Fierce competition is breaking out in the race to compete in the market for flat-rate broadband. With offerings from all the major carriers, do we detect the presence of a new key player in the shape of EMobile?

I mentioned earlier in this series that I would be creating composite sketches of the background of people who've made it here without having the advantage of strong Japanese ability. "Composite" means that I've drawn from the backgrounds of a number of acquaintances with similar experiences, as related to me, but with the objective of allowing them to stay anonymous.

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.

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