Prime Minister Aso Taro is a firm believer in "values-oriented diplomacy," the use of Japan's foreign policy tools to promote the spread of "universal values" like democracy and human rights...

Has the dollar cycle high against the yen begun to makes its impact..?

The Aso government and the LDP, confident due to polling numbers trending in their favor, are publicly mulling the timing of the next general election...

I don’t care what industry, job title, pay scale or size office you have. This year and next, you had better be thinking a big “what if…” when it comes to getting fired...

We’ve all been there, Friday night, 6:08PM before a 3-day weekend, shiny new-pen in one hand, empty tin-cup in the other…

Elldridge Lynch Foreign Currency Services Shingo Hoshino on repatriating funds.

When Ozawa Ichiro suggested that at some unspecified point in the future the US forward-deployed forces in Japan might be reduced to the Seventh Fleet with Japan's taking greater responsibility for its own defense...

If there is any doubt that the high-end of conspicuous consumption is stinging, just come and visit Aspen or Snowmass.

Also, will Aso's stimulus package drag the Japanese economy from the doldrums?

It used to be that the 2D QR barcodes developed by Denso were everywhere on Japanese posters, magazine advertisements – in fact, anywhere where the advertiser wanted the reader to follow through with a visit to a Web site to learn more about the product or service. The idea was that customers would use their mobile phones’ cameras to take a pictures, and follow the Web site through to a long complex URL.