Building Search From Scratch.(Business; Japan)(Cover story)

Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi

Government and industry try to leapfrog Yahoo and Google.

Japan has always prided itself on being a technology leader, so it rankled that outsiders -- Americans all -- dominate the local market for Web search. Yahoo is first, followed by Google and MSN, with Japan's Goo and BiGlobe trailing behind. This situation has apparently triggered many urgent meetings at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which last April launched a three-year campaign to rectify it by developing Japan's own search technology. Loosely translated as the Great Voyage Information Project, the campaign reflects the ministry's belief that a handful of Japanese companies and universities are sitting on technology with whiz-bang potential -- if only they would join forces to release it. "There is a limit to what one individual company can do," says Atsushi Yasuda, deputy director in charge of the project.

In its glory days, METI was instrumental in building Japan into an industrial giant, but that was decades ago. Whether it can pick Internet winners has yet to be seen. Rather than trying to develop a Google rival, the METI consortium will focus on developing technology used to search and analyze information available not only online but also on mobile phones, smart-money cards and other electronic media, like real-time car navigation systems. The ultimate ...