About five years ago, we wrote about the phenomenon of Japanese bedrock manufacturing companies firing thousands of people. One after another, companies such as Matsushita, Nissan and others broke the bad news to employees aged 50 or over that their days were numbered. Among many others, we were stunned to witness that apparent death of a unique corporate culture that saw protecting the welfare of employees as being more important than making profits.

Logicool, known to much of the rest of the world as "Logitech," is releasing a nice active speaker accessory for all modern versions of the iPod.

Prime Minister Abe may be embarking on an interesting new (for Japan) tax strategy, especially if you're a company shareholder. It appears that he is putting into place the building blocks needed...

Over the last couple of months, the Nikkei 225 stock index has been steadily recovering, passing the 16,000 mark at the end of September. Market sentiment is good and foreigners are busy buying stocks, being net buyers last week. As readers will know, we're interested in freshly listed companies, particularly small cap firms that are more likely to be run by entrepreneurs.