Japan has slipped from eighth to 12th place in the rankings of global information and communication technology development. According to this year's survey by the International Telecommunication Union, Japan fell out of the top 10 for nations for high-speed communication networks.
While part of the slip is the result of other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong making rapid progress in this area, the worry remains that Japan may be losing its edge in communication and information technology.
Japan's overall level of services such as broadband speed and mobile phone usage did not fall behind, but other countries have quickly expanded and developed their infrastructures.