Japanese Content

by Michael M. Yokoyama, Bilingual Japanese Expert Guide

In 1984, my job in Tokyo as a Technical Writer for the leading Japanese computer manufacturer led me to take a great interest in Japanese software. Years later, I got my first Palm Powered device, and I have been browsing the Internet to find information about Palm OS in Japanese. I found some interesting Japanese software and websites, and I want to especially share them with you.

Before I continue, I want to say that after about a year of looking into the issue, I am sorry to say that English is not as widely used in Japan for Palm OS software and websites as I thought. I am thus compelled to include a lot of Japanese language content alongside the English content. Now that’s not that interesting if you can’t read Japanese, but to make it possible to enjoy Japanese content for readers who cannot read Japanese, I have included sections on “How to read Japanese Web Sites in English” and “How to Run Japanese Palm OS Software”.

No matter what your level of Japanese, welcome, and I hope there’s enough here to spark an interest in Japanese Palm OS content..

This guide was originally written 9 months ago. Since that time, a lot has changed in the Palm community in Japan. For one, Sony, the major Palm device manufacturer, has decided to stop producing devices worldwide. This makes less manufacturer-provided Japanese language devices available. My sincere hope is that another company will come in and fill the void left by Sony. This guide has been updated accordingly.

I hope this Expert Guide serves to bridge the cultural gap in Japanese computing for you. Welcome, and thank you for sharing an interest in computers Japanese.

Background Information
How to Read Japanese Web Sites in English
How to Run Japanese Palm OS Software
How the Software was Tested
Opening .LZH Archive Files
Software
Learn Japanese
Language Dictionaries
Word Processing
Only in Japan
Fun Programs
Japanese Games
Software Tools
Music
E-Books
Web Resources
For Developers
General Interest
Japanese Palm User Groups
Japanese Palm OS Blogs
Japan Palm Report
Conclusion

Background Information

How to Read Japanese Web Sites in English

In the following, the Japanese sites are clearly marked with [Japanese]. Note that even if you can read Japanese, if you click on Japanese links, your PC software has to also support Japanese fonts; otherwise the Japanese on the page will be displayed in probably a thousand small rectangles. So be sure that your browser supports Japanese.

Make sure your system supports Japanese too. In Windows XP SP2, for example, the Control Panel has "Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options", and if you click on that and "Add other Languages", there is a checkbox for "Install files for East Asian Languages". Just put a checkmark there, and you will be able to VIEW Japanese. Note, if you want to INPUT Japanese, you have to click on Text Services Details.. button and add Japanese. You don't have to add this to view Japanese only.

With computer-assisted translation, we can browse Japanese web sites in English. This will be useful if you are going to be looking at the Japanese-language web pages that I list below. In my examples, I use the Muchy.com web site, which is one of Japan's most popular Palm sites. The procedure works for any Japanese web site.

For users who cannot read Japanese:

Try following this procedure to get something halfway readable in English:

1. Go to http://babelfish.altavista.com/
2. In the drop down box, enter the direction of translation, such as Japanese to English
3. Enter www.muchy.com (or any other Japanese web address) as the name of the Japanese site
4. Press the Translate button

For users who can read Japanese:

The Excite site below might provide a better translation of Japanese web pages into English. Note you must have a browser that can display Japanese.

1. Go to http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web
2. Click on the direction of translation, such as Japanese to English or vice versa
3. Enter http://www.muchy.com (or any other Japanese web address) as the Japanese web site
4. Click on the Web Page Translation button

Note that once you press either of the two Translate buttons discussed above, a computer then has to translate your specified web page, and so there will be a slight pause. As you click on buttons and links, this translation occurs on the fly, so the slight pause continues for each new page accessed.

Note: Using the English methods described here, the links for downloading may not work. On occasion, the translation program will simply give up and report that the page cannot be processed. But the translator programs for the most part do a very good job.

Note also: The translations are done by machines! Like making a good wine, translations, even in the subject of computers, take a person to pay attention to fine detail. You need imagination for what a person would have translated. Even though my previous profession was to rewrite marginally translated Japanese documents, I still cannot understand about 15% of the machine output from the above two services, so be forewarned as to the quality.How to Run Japanese Palm OS Software

Want to try the Japanese Palm OS software I mention in this Guide?

The best solution in running Japanese Palm OS software is to buy a Japanese Palm Powered device. The software works best on a Japanese device. However, if your pocketbook does not allow it, you might want to try add-on systems. There are add-on systems for displaying Japanese and add-on systems for input of Japanese.

Three add-on systems for displaying Japanese are J-OS, JaPon, and CJKOS. For input of Japanese, there are POBox, J-OS IME, and ATOK.

Display of Japanese

J-OS may be available for your version of English device at [Japanese] www.simple-palm.com. J-OS is software that you add to your Palm Powered device, and it augments it in a way that Japanese characters can be displayed and input. One barrier is that the J-OS user manual is in Japanese. So if you are going to try J-OS, at present you need to be able to read Japanese or you need to enroll the assistance of a friend who is literate in Japanese.

JaPon can be found at [Japanese] http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~T-Pilot/PalmWares/JaPon/JaPon-ReadMe.html. JaPon has also a manual in Japanese only. Supported devices include Treo 600 and 650 plus LifeDrive.

CJKOS supports not only Japanese but Chinese and Korean. It supports both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. The manual and the website, which is here,http://www.dyts.com/en/cjkos.html are in English. Both 10x10 and 12x12 Japanese fonts are supported. It's a good solution for multilinguals who can read two or more of the three languages. Don't you wish you had another lifetime to dedicate to learning yet another Asian language?

Input of Japanese

POBox is a piece of Artificial Intelligence also known as (Predictive Operation Based On eXample). This is wonderful software that can be found at [Japanese]http://pitecan.com/OpenPOBox/index.html. For example, if you enter Hiragana "o", then the system predicts completion with words such as "omoimasu", "onegai", etc. Then when you enter a "ha" to make the Hiragana string "oha", it predicts "ohayou", "ohanashi", "ohana", etc. Completion apparently saves a lot of entry, and this system exists for not only Palm but for Unix and Windows as well. Unfortunately as far as I can tell, this software has not been updated since 2002.

J-OS IME can be found at [Japanese] http://simple-palm.com/josime/. This one works similar to the IME found on Japanese Windows. The method is that you have to enter the entire word, such as "omoimasu" above, then it will change to the complete string. Unfortunately due to a small database of input words, the Kanji matching may not always be in pairs of Jukugo like it works on Windows which has an obviously larger input database.

ATOK is no longer being produced, but the remaining stock can be purchased athttp://www.justsystem.co.jp/software/dt/atok_palmjg/index.html. Some previous versions of Sony Clies had ATOK already installed, so Clie users might still want this..

A friend of mine who runs the Palm Aho Group Japan and has a web page here [Japanese]http://www.shundo.com/pag-j/ recommends either J-OS or JaPon for display and POBox for input.

How the Software was Tested

All software mentioned in this guide work on Japanese Palm OS devices. The programs should run on most Japanese devices. They may not work on English devices. If you do not have a Japanese Palm OS device, you might want to use the Emulator to run the programs on your PC.

If you try running the software on an English device and it doesn't work, there are usually two reasons why the software will not work. The two reasons are, first the device cannot input Japanese, and the second the device cannot display Japanese. If the software uses graphics for output, it is possible to display Japanese on an English device.

Technical Details: The software was tested under the Palm Emulator using the ROM named palmos-35-jp-color-dbg.rom, on an emulated device Palm IIIc, with a RAM size of 16,384K.

Opening .LZH Archive Files

Windows users in Japan like a format called LZH. It's similar to .ZIP. It compresses into a more compact format at the expense of often taking more time to zip or unzip. If you download a program and it is in .LZH format, there may be lots of programs out there that can unpack .LZH format, but try Stuffit Standard Edition at the following website - Allume. One advantage I can think of is that Stuffit Standard Edition also unpacks .SIT format, which is used in the Macintosh world.

Software

Learn Japanese

If you already live in Japan, Palm OS devices loaded with Kana and Kanji software are ideal companions for that long commute to school or work. Having a mobile machine to teach Japanese to you is definitely going to help your study of the language.

I have had a Japanese Palm Powered device for perhaps two years now and using it has improved my Japanese reading speed a lot. I have always made the most progress in my study of Japanese when I combine a fun thing I enjoy like a Palm OS hobby with studying Japanese.

So for intermediate Japanese students and up, I would suggest buying a Japanese version of a Palm Powered device for your own advancement. The only drawback I can think of is that the limited warranty on such equipment might be intended for Japan only.

	Kanji Hanabi A Kanji learning program, with a focus on Kanji recognition. It displays a Kanji at the top, followed by four buttons. The four buttons may have your choice of English meanings, Romaji readings, or Kana readings. It is like a test question, in which you must choose one of the four buttons. If you choose the right button, the program displays the next Kanji, but if you don't, then it displays a Daruma doll with only one eye painted in (meaning incomplete), and then the right answer. The program is highly configurable with many preferences such as suppress the Daruma doll. By the way, in the above screen, the right answer is "Flower, Blossom". Purchase
	Katahira 1.01 If you are a little familiar with Katakana and Hiragana, try downloading it and challenging the Read program. My brother-in-law's family tried my program at a party and they were having a literal blast just yelling out the answers in unison. By the way, in the above screen, the answer is RU (the second button from top). Purchase
	New KanjiKun 1 Mountainside Productions took the experience with Katahira and made a set of Kanji program that people can have fun with. They took elements that people really liked and put them together with the first 240 Kanji that Japanese people must learn. Although Japanese people take two years to study these Kanji, with a little “endeavoring spirit” (Gambaru ki) we think you can master the same Kanji in perhaps one month. There are now 6 grades to KanjiKun, from KanjiKun 1 to KanjiKun 6. Purchase
	Dokusha 1.5, Dokusha Converter 2.0 Dokusha means Reader in Japanese. Dokusha 1.5 is a Reader as well as Flash card maker and viewer program. I especially like Dokusha because it has Japanese fonts built in. You also want the Dokusha Converter 2.0 so that you can make your own Flash Cards. Purchase

Language Dictionaries

Before you can go real time with Japanese (become fluent) you have to have dictionaries so that everything is clear. You should probably wear out your dictionary in the process. If you're like me, you're going to wear out your Japanese to English dictionary more than your English to Japanese dictionary. Here are some dictionaries for you to try for your Palm Powered device.

	KDIC Requires software named Drag & Drop. Out of many dictionary programs, this program has the strongest dictionary search. Price: $9. There is also a KDIC Desk Accessory. Purchase More Information
	Sanseido's Daily Concise For Palm OS 4.0 and later, Palm m500/m505. Sanseido is a longtime publisher of Japanese dictionaries. Sanseido is a famous Japanese dictionary publisher. This work contains Sanseido's Daily Concise English-Japanese, Japanese-English, Japanese, and MMC Dictionaries, all in electronic format. Purchase More Information

Word Processing

Each Japanese device has a Japanese input method editor (IME) which automatically converts your Romaji input to Hiragana or Katakana. Subsequently, with the Hiragana (or Katakana) string highlighted, you tap on the Henkan (change) button and the Hiragana string will be converted to Kanji. If more than one Kanji is possible given the Hiragana string, a popup list allows you to select the Kanji you want.

For BOLD, ITALICS, etc., as you might expect in a full featured program, check out the programs below.

Teal Doc Japanese Version by Teal Full-fledged Japanese Word Processor. Read, edit, and browse documents, Doc files, eBooks and text files. Extensive display and customization options. Editing, search and replace, screen rotation, anti-aliased text, high resolution FontBucket fonts, smooth scrolling, full screen mode, beaming, and direct full support for docs and plain text files stored on external VFS-compatible media cards such as SD/MMC, compact flash, and Memory Stick. HTML-like tags for inserting TealPaint pictures, oversized scrolling bitmaps, hyperlinks, hidden bookmarks, and stylized headers. Supports high resolution displays and full screen modes of devices from Palm, Sony, HandEra, Samsung, and Alphasmart. PalmOS 5 compatible. Purchase More Information

Quick Word Japanese Edition by Cutting Edge Software Full-fledged Japanese Word Processor. ZoomView: choose the display size. Spell check. Advanced formatting: full font control including typeface, size, bold, italics, and underline. What you see is what you get (WYSIWYG). Paragraph format: left, center, and right justify. Font Bucket. Quickoffice Font Converter converts Windows desktop PC TrueType fonts for viewing on Palm device. View and Edit tables. Read, Edit, Beam, Import and Export files. Read and edit text documents in HTML markup. Integrated thesaurus, cut, copy and paste, find and replace text, word count. Purchase More Information

Only in Japan

In this section, I introduce some of the more popular titles in Japan. The Japanese of course like the titles that are popular in America, and they also include localized versions of hit American software. Here I try to limit the selection to Japanese popular titles that were programmed by Japanese individuals and organizations.

Not all interests are covered but here I try to give you a sense of what Japanese software is like as compared to English software.

	Akiba map Ti 5.13 Detailed map of the Electrical districts Akihabara and Nihonbashi and store information. Annotated. It also has details of the area helping you to find low-cost merchandise. Store information can be obtained through keyword searches such as "Palm", etc. Purchase
	ASCal (Color version) Many measurements in Japan are metric; this calculator helps you to convert yards to meters, and about 30 other different conversions, many of them Japanese units. Very convenient. Purchase
	Crs-Memo 0.5a A memo pad replacement application that handles external memory and is able to handle memo pad text files, handwritten memos, as well as check lists. Purchase
	DA Launcher (command stroke edition) Launches Desk Accessories, starting with a command stroke. Look at the icons on the right hand side of the bar on the bottom of the screen. Purchase
	Himando 1.9 (Obesity degree) Friendly reminder program. Advises you if you are overweight. Uses cat, dog, bird comics for friendly tone. They illustrate the degree of obesity. Enter your height in centimeters and your weight in kilograms and press the calculate button. The Japanese people are very conscious of weight and this spawns this kind of humor. Purchase
	Holidays Load the program and press the big square button. It writes all the Japanese national holiday information on your schedule. It's a program that needs to be run only one time. Purchase
	Ima Nan Ji (What time is it?) Uses a wireless port on your device to query an atomic clock server to make your Palm device have the exact time. I have not tested this application myself but I think it's such a great idea I want to share it with you. I have been in communication with the author so I trust it. Purchase
	J-DOC Reader This reader can read text files residing on a Memory Stick or SD card directly and is a practical and functional DOC reader. Purchase
	Ketsuatsu Techo (Blood Pressure Diary) Helps you in health by recording your morning and evening blood pressure, weight, whether you did or did not take your medication, and a little space for memos. It supports recording for several users. Purchase
	Okusenman Dentaku (Oku, Sen, Man Calculator) Banking Japanese style requires thinking in units of four zeros and not three zeros. One characteristic of Japanese counting is that people talk in terms of "Man" (10,000). For example, US calculators often have a key where you can input 000, so to input 1000 you enter 1 and the 000 key. This program has a "Man" key (0000) so you can enter 10,000 easily. The yen is worth roughly 1 cent, so 10,000 yen is roughly 100 dollars. There even is a 10,000 yen bill. Purchase
	Pico 2.10 Light version of JFile 4.x private database management software. Purchase
	PooK 2.1b2 Text data viewer that can be used to view DOC/MeDoc/PooDOC/ text data in Japanese font. Purchase
	T-Calc Light 1.0 Attention, timekeepers and sports people! Now here's something for you. If the first lap was 1 hour, 50 minutes, 2 seconds, and the second lap was 2 hours, 2 minutes, and 1 second, what is the total? These and other fun time questions can be calculated by this program T-Calc Light. Note there is a professional version too. Purchase
	TmCost 1.1+1 You input x yen per m minutes and y yen per n minutes thereafter, so if you are a computer rental store and the customer used 23 minutes worth, you can total up the rental fee. Best of all, it calculates in real time. Purchase
	Tounyoubyou Techou (Diabetes Diary) Collecting information and managing it is one key to better health. This diary lets you record many parameters for Diabetes management. Purchase

Fun Programs

These programs really illustrate how inventive the Japanese people can be... Things that the Japanese find hilarious might be on the other hand just mildly amusing if at all to us. But given the landscape of Palm OS joke programs such as Mirror and Palm Light, (which do nothing more than display a totally dark or totally lit screen, respectively) these Japanese gems must be welcomed as well.

	Eye Checker 0.01 Displays a comic Eye Doctor. Check the homepage out, it has so many other similar hilarious programs, including Palm Hotaru (a firefly), Palm Scale, and Palm Compass. Purchase More Information
	Hot Fan 0.4 Displays a whirling fan on your screen. Purchase More Information
	J-Advisor The "J" in J-Advisor probably refers to Jan-Ken-Po, the Japanese name for the children's game of Paper-Scissors-Stone. You tap the Retry button, and it gives you "advice" by displaying a hand position for paper, scissors, or stone. There are other hand positions such as a hitchhike sign, which is supposed to be a gag for stone. The screen messages are in Japanese, so it's a learning experience to a degree. For kids 4 and up. Purchase
	Jog Measure 1.01 In all Sony Clies, a unique interface called Jog Dial is included which allows you to read documents, enjoy games, etc., making it possible to use with one hand. Jog Measure proposes a new concept for the Jog Dial and that is using it to measure distance. Roll the Jog Dial along the surface to be measured. Of course, it's never accurate since the dial keeps moving slowly, but in general as long as the friction on the surface is high, the length can be estimated. Of course, the Jog Dial button is a not meant to be used for this, so if in the process dirt and grime go inside your Clie, remember, I'm the guy who just translates these descriptions for your enjoyment.... Purchase
	Palm Morse 1.01 Enter the text that you want and tap the button; the program makes your Palm OS device flash in Morse code. Purchase
	Palm Running Face the infrared ray port to the sun and make the little figure in this action game run. The secret seems to be shaking your arm a little. On a cloudy day, your results might not be so good. Note you cannot play indoors. Also, if you drop your Palm OS device and break it, note that neither Seko the author of the game; nor me, the guy who translated the blurb on it; nor PalmSource, the guys who asked me to find fun this good stuff for you; will be responsible -- so be forewarned! =-D Purchase More Information
	Rubber String Start the program and it displays a black rubber string horizontally. Drag the string and let go to give it a good "twang". Due to some artificial intelligence, the program perpetually displays a string going up and down in a fluid motion that looks like it was made of rubber. Quite interesting. What fascinates the Geek in me is that Nishioka-san generously includes the source code (in gcc and PilRC), for those of you who want to, say, "tweak the way it twangs". Considering some people spend some 32 dollars for a desktop kinetic art sculpture just so as to be able to collide together five hanging steel balls, this is much better and the price is certainly right. OK, it doesn't make the clicking noises, but you got the source code.... Purchase More Information

Japanese Games

	Animal Punch 1.1 Animal punching game using a single key. The opponents are a Stray Cat and a Dog, etc. Uses the four hardware buttons for punching/selections. Fairly safe but you might drop your device. Use with caution. Purchase
	Nora inu Charles no zouken 1.0 (Stray Charles's Adventures) Cute Charles the dog must be one of Snoopy's friends. Help Charles find the food. Useful for developing adult-child relationships and teaching the use of the stylus. Purchase
	Oshite Messe 1.05 Game in which you line up four same characters, they disappear. If surrounded by enemy characters, the game is over; so fend them off to get more points. Includes instructions in English. Purchase
	Super Shijimi Ski 1.2.0 Flashy Skier game with impressive video graphics, this game even has the INSERT COINS! message. Purchase
	Sukiyaki Wars Battle the computer's chopsticks as you both try to get the sukiyaki ingredients out of the pan. Meat is high score, green onions and tofu is lower score. Purchase
	Adore: Riddle of the Hidden Treasure Role-playing game in which experience is the goal. Purchase
	Color Bingo 1.00 Game similar to Mastermind. Shareware but limited to 10 plays without registration. Purchase
	Takoshi 0.12 Puzzle game using color Mahjongg tiles, similar to Shanghai but with different rules. Pretty tiles make it a fun game. Timed game. Purchase
	Palm Crossword 1.0.1 Crossword puzzle using Katakana for input. Purchase
	Fruit Fields Use the arrow keys well to clear the screen by gathering all the fruits. Purchase
	Napoleon Card game Napoleon. Despite being a beta program, it seems to be popular. Takahashi-san's private website has lots of programs to be downloaded. Purchase
	Tenohira Hanafuda 0.8a (Palm Flower Cards) Beautifully implemented Hanafuda (Flower card) game that supports high resolution screens. Purchase
	7narabe for Palm Shichi narabe. Very basic game. Author says not to expect beautiful colors and great screen eye candy in the future. Purchase
	Wai Majan 1.00E Interactive Mahjong that lets you choose one of eight players to play against. Very beautiful color screen, the English version is 1.00E. Purchase
	Kami Sumo (Paper Sumo) Tap on the screen and the pair of sumo wrestlers keep moving until one sumo wrestler goes off the side of a ring. Based on a Japanese game with paper dolls and you shake the "ring" upon which the paper dolls stand. Seko-san's site (URL below) lists 34 programs for you to try. Purchase
	Nuri E (Paint the Picture) Nurie is a screen painting program. Like a children's coloring book, it has a blank picture drawn with black lines, and your duty is to paint the colors. Tap on a color and tap the screen; that region becomes the color you selected. Wonderful, recommended for children and their parents. Purchase
PaKao PaKao is a fun game that makes "police mug drawings". You select the hair type from a variety of hair types, the eyebrows, etc. Purchase

Software Tools

Japanese software development techniques differ slightly from American techniques and they lead to a slightly different set of program utilities that software developers there collect. I introduce here some software tools that you might be interested in if you are interested in the internal workings of Palm OS.

	DB Explorer This program is a file explorer that allows you to search and view internal files on your Palm Powered handheld. Purchase
	DispKanji for Palm Displays Kanji by the character codes. Purchase
	File Mover International file maintenance program, supports English, Japanese, Spanish, French, and German. Purchase
	HexDump for Palm Dumps memory in Hexadecimal for all address spaces of the Palm OS. Purchase
	McFile Uses a GUI to copy, move, delete, beam, and mark files in memory and on the memory card as work with properties and Bluetooth. Purchase
	mk-KeyEventViewer Press the button and you can verify the event that occurred in the application. Purchase
	TK Memory Checker Checks out the memory on your device by reading and writing to all addresses then generates a report on success. Purchase

Music

	Monody Palm 1.00 (Monophonic Sequencer) This is a Monophonic Sequencer that requires just the alphabet and numbers for input. Data can be exchanged between the main program and the text input. Also, there is a Windows component called Monody Windows. Requires Japanese Palm OS and a jog dial (such as a Clie). Purchase
Power Remocon (Power Remote Control) Using a Sony Clie, provides a remote control for audio. Purchase
Utatte Pon Invented for Karaoke lovers or people who love Japanese music. The idea is that it's too cumbersome to have a Memo item that has the lyrics for a particular song if you're going to carry it around. This system displays the musical phrases one-by-one. Purchase

E-Books

Web Resources

For Developers

General Interest

@irBitway for Palm OS The home page, at 15,471 titles, is apparently a large content site. Try this site with machine-assisted English browsing. The page contents were too large for Excite but Babel Fish could handle it. I also like how they created a new category called "Cinema Contents for PDAs". Here is the page that talks about short films for Palm OS.http://www.airbitway.com/meng/cp.php?site=airpalmpc&req=pda_cinemaInterestingly it has a button for Adult software on its Home page. Supposedly for something like 315 yen, you can get that kind of movie for Palm OS. It also has links for Japanese comics to be run on your device, many of the Japanese comics in print are here but unfortunately only for Clie. http://www.airbitway.com/meng/cp.php?req=top&site=airpalmpc

Fu Fu Fu Palm Logs of Palm related information in a magazine format, includes links to blogs and other web sites and Palm User Groups in Japan. http://vega21.com/palm/

Hudson Mobile Contents Hudson Soft is a great game manufacturer in Japan. This site has games, ringtones, pictures for your Smartphone, etc. http://www.hudson.co.jp/mobile/eng/jp/

Japanese Train and Subway Maps This site has all the maps for Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, etc. and the download links are clear and in English. If you plan to be in Japan, having any map for your Palm OS device, even if it is in Japanese, is essential. Note that according to their web counter, this web page has had 1,500,000 hits so far. http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~pc3s-nnb/plat/palm-map.html#TokyoJR

Masa's Training Room Palm Discussion site with entries going back to June 2000. http://www.ne.jp/asahi/masa/training/

Muchy's Palmware Review! Big site. The above link is only the English page. Although this web page is only in Japanese, given Excite and Babel as we discussed, it can be browsed. Follow the procedure listed in the Background Information section at the beginning of the document to browse the web page in English. http://www.muchy.com/us/

Nifty A forum that is worth a look. This map site is also great. I suggest you get the map you want and save it on your PC, and then transfer it to your Palm Powered device. http://forum.nifty.com/fpalmos/

Osaka Palm III Japanese readers will recognize the joke with the Elephant (Zou) and the verb endings (-zou) peppered throughout the site. This site has news and reviews. http://pccm.com/op3/index.html

Palm Airlines Old site but worth visiting. Palm Airlines was apparently one of the most famous and well visited sites, but, it has been stopped. Visiting this site is sort of like going to a Ghost Town. English site is here. http://palm.org/

Palm Fan Palm OS news and software information in Japanese. Back numbers are readily available on the home page. Daily postings since 1997. http://www.palmfan.com/

Palm Hackers Salon Hiroki Takahashi is another prolific Palm OS programmer and his claim to fame is Tenohira Hanafuda, the beautifully implemented Palm OS game. http://crspalm.hp.infoseek.co.jp/

PALMLINK de Ikou (Let's Do Palm Links) A site with just Japanese Palm OS Links. It's quite useful. http://renjer.web.infoseek.co.jp/palmlink.html

Paru Maga (Short for Pal Magazine) A Palm OS magazine site with four million hits so far. It's a site you wouldn't mind reading every day. http://www.ipal.jp/i/?1085882288

PalmSpot News site with about 50 good Japanese Palm Powered links. http://www.palmspot.net/

PalmWorks Palm OS Blog. http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/ha/souten/

PDA Kobo Shops that sells Palm Powered equipment via the Internet. http://www.pdakobo.com

Simple Palm (Available in English) Hacker Dude san is the nickname given to Tatsushi Yamada by Palm Japan. Perhaps he is the Peter Norton of Japanese Palm OS programming. http://www.simple-palm.com

Vector Soft Library This is another Palm OS software site with many software titles. Worth a look. http://www.vector.co.jp/download/pda_index.html

Worpaholic The Doctor of Palm Medicine prescribes knowing as much information about Palm as possible. This is a site that is kind of like a blog, with the last entry being today. You can view earlier diagnoses. http://www.worpaholic.com/

Japanese Palm User Groups

http://www.pug-j.org/ Japan Palm User Group
http://www.pug-j.org/ug_area.html Japan Palm User Group Directory

Johban/Niigata Area

http://nipug.s53.xrea.com/ Niigata
http://blog.livedoor.jp/joepalm/ Johban Palm

Tokyo Area

http://blog.livedoor.jp/saipalm/ Saitama Palm Blog
http://tokiolapalm.cool.ne.jp/ Tokyo La Palm
http://www.m-plug.net/ Mizonokuchi Palm Group
http://www31.tok2.com/home/kspug/ Kamakura Shonan User's Group

Central Japan

http://pccm.com/op3/ Palm/PDA Users Meeting in Nagoya
http://pugo.fishbone.jp/ Palm OS Users Group in Osaka

West Japan

http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~yosfujii/we-pug/ West Japan Palm/Pilot Users Group

Kyushu

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~xc6k-ikng/palmsenryou.html Palm-Q (Kyushu)
http://blog.livedoor.jp/palmnagasaki/ Palm Nagasaki

California

http://www.geocities.com/b_palm_ug/ Bay Area Palm User's Group (in Japanese language)

Japanese Palm OS Blogs

10-0-0.net
4x4 Palm
A. Hasegawa's Gadgeteer Page
Acoustic Machine / Electric Dream
Akkie'sBlog ...na konogoro
AmSoft Space
Asahi's Palm Site
Ashuu Mobile
Atai No Pa!
Bill's Palm life
Birdis Land's Favorites
cafe de potaufeu
CamePa
Class C
Clie de Gambaru
Clie for Business JaPon
Clie ga Pokke kara Hamidashite
club yoiusa /palm
Crazy Mama Kitchen For Parents and Kids
Do you dream about PDAs?
Error on Palm
eyenote
Focus of Interest -Blog- > PalmOS
Fu fu fu Palm
Gajeiru
Gakkublog
Gurie (<- Wrong)
Handspring Visor User's Group
Hatena::Diary
Hero Hero Moheji
Hibi no Awa
HopStepPalm
InarmoYa
Kamikan
Kiritto Clie
Koshipa Weblog
KU-RA-KU 2
Kyou no Mimizo-san
L-Palm Nagoya
Life with PalmPilot
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Ore-Oma!
Osaka Palm III
Otakki Kun no Palm na Hiroba
Pal Mac 2003
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Palm etc. Room
Palm Gadgetry
Palm Nao Heya
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Palm to Mac to .. Kobeya
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palmOne, we miss you!
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taichi :: palm blog
Taste of Wind
TEY.B.S.
To-Mu (Device Mania)
Unoubeya
Vodafone 702NK × CLIE blog
Working-Palm
Yattirin Teikoku
Yoshi's ETX Site
Zodiac Pocket Games

Japan Palm Report

Since Japan is so narrow, there are only a handful of places to buy Palm OS equipment. I am told that many Palm OS users in Japan buy mail order from the USA. For some people, this is not a good option as they want to see the equipment when buying. Here I list two shops that sell Palm OS equipment.

Tokyo

Tokyo area Palm OS fans can go to Mobile Plaza and ask for Furukawa san. The address is:

Mobile Plaza
Miyazaki Building 1F
6-3-7 Soto Kanda
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to 101-0021
TEL:03-3834-0315
FAX:03-3834-0316
Store Hours 11:00-20:00 (Every day of the year)
Map
http://www.mobileplaza.co.jp/

Nagoya

Nagoya Palm OS Fans can go to Compmart Nagoya and ask for Nishiki san.

The address is:
Compmart Nagoya
4-22-21 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken 450-0002
TEL (052)589-3000
FAX (052)589-3008 Store hours 10:00-20:00
http://www.compmart.co.jp/home/top/shop_eiden.asp?supplier_id=00003305

Compmart Nagoya, September 9, 2005

I am told by Nishiki-san that Furukawa-san was the first person to have sold Palm OS equipment in Japan, so many Palm OS users know him. Saying that the other way around, Nishiki-san and Furukawa-san know a large number of Palm OS users in Japan. Nishiki-san told me in September that if Treo 650s were to be usable as cell phones in Japan, that he personally could sell at least 800 units. Palm, are you listening?

If you visit the above stores I would appreciate it if you mentioned this PalmSource page.

Conclusion

I am the author of another Expert Guide called Onboard Tools, as well as some programs for Palm OS that teach Japanese. The first is called Katahira, and the second is called KanjiKun (which has been superceded by Kanji Cards). Katahira was my first attempt to write Palm OS software, and as such it took me nearly two years of loving care to first learn programming under Palm OS and then to complete it. Once Katahira was written, I naturally got requests for a Kanji program, and that led to KanjiKun/Kanji Cards. I would be very honored if you tried my programs.

Recently I had the chance to visit with Palm User Groups in Nagoya, Mizonokuchi, and LaPalm. Although a PalmSource Japanese licensee does not exist, definitely there still exists some interest in Palm OS in Japan.

I hope that Palm contracts with Japanese carriers such as NTT Docomo, au, or Vodafone soon so we can have Treos in Japan. It would also be nice if a Japanese manufacturer like NEC would buy a license from ACCESS to make Japanese devices.

There is definitely enough talent in Japan to make Japanese display and input work for Japanese systems. It would also be very possible for Japanese manufacturers to start with Palm OS Cobalt. Japanese manufacturers such as NEC were instrumental in the popularization of personal computers, and so perhaps history can repeat itself with Palm OS handhelds.

By the way, if you're aware of other good Japanese content, please drop me a line. Thank you for reading this. If you liked my article, please also drop me a line.