Kijuro KawakitaBy Joseph Greenberg -- The business of invention -- Kijuro Kawakita, patent attorney and inventor, tells his students when he visits schools and colleges to teach young entrepreneurs and inventors how to make inventions and protect any success they might have with them, “Many people have inventive capability but they don’t know about the patent system—it is vital for young people and inventors to protect their inventions otherwise they will never be able to compete with big companies.” Kawakita is evangelical about the benefits of thinking through the IP angles early on: “It’s important to think about ways in which the invention could be used in the future.

Sanzo OkadaBy Simon Shiida -- How the Japanese cedar tree found new life -- World War II caused tremendous environmental damage to Japan, the majority of the country being forested land. During the post-war reforestation projects, Japan was implanted with an influx of Japanese cedar trees, (Cryptomeria Japonica) as they were easy to plant and would grow quickly. During this post-war restoration period and the expansion years afterwards, timber from Japan’s forestlands made up a substantial contribution to Japan’s economic expansion.

By Matthew Heath -- For the expat resident Japan has a lot going for it; within a couple hours in winter there’s skiing, in summer the beach and a variety of interesting weekend excursions, whatever may tickle one’s fancy. What may be less obvious is skydiving in Japan. There around only 500 active skydivers here so it is still very much a minority sport. In under an hour from Asakusa one can be at Fujioka Station in Tochigi Prefecture and five minutes from the drop-zone.

By Timothy Coghlan -- The economic bubble may have burst long ago in Japan, but bubbles of a different kind still persist in many venues across Tokyo. Synonymous with celebration, celebrities, good time and good taste, champagne is the drink of choice for many occasions. Demand for champagne worldwide is on the rise and recently experts in the wine industry have been talking about the current ‘wine revolution,’ with prices expected to rise in the coming months.

By Louise Calvert -- In terms of national costume and dress, there can be nothing so quintessentially Japanese as the kimono. These often beautiful and elaborate garments became widespread during the Edo period (1603- 1867) and the craft of creating them tended to be passed down from mothers to daughters in the home. However, during the Meiji era, many Japanese reformers adopted Western style clothing, much to the disgust of the Confucian rulers of China. As Western dress was thus a ‘top-down’ phenomenon, it created within Japan a growing demand for domestically produced garments in the new fashion and by the early twentieth century, it was clear that this emerging industry would need well-trained craftsmen, designers, tailors and machine workers.

Brief biographies of who's coming and going in the foreign business community. -- In collaboration with Santa Fe Relocation Services Japan KK, the J@pan Inc Arrivals & departures column takes a look at some of the key figures of Japan's expatriate business community who are either just landing in Japan or flying off to new places. -- Warwick Wright -- Roman Buechler -- Jimmy Cho -- Brian Smoyer -- Carlos Olmos -- Arnaud van den Bossche -- Mark Devadason -- Ivo Brasil

By Ken Worsley -- Back and Forward is a regular column that takes a slightly irreverent look at some of Japan’s biggest business stories. -- Tough first month... -- ...and tougher translators -- Oops! -- Not Oops? -- Re-branding of the year... -- Blindness might set in before on-demand content finally gets here...

Compiler: Burnaby -- J@pan Inc is offering a prize of two free tickets to see Tokyo Sinfonia—Japan’s finest chamber orchestra conducted by Robert Ryker. All correctly completed entries will be entered into our prize draw. Please send answers to: J@pan Inc Communications, Minami Aoyama First Building, 7-8-1 Minami Aoyama, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107-0062