JIN-404 -- A Foolocracy Can't Fool All the People All the Time

Submitted by Japan Inc on March 5, 2007

My son is a fourth grader at a local school in Yokohama. I've been eager he learn the father tongue, but have been frustrated in this regard, because I've precious little time to teach him and can't afford to send him to an international school, where annual fees can rival those of a private university in the US. So I was pleased to hear of a plan to make English a compulsory subject from the fifth grade at public grade schools. The timing was perfect...

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TT-411 -- divorce surge

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Submitted by Terrie Lloyd on March 5, 2007

It's been a while since we wrote about divorce in Japan. However, an article in the Daily Yomiuri several weeks back reminded us that this is one big black hole in Japan and the law has not caught up with the changing social realities. The article was the so-called "Troubleshooter" column, in which a woman says...

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TT-410 -- Nikko's resurrection

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Submitted by Terrie Lloyd on March 5, 2007

In our January 21st editorial giving business predictions for the year, we commented about Nikko Cordial's JPY18bn (and rising) window dressing scandal, and in contrasting it with the Horie-Livedoor scandal, we wondered why the Nikko guys were getting off with just a fine and a slap on the wrist? Well it appears that...

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TT-409 -- Xenophobia

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Submitted by Terrie Lloyd on March 5, 2007

The Nikkei carried a short article today about the Justice and Internal Affairs Ministries meeting to discuss changing the rules for monitoring foreigners resident and working in Japan. Until now, the registration of foreigners...

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JIN-403 -- No Comfort From the US Lower House

Submitted by Japan Inc on February 21, 2007

Got up this morning and was struck by a headline in the paper: 'Diet Adopts Resolution Calling for US Apology for Enslavement of Blacks.' I nearly spilled my coffee. Nevertheless, I plunged into the article: 'On February 20 the Diet adopted a resolution calling for the US President to make an official apology to America's 35 million blacks for violation of their ancestors' human rights by the system of slavery.'...

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GW-267 -- Tascam MP-GT1, Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD2, Sony ICD-SX77, SX67

Submitted by Japan Inc on February 19, 2007

Proficiency with a guitar and attraction of women appear to have a positive correlation in many social situations, so any tool to catalyze the reaction is met with open arms. Teac is launching the 'MP-GT1' MP3 player in their 'TASCAM' brand later this month...

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JIN-402 -- A Blank Slate in Hakone

Submitted by Japan Inc on February 14, 2007

On a recent trip to Hakone we got off the bus at the graves of the Soga brothers, Juro and Goro. Their father was killed by one Ito Sukechika over an inheritance dispute. Eighteen years later the brothers avenged their father by killing Sukechika during a hunt near Mt. Fuji in 1193...

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TT-408 -- Traffic safety for kids

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Submitted by Terrie Lloyd on February 13, 2007

Something that strikes foreigners driving in Japan is the number of families who let their young kids ride in the front on a parent's lap, or in the back, unharnessed. "Don't the parents care that they might kill their kids?" is the frequent shocked refrain. Well apparently not. In 2005...

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MMW-108 -- Mobile Music Moves Off-Portal

Submitted by Japan Inc on February 13, 2007

Ever since the first ringtone sites began appearing on NTT DoCoMo's i-mode menu back in 1999, most mobile music content providers in Japan have pushed to have their services appear on the 'main menu' of the wireless carriers. This approach has become known as the 'official service' model, and works something like this...

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FW-101 -- Keeping Warm Despite a Warm Winter

Submitted by Japan Inc on February 13, 2007

So, the new Japanese phrase for the day is: 'dantou,' the kanji for which literally mean 'warm winter.' That, according to the weather experts, is apparently what we are enjoying in 2007. You've probably seen the shocking pictures on the evening news: cherry blossom buds poking through in a balmy Washington DC in early January...

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