Apart from getting smart phone savvy, NTT DoCoMo has also been looking to improve its market influence and thus earnings by getting into the content business.

Most visitors to Japan wanted to know how to find a free WiFi connection, or are interested in prepaid data only SIM cards to access the Internet.

A sector with highAPI usage is travel, where instead of painstakingly developing their own database hotel by hotel, travel agents these days link through an API to Booking.com and/or Expedia.

In looking at a lot of changes going on in and around the inbound tourism sector, it is easy to see how Airbnb has become a "new economy" lightning rod and change agent in Japan.

Who are the most desirable nationalities to target, on the basis of repeaters as a percentage of their country's population, proximity to Japan for travel convenience, and cultural factors.

In early 2014 the Japanese Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (JFIEA) was amended to allow easier venture-based crowdfunding for investment. Japan now has more than 50 crowdfunding platforms.

One reason I got into the inbound travel business after the 3/11 earthquake was the desire to do something socially meaningful after having experienced how easily a disaster can disrupt our lives.

Japan's recessions are not tied to the employment numbers in the same way as they are in the West. Rather, there are deeper systemic problems caused by cultural and demographic problems here.

A Surrey University paper discusses the concept of "food memories" and how past experience with a food significantly affects a tourist's attitude towards trying it again.

Mr. Terry Gou, the CEO of Foxconn Technology Group (also known as Honhai) signed a JPY389bn deal to take control of Sharp, one of Japan's bedrock electronics firms.