Japan

The rapid development of information communication technology (ICT) has underpinned Japan’s economic growth for the last few decades. With fierce competition in the global ICT market, the Japanese government announced the ‘IT New Reform Strategy’ and ‘U-Japan’ to realize a sustainable IT society with a strong aim to make Japan a front runner in IT by 2010. This paper gives an overview of the current ICT condition in Japan, including Research and Development and Japan's strength and weakness in the field of ICT, as well as Japan's government policy on ICT.

This compilation of case studies explores some of the sound practices in the Asia-Pacific region in applications of information, communication and space technology for effective and efficient disaster risk reduction and management.