The easy part of networking as a foreigner in Japan is getting together with people of similar backgrounds and cultures, and mixing for social reasons as much as business. Many of us do this without thinking, and without realizing that we're missing the best part of being in Japan - and that is the chance to mix with our Japanese colleagues. After all, associations and clubs are THE glue that holds Japanese business together and which allows CEOs and others to find new opportunities in this face-to-face culture.

Bid-rigging or 'dango' apparently takes places in the majority of public works projects in Japan. However, in an exclusive interview with Dr. Hiroshi Ohashi, Associate Professor of Economics at Tokyo University, we learned that as a result of the activities of the Japan Fair Trade Commission, and declining government budgets, the days of bid-rigging are numbered. Read Now

Japan's 'cheapskate' marketing of itself as a tourism destination, and its lack of realism about where its overseas visitors are actually coming from, constitute Terrie's main focus this week. He argues that Japanese tour operators are now "paying the price for this timidity and lack of vision." Read Terrie's Take Now

A reader who is a foreign mom married to a Japanese national posed an interesting question to me recently. She has an 18-year old who is finishing off high school and she wonders whether to send her daughter to a university in the US, or let her stay here in Japan. Her daughter is bilingual and until now has been going to a Japanese high school.