to.