Prior research has found that both mass and social media can play an influential role in post-disaster recovery. In particular, media information has been found to encourage people to support the recovery efforts. However, the mechanisms underlying this process have not been thoroughly investigated. Such knowledge is essential for both governments and non-governmental organisations so that they may apply these findings in post-disaster recovery. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth investigation on how mass and social media can influence people's perceptions of a disaster and their behavioural intentions with respect to post-disaster recovery activities.
This study uses the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as a case study, and employs structural equation modelling with a data set of 2047 samples collected from an original Internet survey. Through the lens of cultivation theory, we find that mass and social media can play different roles and exert different influences on people's perceptions of the disaster. Mass media, specifically television is found to be the most influential, especially on those not directly affected by the disaster. Social media, on the other hand, although with a much weaker effect, can resonate more with those who were directly affected. Further, a positive perception of strong bonds in families and society as a result of media exposure is found to be the most effective in increasing the intention to participate in activities related to recovery such as boosting civic communications, taking altruistic actions and preparing for future disasters. The findings have implications for post-disaster recovery, in that they can provide a roadmap on how information via mass and social media can be used to motivate and connect the general public and the disaster victims. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prior research has found that both mass and social media can play an influential role in post-disaster recovery. In particular, media information has been found to encourage people to support the recovery efforts. However, the mechanisms underlying this process have not been thoroughly investigated. Such knowledge is essential for both governments and non-governmental organisations so that they may apply these findings in post-disaster recovery. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth investigation on how mass and social media can influence people's perceptions of a disaster and their behavioural intentions with respect to post-disaster recovery activities. This study uses the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake as a case study, and employs structural equation modelling with a data set of 2047 samples collected from an original Internet survey. Through the lens of cultivation theory, we find that mass and social media can play different roles and exert different influences on people's perceptions of the disaster. Mass media, specifically television is found to be the most influential, especially on those not directly affected by the disaster. Social media, on the other hand, although with a much weaker effect, can resonate more with those who were directly affected. Further, a positive perception of strong bonds in families and society as a result of media exposure is found to be the most effective in increasing the intention to participate in activities related to recovery such as boosting civic communications, taking altruistic actions and preparing for future disasters. The findings have implications for post-disaster recovery, in that they can provide a roadmap on how information via mass and social media can be used to motivate and connect the general public and the disaster victims.

The objective of this book is to present a comprehensive evaluation of the smart revolution, including its social and economic impacts. It proposes a modern framework to help assess how recent information and communication technologies (ICTs) can contribute to societies as a whole. The authors offer a guide to how advanced network technologies have led to a greater variety of applications and social networking services. These allow people to connect with each other both at a more personal and global level, and will ultimately herald a new era of ICTs that will shape the "digital society".

This paper outlines a proposal for a new framework for the provision of a universal service aimed at solving the various issues inherent in community informatization, and goes on to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed framework and review its feasibility. In order to ensure that telecommunications services are universally accessible, in less favored areas, a universal service is currently provided for analog landline telephones by using a universal service fund system to supplement a portion of the costs of the qualified telecommunications carriers. With the development of optical networks, optical IP phones have also been included as a technology for which universal service is provided, but at the same time dependence on landline phones is decreasing due to the popularity and convenience of cell-phones. As this is accompanied by developments such as the fact that almost 100% of Japanese households now have broadband access, there is a pressing need for radical review of the system from a technical perspective. Additionally, given that consumers organizations and other bodies strongly oppose the fact that carriers pass on the burden of their universal service fund contributions so that the full amount of contributions is shared among telephone number users, it is also necessary to reconsider the approach to how cost burdens are shared. At the same time, while 2.5 GHz band regional Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) has been made available for providing broadband in rural areas, its level of usage is low and ensuring its utilization is a matter of urgency. This paper will deal with these issues collectively, and propose a framework for maintaining and developing community informatization.

In recent years, it has been observed that many internet users engage in so-called "multi-task usage" or accessing the Internet while doing something else such as watching TV, or listening to the radio or music. This phenomenon is of particular interest for the way in which time is used concurrently for different tasks but it is difficult to estimate the benefit derived from this activity by using an ordinary maximizing utility framework under budget constraints including time allocation. In this study, we consider the "multi-task usage" of the Internet as a "new service" which becomes available because of new developments in technology. We used methods of evaluating a consumer surplus when there is a new product or service in the market. Based on the data available, our estimate indicates that the surplus amounts to about JPY 3,500 a day for an average user and that this can be greater within the current smart phone usage environment.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of the use of new and traditional media in post-disaster recovery after the Great East Japan Earthquake using data collected from the disaster area in March 2013. This study found that the use of both new (Web 2.0 applications) and traditional (informative television programmes) media can create some positive but indirect effects on the development of social capital elements that are critical for post-disaster recovery such as bonding trust, bridging networks and civic participation. These effects are mediated by online civic participation, which itself can be encouraged by the complementary use of television and Web 2.0 applications. By showing the effects and the mechanisms of the use of media on social capital development, the findings have some important implications for researchers as well as authorities and NGOs that are working on post-disaster recovery.

This paper aims to review the process of mobile phone operators agreeing to introduce mobile number portability (MNP) in Japan. A study group formed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications estimated the proportion of MNP users and analyzed the user benefits and associated costs to introduce MNP. Owing to the particular market structure and technology available, MNP was expected to yield a larger benefit in the Japanese mobile market than that seen in other countries. Based on the results of the research reviewed with respect to the market situation one year after introducing MNP, the increased competition in the mobile phone market was onfirmed by decreasing call charges and a reduction in the share of the dominant operator. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In this study, some obstacles in using information and communication technology (ICT) for public relation activities regarding environmental protection are reviewed. While there are many ways of dispersing information on environmental hazards, people may not be very responsive. In this study, we hypothesize that the obstacles to effective information dispersion can be attributed to factors such as limited memory retention, projection bias, and urgency of the problem, which are major concepts of behavioral economics. An empirical survey supports this hypothesis and emphasizes the need to overcome these obstacles in order to improve the efficiency of dispersing information on the environment. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

As the smartphone market grows rapidly, communication via smartphones is getting more popular and widespread in the world. Among others, use of mobile based Social Networking Services (SNS) has become a major communication method even with mobile phones. Especially, the Twitter, 140 character text-based SNS, well matches with the smartphone characteristics of instant Internet access with limited bandwidth, thus being the center of mobile based SNS usage especially by the young generation in East Asian metropolises such as Seoul and Tokyo. This paper explores the influence of smartphonebased Twitter usage by these young consumers through their smartphones on their social and interpersonal relations. It analyzes how the usage affects the relationships among college students by applying a cause-effect model with several latent factors, namely the usage of mobilebased Twitter, social network building, individual factors and social influence, which are composed of several observable variables. A structural equation model successfully visualized the correlations among the latent and observable variables. The result shows that the usage of smartphone-based Twitter in the young generation in Seoul and Tokyo has a limited influence on the social and interpersonal relationships in real life, and that persons having expertise have more social influence than celebrities having more Twitter followers.

Universal service is governed by a regulatory framework that guarantees nationwide access to basic telephone service over the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The ongoing network migration to IP networks, however, poses the question of how the existing framework Would accommodate this change.
Taking the case of Japan, this paper presents an overview of Japan's universal service system under the network migration and argues the importance of assessing consumer preference for universal service in adapting the system to this new environment. After describing the existing system including the universal service fund and the impacts of the transition to IP networks, the government's responses to cope with the change are reviewed. A system of universal access is proposed which is designed to ensure access rather than a specific service. To realize a new regulatory framework for universal access, studies will be necessary on issues such as the scope of universal access and ensuring sufficient compensation. Emphasizing the importance to evaluate consumer preference or willingness-to-pay for universal access, an empirical analysis in an experimental framework is conducted, which examines whether consumers are willing to accept the additional burden of sustaining universal access if they are well informed about the issue. Finally, challenges for future studies on universal access are referred. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Commercial broadcasting stations in Japan are licensed to broadcast in the area ; however, there is an ongoing debate over consolidating the industry by relaxing the principle of abatement of mass media concentration. In other words, in response to the development of digitalization, local broadcasting stations are reconsidering their business efficiency by opting for large-scale operations. For the broadcasting industry to pursue economy of scale, the stations could either increase their advertising revenue by providing high-quality programs (expansion of operational scale) or increase their share of audience household by expanding the broadcasting area. Increasing the advertising revenue requires programming designed to attract larger audiences, which seems to be costly. The expansion of operational scale can be achieved through merging other stations in neighboring prefectures. Consequently, the same content could be simultaneously distributed to a larger number of households. While there is a concern that spatial expansion (expansion of the broadcasting area) may result in a loss of localism, the positive aspect includes elimination of regional differences in information literary for those locals unable to receive such information and entertainment that people in other regions enjoy, due to the limited number of channels available for viewing. For spatial expansion by the consolidation of the broadcasting stations to be a measure to improve operational efficiency, it would be necessary that the industry shows the economy of scale. This paper will empirically test the economy of scale in terms of spatial expansion in the broadcasting stations.

In this paper, we analyze the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on the lives of consumers as well as the cause for differences in ICT usage between e-commerce and physical stores. One characteristic of ICT is the small marginal cost of distance and data space. It connects people at a uniform cost to and from any area around the world and makes it possible to use mega digital data at a minimal cost. The quantity of merchandise and information of shops are different between e-commerce and physical stores.<br> Thus in this study, we analyzed the characteristics of e-commerce, user/reader in terms of personal and business, and the impact of information acquired from websites on e-commerce. For this purpose, we used a covariance structure analysis to determine the relationship of latent factors affecting the purchase of books from e-commerce and physical shops.<br> As a result, we found that obtaining information about e-commerce shops does not increase the usage of e-commerce. Moreover, the latent factor of essential information that is obtained from choosing books increases the purchase of goods in the real stores. On the other hand, information about reputation increases purchase of goods through the e-commerce.<br><br>JEL Classification: D12

This paper explores similarities and differences in mobile phone usage between subscribers from five major metropolitan cities across East Asia. Technological advances have been widely adopted by consumers throughout this region, most recognizably via the mobile platform with mobile Internet, email, video-conferencing, e-commerce, and other types of mobile phone-related services becoming critical factors in the daily lives of East Asian consumers. Those living in urban areas have benefited most from these new technologies and services, and more specifically, younger generations have adopted mobile phone-related services far faster than their older counterparts. However little research to date has explored the similarities and differences between mobile phone usage behavior of younger, urban consumers across this region. This paper presents the results of a comparative study of mobile consumer behavior of university students across five major cities including Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo. We found that the dependency of young people on mobile phone services was similar among the cities surveyed, however the specific factors influencing their usage and the communications technologies that they used varied significantly across markets. © 2007, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.

Act on the Protection of Personal Information was enforced in April 2005, in Japan. It aims to support and promote the use of ICT by protecting personal information that is collected, used or disclosed in certain circumstances. Its effect, however, seems to be still unsatisfactory because the number of entities which contravene the Act has not decreased even after its enforcement.This paper distinguishes four categories of the accidents. Most of them can be chalked up to carelessness of the entities or an inside job although computer hacking is still regarded as a major thread. Security technology is effective but not perfect to prevent illegal access from happening because it is almost useless to protect personal information from authorized but malicious use or access from inside. In addition, cost-effectiveness mut be considered when an entity takes measures of personal information protection. Thus, this paper proposes a tracing and recording system of computer network access as an efficient post-accident tool for tracking back both authorized and unauthorized access.

Provided "data broadcasting" will be interactive and friendly to end-users (i.e., digital TV terminals for bidirectional communication and easy-to-use remote controllers to gam access to administrative and community information), terrestrial digital broadcasting is expected to become the mainstream method for providing administrative services to local residents. The municipalities are also moving toward an e-local government, and are contemplating using data broadcasting as a means of delivering to their residents community information, reservation information and guides to public facilities, health consultation, disaster prevention information, and other administrative information. The reality, however, is that 100% access to the Internet is practically not feasible, and in fact, it will be difficult for it to even become the norm. On the contrary, due to its anticipated dissemination to almost all households, digital televisions would be effective in widely communicating information, especially that critical to resident safety and relief such as natural disasters. Furthermore, it would contribute to bridging and narrowing the digital divide (difference between the "information rich" and the "information poor"). By the time local broadcasting stations commence their digitalized terrestrial broadcasting in year 2006, the municipalities are expected to complete their transition to e-local governments. In effect, a wealth of information will be transmitted over the Internet. It would therefore be important to make the contents available on the television. However in broadcasting, which is characterized by simultaneous transmission of uniform information, the design of the contents requires technical attention and knowledge. In this respect, it is preferable the structure of "local information center" be adopted and jointly operated by several broadcasting stations. The rationale behind this is that development of the contents must take into account publicity and the nature of mass media, and thus should be clearly differentiated from "broadcasting" over the Internet. As a precondition, we would like to investigate whether the broadcasting industry, by jointly operating and subdividing the broadcasting domain by region, is a type of business that can increase its overall efficiency.

This paper is based on a questionnaire survey that was conducted on senior high school students (both in urban and rural areas) in the State of Kelantan, Malaysia. Our objective is to present the causal relationship using Covariance Structural Analysis of the factors that are perceived to encourage the teenagers to use the Internet service. Based on the data collected from the survey, we can also make a comparison on the levels and patterns of the Internet usage between the urban and rural teenagers in Kelantan. Then, we come up with recommendations on how to address the issue of the diffusion of Internet usage, especially on how to bridge the digital gap between the urban and rural population. © 2002, JAPAN SECTION OF THE REGIONAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL. All rights reserved.