In the News... Japan Speeds Up
An aggressive fiber-optic cable installation program implemented by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT), along with a national electrical infrastructure using higher quality copper wire, installed following the destruction of the Second World War, has provided the physical basis for higher speed and better quality Internet connections in Japan, surpassing the United States and competing with South Korea and Europe.
Such speeds allow the Japanese to watch high-quality, full-screen television and to have teleconferences over the Internet. Plans for telemedicine are now possible, with improved image quality allowing doctors to diagnose patients by way of Internet cameras (Blaine Harden, "Japan's Warp-Speed Ride to Internet Future," The Washington Post, Aug. 29, 2007).