rick@cs.arizona.edu (Rick Schlichting) (10/14/90)
[Dr. David Kahaner is a numerical analyst visiting Japan for two-years
under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research-Far East (ONRFE).
The following is the professional opinion of David Kahaner and in no
way has the blessing of the US Government or any agency of it. All
information is dated and of limited life time. This disclaimer should
be noted on ANY attribution.]
[Copies of previous reports written by Kahaner can be obtained from
host cs.arizona.edu using anonymous FTP.]
To: Distribution
From: David K. Kahaner ONRFE [kahaner@xroads.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp]
Re: Japanese Database activities.
Date: 11 Oct 1990
ABSTRACT.
We describe the activities of the Japan Database Promotion Center, and
summarize the current state of affairs with respect to databases in Japan,
especially those of interest to scientists.
PREFACE.
I am not a active database user nor have I ever done database research.
Nevertheless it is apparent that databases are having a growing impact on
science. This report is based on information from the Database Promotion
Center, colored by my own personal impressions here in Japan.
INTRODUCTION.
Japan is far behind the United States in the use and development of
databases, particularly for science. The situation is well known and
there is a strong effort being made to correct it. The Japan Database
Promotion Center (DPC), established in 1984, has as its goals the
promotion of database construction, research and development of the basic
technologies related to databases, establishment of efficient clearing
services, education propagation and training associated with databases,
and international information exchange informing other countries about
Japanese databases.
Database Promotion Center Japan
7F World Trade Center Building
2-4-1 Hamamatsu-chu
Minato-ku
Tokyo 105, Japan
Tel: (03) 459-8581, Fax: (03) 432-7558.
Japanese online databases in science and technology were first developed
by the Japan Information Center of Science and Technology, and the Japan
Patent Office, in the mid 1970s. Business databases were established a
few years earlier. This is about 10 years behind corresponding efforts in
the U.S. Partly this was technology driven, but also partly driven by
early reluctance on the part of the Japanese to sell intangibles, in this
case information, as a product. The Japan Database Industry Association
(DINA), established in 1979, now has over 100 members and is quite
active. Further, since the early 1980s both the information industry
through its member organizations, and the Japanese government have been
attempting to promote database development and use. Since 1983, MITI
(Ministry of International Trade and Industry) has been publishing an
annual Database Directory, which provides a comprehensive list of
databases which can be accessed in Japan, both Japanese and foreign. The
DPC is the official database arm of MITI.
There is no question of the growing importance of information in Japan's
future economy. This is associated with interactions between (1) trends
in Japanese industry, (2) the rise of the database industry, and (3)
problems of database development.
Traditional Japanese manufacturing (iron, shipbuilding, etc.) is not
growing rapidly. There are problems of Yen inflation relative to other
currencies, trade frictions, offshore production, and a decrease in
interest among young Japanese in going into "dirty" industries. On the
other hand the information industry is expected to account for more than
20 percent of Japan's GNP by the year 2000, reaching 144.5 trillion yen
(more than one trillion dollars, U.S.). (It is also estimated that this
industry will be almost one million skilled workers short of its real
requirements, and it is hoped that some of the excess from manufacturing
can find a happy home in the information industry.)
MITI estimates the following tends in information services.
Software Info. Proc. Services Info. Vending Services
1990 16.3 12.2 3.3
1995 37.5 23.6 10.6
2000 78.7 45.7 33.9
The figures are in hundreds of millions of yen. The last category,
Information Vending Services, essentially means database services,
including producers, distributors, value-added network vendors (VAN) and
information brokers. In any units it is obvious that its growth is
expected to be very great. The DPC notes that in the west these groups
are clearly defined, but not so in Japan, perhaps because this is still
an immature industry. Most data originates in public organizations,
government labs or agencies, or as a by-product of commercial activities
or research. VAN vendors take these data, process it further, add their
own experience, and ultimately distribute it. Most accessible databases
in Japan (76%) are of foreign origin, thus the specialist who is trained
to search these can provide substantial value added service. Most
database users (90% in a MITI survey) wanted lateral access with the same
commands, that is the ability to search several different databases using
a uniform search process, and this is clearly an area in which there will
be many new services provided. The new technological developments such as
laptop computers, data on CDs, portable telephones, etc., will make
pressure for databases even greater.
There are still many problems slowing the growth of Japanese database
activities. Some of the "we don't pay for information" philosophy is
still at work although this is rapidly changing through urging by the
Japanese government, via trade fairness pressure from other western
countries, and associated changes in the legal system. As we noted most
databases are of foreign origin and access overseas is limited and
expensive, especially from outside Tokyo. Japanese scientists provide
data to JICST (Japanese Information Center of Science and Technology),
and NACSIS (National Center for Science Information System). The latter
is linked to NSF (National Science Foundation) in the U.S. However,
information from Japanese sources is simply not available to the extent
that it is in the west, and it is not distributed throughout the country
in nearly as uniform a manner. Further, most Japanese universities are
not as active as their U.S. counterparts in providing courses in database
utilization and production.
SCIENTIFIC DATABASES.
In 1987 there were almost 1800 databases accessible in Japan. Of these
about 1400, or 76%. were of foreign origin, i.e., from outside Japan.
Almost half of the accessible databases were business related, and
slightly more than one quarter (27%) were associated with science or
technology. The number of scientific databases have been increasing
rapidly, but not as rapidly as other kinds of databases. Business
databases associated with high technology such as Communications, Energy,
Chemical Industry, etc., have been increasing particularly rapidly.
Scientific databases were broken out as follows.
SUBJECT FOREIGN JAPANESE TOTAL
General sci/tech 32 10 42
Patents 44 11 55
Med/Pharm/Bio 88 16 104
Chemistry 52 6 58
Physics 3 1 4
Mathematics 4 0 4
Electronics 60 4 64
Machine 10 1 11
Civil Engineering 8 5 13
Space/Earth/Marine Sci 17 0 17
Atomic Energy 2 0 2
Environmental 28 0 28
Energy 22 1 23
Agriculture 16 1 16
Meteorology 5 7 12
Metals 11 0 11
Food 6 1 7
Fiber/Timber 4 0 4
Other 18 2 20
TOTAL 429 66 495
The greatest growth in databases has occurred in "fact" (which contains
primary data) compared to "reference" (which contains bibliographic data)
databases. The primary reason for this is that the former now typically
contain "full text," resulting from the lower cost of storage devices and
communications. Essentially all databases are now "online" meaning that
they can be queried directly.
There is also rapid growth in the use of databases within Japan.
GOVERNMENT'S ROLE.
For a brief road map to Japanese government agencies, see my report,
"Japanese Government Science Structure and Computer Related Projects".
MITI has formulated a database policy as follows.
(1) Study and research into production and organization of databases
(2) Taxation adjustments to encourage database producing corporations
(3) Production of official databases as needed
(4) Creation of Database Directory
Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is actively promoting the
organization and production of databases in science and education. These
include databases for national universities and various education
research centers. Grants are also provided to academic researchers for
appropriate scholarly research. The NACSIS system, mentioned above, is
already accessible through NSF to disseminate Japanese scientific data.
Agency of Science and Technology has accepted the "NIST" report (National
Information System for Science and Technology). JICST will be the
organization dealing with distribution of scientific and technical data.
Funding, through Scientific and Technical Information Promotion Funds,
are planned for advanced and basic research, encouragement of R&D between
several organizations, strengthening cooperation between industry,
government and academia, joint international research, and evaluation of
research.
UTILIZATION OF DATABASES.
Surveys show that about two thirds of Japanese corporations used
databases, with numbers of users and costs increasing around ten percent
per year, the iron/steel industry being the only one showing a decreased
use. Naturally, the information processing industry is still the most
heavy user, but financial industries also show rapid growth and actually
spend the most money on databases. The most used databases in terms of
cost are the Scientific and Technological Document File, Japan Patent
Utility Model File, NIKKEI, MEDLINE, and CA-Search. Of course, users want
easier-to-use database queries, more standardization, and more
information. There is still a need to inform users about copyright
issues. Those who do not use databases site no need, or nonexistence of
needed databases.
Three years ago an international conference on the use of Japanese
information on science, technology, and commerce was held in Warwick UK,
sponsored by the British Library, NTIS (National Technical Information
Service--U.S.) and JICST (Japan). The proceedings of this conference are
a good place to read about problems of language, information quality,
utilization and access issues of Japanese databases. A survey conducted
at that conference indicated five issues concerning Japanese databases.
(1) Many Japanese databases cannot be accessed from outside of Japan.
(2) No Japanese counterpart to American Center or British Council for
public information services.
(3) Overseas users have to rely too much on document delivery services.
(4) No comprehensive business related database in Japan.
(5) No service allowing access to a number of databases.
As of July 1988 it was determined that only 83 databases from within
Japan are offered for overseas use including only 20 related to science
and technology and 51 to business, although about another two dozen were
in the planning stages. Overseas users noted serious cost issues in the
use of Japanese databases, associated with translation and communication.
PROBLEMS IN ACQUISITION OF JAPANESE INFORMATION OVERSEAS.
The DPC notes that "the provision of Japanese information to the
international market via online services is a national priority which
must be dealt with jointly by government, industry, and academia."
They have identified four major problems.
(1) International information frictions.
Domestic and foreign efforts are separate with little cooperation.
International standards are needed so that overseas users are
considered even during the initial design of Japanese databases.
Efforts to improve the distribution and publicity of academic
Japanese journals in science and technology are very weak.
Improvements need to be made during the writing, editing, and
publication stages. Technical reports and government publications
are difficult to access (these are sometimes called "grey
literature").
(2) Production, distribution, and utilization of Japanese information
needs to be internationalized. Standards for information on science
and technology need to be established and adhered to. Relationships
must be forged with overseas database service organizations. Basic
information, such as tables of contents, titles, etc., need to be
translated into English. As a case in point I would like to mention
the difficulties that I have had with papers from the Japanese
Information Processing Society. At each of this year's semiannual
meetings more than one thousand papers are presented. The papers are
mostly in Japanese but over 98% have English titles. Nevertheless,
the only place these English titles appear is at the bottom of each
article in the proceedings, currently six volumes per meeting. The
Society can only extract the titles by manual keyboard entry. If the
organization representing Japan's most advanced computer technology
has not come to grips with this problem it is not surprising that
other fields are even further behind.
(3) Online databases must be made easier to use by providing, access via
networks, 24 hour support services, appropriate communication
software, a supply system for document information to libraries and
others, and a mechanism to reduce the telecommunications costs.
(4) Increased publicity, and intermediaries between the end user outside
Japan and the Japanese database producer. Active use of new media
such as CD-ROMs, video disks, and electronic publishing.
NEW TRENDS RELATED TO DATABASES.
(1) Integrated services to allow access to data and then action, such as
product ordering.
(2) Globalization of databases, mostly through new trade agreements
allowing vendors of VAN to offer dedicated international lines.
(3) Multimedia databases with figures, video, and sound. One important
aspect of this in Japan is the rapid push to ISDN and associated
communication technology. At the moment Japan seems to be several
years behind the U.S. in the practical use of networks, but this is
seen as a key technology by both government and industry and the
pressure is really on to provide these services quickly.
(4) An urgent need--standardization. There is an international
organization (ISO/TC46) working on this but the Japan Database
Promotion Center feels that the Japanese response to this has been
very negative.
(5) Personalized databases because of links between mainframes and the
increasing number and power of workstations, as well as interactive
CDs, and more portable laptop computers.
(6) Growing connection to AI and expert systems to support ease of use.
(7) Growth of electronic publishing.
(8) Growth of networks.
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