Prime Minister Abe has declared revision of the Constitution a goal of his administration. He and like-minded conservatives believe the present Constitution, drafted by Americans at the behest of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers after the Second World War, bears the stamp of a foreign power and is not Japanese in spirit.

On June 22nd a rather unique if small outsourcing company, called Japan Third Party (JTP), listed on the JASDAQ. Although at first glance the business looks like a pretty standard operation, the company is special in that a full 95% of its business comes from foreign technology firms (not end users).

Ever since reading a recent article about the under-representation of female CEOs in Japan, I've been racking my brains to find one. My first thoughts were of Tomoyo Nonaka of Sanyo Electric or Fumiko Hayashi of Daiei...

About five years ago, we wrote about the phenomenon of Japanese bedrock manufacturing companies firing thousands of people. One after another, companies such as Matsushita, Nissan and others broke the bad news to employees aged 50 or over that their days were numbered. Among many others, we were stunned to witness that apparent death of a unique corporate culture that saw protecting the welfare of employees as being more important than making profits.