Rules in Cyberspace?, Letter to the Editor from Rachel Howe, The Journal, March 1999

Dave McCombs was right on in "The Digital Fortune Cookie: E-Commerce Retailing in Japan" [ACCJ Journal, October 1998]. He predicts that e-commerce won't take off in Japan until phone rates come down, security measures are properly installed and Japanese consumers feel comfortable shopping online. But one factor that's always underestimated in the development of new industries in Japan, industrial policy, isn't addressed. -- full article

Japanese embracing e-commerce, by Rachel Howe, J0URNAL 0F C0MMERCE, Monday March 29,1999.

The emergence in Japan of e-commerce -- buying and selling over the Internet -- represents a historic opportunity for foreign businesses and new Japanese companies to crack one of the toughest global markets. It's a chance for foreign companies to avoid substantial trade barriers, the influence of Japanese keiretsu (trading groups) and a convoluted, multilayered distribution system -- but only if they master key principles about Japan's Internet habits. -- full article

Women Changing The Face of The Japanese Internet, By Rachel Howe, The BridgeNews Forum, July 7, 1999.

Feminization has been one of the strongest demographic trends in Japan's Internet usage over the past year. The Internet economy is growing fast in Japan. Business-to-consumer Internet commerce could reach as much as 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) by 2001 and the number of Internet users could grow to over 30 million by that time. Foreign firms should look to women as the trendsetters on the Japanese Internet. Women comprised some 21 percent of the nation's total Internet population of 14 million at the end of 1998, according to my firm, DSA Analytics. They are now approaching upward of 40 percent of all new Internet users. -- full article

Women on the Web, By Alexandra A. Seno, Asiaweek

With ingenuity and the Internet, cyber-feminism gains ground as a way to surmount social and physical barriers
Why spend your Web time immersed in role-playing games when you can gather support, exchange knowledge, build networks and fight oppression? Especially when, because of your gender, the real world makes it hard to do those things.
. . .
Says Rachel Howe, managing partner of Japan-specialist consultancy DSA Analytics: "The Internet is helping to meet the combined needs of Japan's restructuring economy -- the need to cut costs -- with the traditional need of Japanese women to be at home or the [modern] need to maintain skills to help them survive outside the home." -- full article

Cyber Feminism, by Rachel Howe, Women - Connect - Asia

The Japanese Internet user population is undergoing rapid changes in terms of who is using the Internet, what they use the Internet for, and how they shop online. Indeed, those firms seeking to exploit opportunities in the Japanese online marketplace who focus solely on the growth of the market, will miss the enormous business opportunities that are inherent in changes in the underlying structure of the Japanese Internet user population. -- full article