Research predicts that many Japanese elderly consumers will have shopping accessibility issues

Picture: Japanese customers in Japan 

"Authorities at the agriculture ministry say that, by 2025, nearly 6 million elderly people will have trouble shopping for daily necessities “due to accessibility issues.”"

Source: Small Print: November 19, 2014

Stolen necklaces, bomb threats, cancer cures and more...

By Steve Trautlein

Metropolis

http://metropolisjapan.com/small-print-november-19-2014/

Who are the top five countries interested in Japanese Customers?

Picture: Japanese green grocers

Who are the top five countries interested in Japanese Customers?

1. United States
2. France
3.China
4. Russia
5.Ukraine

Source: JapaneseCustomer.com, Friday May 22nd, 2015

Japanese customer demand for 40 year mortgages increasing as a way to enter housing market

Picture: Apartments in Tokyo, Japan 

¨Demand for 40-year mortgages maybe set to rise as buyers try to get a foothold in the housing market.....demand for the longer period mortgages is rising in Canada, the UK and Japan

Source: Forty-year terms for first timers

By Larry Schlesinger

Australian Financial Review

Saturday 22nd February 2014, page 10

Researchers in Japan have found that people with diabetes 1.2 times more likely to develop cancer

"Japanese researchers have discovered that people with diabetes are 1.2 times more likely to develop cancer than non-diabetics."

Source: the small print

June 12, 2013

Wrestling with politics and other timeless struggles

By: Reg Dunlap

Jun 12, 2013

Issue: 1003

Metropolis Magazine

http://metropolis.co.jp/features/the-small-print/june-12-2013/

Poll suggests that 58 percent of Japanese public oppose the export of Japan's nuclear technologies

"(Japanese public) oppose the government’s move to promote the export of Japan’s nuclear technologies and expertise, a new opinion poll has revealed. Some 58.3 percent of respondents disapproved of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s nuclear export policy, against 24.0 percent who declared themselves in favor, according to the survey conducted by Jiji Press."

Source: Almost 60% of public opposes Japan’s export of nuclear tech: survey

June 16th 2013

Japan Times

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/06/16/national/almost-60-of-public-opposes-japans-export-of-nuclear-tech-survey/#.Ub0jKOdXDbQ

Tokyo residents most bugged by three items, bicycles. umbrellas and wheeled luggage according to an online survey

"An online survey by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government found that bicycles, umbrellas and wheeled luggage are the three everyday items “most likely to bug people.” "

Source: the small print

June 12, 2013

Wrestling with politics and other timeless struggles

By: Reg Dunlap

Jun 12, 2013

Issue: 1003

Metropolis Magazine

http://metropolis.co.jp/features/the-small-print/june-12-2013/

Japanese supplement market valued at 10 billion yen

“In Japan alone, the supplement market represents about a 10 billion yen opportunity,” says Izumo. “

Picture: Japanese green tea and red bean snack

Source:Is the Future of Food in Tokyo?

By Jeff Yang

July 25th 2013

Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/07/25/is-this-the-future-of-food/#!

Japan would need a fiscal consolidation of 13 percentage points of GDP to stabliize its current debt

"As for Japan, merely stabilising its debt to GDP ratio would take a fiscal consolidation in the order of 13 percentage points of GDP. While Japan has so far avoided the crunch by relying on high domestic savings, those will diminish rapidly as the population ages. But foreign investors, faced with debt ot GDP ratios of more than 200 per cent, would likely demand far higher interest rates than Japanese governments have paid to date, potentially strangling economic growth" 

 Source: It ain't over yet: global financial crisis lingers on 

By Henry Ergas 

The Weekend Australian 

September 28-29, 2013, page 16

Record financial deficits from energy imports focused Japan on accelerating its methane hydrate research

"Last year, after energy imports sent Japan into record financial deficits, the country accelerated its decades-old methane hydrate program" 

Source: The ice gas cometh 

By Katia Moskvitch 

The Sunday Age 

September 29th 2013, page 15

According to estimates methane hydrate resources avaialable to Japan at 1.1 trillion cubic metres in 2008

"The resource (methane hydrate) available to Japan is enormous JOGMEC (Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation) researchers estimated in 2008 that 1.1 trillion cubic metres of the methane hydrate lurk beneath the eastern Nankai Trough - enough to offset at least a decades worth of foreign gas imports" 

Source: The ice gas cometh 

By Katia Moskvitch 

The Sunday Age 

September 29th 2013, page 15

Japanese customers love ham, 30 percent of all ham is consumed at breakfast

"Japanese love ham and eat it more often and on more occasions than Americans. About 30% of all Japanese ham is consumed at breakfast. Japanese love ham on toast. "

Source:

Bringing HoneyBaked Ham to Japan

By Chris Betros

SEP. 16, 2013 

Japan Today

http://www.japantoday.com/category/executive-impact/view/bringing-honeybaked-ham-to-japan

Video: JapaneseCustomer.com

Video: JapaneseCustomer.com 

 Source: JapaneseCustomer.com 

You Tube Channel 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMnOfRiJQsY

Breaking News: Japan set to export nursing care robots as ISO draws on experience for global standards

"The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will compile global safety standards in September for nursing-care robots based on criteria proposed by Japan ...Nursing-care robots are designed to fulfill various functions to help patients live independently......By realizing the mass production of such robots, it will allow Japanese companies to export their products to Europe, China and South Korea, which are facing declining birth rates and rapidly aging populations."

Source: 

ISO to adopt Japan-led safety criteria for nursing-care robots

Daily Yomiuri

July 29th 2013

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000416070

Japanese government gives approval for world first clinical trial using iPS cells

"Health, Labor and Welfare Minister ....gave the final go-ahead Friday for what will become the world’s first clinical trial using iPS cells...Kyoto University Prof. Shinya Yamanaka created the first human iPS cells six years ago, the first clinical trial .....plans to make iPS cells from cells taken from sufferers of the wet form of age-related macular degeneration. They aim to turn the iPS cells into pigment epithelial cells and transplant them into the subretinal regions of the patients’ eyes."

Source:

Govt approves world's 1st iPS cell clinical trial

July 20th 2013

Daily Yomiuri

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000394671

How to predict Japanese consumer demand? Tuna versus mackerel spending by households?

"a leading indicator of Japanese consumer demand that relies on two of the most common items on a sushi menu: Japanese horse mackerel and tuna.....shows how much the average Japanese family is spending on tuna relative to mackerel...consumer spending on “small extravagances” like sea urchin, or “uni,” and musk melons have also been trending up since the middle of 2012."

Source: Sushi’s Abenomics wave: posh tuna in, plain mackerel out

TAIGA URANAKA

Thursday, May. 23 2013,

The Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/asian-pacific-business/sushis-abenomics-wave-posh-tuna-in-plain-mackerel-out/article12108785/

Bridgestone opens a used tyre recycling plant in Osaka

"...The new plant .....will make retreads from old tires for buses and trucks. It can turn out 3,000 units a month, 30% more than the combined total of the two previous plants.....Retread tires use less raw material than new tires and are priced lower. "

Source: Bridgestone Opens Large Tire-Recycling Plant In Osaka

July 17th 2013

Nikkei.com

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20130716D1607N01.htm

Japan ranks 24th in OECD survey for women in employment

"Only 69% of women ages 25-54 are working in Japan, placing the country's female labor-force participation at 24th among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ...In Japan, about 60% of working women leave work after their first child is born, making the female employment rate low.."

Source: Japan Ranks 24th In Employment Rate For Women: OECD

July 17th, 2013

Nikkei.com

http://e.nikkei.com/e/fr/tnks/Nni20130716D1607A18.htm

Japanese researchers find microorganisms mixed with feed can reduce the fat of red meat by up to 30 percent

"Researchers ....found that the mixture of feed and microorganisms developed to reduce the odor of pig excrement reduces the fat content of red meat by about 30 percent, compared with pork produced without using the microorganisms."

Source: New foods spring from school labs

Fair highlights some of the remarkable edible products developed by university researchers

BY ASAKO TAKAGUCHI

July 14th 2013

Japan Times

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/14/national/new-foods-spring-from-school-labs/#.UeL-840wdFs

Hitachi announces stealth barcodes that trace, prevent counterfeiting and reduce costs

"Hitachi Power Solutions has developed an item management system....each ID is associated with production data. Even in lots with thousands or tens of thousands of items, this system enables every single product to be managed individually...This system offers lower costs than labels and RFID tags. ..... you could use these codes to ...improve the speed of production lines ...also be used to prevent counterfeiting or unauthorized distribution,” 

Source: Stealth barcodes track individual items during the manufacturing process

Japan Today

July 9th 2013

http://www.japantoday.com/category/technology/view/stealth-barcodes-track-individual-items-during-the-manufacturing-process

Japan has higher than OECD average of adult with a tertiary education at 46 percent of 25 to 64 year olds

Picture: Japanese students

"Japan...has a highly educated adult population, with 46% of 25-64 year-olds having attained a tertiary education in 2011, up from 34% of 25-64 year-olds in 2000. This proportion is much larger than the OECD average (32%) and the third largest among OECD countries after Canada and Israel " 

Source: Education at a Glance, OECD, 2013, Japan Section

http://www.oecd.org/edu/Japan_EAG2013%20Country%20Note.pdf, page 4