It is a huge and very welcome surprise that the government may ban public smoking in enclosed spaces such as bars and restaurants, as early as next month (March, 2017).

Japan Travel KK signed a contract with Japan's largest bicycle rental company, DoCoMo Bike Share, for Japan Travel to become DBS' main (but not sole) marketing and sales partner for foreign inbound tourists.

With the global media so focused on the Trump administration, we thought it would be interesting to try to predict what effect the new administration's tactics of bullying will have on Japan.

Some countries have already been down this road - that of balancing thrills with spills. New Zealand pioneered jet boat rides at top speed through narrow and potentially dangerous river gulleys.

Japan changes slowly unless forced by circumstances to do so. It's a risk-averse and conservative society where generally the only domestic sources of change are scandals and deaths.

If there is one thing that alcohol and toy companies in Japan can be sure of, it's that their domestic sales in Japan will continue to shrink as the population greys and dies out.

To shine a light on just how difficult things really are (or not) for hotel operators, we contacted experts in the hotel sector and asked them to give us some insight into the costs and returns of running a hotel business at the moment.

With the recent DeNA crowdsourced content scandal, the online publishing sector in Japan is at a crossroads. Online content space is so crowded with ex-paper publishers, the bottom has fallen out of the advertising model.

Some highly downloaded apps are just plain broken. My award for the worst app for inbound travelers is KDDI subsidiary Wire & Wireless' "Travel Japan (TJW) Free WiFi".

The news releases are coming thick and fast on Abe administration efforts to increase immigration, without actually admitting that this is what they are doing.