Japan users prefer to hide identity online

Japanese people remain quite aloof when it comes to social networking websites and of those who do use them, hardly anyone is willing to reveal their photograph or even their first name, the Los Angles Times has reported.

On Mixi, Japan’s predominant online hangout, users have not only blocked their profiles to outsiders but many 20-somethings show themselves as 80-odd year old women. Mixi has around 15 million users and a large number of them follow this pattern.

YouTube is a very popular website, but users who opt for ‘Broadcast Yourself’ are rare. It is much more common for them to post videos of their pets. If websites such as Match.com are used, where the entire idea is to meet strangers, less than half of the members of Match.com in Japan are inclined to post their photographs. This is incredibly low when compared to the US where almost every member posts their photographs.

The scenario in Japan is much more similar to their real world where spontaneous exchanges of information are very uncommon, even in places like the jam-packed streets and trains of Tokyo, and the television news shows usually blur faces in the background to protect their privacy.

The person in charge of YouTube’s Japan site’s partner development, Tomoe Makino, has said:

“We cannot change the mindset of Japanese people. It’s the uniqueness of Japanese culture - anonymous works in Japan.”

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