"Hi, just read Carlos' assessment of the mac situation in Japan, and it looks right to me. i would like to add 2 things : there are a lot of gaijin in Japan, Tokyo mainly, but it's close to impossible to find any english mac software - including OS 8.5. It's a bit of a drag to once in a while stumble on some dusty program in english from 2 years ago, at twice the price of the current version in any other country. So who's going to open a english soft shop here?

Also, i live close to Osaka : the main mac store there is Mac Nomiya in DenDen Town ( where the vendors stink BIG time, though chances are they are as awful in the Windoze locations ). The store is much more crowded than a year ago, thanks to the iMac effect, young Japanese girls and guys mostly, which brings me to Carlos' idea of a pink iMac. It's a stroke of genius! A pink iMAc would just fly off the shelves in Japan. Please tell Steve to DO IT NOW !!! And for those of you who know a little more about what works here, what about a "I-Love-Kitty" iMac ?

Now of course, we can just wait for some windoze guys to paint their crappy wares pink and flood Japan with them. We would look stupid, wouldn't we ?

Bye,

jp"