Hi, I’m Takahiro Kikuchi, a deputy editor of Nikkei Communications, a leading trade magazine for ICT industry in Japan. As a journalist, I have watched mobile services, devices, business models etc. for these 10 years or from the dawn of mobile Internet services in Japan.

At the SEE 2009, I will introduce some unique services which are popular in Japan and I hope that the it will help you develop rich mobile services in the future.

Sekai Camera

The first one is “Sekai Camera” , an augmented reality (AR) application that has recently been launched in Japan. The application combines real world images from the camera on the handset and from cyberworld which is described by “air tags” defined by the mobile AR service.

The world fashion brand, Loewe, is interested in the application for demonstration and illustration in the shops.

Finding your way around the city, is an another application of this software. Further a Japanese real-estate company, Mitsui Fudosan Co., has started a field trial of the software at an outlet mall.

Golf-Swing Analyzer Technology
The second one is a golf-swing Analyzer application for mobile handsets. Today many handsets incorporate an acceleration sensor and gyrocompass. The golf-swing application gathers the data from the golfer, performs an analysis and comments on the performance of the golfer.

These are just a few examples of Japanese companies focusing on using data from mobile handsets for data mining and services.

With the Tokyo Game Show 2009 taking place last month and CEATEC 2009, one of the largest consumer electronics show in Tokyo, just beginning this week, many digital and mobile devices and services have been announced. I’ll be bringing some of the top stories from those shows to London.