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Cool Japan / Rural Gifu trying to emulate Silicon Valley

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The article is titled "Rural Gifu trying to emulate Silicon Valley".
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Quote herewith the article.

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Rural Gifu trying to emulate Silicon Valley
Feb 24, 2010 by Asahi

OGAKI, Gifu Prefecture--Junpei Wada breathes into the microphone of Apple Inc.'s iPhone and taps a virtual keyboard on its screen.

The sound of a saxophone emerges, transforming a space at Softopia Japan, a home to more than 100 IT startups in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, into a concert venue.

photo photo
(R): iPhone application FingerPiano Share (PHOTOS BY YOTARO OKAMOTO)
(L): Junpei Wada, a 29-year-old employee at an IT company, creates saxophone
sounds by connecting two iPhones and running an app he wrote on trial basis
at Softopia Japan in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture.

Wada's performance of "Over the Rainbow," which he completes after getting stuck several times, is met by hearty applause.

Wada, a 29-year-old employee with an information technology company in the prefecture, was performing a solo concert on an app he wrote experimentally for the iPhone.

Known for creating apps that have achieved cult status, Wada is something of a celebrity in international IT circles.

Among his creations is "FingerPiano," software that allows users to play pre-programmed tunes by following onscreen visual cues on a virtual keyboard. Users don't need skills to play the piano.

"FingerPiano," which he wrote outside work hours at Densan System Co., turned into a smash hit after its global release in October 2008.

It is one of only three apps developed in Japan that have made the top 10 list of best-selling apps in the United States.

Its paid-for version, now lowered to 230 yen ($2.50) from the initial 350 yen per download, was purchased about 200,000 times around the world.

If it had sold for 350 yen each, sales would have reached about 70 million yen.

With 30 percent of the sum going to Apple, Wada could have made 49 million yen.

What led him to write the application, he says, was his discontent with the capabilities of regular cellphones.

"I was not satisfied with what a conventional cellphone could do," said Wada, who described himself as a heavy laptop user. "I could make happen on iPhone, which is like a computer, something I could not do on a regular cellphone."

Wada's achievement prompted Densan System, based in the prefecture's capital of Gifu, to take up the development of apps as a line of business.

The company released "FingerPiano Share," a revised version of Wada's work, globally last July.

With the current version, up to 10 users can play a virtual piano simultaneously by sharing a musical score. Users can play the piano from their iPhones if they have a piano hooked up to a computer connected to the Internet.

In November, it was chosen as this year's best app at CEATEC Japan, a trade show of telecommunications equipment and electronic devices held ar Makuhari Messe in Chiba.

The success of Wada, who works in a prefecture hundreds of kilometers from the nation's center, Tokyo, is not pure coincidence.

Gifu Prefecture is aspiring to emulate Silicon Valley.

In 1996, it established Softopia Japan, a building complex housing about 140 small or midsize IT companies, as part of its attempt to create an IT hub.

Softopia Japan is equipped with facilities to assist venture businesses.

To secure human resources, it opened in Ogaki city IAMAS, which stands for two educational institutions: the Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences, which offers masters' degree programs, as well as the International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, which offers high school graduates or above a two-year course to prepare them for jobs in the IT industry.

Masayuki Akamatsu, a media producer and professor of sound and media arts at the academy, plays a key role in nurturing an army of IT engineers in the making in the prefecture.

Akamatsu is a leading expert on the development of apps for the iPhone.

The 48-year-old media producer was among the first Japanese to obtain the much-hyped smartphone when its first model hit the U.S. market in June 2007.

He has since written about 30 apps and published guide books on the application.

In April 2008, Akamatsu established an iPhone study group as part of his class at IAMAS, which is also open to the public, to share his know-how.

In August 2009, he opened "iPhone juku," a cram course to develop iPhone application at Softopia Japan. "iPhone juku" and its weekly brainstorming session of "Mobile Cafe" are free.

Wada acquired application skills with 200 other participants at "iPhone juku."

Softopia Japan and IAMAS have increasingly been drawing attention within the IT industry as a hub for app development.

In October 2008, Tonchidot Corp. and Feynman Co.--both Tokyo-based startup app developers--joined Softopia.

Collaborating with Akamatsu, Tonchidot came up with an app called Sekai Camera, which displays online information, in letters or in sound, relevant to the real-world image shown on iPhone camera.

The free-of-charge version of the app became No. 1 in terms of the number of downloads in only half a day since it was distributed to the domestic market on Sept. 24 last year.

In December, the company began distributing it globally.

The app was later nominated for the "Best Mobile Application" in the 2009 Crunchies Awards, a U.S. annual competition in San Francisco to recognize the most compelling startups, Internet and technology innovation of the year.

The prefectural government is beefing up its assistance to fledgling iPhone app developers.

It set up what it calls iPhone floors, where companies or individuals developing apps can rent the space at discounted rate.

Softopia Japan is now equipped with 55 iPhone handsets financed by startups.

"Our task is to nurture a second or a third Wada," said Mamoru Nakashima, senior deputy director at the prefectural government's Information Industry Division.
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By T.S. on Mar 7, 2007

 

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