Japan's Mr. Internet


	Joichi Ito, better known as "Joey" to the Internet community, is seen here on the streets of Harajuku with his protege Reiko Chiba. Joey plans to wire this neighborhood, one of the trendiest in Tokyo, as part of his master plan to push Japan into cyberspace. (Photograph by Torin Boyd)

oichi "Joey" Ito, a 29-year-old cybersavant and entrepreneur, has taken on the mission of making the Internet hip and profitable in Japan. This is a surprisingly big order. Even though Netmania has seized the imagination of millions in the United States -- and lured billions of investment dollars -- it has barely made a blip in the land of Sony, Toshiba, and Fujitsu.

Joey already straddles one huge cultural gulf. Born in Japan, he grew up in the U.S., where he studied computer science and physics. With a long resume of online accomplishments, he has no fear of tackling another challenge in his native country.


	Joey wears the fashionable black of a new kind of missionary: the Web evangelist. (Photograph by Torin Boyd)


	Mr. Internet, as Joey is sometimes called, takes a tour of the racks at Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD) on the opening day of the 45MB line between Japan and the United States. (Photograph by Torin Boyd)

Joey's immediate goal is to transform Harajuku, the trendy Tokyo neighborhood jammed with impressionable young consumers, into a "digital city" by wiring its clubs and boutiques. His first target is young working women with piles of disposable yen.

"In the United States, there is a demographic bloc called 'yuppies,' young professionals who buy stuff," Joey says. "The same bloc in Japan is called 'salarymen,' and they don't buy anything. But young women in their twenties in Japan spend, on average, about $650 a month. They'll spend $3,000 on a Gucci bag." The future growth of the Internet in Japan depends on young women, he says. "The lucky thing is, they are not afraid of technology."

http://www.eccosys.com/PEOPLE/jito/