Are you taking great pictures in Japan and sharing them with friends, family or twitter followers?  The days of developing photographs at the local camera shop and mailing duplicates out to people are long gone.  Now it’s all links to flickr, Picasa, or other photo sharing websites.  Just plug your camera or memory card into your computer, download the photos, sort them, upload them, tag them, group them, copy the link and email it out and people around the world can be looking at your one-of-a-kind shot of fish guts from Tsukiji, Japanese schoolgirls in Harajuku, or all your co-workers flashing peace signs at the last nomikai.

But even that seems like too much work. Enter Eye-Fi, the magic memory card that does all that work for you. The card is not just a SD compatible memory card, but also has a built in wi-fi antenna and can upload your pictures to your computer or directly to the most popular internet photo sharing sites without having to ever take the card out of your camera.  These cards have been around for a few years now and are popular enough that a few of the newer point and shoot digital cameras are starting to integrate the function directly into the camera.

The big news is that Eye-Fi cards have a special feature in Japan that not many know about.  In the summer of 2009, Eye-Fi announced that through an agreement with NTT Hotspot, Eye-Fi cards would be able to upload pictures from any Hotspot in their network *for FREE*.  No registration, credit card, or account required.  Since NTT Hotspot operates one of the most extensive networks of Hotspots in Japan, when I heard this I was pretty excited. Of course I was soon to be disappointed.  After the scheduled launch date of the service, I tested out the system all over Tokyo only to have my camera just sit there, calmly oblivious to the wi-fi signals all around.  I finally heard from someone at Eye-Fi Japan that the settings were not really in operation at most locations.  The lack of any further press or updates on the Eye-Fi webpage led me to believe the dream had perhaps died.

Then a few weeks ago I’m sitting in a cafe and I snap a quick picture.  Within seconds ‘m shocked to get an email letting me know my photo has uploaded to flickr.  I guess someone finally plugged something in or paid a bill because all of a sudden the card is finally working as advertised.  Since then  I’ve uploaded photos from coffee shops,  restaurants, train stations, and hotels all over Tokyo and I have to admit it works great.  Within a minute or so of taking the picture, the photo is uploaded to flickr, a notification is emailed to me and I can even have it update on my twitter or facebook accounts.  Now I can take pictures at a party and people can see my overexposed shots even before I get home.

While all Eye-Fi cards will not automatically connect to an NTT Hotspot, It is pretty easy to set any card up, even cards purchased outside of Japan.  In fact, I am using a 4GB Eye-Fi Explore card that is not even available in Japan yet (and adds a cool GPS tagging feature that works great in Tokyo). You simply log into your Eye-Fi account on a computer while you have your Eye-Fi card plugged in.  Then in the Settings – Wireless Networks section, add a new network manually with network name “0033”.  The password should fill in automatically.  Once this network has been added, the card should connect to any NTT Hotpot and upload your photos automatically.

You can get Eye-Fi cards at some of the larger electronic stores in Tokyo or from Amazon.co.jp, but if you can buy one before you come to Japan, you might find cheaper prices and newer cards with more functions in your home country. I’ve had a lot of fun with this function and if you would like to see photos taken follow this link to my mobile photo uploads. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenagata/sets/72157615807476364/