With one of our sister companies in the market entry business, we have noticed in the last 3 months a gradual increase in the number of foreign firms investigating setting up an operation in Japan.

The company owes about JPY2.5trn (US$31bn) to the banks and other bond holders, a crushing debt burden, with shares slipping from around JPY800 this time last year to just JPY198 on Friday.

Nomura Securities reckons that eAccess' fixed-line ADSL business is declining -- not hard to imagine, as indicated by the fall in subscribers to the service.

Dentsu is paying a huge 48% premium over the last closing price for the object of its desire -- marketing group Aegis, making the takeover deal worth about US$5bn.