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Japan: Low Tech Surprises at Sony
July 11, 2008

Now our travels take us further afield, heading east by flying west to Tokyo. With a 16-year-old in tow the first stop in town was Sony headquarters, where an eight-floor display of the latest tech was a top priority.
My teenager quickly reported that video games on sale worked only in Japanese Playstations. Two things of interest to dad were the Sony e-Book (yet to see one live) and the newer thin-screen televisions that are based on Organic Light Emitting Diodes--OLEDS--that can be printed on modified litho presses, theoretically. 
The sales technician reported no e-Books were in the store--"It's been discontinued in Japan," he said. Domo Arigato. How about those TVs--yes, they were on display, as reported in e-GAM. The glowing reviews that I read said the screen was sharper than LED and Plasma types, but I am not so convinced of that having seen it live for the first time. But the thinness is completely verified. 
We had a bit of a challenge getting cash. A web search revealed that Western visions of a high tech wonderland in Japan are exaggerated. The country eschews credit cards, prefers cash, and debit cards are mostly restricted to local banks. ATMs close for the evening like regular employees. Only the Post Office is a reliable source of cash and universal cards. So they still protect the banking industry from foreign incursion.
 

Posted by Bill Esler on July 11, 2008 | Comments (2)