I had the good fortune to spend a highly interesting week in Tokyo, touring a number of high-tech companies together with a group of PhD students from the Aalto University.
On a general level, it was quite interesting to experience how unproblematic the japanese relation to technology was. This was in particular evident from the onslaught of all kinds of robots that we saw. The japanese clearly had less of a concern of the potentially “dehumanizing” effect of robots on society than us (mostly westerners).
An other observation was the penetration of mobile into japanese life. On the metro, there was hardly anyone below 50 that did not fondle a mobile phone while travelling. Speaking on the phone in public was mostly forbidden so people interacted with applications and services.
Unfortunately, sights and museums in Tokyo close very early, so I did not get much of a chance to check out the Tokyo art scene. We did however have time for a brief visit to the NTT ICC Inter Communication Center. Here we had a chance to see a couple of exhibitions fusing art and technology in very interesting ways. If you are in Tokyo or planning a visit, check out the art scene from Tokyo Art Beat!
And for the real mobile connoisseur, there is of course a mobile application to find those top art events and even get special deals on the entry tickets. For events information, get the Tokyo Art Beat app for the iPhone and for Android. For the special deals, get the MuPon (Mobile Cupon?) app for the iPhone.
The 3 Inch Canvas 