A survival skill in shrinking Japan: Learn English

Japanese billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani decided two years ago that the employees at his company, Rakuten Inc., should work almost entirely in English. The idea, he said, was a daring and drastic attempt to counter Japan's shrinking place in the world. "Japanese people think it's so difficult to speak English," Mikitani said. "But we need to break the shell."

Lessons from Japan: Not all companies sink in hard times

Japan and its stock market have been a tough sell for the better part of two decades - and with good reason. Nearly a generation after the collapse of its property and market bubbles in the late 1980s, the country remains hobbled by soaring deficits, debt and periodic bouts of deflation and despair. There was a time when economists regarded Japan as an anomaly among developed countries - a thankfully rare example of what can happen when timid politicians face an overwhelming financial and economic crisis armed with ineffective policies and an unwillingness or inability to tackle contentious fiscal, banking and market reforms.

4 Held Over Software to Copy DVDs

Four employees, including one executive, of a Tokyo-based publisher were arrested Tuesday for allegedly selling a DVD-copying guidebook bundled with software able to remove DVDs' copy protection. The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Yoshiaki Kaizuka, 43, an executive of Chiyoda Ward publisher Sansai Books Inc., and three other company employees on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, and sent papers on the firm to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office. According to a senior police official, these are the nation's first arrests over the distribution of software to remove copy protection.

Expected Workforce in 2030 to Fall by 8.45M

The number of employed people may drop by as much as 8.45 million by 2030 from the 2010 figure of 62.98 million, according to a labor ministry panel of experts studying the country's employment policy. In its report unveiled Monday, the panel emphasized the need for the government to help women and young people find and secure jobs because the decline in employees is likely to hinder the nation's economic growth. The estimate of a maximum contraction of 8.45 million was made on the basis of assumptions that economic growth will remain at zero percent and the number of working women and elderly will remain unchanged through 2030.

Visit Ancient Temples of Japan with Google's World Wonders Project

A new site from Google puts its Street View tools to work to showcase some of the most storied and beautiful places on Earth. Google unveiled this morning a new undertaking from its Cultural Institute called the World Wonders Project. On the site, viewers can explore a map with pins marking famed places around the world and then, aided by visuals from Google's Street View technology, they can go in and explore "in 360 degrees just as if you were there." The project currently includes 132 destinations from 18 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. No sites from Africa have yet been included, and the offerings from South America and Asia are noticeably sparse. Google did not say how it had made decisions about what to highlight, but that the selection would expand over time. Partners including UNESCO and World Monuments Fund provided information that runs alongside the virtual destinations.

AirAsia Japan to Offer 5 yen Promotional Fares for Domestic Routes

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- AirAsia Japan Co., a budget airline owned partly by All Nippon Airways Co., said Wednesday it will start selling one-way tickets on its website for 5 yen for 10,000 seats on three domestic routes in a special campaign ahead of its inaugural flight scheduled for Aug. 1. The promotional tickets are available for flights linking Narita International Airport near Tokyo to Sapporo, Fukuoka and Naha in Okinawa Prefecture. The Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Fukuoka flights will commence on Aug. 1, while the Tokyo-Okinawa route will start on Aug. 3. The special tickets will be sold for four days from Thursday to Sunday for flights from Aug. 28 to Nov. 28. AirAsia Japan said the minimum regular fare for the Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Fukuoka routes will be 4,580 yen and 5,180 yen, respectively. The minimum fare for the Tokyo-Okinawa route will be 6,680 yen. Passengers will be charged an additional 150 yen in commission, the airline said.

Harry Potter heads to Universal Studios Japan

Harry Potter has conquered the world with books and then with movies. Now he's doing the same with theme parks. Universal Studios Japan on Thursday will unveil plans to build the first international version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the blockbuster attraction that has drawn millions of fans to Universal's Orlando resort and is coming to Los Angeles. The Osaka destination -- expected to begin construction in the next few weeks with a planned opening in late 2014 and an expected cost of about $500 million -- brings Hogwarts Castle and rides including Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey to the boy wizard's biggest market outside of the United States. The eight Potter movies grossed nearly $900 million in Japan -- more even than in his home country of Britain. Products including magic wand chopsticks have made the Harry Potter brand Japan's most successful movie-based consumer products line of the last decade.

PayPal, Softbank to Form Japan Joint Venture, Launch PayPal Here Service

PayPal and Softbank said Wednesday they will form a new joint venture to pursue online transactions business in the country. The two companies said they will each invest ¥1 billion (US$12.5 million) in the newly established firm PayPal Japan which will be a 50:50 joint venture. The companies also said they would launch PayPal Here, a platform that uses small card swiping attachments to allow smartphones to be used as mobile credit card readers, in Japan. For Softbank, which owns Yahoo Japan, a portal with dominant domestic auction and shopping properties, the deal will provide access to an established global e-payment platform. Yahoo Japan is largely independent from its troubled cousin in the U.S.

Lady Gaga auctions teacup to help Japanese artists

TOKYO — Fans bidding in a charity online auction to buy a teacup used once by pop diva Lady Gaga had offered more than four million yen ($50,000) by Tuesday, with five days left before the hammer falls. The china cup and saucer set was used by the star at a press conference in Tokyo three months after the massive tsunami of March last year swamped a large stretch of coastline. Lady Gaga told reporters at the time that she would auction the cup, marked with her lipstick and bearing the Japanese message “We pray for Japan” along with the star’s autograph. All the money raised will be used to help young Japanese artists who want to study in the United States. The cup was put on “Yahoo! Japan Auctions” at midday Monday, with the starting price of one yen. The auction is set to finish midnight Sunday.

Bank lending growing fast in Tohoku region

Bank lending is growing faster in the Tohoku region than in other parts of the country, according to data released by the Bank of Japan. At the end of March, the lending balance in the Tohoku region was 4 percent higher than a year earlier, against the national average increase of 0.9 percent, the central bank said Wednesday. Tohoku municipalities are increasingly borrowing money to fuel reconstruction following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, said an official at the bank's Sendai branch. By contrast, the Kinki region has recorded 44 consecutive monthly falls.

Russia, Japan in Building Gas Pipeline Talks

Russia and Japan are in talks to build a gas pipeline from Russia to expand gas supplies to the Far Eastern country, Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Thursday. "The parties have discussed prospects of increase of natural gas supplies from Russia to Japan in terms of higher liquefied natural gas production at the Sakhalin Island and implementation of an LNG plant construction project in Vladivostok," Gazprom said following a meeting between the company's export head Alexander Medvedev and Japan's former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara. "The parties also discussed the opportunities for a gas supply project from Russia to Japan through pipeline," Gazprom said.

Sumida River to light up with LED fireflies

By MAAYA KONAGAI Staff writer Japan isn't a difficult place to live. If you want to eat Mexican food, there are Mexican restaurants. If you want to buy brand-name British clothes, there are shops and websites that deliver. So Tokyo Hotaru Festival asks the question: What does Tokyo, where you can get anything, really need now? The answer, organizers say, has to do with a return to the past. Long ago, the Sumida River, which runs through Tokyo's east end, was one of the life sources of the community. The Hotaru Festival will try to draw attention to an effort by locals to beautify the river and its precincts. As May 5 is Children's Day in Japan, there will be a lot of activities for families to do by the river.

Twitter introduces brand pages in Japan, a first for Asia

Twitter first launched brand pages in the US in December last year and four months later the advertising feature has come to Japan, the first market in Asia. DoCoMo, the country's largest mobile operator, national retailer Lawson and Warner Entertainment Japan are the first companies that will take advantage of the pages, according to the Twitter Japan blog [Japanese], via Asiajin. It's of little surprise that Twitter has chosen Japan as its third market to launch brand pages - behind the US and the UK, the latter of which got the feature in February - as the micro blogging service has been a runaway success in Japan. Twitter has broken into the mainstream in Japan which, in a country that has traditionally preferred domestic services to those from overseas, is quite an achievement. Last year Twitter founder Jack Dorsey took stock of its remarkable growth, which began by allowing Tamagotchi owners to feed their pets more easily, before becoming (arguably) Japan's most popular social network. Proof of Twitter's appeal in Japan came last year when Mixi, which has been the country's leading social network for some time, announced an advertising partnership with Twitter to help combat the growing threat of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg's service has taken its time to grow, but the last six months saw its membership double to reach 10 million members in the country.

Maid cafe waitresses show off their scientific know-how

Girls dressed in French maid outfits running craft classes on soldering, of all things, might seem like something out of Japanese anime. But this is Akihabara, Tokyo's "Electric Town," and home to all things anime and "otaku," meaning geeks. The workshops are the brainchild of electronics parts retailer Wakamatsu Tsusho Co. Akihabara has long been home to many electronics parts shops. But nowadays, it also serves as "ground zero" for otaku culture and attracts thousands of enthusiasts of anime, videogames, cosplay and other pop culture trends. Wakamatsu came up with the idea of craft classes run by waitresses in maid costumes to revive interest in the science behind electronic gadgets. The company, established 36 years ago, hosted a free craft session in March at Akihabara Network & Embedded Technology Center, Akiba NET-kan, in the Sotokanda area of Chiyoda Ward. In addition to Wakamatsu Tsusho workers and specialists close to Japan's leading semiconductor manufacturer, Renesas Electronics Corp., it included Erika Kurosaki and Shion Arimura from Togenkyo maid cafe as instructors to offer tips on soldering. Twelve people, ranging from a 6-year-old girl, who is set to attend elementary school this spring, to a 62-year-old man, joined the session. After they were given basic tips on soldering, they worked on a heart-shaped circuit board to complete an LED flasher that plays music.

Sky Tree to offer world's highest bungee jump

Tokyo's newest and biggest visitor attraction, the 634-meter-high Tokyo Sky Tree in Sumida Ward, will open to the public on May 22. And if 11th-hour contract negotiations bear fruit, visitors to the Sky Tree may soon have the opportunity to plummet 430 meters (over 1,400 feet) toward terra firma, in what is claimed to be the world's highest commercial bungee jump. The new service, it was learned, has been quietly undergoing safety tests late at night. If arrangements can be finalized within this month, the first customers may be able to take death-defying dives from the Sky Tree from around mid-June. Because the project is still tentative, it has been kept under heavy wraps. To maintain secrecy while the negotiations are underway, test jumps have been conducted in the small hours of the morning, starting in January.

Can Japan Firms Woo Foreigners?

Japanese companies, increasingly shifting overseas to offset a shrinking domestic market, are taking the first steps to hire foreigners after long resisting even modest changes to their uniform workplace culture. But they are now confronting the question about just how drastic that change should be. Many Japanese companies say they want foreign workers, but few so far have been willing to overhaul the system - with unequal pay and few opportunities for promotions - that once dissuaded foreigners from joining in the first place. A poll last year conducted by a Tokyo-based staffing agency suggested more than 80 percent of Japanese companies want more foreigners. But only 10 percent of them said they were willing to hire foreigners without Japanese language ability.

Toshiba exits mobile phone business

Toshiba Corp. has pulled out of the mobile phone business by selling its 19.9 percent stake in Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications Ltd. to Fujitsu Ltd., the two companies said Monday. The company, which sells and markets mobile handsets, was originally set up in October 2010 by taking over Toshiba's mobile phone operations. It has since been renamed Fujitsu Mobile Communications Ltd. and is now under the full control of Fujitsu. The Regza Phone and some other Smartphone under the Toshiba brand will continue to be sold by Fujitsu Mobile for the time being, they said. Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120403a8.html

Japanese computer programming language Ruby approved as global standard

The computer programming language Ruby, invented by a Japanese, has been approved by the International Organization for Standardization as a global standard, the government's Information-technology Promotion Agency said Monday. Ruby, conceived by software engineer Yukihiro Matsumoto in 1993, is a scripting language that executes tasks for software and runs on Unix, Dos, Windows and Mac operating systems. Matsumoto, a fellow at Network Applied Communication Laboratory Ltd., said he welcomes the decision and hopes for the further spread of the programming language.                                      Source: http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120403p2g00m0dm049000c.html

Japan wages rise 1st time in 9 mths, overtime pay up

Wages in Japan rose in February from a year earlier for the first time in nine months, while overtime pay climbed for the fifth straight month, partly helped by more working days in the month than last year, government data showed on Tuesday. Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, climbed 3.4 percent in February from a year earlier, the fastest pace of growth since the same month last year, the Labour Ministry said. Average cash earnings stood at 265,497 yen ($3,200) in February, up 0.7 percent from a year earlier, following a revised 0.9 percent fall in January. Total working hours rose 3.0 percent from a year earlier, the highest increase since March 2010. Declines in wages after last year's earthquake have been gradually stabilising and analysts expect the economy will recover this year, helped by reconstruction demand and receding concerns over the global economy. (Reuters, Apr 03)

Toshiba exits mobile phone business

Toshiba Corp. has pulled out of the mobile phone business by selling its 19.9 percent stake in Fujitsu Toshiba Mobile Communications Ltd. to Fujitsu Ltd., the two companies said Monday. The company, which sells and markets mobile handsets, was originally set up in October 2010 by taking over Toshiba's mobile phone operations. It has since been renamed Fujitsu Mobile Communications Ltd. and is now under the full control of Fujitsu. The Regza Phone and some other Smartphone under the Toshiba brand will continue to be sold by Fujitsu Mobile for the time being, they said. Source: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120403a8.html