Can you fly paper airplanes back from space? Will a boomerang fly through the galaxies? These are all questions Japan is trying to answer in its re-energized projects to expolore the solar system. Read Now

Perhaps because Japan has found it difficult to accept and support the presence of foreign businesspeople, it has largely ignored them and left them to their own devices. Back in the 1980's this meant that there were very few independently run foreign firms here, and anyone wanting to set up a business pretty much had to do it though a Japanese partner.

I've been getting lots of email recently from people asking me if as a non-Japanese speaker they can get work in Japan. Given that the Japanese government is considering making Japanese language ability a prerequisite for granting and/or renewing long-term visas and work visas, perhaps this type of question will disappear of its own accord. However, in the meantime, while I always advise people to learn Japanese before working, if they can, it is true that there are a good number of people already here who have built perfectly good careers without having a strong handle on the language.

Music Media Watch looks at KDDI's plans to broadcast concerts live on all FM radio stations in Japan, Yamaha starts Y-TV service to promote products and events, Roland to debut new products at Sound Spark 2008 event,Sony's NetJuke software to work with KDDI's LISMO service and NTT DoCoMo makes Melody Call trial previews available for non-subscribers.