GW-289 -- The Hottest Gizmos and Gadgets from Japan

This week's Gadget Watch takes a look at the new Toshiba Gigabeat, Sony Bravia's portable 1-seg TV and Olympus's world first digital camera to feature a 20x optical zoom lens.

JIN-453 -- Space Race Japan

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

TT-457 -- Labor costs comparison, ebiz news from Japan

The labor market in Japan is difficult to get a good view of, partly becuase of the distortions created by reliance on World Bank or CIA statistics. Using alternative sources for figures, the labor market in Japan seems to be relatively competitive in regional comparison. Read Now

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Terrie's Job Tips -- Limited Japanese Ability – Part Two: Market for Non-bilinguals

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.

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JIN-252 -- What do you know about hostessing? Part two

The second part of our exploration into the industry of hostess bars. The writer tells of her own personal experiences and reveals the financial realities for the young women involved. Read Now

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Terrie's Job Tips -- Limited Japanese Ability - Part One: Acknowledging the Problem

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.

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TT-456 -- Tightening up on foreigners, ebiz news from Japan

The new immigration procedures at Narita have been in place for a couple of months now. From his own personal experience and reports in the Japanese media, Terrie considers what is next in Japan's immigration master plan - a 'slave visa'? Read Now

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MMW-118 -- Japan's Music Media Publishers

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.

JIN-451 -- Right-wing issues

Right-wing groups are a small but noisy minority on Japan's political landscape. This week's newsletter looks at the causes close to their hearts and considers the nature of their protests. Read Now

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Terrie's Job Tips -- Cost of Living in Tokyo 2008 - Part Four: Low Budget

Back in 1983 when I first came to Japan on a working holiday visa, I was a backpacker with the experience of having hitchhiked half way around the world (I never made it past Turkey, what with the Iranian crisis back then). So arriving in Japan I was determined to live as cheaply as possible and use the savings to pay for language lessons and travel. Now, 25 years later, I'm pleased to be able to report that backpackers arriving in Japan these days don't pay that much more than I was back then - although of course salaries haven't moved up that much either!

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