Michael CondonBy Michael Condon

As the concrete and iron of Tokyo starts to melt into the summer haze it’s the bulls that are coming out of hibernation. They didn’t quite make spring, but we are starting to see some now. After six months of doomsday proclamations, the chief economists of some banks, and their brethren who watch from the relative safety of academia, are starting to hint that we may be able to see some improvement soon.

Michael CondonBy Michael Condon

So, as the cherry blossoms come out, is there some hope on the horizon? For some, yes. This quarter we’re running on the front cover one of the great success stories of the foreign entrepreneur in Japan— James Gow from Internet forex trading company FXOnline. The company made headlines in the financial press around the world when 87.5 percent of it was sold for 21.9 billion yen to IG Group late last year.

Michael CondonBy Michael Condon

On the cover, we are running with an issue that is flooding the forums and chatrooms on the Japanese Web. We put illegal downloads and the wider issue of copyright infringement under the microscope as new laws are debated in Japan. Will your average 14-year-old, caught downloading ringtones, be hit with a civil lawsuit? J@pan Inc talks to some new media experts as well as the music industry to get their opinion.

Michael CondonBy Michael Condon -- October continued what September started with the global financial meltdown, as it’s now being widely called, spreading even further afield. The big news in Japan being the Japanese megabanks, such as Nomura and Mitsubishi UFJ Group (MUFG), buying into Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley respectively. Also the Tokyo Stock Exchange continued to make headlines around the world, fluctuating wildly, mainly in the downward direction.

Michael CondonBy Michael Condon -- September was quite a month to take over the reins at J@pan Inc magazine. As we went to print, the world’s markets were still reeling from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and the fallout that followed. Japan’s leaders, from both the political and business worlds, were calling crisis meetings to decide how best to deal with the situation. Yasuo Fukuda was downplaying the situation, despite the fact that Aozora and five other Japanese banks were among Lehman’s top 10 unsecured creditors.