Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life is the title of a new book published by MIT Press that attempts at understanding how mobile technology shapes Japan’s culture — and our own.
Co-edited by University of Southern California research scientist Mizuko Ito, Keio University lecturer Daisuke Okabe and Misa Matsuda of Tokyo’s Chuo University, the book examines, through a series of real-world case studies, the relationship between mobile technology and Japanese society. In doing so, it sheds light on the way handheld connectivity tends to reshape cultures worldwide.