Twitter Chief Executive Evan Williams was last week in Japan to celebrate the phenomenal growth of the microblogging service in the country with an official event.

AP has more details here and below:

Twitter has been a huge hit in Japan. As Williams noted in his presentation, Japanese tweeters set a world record when the whistle blew in the World Cup game in which Japan beat Denmark at 3,283 tweets per second, mostly believed to have been Japanese.

Williams — appearing in a T-shirt with the Twitter trademark bird set in a red circle, the symbol of the Japanese flag — said when Twitter held a similar event in 2008, only 40 people came.

Not only have Japanese like Takayama embraced Twitter, but they are also tweeting with a vehemence unparalleled in other parts of the world, including the United States. San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. estimates Japanese send nearly 8 million tweets a day, about 12 percent of the global total.

As covered recently Twitter’s popularity in Japan has seen a huge increase compared in earlier in the year. Back in January when I adapted Sysomos’ measurement of the Twittersphere for Asia, Indonesia came out top across the continent with an estimated share of voice of 2.34 percent, with Japan well behind with just 1.47 percent.

The Sysomos research was taken from October and November 2009 since when Twitter usage worldwide has grown hugely, with the US share of voice dropping below 50 percent for the first time. Since late 2009 Twitter usage in Asia has increased, and is a major source of new traffic responsible for the US’s reduction in dominance – with more tweets coming from outside Twitter’s home nation.

There is no doubt Indonesia usage of the service has grown, social networks in the country have a big role as the unofficial fifth estate, but has it grown fast enough to match Japan’s near ten fold increase?

It is like to be a close run affair contest. While Indonesia has a huge population of more than 220 million (nearly double that of Japan), a vibrant and active social media community and a fast-growing rate of smartphone ownership, Japan’s advanced technology, long history of mobile internet and mature consumer habits cause me to think, if pushed for a winner, Japan is now Asia’s biggest tweeter.

Then, city-wise, there is Jakarta, the reigning champ, against Tokyo – another close call.

Now would be a great time for Sysomos, Twitter or someone else comes out with credible statistics…hint hint guys.

Regardless of the statistics though, both countries represent a new, significant Asian emergence on global social networks with Asian countries rivalling dominant western countries for share of voice and further pushing the case for media marketing in Asia.