Google Street View debuts in Japan

(No, that's not a Street View pic, of course.)

Well, it appears that Google Street View has come to Japan. Now you can find images of Japanese neighborhoods in Google Maps, including the candid shots of people doing things that they wouldn't be doing if they knew they were on film, just like Street View anywhere...

...and that may be a problem.

In a lengthy blog post (translated here), Japanese IT professional Osamu Higuchi points out:

The residential roads of Japan's urban areas are a part of people's living space, and it is impolite to photograph other people's living spaces.

This is because traditionally, Japan's residential areas have been very crowded, and it became the cultural norm to "not see" some of the things around you, such as clothes hanging out to dry, old men sitting around in their underwear trying to keep cool...

According to the morals of urban area residents in Japan, the assumption that “it is scenery [viewable] from public roads and therefore it must be public” is in fact incorrect. Quite the contrary, [these morals state that] “people walking along public roads must avert their glance from the living spaces right before their eyes”.

One wonders if Google will take this cultural difference into account and change their practices for Japan. After all, they haven't hesitated before trespassing into private property for better pictures in other countries...