Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
Speaker - Mark Devlin, Crisscross K.K.

September 07 2004 -
Mr. Mark Devlin - CEO & Publisher of Crisscross KK and Japan Today.

Metropolis and Japan Today: Past, Present and Future.

Profile
Mark is from Glasgow, Scotland, where he studied Production Engineering and Management. Arriving in Japan in October 1989, he worked different jobs from an English teaching to a Network Administrator position at Jardine Fleming Securities before becoming an IT Consultant designing database systems. Together with his wife Mary, he formed Crisscross Inc (later Crisscross KK) in 1993 to publish Tokyo Classified, Tokyo's first classified ad magazine. Since then the magazine, now renamed Metropolis, has grown to be the No. 1 English magazine in Japan, with 30,000 audited copies distributed each week. In June 2000, Mark and Mary launched Japan Today, a Japan news and information portal which is the world's leading source of Japan news.

Mark is currently working on a screenplay about the final years of Yukio Mishima, the acclaimed novelist who committed ritual suicide after an abortive military coup in 1970. He has two children, Aran, born in June 2002 and a new addition, a daughter, Kara, born in July 2004.

Profile
Crisscross Incorporated was setup by Mark and Mary Devlin to publish Tokyo Classified in 1993. Starting as a four-page sheet handed out on the street, Tokyo Classified, renamed Metropolis in 2001, has now grown to 64 full-color pages each week and is Tokyo's definitve city guide, including feature articles on life in Japan, a full entertainment guide, plus hundreds of classified ads. Metropolis is the only English magazine in Japan that has its circualtion of 30,000 copies/week verified by Japan's Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Crisscross KK was originally setup in 1994 to provide Internet services to Tokyo's international community. The business was a leader in using premium-rate telephony to provide anonymous pay-as-you-go Internet access. The provider business was sold in 1999. Shortly after, Crisscross KK bought Crisscross Inc. and all products are now made under Crisscross KK.

Japan Today is the world's leading source of Japan news. The site http://www.japantoday.com  includes daily news and lively discussions on Japan-related issues, a full Tokyo city guide from Metropolis, thousands of classified ads and an upcoming Yahoo-style web directory. Japan Today has seven million page views/month and one million unique users each month. Japan Today recently launched Friendfinder, an affiliate-driven personal contact site.

Crisscross Creative was setup in 2003 to give clients access to Crisscross's experience in print and web design. Due to the rapid turnaround of our magazine we offer what we call "managed design", which means that we are easily able to manage accurate and timely design work. The business has a staff of three and has done work for major clients such as Dentsu, NTT.com, Sanseido and Air New Zealand. 

Crisscross KK has been profitable for eight years. It employs 35 staff from over 10 different countries. Our staff enjoy working in a relaxed, but focused creative international environment in leafy Omotesando.