Compared to the massive slide in tobacco users in Japan, JT's diversification efforts (not so successful) and aggressive international M&A (much more successful) are both understandable and inevitable.

Every now and again, something different comes along, and in February I was asked to hold a company startup seminar for the Ashinaga organization, which helps kids without parents.

Normally in a new sector as wild and western as NEM and Bitcoin, especially after a half billion dollar heist at Coincheck, there would be a significant negative reaction by the Japanese financial authorities.

The couple Jack Bayles and Fay Chen have been instrumental in helping Japanese discover organic and healthy foods even as the nation forgets its own heritage and takes on a Western diet.