Making sales to Japanese companies is never easy, and now it's harder than ever. But there is an old Japanese business saying about how a good salesperson will go visit with a client at least 10 times and get to know them before trying to get down to business (出来る営業は、まず客になりそうな客に10回通う。 その間、決して営業の話はしない。仲良くなったところで初めてビジネスの話をする。) These days you might get served a stalking warrant if you hound a client ten times, however, there is no doubt that persistence works.

The government proposes to throw some more money at voters as the election approaches.

With Obama fully backing up the R&D for Green energy, how about a petite internet controlled wind turbine for starters?

In 2006, I introduced in this column the social theory of an American psychologist called Abraham Maslow, who in the mid-20th century decided that in contrast to Jung and Freud, he would study what motivates normal people. His findings resulted in a simple layered pyramid, which he dubbed the "Hierarchy of Needs". According to Maslow, and certainly I agree with him, different people are motivated by different things according to the space they occupy physically and mentally.