GW-294 -- The Hottest Gizmos and Gadgets from Japan

This week's Gadget Watch fires up the world's smallest consumer HD vidcam, lends an ear to a mobile phone with voice enhancements, looks into a mini telephoto lens for keitai cams, and uncovers new ways to hide secrets.

JIN-460 -- Higher Education

University students in Japan are often the subject of controversy and debate, accused of being everything from lazy to violent. While there have been reforms, most of these relate to the level of funding that institutions receive and Japanese higher educational establishments are having to fight hard to maintain their global competitiveness.

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Terrie's Job Tips -- Trilingual Ability Lowers Hurdles

I had an interesting question from a reader worried about whether she would be too old to start applying for jobs after spending many years acquiring three languages and an advanced professional qualification. While it is true that companies in Japan prefer younger employees if they are going to take on someone with limited work experience, the attraction of fluent, multiple regional language skills is so great at present (remembering that unemployment is still very low) that employers will make concessions when they see someone who has really tried to improve themselves.

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TT-464 -- Web Business Snapshot, ebiz news from Japan

Terrie takes the pulse of Japan's cyberscape from new SNS sites for the elderly to old favorites such as Yahoo and Mixi. How are these business making their money and what are the latest trends? Read Now

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GW-293 -- The Hottest Gizmos and Gadgets from Japan

The SoftBank 922SH 'Internet Machine', the Sanyo Xacti DMX-CG9 digital movie camera and the Karada Trainer 'Walking and Jogging Navi' from Sega are the focus of this week's Gadget Watch plus a round up of gadget news Read Now

JIN-459 -- Japan and Refugees

Japan does not have a great track record of recognizing and accepting refugees. However, it ranks among one of the highest financial donor of aid, much of which goes to helping refugees. We spoke to Jane Best of Refugees International Japan about how her organization that tries to improve the lot of refugees worldwide Read Now

Terrie's Job Tips -- The High Cost of Kids

It's been said that one of the major reasons Japanese couples don't have more children is because of the costs involved in raising children. With the average employee's monthly income in July last year being around JPY386,000, there isn't a lot of discretionary spending going on after the costs of rent, food, and travel are counted. In particular, there isn't really enough to warrant the cost of JPY23.7m, or a bit over JPY1m per year, that it costs for each extra child present in the family.

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WW-172 -- Mr i-mode moves on and EMOBILE starts voice services

Latest round up of wireless industry news with a focus on EMOBILE and its entry into the mobile market.

TT-463 -- From Toilets to Fuel Cells, ebiz news from Japan

Japan has long been touted as the bringer of alternative energy sources. Focusing on several companies that have invested in new energy products, including toilet manufacturer ToTo, Terrie explains why stocks in this industry are set to rocket in the near-to-mid term Read Now

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GW-292 -- The Hottest Gizmos and Gadgets from Japan

This week's Gadget Watch takes a look at the KanaGTR audio
player, SoftBank's new mobile phone for stock traders, a
pen-shaped text scanner that decodes kanji, and two oddball
devices as well. Read Now

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