You surely have been living in caves if you haven’t heard of AkihabaraNews. Anyway, Akihabara News belongs to HIC-Publication based in Tokyo Japan and with an office in New York City. It offers regular news updates on high-tech products, mostly mobile devices like PDA’s, TabletPC’s, mobile phones, video and audio products, cameras and other high-tech toys.
Today, let’s barge into the world of Daimaou, the man behind AkihabaraNews, whose highly audacious spirit and gear acquaintance have been enthralling all of us for long. I had the opportunity to get some time of his busy schedule and ping him some question. Read on and know him more.
Naveen: How did the idea behind Akihabara News crop up? What are the other projects you are involved with?
Daimaou: Well everything started 8 years ago, I was at this time in Hong-Kong and I was amazed to see what I can find there and I was also amazed by the prices available in Asia. When I arrived in Japan (4 years ago) I decided to talk about all the wonder I found in order to evangelize people with Asian Wonders. Actually my goal was also to let people know what kind of product big corporations are really selling in Asia in order force Europeans and North American Reader to ask for the same level of goods, services and quality to the same corporations which was at this time proposing less attractive devices. Of course Nowadays things has changed drastically but there are still some gaps, meaning that I still have to continue my work ;-).
Actually Akihabara News helped to build up my own company I had have other website like GeekStuff4U.com which export Gadgets from Japan to the world, but also HobbyStuff4U.com which more oriented in the Manga industry and finally NihonCar.com which received the top ten best car website awards from the New York Times last year. Finally I am planning to launch 2 new website within this year and I am actually hiring more staff for my Office in Tokyo and New York.
Naveen: Would you provide some insight into how you go about spotting the latest gadgets and technology out there?
Daimaou: Well this is a huge part of my time but I spend a lot of time outside the office to pick up the latest goods from different store, but also in small interview with different Manufacturer like Panasonic or Sony for example. I am also invited to most of the IT press conference in Japan and we cover all major IT Fair in Japan and even in Taiwan like the Computex. Finally I surf a lot, over 120 different Manufacturer press website to get the latest news.
Naveen: How you attempt to help real-time consumers through your sites? What’s your approach and how far you are able to do justice with it?
Daimaou: Well, As I told you my goal is to tell to People : Hey Look what we have here in Asia and for which price, so do not accept the crap that we are selling you in the US or Europe, ask to those corporations to give you what you should get... We also try to be honest with ourselves and our readers, by telling what we think of some products even if we hurts sometimes readers feeling or Coroporation pride. But anyway this is the game...
Naveen: Let’s talk about the current hottest happening in the cellphone industry. How do you take the Apple iPhone?
Daimaou: Well first of all it is important to demystify Japan and its mobile industry. Yes Japan was number one there was 6-7 years ago but nowadays Korea and Even Europe are catching pretty fast. And in a “user” point of view Japan do not provide the services that you can expect from such Hi-tech country. Mobile phones in Japan are inexpensive this is true, but cheaply made with the worts plastic you can find, sound quality is horrible and the network often saturated during rush hours. I have not yet seen or touch the iPhone, and I am a PRO Microsoft Mobile user, even so I am EXTREMELY happy to see Apple coming in the Mobile Industry, the iPhone thanks to its design (Software/Hardware) will force/oblige manufacturer and Even Japanese ones to start producing appealing product again... So Thank you Steve, your iPhone is what every Geeks were waiting for, a big heartquake in the Mobile Phone industry.
Naveen: Precisely, what you want to communicate through your blog? What positive you’ve achieved to that effect and if not, how you’d like to polish it?
Daimaou: Sorry I will repeat myself here, but our goal is to let people know what corporation are not providing them. Why would a guy in Europe should still use a 2kg laptop with a slow CPU (for example) when for the same price the very same guy could get from the same manufacturer a better, faster and lighter notebook for 20% cheaper ? Our second objectif is to let people know in advance how bad or good a product is. The best example that I have in min is with the Sanyo Xacti HD1. Sanyo proudly announced some years ago the first pocket seize SD HD camera in 720p. Actually this product was the worst Xacti ever made by Sanyo. We proivded a lot of footage to let people know how bad the product was. After this article and even now I receive words or email from readers thanking us for this review and helping them to save some money... Sanyo was not very happy with my test but they still talk to us, and after all we helped them somehow to work hard in order to improve this very promising device.
Naveen: How has your writing changed since you started blogging? Do you ever write to deliberately provoke a reaction?
Daimaou: Well, I honestly cannot call me a professional writer nor a journalist I am just an average but passionate Joe in the Gadget World. So, is my style changed? well maybe and you know what I really don’t care, I mostly do that because I love it and try to be honest with myself first and my reader. However it is true that since I am becoming more and more busy I do not always take enough time to write the way I would like to. Now do I deliberately provoke people to get reaction? Well before writing a news I never think of any kind of provocation, but I do LOVE teasing people, and this even at the office, so some people can take it as a provocation but this is merely some stupid (really stupid) jokes that I make. Now it is true that I am a very passionate person and I sometimes write what I feel and think... But unfortunately some readers do not appreciate this and just want plain news without thinking at anytime that a human being with feeling just wrote this... So well sometimes things can be funky ...
Naveen: If you are deserted on a lonely islet, and are asked to pick only three gadgets, what would they be?
Daimaou: Well Can I put Miss Universe in my list? no seriously for some she is a king of gadget and being alone is something I hate the most, I hate to tease myself, this is not funny. No Seriously, If I had the chance to get on a small Island and have to bring something with me it won’t be any gadget, I would love to be there with my wife and finally try to get some rest...
Naveen: One of the buzz that’s everywhere in the blogosphere, is the concern over increasing number of blogs and the cut-throat competition. What do you think about it?
Daimaou: Well this is a very interesting question, and I like any other, even Major blogs, I can say that the competition is thought but the real problem is that most of the blogs out there, are just copying each other and finally you will get 10 website saying 10 times the same thing... BORRING ! Most of bloggers are just copying each other and are not CREATING contents. At Akihabara News we are working VERY hard to get out of the office and try to create our own contents, we worked very hard to get accepted in Japan by Company like SONY for example and we try our best to get something different...
But at the End of the day we see our pictures, news on other blogs which sometimes do not even bother linking back and get all the fame... Yes thought but I believe that by continuing what we are doing people will come and realize the true nature of some website.
Naveen: The whole Internet, of course, as a media, is moving towards Web 2.0. How far do you think the phenomenon has emerged successfully?
Daimaou: Good question and I will hardly be able to give you my opinion on this matter, since as for today I am still waiting for the next Generation of the Internet.
Naveen: Some of your favorite blogs? What do you find appealing about them?
Daimaou: Well of course, MINE ! Seriously, before launching Akihabara News I had a long list of website I read everyday, now since I spend most of my time on the internet for Akihabara News, I tend to move away from the internet for my quality time by Testing Drive Press Car for NihonCar.com
I finally Thank Daimaou for completing this interview in the best possible way. We look forward to the great reviews and articles by in AkihabaraNews in the future too . And, I wish him All the Best in his future endeavors.
