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.

This week Terrie considers the commercial consequence of Goodwill Group's failure to renew operating licenses for their nursing homes business as well as need-to-know summaries of Japan-related news and commercial information. Read Terrie's Take Now