Romano MazzuccoBy Peter Harris -- J@pan Inc talks to the President of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Japan. -- The Italian chamber has roughly 170 members. Italian companies working in Japan come from a wide variety of industries. Our members come from some of the largest name Italian companies, Gucci, Armani, Lamborghini, Fiat and so on. We also have some hitech companies, legal services and many other kinds of smaller enterprises are represented.

By Hugh Ashton -- Say the words ‘disaster’ and ‘Tokyo,’ and the vast majority of us immediately think of earthquakes. But for one man, in charge of business continuity planning for the Tokyo branch of a leading European financial institution, disasters come in many shapes and sizes. All result in the inability to continue business as normal, and in Japan, more than anywhere else in the world, planning for disaster recovery and business continuity are necessities.

By Hirokazu Mukai -- Some guidance for real estate investment. -- Making an investment in real estate or another asset category as a foreigner can be a tough process. One of the most frequent questions I get asked by foreigners thinking of investing in assets in Chiba, or in other areas for that matter, is ‘how do I get the funds?’ If you don’t already have capital available, slowly but surely, it is actually getting easier to borrow money in Japan.

Nick ReeveBy Nick Reeve -- Obtaining patent protection in Europe is currently an expensive proposition. A single European patent can cost between ¥2,500,000 (€15,000) and ¥7,000,000 (€45,000) to file and take through to grant. The final figure depends on many factors, particularly the European states where protection is required, with the fees for translations often taking up the lion’s share. Recent changes in the European Patent System promise to drastically slash these costs. For Japan, the top patent filing nation in the world, these savings could be a huge benefit.