Unfortunately for Kochi, although they got the boats and the visitors, in reality it hasn't resulted in the economic boom that they expected. The tourists are visiting the shops. But once in those shops, they are looking but not buying.

Well, after nearly 40 years after her creation, the cat who is really a be-whiskered pre-teen British girl named Kitty White (yes, really, according to Sanrio), has been responsible for most of Sanrio's JPY60bn in sales last year.

The japantravel.com website and Japan Travel KK company were both started in December, 2013, but the idea and test version of the site came in mid-2011, shortly after the devastating 3/11 Tohoku earthquake.

The Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education announced that it would open an International Baccalaureate school on Osakikamijima, serving local middle and high schoolers, not just expat kids.

I wasn't going to write about Airbnb again, but the meltdown of the firm's business here in Japan over the last 2 weeks has been spectacular.

For the Japanese, the Trump-Kim summit is a bit of a slap on the face as they are being bypassed by Trump in his eagerness for a North Korea deal. Essentially the White House is relegating Japan's interests to being of minor concern.

An Airbnb competitor told me that they think Airbnb will lose up to 90% of its listings in Tokyo, and that in a perverse sort of way, it levels the playing field for the other industry players.

Few farming-marine sectors in Japan have seen such extreme boom and bust conditions as the pearl industry. A recent report in the Nikkei says that Japanese pearls are now experiencing a mini-boom.

There is a big perception gap between what the Japanese tourism and infrastructure authorities think they should spend their money on and what foreign tourists are actually seeking.

Even in 2018 the capacity for Japanese major corporations and politicians to shock us with their obliviousness towards social trends and changing standards is astounding.