Linked In isn't popular because: a) when Japanese business people first establish a personal relationship, they do it with a face-to-face meeting, and b) because laying out your resume publicly is seen as "boasting".

Honestbee is a food and shopping delivery company that makes it even easier, as long as you have a working credit card. Their main differentiator is that they have personal shoppers located in or near their merchant partners.

One of Japan's Big 3 telcos, KDDI, announced that it would buy out a Japanese start-up company active in the Internet of Things (IoT) space, named Soracom, for an estimated JPY20bn.

Jean was nothing if not dedicated to helping others and during her more than 40 years in Japan, 36 of them were spent writing regular, meaning weekly, reader advice columns (1964-2000) for the Japan Times.