Japan Lets You Use Your Passport to Get Free Wi-Fi

Although Japan is renowned for having some of the best customer service on the planet, for various reasons, including language and cultural hurdles, it isn't known as the most tourist-friendly destination.

Some of those hurdles also extend into the tech arena, namely, Wi-Fi. Although sidling up to a café in Europe or North America and grabbing a bit of free Wi-Fi for your mobile device is common, finding such wireless access in tech-centric Japan's major cities remains notoriously difficult. But that's about to change.

A new program launched by NTT (Japan's largest telecom), is designed to serve foreign tourists on the hunt for Wi-Fi. For those who haven't traveled to Japan, the program might seem behind the times, but for anyone familiar with attempting to find Wi-Fi in Japan, this is huge news. (YouTube is littered with video commentary from frustrated travelers marveling at the lack of Wi-Fi access in such a technologically advanced country as Japan.)

Now, when a traveler arrives at a Japanese airport, they can present their passport and register for a Wi-Fi card that offers free Wi-Fi coverage via 45,000 hot spots in the eastern Japan area including Tokyo, Hakone, Mt. Fuji, Yokohama, Nagano, Nikko, Kusatsu, Tohoku, Hokkaido and Fukushima.

Additionally, a traveler outside of the country preparing to visit Japan can download the iOS or Android version of the NAVITIME for Japan Travel app and obtain an ID and password beforehand. The app also offers an augmented reality mode that shows you a Street View-style image of the location where an available Wi-Fi hotspot is located.

However, the access only lasts for 14 days (or 336 hours), just enough to get you used to the free access, but not long enough to be truly useful for anyone planning an extended stay in Japan.

According to the Nikkei, the program is also being directed by the Japanese government, which plans to use the initiative to get more buildings in the country to offer Wi-Fi access.

The trial program, which began earlier this year, will last until September 2014.

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This Wearable Computer is Like Google Glass for Your Ears

A new kind of wearable computer has been created that immediately evokes images of the ear-mounted PC worn by Joaquin Phoenix in the recent film Her.

Created by Hiroshima City University staffer Kazuhiro Taniguchi, the prototype device's interface uses infrared waves to detect when the wearer opens and closes his mouth. Those movements send corresponding command signals back to the device. Conceivably, apps could be created for the device that would let you do things like fetch traffic information or get directions by turning your head or biting down.

Taniguchi, who calls the Bluetooth device an Ear Switch, also embedded the formfitting earpiece with a compass, barometer, a speaker and microphone, gyro-sensors, a battery and GPS functions.

In a video (in Japanese) posted by Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Taniguchi is seen demonstrating the device at a Hiroshima, Japan, business fair in January.

Yet another video (see below), linked from Taniguchi's staff page, shows just how seamlessly the Ear Switch could be used to guide a person through their daily life, tucked almost invisibly behind their ear.

Aside from allowing the wearer to operate the device completely hands free, Taniguchi also believes the Ear Switch's sensors could serve as a tool to monitor the wearer's health. However, Taniguchi hasn't released many of the technical details behind the device, so at this point it's best to consider this a brilliant concept device that may become a commercial reality.

Nevertheless, the concept itself is incredibly promising. And while some of the most interesting parts of the web and mobile content are visual — an area in which the Ear Switch falls short — unwieldy devices like Google Glass have struggled to gain acceptance.

Moving the wearable computing paradigm from the eyes to the ears — an unobtrusive position that would make it difficult for most to know whether or not you're even computing – immediately makes the Ear Switch a far more viable mainstream solution than something like Glass.

According to a report in the Nikkei, the developer hopes to team up with a major firm to release a commercial version of the device sometime in 2015.

VIDEO: YOUTUBE, JAPAN MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS

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This Is the World's Top-Earning App

Line's active user count might be an enigma, but the latest edition of the App Annie Index shows outside of games, Line was the top earning app and publisher in the world in 2013.

Line ranked ninth in the list of most downloaded publishers in the world. It's the sixth most-downloaded app outside of games.

According to the report, Japan surpassed the US as the top country in terms of app revenue, driven largely by games on Google Play. That means Line's home market likely helped push it to the top of the highest earners list.

Within Japan, Line's game lineup took seven of the top ten highest earning mobile game spots, beaten only by fellow Japanese game Puzzles and Dragons. Line and Line Camera are the two most-downloaded apps in the country outside of games.

The popular Japanese messaging app and social platform might well be making more money than any other chat app out there, as well.

The hole in App Annie's data, however, is WeChat, which started monetizing from stickers, games, and in-app payments last year. App Annie pulls its data from Google Play and the Apple App Store, which means its stats for Chinese Android apps are likely skewed. Google Play is seldom used in China because it can't be installed on most phones sold within the mainland. Much like Line's mammoth revenues likely originate from Taiwan and Japan, WeChat's likely originate primarily from mainland China. So while both apps are technically top earners globally, they remain regional kings in a fragmented global space.

Here's a few other interesting observations from the App Annie Index:

> Japanese publisher GungHo Online and its game Puzzles and Dragons are the top-earning publisher and app in the world, respectively (merchandising not included).

> South Korea bumped the UK off the podium to be the third-highest earning country in app revenue.

> China's Alipay was the second most-downloaded payment app in the world, despite skewed China rankings.

> Outside of games, three Chinese publishers made the top ten most-downloaded app publishers: Sungy Mobile (third), Tencent (eighth), and Baidu (tenth).

Beijing- and US-based analytics firm App Annie is used by over 350,000 apps to track downloads, revenues, and rankings.

This article originally published at Tech in Asia

Image: MICHAEL PROBST/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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