Something that many of us as foreign parents in Japan are surprised at is the amount of candy Japanese mothers feed their kids - especially in public, such as on the trains and in supermarkets. It seems that the need to keep the kids orderly and quiet supersedes any health concerns and so at the first whine from the stroller, out comes the candy. We can only assume that what goes on in public is probably continued to some degree at home and so you have to wonder if this is setting an extremely negative diet pattern for these kids later on in life.

With fuel still at record-high prices, Japan's innovative and forward thinking agencies are continually looking for new power sources. Although Japan has a distinct lack of natural resources, one gas it does have - Methane Hydrate - could be the answer to a new alternative energy source. But how viable is it really looking to move forward with it's extraction and usage?

In this week`s newsletter we take a look at the continuing exodus of foreign companies from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. After the delisting of Boeing on August 15 the TSE now has the lowest number of foreign companies listed since the mid-eighties. So what is being done to resolve the situation?
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After nearly four years of investigation, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has finally handed down a ruling against the founding companies of Label Mobile, the joint venture that saw alleged price-fixing and collusion. But what does this ruling really mean? Are we likely to see anything change? Steve Myers takes a closer look.