Japan Inc. articles from July 2004

Japan Inc. archives from July 2004

Chicken Soup for Japan.(Buzz)
July 1, 2004... JAPANESE bestseller lists are routinely topped by self-help books. These are so popular here that it was only a matter of time before the Chicken Soup franchise came calling. Chicken Soup for the Japanese Soul is due to begin inspiring the...

Hitachi and Omron join together.(Buzz)
July 1, 2004... In mid-May, Hitachi, Ltd. and Omron Corporation, a leader in sensing and control technology, announced the outline for a joint venture combining their ATM and information equipment businesses. The decision was based on an agreement the two...

Can't be beet.(Buzz)
July 1, 2004... WHEN celebrated French chef Stephane Gaborieau popped up at the Tokyo Hilton this spring, we were treated to an evening of stellar surprises. Gaborieau's five-day guest appearance at Twenty One, the hotel's elegant French-Pacific...

Panasonic Let'snote.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. has begun selling Let'snote R3 series, T2 series, W2 series and Y2 series. The series have a liquid crystal display measuring between 10.4 and 14.1 inches. The R3 series has a nine-hour battery life, the...

Olympus CAMEDIA AZ-1.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... CAMEDIA AZ-1 is the world's first digital camera that uses a mobile ASV liquid crystal display monitor, technology that allows digital cameras to have large screens. The CAMEDIA AZ-1 has a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, the biggest of all the digital...

Sharp Auvi.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... Auvi provides better sound quality and longer battery life than rival products. The portable MD recorder features a mobile 1-bitdigital amplifier. Auvi can play music for up to 135 hours if it uses the attached rechargeable battery and a...

Sony network audio system NAS-A1 and 5V LCD display AUDP-A1.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... NAS-A1, dubbed "NET JUKE," is an audio system connected to the Internet--so it can download music and obtain information about artists displayed on AUPD-A1. NAS-A1 also pre-installs Web browsers and email software. Users can play music through...

Sanyo Hapish.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... Sanyo Electric Co. has released a new line of super-lightweight electric toothbrushes. Hapish, a combination of the Japanese words for "teeth" and the sound of the brushing action, weighs just 29 grams. It comes with a carrying case for travel...

Victor InterLink MP-XV831.(G-Spot)
July 1, 2004... Victor's World First entry is a spanky new laptop PC, the InterLink MP-XV831, the smallest portable in the world to incorporate a multi-DVD drive. At a positively dwarflike 235 X 214 X 43.2mm and weighing 1.47kg, the MP-XV831 will soldier on...

Out of the Ice Age: Technology to freeze by.(Upfront)
July 1, 2004... HE serves fresh carrot juice, the real stuff, which smells like it has just been pulped. It tastes great, full bodied, and I am thinking that he must be using those special juicy lbaraki organic carrots that are always so good in salads. ...

Love hotel fund gets started: first specialist pink RE fund for Japan.(Upfront)
July 1, 2004... ALTHOUGH a taboo subject, many of Japan's 20+ million couples have experienced the pleasures of one of Japan's estimated 17,000 love hotels at some time or other. Whether a loss of innocence with a teenage sweetheart at the trendy Maruyama-cho...

Auction procurement: a new trend? Foreign firms are bringing savings to Japan via auctions.(InDepth)
July 1, 2004... THE ability to procure raw materials and parts cheaply has always been a competitive weapon for major companies in Japan. Traditionally, large brand-name manufacturers have dictated terms and pricing to their keiretsu subcontractors, who in...

Spaces designed in Tokyo--just for you: interiors for the discriminating Tokyo business traveler.(Style)
July 1, 2004... SPACE DESIGN is a leading Tokyo-based serviced apartment hotel company, providing professionally-designed furnished and unfurnished apartments for short and mid-term stays in Tokyo. Available from a minimum one-month stay, facilities not found...

Beyond the classics: a New York publisher is bent on selling Japan's fiction.(Feature)(Cover Story)
July 1, 2004... While Japanese anime, manga and pop art creep into the North American mainstream, most of the nation's novelists remain virtual unknowns in the West. Beyond Haruki Murakami, Banana Yoshimoto and Kenzaburo Oe is a whole world of the imagination...

Move over, Mussolini!(Blowfish)
July 1, 2004... A BANNER YEAR for rice crooks. During 2003, says the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, cases involving theft of fruit, agricultural produce and sea products reached approximately 1,000--a 1.8-fold increase over the year before....