TT-774 -- The Economy and the University Drop-out Rate, e-biz news from Japan

The numbers come from a recent education ministry survey, and show that 20.4% of the kids dropping out, an increase of about a quarter over the last 7 years, are doing so because of financial reasons.

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TT-773 -- Social Capital and Poverty in Japan. E-biz news from Japan.

Given that 16% of all Japanese children (about 2.6m kids) were apparently living in poverty in 2012, we are probably looking at almost a million households of 2-4 people who have to live on JPY2,680,000 a year.

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TT-772 -- What Will Recruit Spend Its IPO Billions On? E-biz news from Japan.

So why is Recruit going public? The Nikkei reckons that there are rumors that Recruit wants to do some major M&As. We think we can safely rule out much of that happening in Japan.

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TT-771 -- Only 33 Registered Tour Guides Serving Tokyo? E-biz news from Japan.

One way to alleviate travel language fears and to give tourists some real depth and perspective to this amazing country would be to open up the tour guiding sector so that more youthful bilinguals could get involved.

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TT-770 -- Ramen, 2.5m Bowls a Day and Other Interesting Stats, e-biz news from Japan

There can be few more satisfying meals in Japan than a steaming (or chilled) bowl of ramen (Japanese noodle soup dish.) Pork, miso, soy, salt, curry, or vinegar flavored. Thick or thin, al dente or soft.

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TT-769 -- Agritourism, the Italian Mode, ebiz news from Japan

The recent success of the sake industry has given farmers and their minders in government hope for food exports, and for that matter agritourism -- because food brings tourists.

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TT-768 -- Dateline Tokyo Journalism Project Kicks Off, e-biz news from Japan

The idea of the program is to get more Tokyo-centric news, events, and lifestyle reportage into the international news system, and thus start increasing international awareness as the city runs up to the 2020 Olympics.

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TT-767 -- No Welfare for Foreigners Ruling Not Apocalyptic, e-biz news from Japan

Last week, foreigner-related message boards lit up in outrage over the finding of the Japanese Supreme Court, that foreigners are not entitled to receive welfare support if they get into personal financial trouble.

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TT-766 -- Falling Exports and What Comes Next, e-biz news from Japan

The Finance Ministry came out with some negative data this week, showing that the nation's exports fell 2% in June, and that the trade balance was in deficit, again, to the tune of -JPY822.2trn.

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TT-765 -- Creative Invention is Alive and Well, e-biz news from Japan

It's companies which understand innovation and the international markets -- although it's somewhat ironic that the world leader for patent applications was turn-around challenged Panasonic corporation.

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