As anyone who's spent much time in Japan can tell you, rumors of a technological paradise have been greatly exaggerated. While the country may be a world leader in things like high-speed rail and mobile payments, a lack of public Wi-Fi and an over-reliance on fax machines persist.

So it is with the transition to digital content, where - despite the country's huge appetite for consumer electronics - Japan continues to lag much of the world in offering services for the living room and beyond.

In fact, while we've been covering the fight for the living room all week, the lack of a traditional "living room" in Japanese homes may be partly to blame. With typically cramped living quarters, it's not particularly common for families to have regular access to a large screen for movies and so on - witness the Wii U, heavily pushed as a "second screen" so that you don't dominate the TV - and Japanese people have in the past been happy to get as much done as possible on their phones, being as they are the most personal of devices.