Corporate planning teams in each company spend most of the year window shopping, and only look to pull the trigger after they've seen everything that is available for that given fiscal year.

The Financial Services Agency may allow crowdfunding websites in Japan to expand from their limited "donations" style of getting cash to start-ups, similar to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) in the USA.

A new JTA video project ran for five months and culminated in the launch of the JTA's new media offering -- a massive collection of 160 videos -- that has been turned loose on the Internet.

While the world looks at Japan and thinks that a recovery is underway, the reality is that up 25% of Japan's functioning (versus dormant) companies are instead tottering on the edge of insolvency.

Kameda told the Nikkei it was buying MGC because of a familiar reason -- the market in Japan is mature and flat and the firm is looking for growth strategies abroad.

Dentsu, the world's largest single-brand advertising agency, has just released the preliminary version of its 2012 report on advertising in Japan.

Japan's Highly Skilled Foreign Professional visa introduced in July last year targets technology immigrants and offers on a new points system a very easy 5-year work visa with all the trimmings.

Given China's predilection for confrontation and even armed conflict with its neighbors, Japan will be caught with a difficult decision should China decide to invade the Senkakus.

The percentage of non-regular to full-time workers is now a record 28.75%, almost 18m people (there are 62m in the workforce), and this is not just a temporary trend.

Things have changed a lot since the heady days of 1998-1999, when the 4-year US dotcom bubble had just hit Japan's shores and when it was possible to raise a hundred million yen on a mere business plan.