innovation

By Ed Thompson -- The future of office spaces could well be creative environments that stimulate the senses. -- In the office of the future, smart-rooms that automatically respond to voice, motion, and other cues promise to boost productivity and encourage new forms of communication. For IT solutions provider Kayac Co., Ltd., that future is now. The company has teamed up with digital communications researchers from the Keio University Inakage Lab to develop a speech recognition-capable brainstorming room designed to enhance group creativity by monitoring the conversation of its occupants, identifying keywords in their speech, and feeding them a stream of related images and text retrieved from online search engines.

By Scott Cavanaugh -- What are Japanese companies doing to change the earth? -- When the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in December 1997, Japan instantly became one of the leaders in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. During that time, the Japanese government, along with many Japanese corporations, publicized sweeping changes that would be enacted to counter the negative effects of the previous 150 years of industrial activity. The idea was that Japan, with its eco-friendly ideas, would become the envy of the other industrialized nations. But this has not become reality.

By Gavin Blair -- Innovative new device to help with language barriers -- Every foreigner in Japan has encountered the same brick wall at some time or another—the unknown kanji character. It could be a key word in a newspaper article, an important phrase in a business document or an instruction on a form, but the snag of even a few small kanji may render an entire sentence or paragraph unintelligible.

Takeo SugiuraBy Darius Jones -- New technology brings affordable nutrients to the table -- Dotting the landscape in almost any countryside setting, the artificial environments created by greenhouses are the living quarters for an increasing number of the foods we consume. While this affords us the luxury of tomatoes and kiwis during the frosty winter months, severe flaws in technology cause temperature fluctuations and an over-reliance on chemical fertilizers that lower the efficiency of production as well as adversely affecting the conditions in which the produce is grown.

By Brad Frischkorn -- HDTV heralds a new era in broadcasting -- Long the global leader in high-definition television (HDTV), Japan will finally see a rival when the US formally switches over from analog to digital broadcasting next February. While rough technological parity between the world’s two largest economies promises benefits for market players and viewers alike going forward, it could be just a taste of what lies around the corner.

Masahiro ItoBy Hugh Ashton -- J@pan Inc talks to the CEO of YAPPA Japan -- YAPPA was established in 2000 by Masahiro Ito, a 17-year-old high school student with an interest in design. After attempting to build a network to gather retail customer data using mobile phones and discovering that the mobile phone market at the time could not support his vision, he moved into the field of computer 3D design by partnering with and eventually acquiring an Israeli company that had developed a product that Ito considered would be valuable in Japanese e-commerce.

Kiyofumi SomeyaBy Joseph Greenberg -- Marketing for small and medium enterprise -- In the Japanese consumer market, without the right marketing, even the most brilliant products and original ideas can fall flat on their face. J@pan Inc spoke to Kiyofumi Someya about marketing in Japan, and specifically of the hurdles facing small-medium enterprises.

By Anna Kitanaka -- Mitsuo Sawada - Inventor climbs mountains one step at a time -- Excellence in two areas of natural ability and an obsessive tendency seem to be a regular formula for the personality of an inventor. A deep-rooted sense of mechanics on the one hand, combined with a burning creativity on the other, is common to a number of the world's most celebrated inventors-add to this natural mix an obsession with making things and we have it, a simple flowchart for a highly productive innovator. Often these three ingredients of inventors manifest themselves in childhood-Galileo apparently made his own toys as a child while the boyhood Alexander Graham Bell reportedly used to experiment with his pet dog's vocal faculties by pressing on his pet's voice box.

Jennifer ChangBy Joseph Greenberg -- The wireless industry in Japan has proved a treacherous place. Most notoriously, it was the Japan market that tripped up global giant Vodafone and device makers such as Nokia and Motorola have also had difficulties here—mainly because of their inability to win over demanding, and even ‘fussy,’ consumers. The former also got into trouble last year as a result of handset overheating problems while the latter has suffered in Japan as its market share has declined globally, as well as facing a patent infringement lawsuit related to its Razr handset from Fujinon, a Japanese optical equipment manufacturer.