Yes, today is Broadcast Day. It marks the day in 1925 when the Tokyo Central Broadcasting Corporation (NHK's predecessor) began broadcasting from a temporary radio studio in Shibaura, Tokyo. Broadcast Day was established by NHK in 1943. On March 22 NHK awards the 'Broadcast Culture Prize' at NHK Hall. Can't make it to NHK Hall? Well...

Ever since the Chinese overtook Japan as the largest holder of foreign reserves, the US in particular has started to realize that having a bunch of foreign governments you're not necessarily friendly with holding your debt isn't such a good idea. While only Hillary Clinton has so far come out and said that the foreign holdings are a risk, perhaps she should have gone further and said...

NTT DoCoMo and McDonald's Japan will jointly start an e-marketing initiative based on DoCoMo Osaifu-Keitai e-wallet services. Both companies agreed to establish a joint venture to plan and manage e-marketing promotions to McDonald's new membership club, and the introduction of DoCoMo's iD-platform for mobile-phone credit cards and ToruCa e-coupon service at McDonald's stores.

Having been involved for the past five years in bringing Japanese mobile music services to overseas markets, I've developed a deep interest in the differences between mobile content (and music in particular) between Japan and other countries. In fact, the very first issue of this newsletter...