In our January 21st editorial giving business predictions for the year, we commented about Nikko Cordial's JPY18bn (and rising) window dressing scandal, and in contrasting it with the Horie-Livedoor scandal, we wondered why the Nikko guys were getting off with just a fine and a slap on the wrist? Well it appears that...

Got up this morning and was struck by a headline in the paper: 'Diet Adopts Resolution Calling for US Apology for Enslavement of Blacks.' I nearly spilled my coffee. Nevertheless, I plunged into the article: 'On February 20 the Diet adopted a resolution calling for the US President to make an official apology to America's 35 million blacks for violation of their ancestors' human rights by the system of slavery.'...

Something that strikes foreigners driving in Japan is the number of families who let their young kids ride in the front on a parent's lap, or in the back, unharnessed. "Don't the parents care that they might kill their kids?" is the frequent shocked refrain. Well apparently not. In 2005...

As Japanese electronics manufacturers rediscover their place in the consumer electronics world, competing with Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean companies by introducing innovative and high-end products, Intellectual Property (IP) is increasingly becoming the point of leverage that defines success or failure. As a result...