A battle is brewing in the USA between crowdsourced accommodation provider Airbnb and the state of New York, which is challenging Airbnb's very business model allowing unlicenced individuals to rent out their homes for short periods.

We were introduced to a great Japan cycling story, American Charles Scott, who not only decided to ride the length of Japan by bike, but, and this is the really adventurous part, he did it with his 8-year old son, Sho.

The Nikkei carried a feel-good article about Japan's top three banks had cut their Non-performing Loans (NPLs) to small and mid-size companies -- however, government propaganda has its own language and smell.

About the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's attempt to restore the population of foreign firms lost to the Lehman Shock and subsequently the 3/11 earthquake.

Interesting case going on in Vietnam at present. It involves the bribery of at least 4 and possibly as many as 14 Vietnam Railways Corporation (VRC) officials by a Japanese contracting firm called JTC.

Crowdsourcing is fine as a concept when you are dealing with digital files, but another thing all together when it comes to looking after helpless human beings.

Although almost all commercial tea apparently comes from the same bush, "Camellia Sinensis", it's the Japanese method of processing the leaves right after harvesting that give it the distinctive color and taste.

What if Japan, because of global war, contamination, contagion, or extreme yen devaluation, suddenly couldn't get its normal food supply from abroad? Would this mean that Japan wouldn't be able to feed itself?

In 2012 the mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, came out "full blast" with a policy that outlawed tattoos -- in the Osaka government at least. Specifically, he ordered a stop to city employees getting inked.

The presence of at least 63 Japanese companies led by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) is ample evidence of the Japanese government targeting customers in Southeast Asia.