Masayo NamikiBy Michael Condon

For young foreigners in Japan, Sakura House may seem ubiquitous, but it remains a small business at heart

During the numbing hangover of the post-bubble days of the early 1990s, a real estate man found himself wandering the streets of Tokyo looking for direction. In the mid-1980s, land in Ginza was said to be priceless while real estate in the remainder of Tokyo, wasn’t far off. But when the party was over at the end of the bubble era, the prices of overvalued properties came crashing down.

By Tobias Harris

Will the conservatives change the face of Japan’s defense policy?

The great puzzle in Japanese security policy is why, despite the consensus within the LDP in favor of a more robust, independent security and persistent worries about North Korea and China among the public at large, Japan has failed to spend more—or the same—on defense, and nor has it made legal and doctrinal changes that would enable Japan to meet threats originating from its neighbors.

By Jean-Julien Aucouturier

With nearly 1.5 million members, could concerts in Second Life be the future of music?

The two artists, both professional musicians, couldn’t be more different. One is a live-show powerhouse, playing more than 20 sell-out gigs per month. His fans travel from all over the world just to see him, and many have been following him since the early days. The other is not reaching the audience he deserves. Embroiled in a disproportionate network of industrial interests, his artistic freedom is jeopardized and his music denied radio airplay.

By Steffen Heinrich and Florian Kohlbacher

Change and continuity in Japan’s permanent employment system

More than a decade of reforms have made Japan a global leader in non-regular employment; lay-offs have become common and many expect that the current market environment will bring about an overhaul of Japanese HR strategies. Yet, despite all this, we find that the system of permanent employment has hardly changed.