Not just hotel funds, foreign individuals are also driving up real estate prices. They are typically starting in the big cities, but we predict it won't be long before the excitement moves out to the rural areas as well.

A new government initiative operated from the Japan External Trade Organization in cooperation with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been launched to help make it easier for foreigners to start a company in Japan.

We remember the days when a 30% currency change over 2 years was considered dramatic, and yet here we are at more than 50% and mostly we sit back and complain about how things are getting more expensive.

Budget airline company Skymark went into bankruptcy, marking the end of a painful 3-year process of spiraling losses (especially in the last year) due to a declining market share and expanding costs.