Software Products, Page 1

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Applied Business Communications and Type*Rite, ZA>COM / Kenkyusha, 3 versions published between 1985-1990
    “The result is a work of art, ingenuity and programming virtuosity called Type*Rite. First of all it’s not bilingual; it’s multilingual. It teaches the user how to use the NEC 9801 keyboard in ten different modes. Not only all this but it displays everything in high-res 3-D pastel graphics. Beautiful!”
(From “Mathison’s Masterpiece of Bilingual Software” by John Boyd, The Japan Times, March 10, 1986
“While TYPE*RITE is arguably the Rolls-Royce of typing programs, ABC is perhaps the more ambitious of the two. It allows a Japanese secretary with the most tenuous grasp of English to create flawless business correspondence in English, completely customized with all the particulars. ... ZA>COM has given us one of slickest office programs in years.”
(From “Kings of Kanjitronics” by Wick Smith, Tokyo Journal, November, 1986)
“Recently foreigners have been developing software for the Japanese market, and I’m really impressed with the high quality of their efforts. Among them is C Mathison, whose program ABC*TYPE*RITE is being widely used in our business schools. ... How can foreigners make such wonderful products? One reason is some of them have a unique creative talent that is sensitive to local culture no matter where in the world they are. Another is that they take so much time to painstakingly perfect their products.”
(From “Changing Media-Keyboard Culture” by Kosaku Shirota, Asahi Shimbun, November 30, 1987)

Hello! A Celebration of QuickTime CD-ROM, Imagine21/Apple Computer, December 1991
    “Four guys prove that creativity is never where you expect to find it.
    “I’m always looking for surprises. In fact, I half expect to walk into the next breakthrough product or application every time I go out. And that’s the fun of it. In the U.S., I’ve been surprised from New England to the silicon vineyards of California. But most recently, as I left a tiny rooftop office in Tokyo, I knew there was more to come from Japan.
    “Tipped off a fellow Macintosh devotee, I met Chris Mathison in Toshima-ku, Tokyo. Chris, an animated talker and spirited thinker, as well as a former NEC software developer, led me up a winding flight of stairs, chatting as we climbed.
    “What Chris and his three fellow developers had to show me was truly eye-opening and gave me a peek at what multimedia is about to become. Hello! A Celebration of QuickTime.
    “Hello represents a new genre of Macintosh new media. One that is personal, as compelling as a good movie, complex as a good novel, yet as approachable as a comic book and simpler than a video to use.
    “What gives Hello its life are the countless clips of QuickTime movies that have been incorporated into the fabric of this breakthrough program.”
(From “Start Up, Multimedia New Wave” by David Ushijima, Editor-in-Chief, Macworld Japan, March 1992)

“The New Breed-How Aspiring Foreign Entrepreneurs Cope in Japan” by Adam Woog, Winds-the In-flight Magazine of Japan Airlines, July 1986
    For many foreigners, the idea of doing business in Japan is a seductive one—such a market, such potential! And the added prospect of tackling the country’s airtight economic structure from within-competing with the Japanese on their own turf—can be nearly irresistible.
    Which is not to say it’s easy. Hurdles abound: cultural differences and language barriers, muddled distribution and personnel problems, undercapitalization and sky-high rents can make life tough for even the sharpest entrepreneur, especially one who forgoes the security of a large company for the freedom of a small, solo operation. It may be difficult, but it’s not impossible. Increasingly kokusai-teki-na— international—attitudes plus more liberalized trade laws, a virtual dismantling of investment restrictions, increasing competition among domestic firms and a trend among workers away from lifetime employment towards more challenging careers—have made the environment for foreign-owned business in Japan better than ever. More than 1500 foreign-owned or affiliated companies now operate in Japan; the field is dominated by the US and Europe, though Asian businessmen recently have been making greater inroads.
    Profiled here are a few of the “new breed” of foreign entrepreneurs in Japan, dedicated people with endless energy and patience who have built their businesses around minimal capital and a few loyal helpers in one of the world’s most demanding markets. They’ve combined an entrepreneurial spirit of adventure with simple business smarts to produce the right services and the right products at the right time. (author’s profile)

“The ABC of Writing Letters” by Mark Schreiber, The Magazine (Tokyo City Magazine), February 1987
    When an American, who neither speaks nor reads fluent Japanese, writes a bilingual program that takes the Japanese software market by storm, you know something out of the ordinary has taken place.
    The new program, called ABC*TYPE*RITE, can be described as a labor of love by Chris Mathison, a 42-year-old American whose story is no less remarkable than the software itself.
    Six years ago, like many new computer users, Mathison fell in love with with his first PC (an Apple II) and the WordStar word-processing program. While working as a Japan Times business correspondent, an idea occurred to him: Why not store business letter templates and make them available to secretaries and students at business colleges? With the encouragement of Gyo Hani, then executive editor of The Japan Times, Mathison took his idea to local hardware firms, including NEC, makers of Japan’s top-selling personal computer series. Their initial reaction was favorable so he formed a company called ZA>Communications, set up shop in a tiny office in Ginza and got down to work.
    ABC*TYPE*RITE cleared a major hurdle when ZA>COM concluded a distribution agreement with YDK, NEC’s prime distributor. About the same time, furious competition began heating up between major hardware manufacturers because of the government’s decision to introduce computers on a large scale in public schools, and in the rush to market ABC*TYPE*RITE received official approval from the Ministry of Education. The result was a decision to bundle (sell as a set) the program with NEC computers shipped to high schools and colleges all over Japan.
    Suddenly, tiny ZA>COM (three employees) had a Top-20 bestseller on its hands.

Demos, Kiosks and Courseware, Imagine21, 1991-1994
Produced numerous multimedia programs for corporate clients. Among them: Apple Computer, Adobe, Macromedia, RasterOps/TrueVision, SuperMac, Radius. Interactive programs were used to demo products at trade shows, train marketing and sales personnel in the use of their company’s multimedia products, and showcase emerging technologies for large groups at international conferences and expos.

“Morning-Bill Gates, Microsoft-The convergence of computers & communications is opening up a whole new industry. What’s its shape & what does it mean to NZ?”
“Afternoon-Chris Mathison, Imagine21-Technology Showcase-What does it mean? Digital video, authoring & delivery platforms, digital highways, voice recognition ... A Tokyo-based technology prophet explains the technology and demonstrates the world’s first fully voice-driven training programme.”
(From “Keynote Speakers” Interactive94, New Zealand’s Inaugural New Media Conference February 1, 1994)

Kanda Multimedia, Interactive Courseware, Imagine21, 3 versions published between 1994-1997; Licensed to training centers throughout Japan, Australia and New Zealand
“Dazzling at Sydney’s Macworld Expo: an up-to-the-minute implementation of Apple’s latest integration technology. The fully fledged multimeda training program includes a voice-recognition interface and intelligent agents, who in this case are live actors that advise you each step of the way. Developed by Chris Mathison of Tokyo-based Imagine21, the program interweaves four powerful scripting languages: Lingo, HyperTalk, AppleScript and WindowScript, in addition to a substantial number of custom XCMDs and XFCNs installed in the modules. ... Chris was negotiating with Australian educational institutions for licensing at the time we met, and we thought the holiday break might be a good time to ponder what life would be like with all of the above in the Christmas stocking.”
(From “AMW News” Australian Macworld December/January 1993-94)

“Multimedia’s Mixed Messages” by Melanie Young, Intersect-Japan and the World, August 1993
    It’s not every day that a tall, distinguished-looking man in a three-piece suit hands you an business card announcing his job title as “Prophet.” But that mixture of seriousness and fun sets the tone at Imagine21, a software development and training center in Tokyo dedicated to plunging its clients into computing’s new wave: multimedia.
    Combining the energy and enthusiasm of a 20-year-old with a profound understanding of computers and software, 48-year-old American Chris Mathison clearly savors his role as teacher and multimedia “prophet,” patiently explaining a technique, mixing in praise, suggestions, and friendly banter.
    Imagine21 is an outgrowth of “Hello,” an interactive CD-ROM Mathison wrote for Apple last year that wittingly interweaves the latest QuickTime technology with video clips and booming rock and roll. “Hello” debuted during the keynote session at MacWorld San Francisco, and, in the words of Paul Wollaston, market development manager for Apple Computer Worldwide, “It blew the entire convention hall away.”

“A Warm Boot Routine-Technology Takes Japan to the Edge” by D.W. Jackson, The Imperial, Summer 1994
    Japan’s classrooms remain relatively computer-poor and dependent on rote learning, despite official lip service about having to cope with an information-intensive world. Desperate competition for an ever-diminishing pool of students, however, has caused at least one large educational institution to gamble on something completely different.
    In the midst of one of the worst recessions Japan has ever experienced, the nation’s biggest vocational school has just spent the yen equivalent of a million dollars to equip a single classroom. Inside this costly classroom are 47 Macintosh desktop computers—super-fast, incredibly powerful, high-end multimedia machines. Making them even more the envy of any publishing, recording, movie making or graphics-design operation is the eye-popping array of hardware peripherals and software supplements attached to each (see page 8), the latest and best the personal computing world has to offer.
    But this is no editorial room or design workshop. It’s a skills lab, one based on a new multimedia learning program called “Kanda MM Interactive,” designed to help narrow computer literacy gap that separates Japan from the rest of the industrial world.
    “I designed the program with two goals in mind: to teach students English and to give them multimedia skills,” says the program’s creator, Chris Mathison.
    Mathison freely admits the program is geared to appeal to young Japanese at the post-secondary level who were raised on video games, are increasingly influenced by Western culture—particularly MTV—and are attempting to “discover themselves.”
    With this system, the students becomes stars and producers, creating their own movies, morph sequences, TV and radio commercials, digital music, 3-D animations, and so on,” he says. The multimedia skills they learn will give them a jump-start on technology that will soon be a part of everyone’s lives.”

“Welcome to British Hills,” 360-Degree Virtual Walkthrough Created by Imagine21 for British Hills Corporation, 1996
    In Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, near the town of Shirakawa, lies an incredible resort complex called British Hills. It is a recreation of an English countryside manor and village.
    But no place in England ever looked like British Hills, which incorporates seven centuries of British architectural and interior styles among its structures, spread out over seventeen hectares—the Anglo equivalent of Disneyland’s Main Street, USA. Another reason: the surroundings of this facility are mountainous —dramatic, towering, snow-capped (a major ski resort is only 40 minutes away).
    “Welcome to British Hills” is a totally realistic, scaleable QuickTimeVR (for Windows and Macintosh) interactive environment that takes the visitor through every manor room, the outdoors and to various other buildings on the estate grounds. Every multi-node scene can be panned, zoomed and rotated 360 degrees. Sometimes manor servants appear as video composites to greet and guide the visitor. An original classic score plays softly in the background. Objects such as keys, vases and library books can be picked up and examined as 3-D objects. This elaborate production made its debut as a featured presentation at Tokyo Macworld Expo in order to show audiences the possibilities with Apple’s then just-released QuickTimeVR technology.

“Manor House” in QuickTimeVR by Chris Mathison, Imagine21, 1997
360 Degree Panoramic Environment
Manor House’s totally realistic, scaleable QuickTime VR interactive environment is unique. As the main attraction in this production, it offers many new exciting possibilities in shaping the player’s experience in the game. When panning and zooming from various points in a room, players feel as though they are actually there, moving naturally through each scene.
Surround Sound Digital Audio
As players navigate through each scene, they immediately notice that the location and volume of a sound effect—for example, a ringing telephone, or music playing through the pub’s speakers—will change as they move towards or away from the sound source—just as it does in the real world.
Video Compositing
Because the QTVR background in Manor House is photorealistic, and the video clips involving characters are composited perfectly into the scenes, it looks as if each character was filmed on location, and that the entire game is an interactive movie.
3-D Animation
A various points in the game, players trigger full-screen animations where bookcases revolve or huge shelves slide away. Whereupon, one might tumble down a spiraling passageway or staircase and end up in a completely different part of the manor!
Voice Recognition
Not only do Manor House characters speak to players throughout the game, but they also understand what players say in reply—and act accordingly. One effect of this amazing technology is that players can replay Manor House over and over and experience multiple scenarios and outcomes.

DesigningSuccess.us-Web-Based, Sales Tracking Software for Business, Created for Designing Success Inc., 2001

Tracking At-A-Glance™ (Business) software manages prospects, clients, contacts, orders, expenses and budgets. Via an attractive, intuitive, easy-to-learn user interface, managers are able to maintain complete sales records, plus track client activity and contact information. The system also includes company bulletin boards, discussion forums, daily planners, appointment calendars, personnel records and an optional "clock-in/out" system to track employee attendance. All funding sources, service providers, community resources and vendors are also tracked, and--like client data--are fully searchable. Additional features include varying levels of security and attendant privileges for each user group. One example of this is that proposed site-wide announcements are submitted by staff members but must be approved by management before they are publicly displayed. Another is that vendors can be given the ability to log into the system but only have access to their own account information. For the extensive note system, there is a built-in spell checker, and the dictionaries are customizable. Since this application is web-based, all updates occur in real time, thus presenting instant information to all users regardless of their physical location, while avoiding duplication of entries. Another valuable built-in feature is "Database Tools." By means of a simple point-and-click interface, the system administrator can easily customize the application (designating drop-down selection items for Note Types, Payment Categories, etc. or editing spell-check dictionaries) without requiring a programmer. Sales managers able to assemble and print detailed reports, as needed, for any area of the tracking system.

TrackResidents.com-Web-Based, Case Management Software for City, County, State and Federal Housing Authorities, Created for Designing Success Inc., 2003

Tracking At-A-Glance™ (Housing) software is designed to manage large caseloads--from residency through training, job placement and retention. Via an attractive, intuitive, easy-to-learn user interface, managers are able to maintain resident records in household, social service, education and employment categories, plus track case management notes, resident referrals (for training, childcare, counseling, etc.), entrepreneurial activity and work history information. The system also includes staff bulletin boards, discussion forums, daily planners, appointment calendars, personnel records and an optional "clock-in/out" system to track staff and/or resident attendance in CSS referral programs. All housing, funding programs, service providers, community resources and vendors are also tracked, and--like resident data--are fully searchable. Additional features include varying levels of security and attendant privileges for each user group. One example of this is that proposed site-wide announcements are submitted by staff members but must be approved by management before they are publicly displayed. Another is that service providers can be given the ability to log into the system but only have access to resident enrollments in their service. For the extensive note system, there is a built-in spell checker, and the dictionaries are customizable. Since this application is web-based, all updates occur in real time, thus presenting instant information to all users regardless of their physical location, while avoiding duplication of entries. This reduces "paperwork" and enables the staff to effectively manage their caseloads thus providing more actual services to residents. Another valuable built-in feature is "Database Tools." By means of a simple point-and-click interface, the system administrator can easily customize the application (designating drop-down selection items for Note Types, Social Service Categories, etc. or editing spell-check dictionaries) without requiring a programmer. Case managers able to assemble and print detailed reports, as needed, for any area of the tracking system, in addition to HOPE VI Quarterly CSS Reports required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).