Moribund conditions persist

Planning to downsize or terminate employees in Japan? Don't do it until you read this editorial.

Rumors are flying about a proposed Shinsei-Aozora tie-up (these are nothing new, but recently the background noise on the subject has increased)...

For Japan, the 1990s are commonly referred to as the "lost decade." Those that know me are aware that I look beyond that and actually regard a quarter-century as the appropriate "lost" duration...

It used to be that the 2D QR barcodes developed by Denso were everywhere on Japanese posters, magazine advertisements – in fact, anywhere where the advertiser wanted the reader to follow through with a visit to a Web site to learn more about the product or service. The idea was that customers would use their mobile phones’ cameras to take a pictures, and follow the Web site through to a long complex URL.