Tokyo is fascinating. One of the things that struck me when I first came here about 4 years ago was the cars. Japanese automotive companies test market vehicles domestically up the kazoo before launching globally. When I was on my way to buy some sushi on Sunday night I saw a car that looked suspiciously like an old style mini from the rear. On my way back I checked out the front of the car - still pretty mini-like, but different enough. It was a Daihatsu - and I think the model name was "mini". Coming to a street near you next year?

I went back to the Yodabashi Camera Store again yesterday and purchased a digital camcorder. I bought the Sony 5.1 model. It has a microphone array on the top that enables you to record in surround sound. I have heard the result and it really is something. I think this is going to be one of those products that establishes a new way of doing things and is going to be part of the next big change in the way we entertain ourselves.

I have been using skype more and more on this trip. Normally I rent a cell phone when I fly into Narita (6th time this year that I am in Japan at present). This time I didn't. Now that is going to save money. No cell phone and calls to the US and Australia on skype for free. Gotta love that.

I finished the Thomas Fridman book last night, and it is certainly interesting reading The World Is Flat while travelling from country to country in the East - through the places that are truly helping drive this change. Disturbing thing is to see the price of energy leaping up.... and to talk to people who are just not seeing the knife edge that we are all balanced on. When national media is so controlled in so many countries, when the stories that are World Is Flat stories don't make it to the front page because they are perceived to be against national interests, but where those same stories are about massive social change, you have to worry. These are the things that are going to cause the serious tectonic shifts that we are about to face.

I have been listening a lot to podcasts during the time that I have been on the road. One of the things that I love is this whole concept of the Tivo for audio. There is more intelligent commentary available in audio form than in audio/visual to start with. That is because content creation is a snip. Cheap and easy. And you can consume the content while sitting on the Tokyo metro or in a restauant or wherever. Multitasking to generate more business intelligence. This combination of podcasting, blogging and of course RSS is what is going to rock our world. Particularly with a future in which I see substantially more expensive or curtailed travel - whether it be because of cost of oil or the breakout of bird flu. And that will lead to a need for greater communication and more inventive forms of social marketing.