trends

By Rebecca Milner - CScout Japan

World’s smallest portable karaoke machine

Toy maker Takara Tomy has come out with Hi-Kara, a miniature portable monitor and headphone set. The device can also be hooked up to your computer, enabling the download of new hit songs.

By Nikolai Proske - CScout Japan

Pets get their own signature style

Dog lovers in Japan are notorious for accessorizing and spoiling their pooches. Now it’s possible to customize a personal hanko—personal stamps registered by individuals to serve as their signature—with a graphic of your pet!

By Michael Keferl -- CScout Japan -- UB Mansion -- A group at the Chiba University Graduate School of Engineering has developed a concept apartment building where everything is connected through an interactive system of touch screen monitors and near-field communication... -- Concept phones -- Japanese mobile carriers are changing the way we think about phone design by making them resemble handsets as little as possible... -- Digital Retail -- Monitors displaying digital ads have been around for ages, but we’re noticing them less and less...

By Michael Keferl -- Japanese toy makers have some innovative, gastronomic ideas -- The International Tokyo Toy Show is the best way to get a grip on the coming year of toys, but when the Cscout Japan team made its annual visit to the 2008 show we saw a lot of toys that, well, are beginning to look a lot less like toys.

By Rebecca Milner -- Digital shopping technology makes models out of consumers -- Thanks to a jumpstart from web 2.0 innovations, online shopping is going from a solitary, static, and ultimately convenient alternative, to an instantly gratifying social experience that aims to bring in as much from the terrestrial shopping experience as possible. Welcome to the new era of digital shopping lifestyle, starring YOU.

By Greg Lane -- What's new and what's hot -- Morpho exhibits a rare case of a Japanese tech company receiving attention from overseas investors. -- In a similar vein, Israel based Gizmoz announced that it has raised $US6.5 million in second round venture funding. -- Monolithic steel maker Kobe Steel has shown that it can be as innovative as the next company with the announcement that they have developed a type of steel sheet that significantly reduces electromagnetic wave emissions. -- Producer of the US$2,500 ‘People’s car,’ Tata Motors of India announced that it will tap into Japanese capital markets with a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. -- Kakaku.com, a comparative shopping website that attracts more than 6 million users each month, has launched a photo sharing service ‘PhotoHito.’ -- The convenience store operator has announced that they will begin selling an enormous range of alcohol online from late June. -- Trends: When it comes to digital points of sale in Japan, the goal to increase efficiency and provide a better customer experience will always come first.

By Greg Lane -- What's new and what's hot -- Business Break: Mobile Moves, Second Life, Breakthrough for Skype, Web 2.0, The sun setting on DRM?, Power from footsteps -- New business & IPO -- Trends in Japan -- Eco fashion: Tokyo teen fashion Mecca, Shibuya, is having an unusual bohemian moment. Take a stroll through the trendy Shibuya 109 fashion building and you’ll see many a boutique offering ’60s-inspired flower-print dresses with flowing skirts and sleeves and fringed suede boots and vests.

NostradamusBy Greg Lane -- Predicting the future is not really about looking forward. Without a crystal ball, the best we can do is study what has passed and use that knowledge and experience to anticipate what might happen in the future. While a neatly linear chart of sales can be estimated with the use of a ruler and a dotted line, predicting future events and trends is akin to attempting to predict the final destination of a speeding car by staring intently out the rear window. Adding to the difficulty of making any predictions about the year ahead is the truly unpredictable—the threat of earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption and typhoons to which Japan is eternally prone.