The number of Japanese Internet users grew almost 100 percent in just one year. A significant part of this increase is due to the rapid growth of i-Mode.

The media in the West has called this phenomenon part of the information technology (IT) revolution. They said i-Mode is a new part of the IT revolution. But in Western countries the IT revolution started from desktop computers, whereas in Japan, the revolution started from mobile telephones.

Some Japanese experts agree that i-Mode is part of the IT revolution.

But I don't. It's just media hype.

I-Mode enables mobile phones to become Web phones, which can be used to surf the Web in limited ways. Most young people use i-Mode technology to send and receive e-mail while others use i-Mode to check stock prices.

Is this a revolution? I don't think so. What it actually does is entice young people to consume more.

I'm not against i-Mode. It is useful and convenient. But new ideas do not spring from this type of gadget. Innovations cannot come from i-Mode because of its limitations.

The IT revolution will come only when people figure out how to use IT in a novel and brilliant way. So far, there is no sign of this in Japan.

In addition, the IT issue addressed in the G-8 summit that was initiated by the Japanese government is nothing new. At the meeting, e-commerce and the ``digital divide'' were emphasized. The Japanese government established a $15-billion (1.7 trillion yen) fund for developing countries to tackle the problem of the digital divide and develop human resources.

But the more IT is promoted in developing countries, the larger the digital divide will become.

The world overvalues IT. It is just a means, not an end. And if the end is a happy life, there are a lot of other means than IT.

I have been in Japan for six months and I still don't understand the meaning of the IT revolution here. And most Japanese I know do not understand my position.

Many people have asked me if I miss my family. Of course I do, but not as much as they think because I can use the Internet to talk to my family almost every day with a software program called BuddyPhone.

And when I talk about ICQ (I seek you), an instant messaging program through the Internet that I use every day to contact journalists in Thailand, none of my Japanese friends knows anything about it.

More than 50 million people worldwide use this program. I wonder what ``IT revolution in Japan'' they are talking about?

The author is an assistant editor of Thailand's business newspaper Prachachat-turakit, which is owned by Matichon group, He stayed in Japan from March to August this year as a visiting journalist invited by Asahi Shimbun Asia Network.