It takes all kinds

I saw an article recently talking about Google's presence in Japan. It is one of the few countries they have not dominated.

"Earlier this year, Google’s splash page for Japan abandoned the company’s classic spare design and added links to YouTube, Gmail and other services — an attempt to lure Japanese users who favor sites decorated with a cacophony of text and graphics." ----NY Times

I am not sure why anyone would want a cacophony of text and graphics. It's distracting, loads slowly, uses lots of memory, and has a tendency not the render the same way across browsers, screens, etc.