Ozasa: 70 Years in Business Selling Only 2 Items at 3.3m2-SHOP in Size With $3.3 Million in Sales
Long-standing Small Shop Business in Japan Kichijoji, the number one spot in the “place in Tokyo I’d like to live” rankings. Three minutes’ or so walk from Kichijoji Sation, the focal point of the area, is “Ozasa,” a tiny Japanese sweet shop, founded over 60 years ago. For over 40 years, a line of people […]
Who is Eiichi Shibusawa?
The 1,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 10,000 yen bills (Bank of Japan notes) will be renewed by the first half of 2024. The 1,000-yen and 5,000-yen bills will be the first new banknotes in 20 years, and the 10,000-yen bill will be the first in 40 years since Prince Shotoku was replaced by Yukichi Fukuzawa […]
House Renovation in Japan: Giving a New Shine to Mokuchin Apartments
How to renovate a room cheaply By Ryoji Shimada, staff writer According to last year's survey, the number of vacant houses in Japan is about 8.46 million (compared to about 8.2 million in the previous survey), and the ratio of vacant houses to all houses (vacant house rate) is 13.55%. Vacant houses are one of […]
SDGs in Japan: Japan’s wise investment in people
ARI: Training Local Leaders from Emerging Nations to Create a Peaceful and Sustainable World By Ryoji Shimada, staff writer “In my community, people earn a living through agriculture, fishing and livestock breeding. Some of their biggest obstacles to sustainability include limited knowledge and insufficient time to focus on future plans. I want to receive agricultural […]
Akio Toyoda: Thinking about cars whether awake or asleep
Interview with Akio Toyoda Now is the time we should go back to the basics of “wanting driving to be more fun!”: “Akio Toyoda” and “Morizo” are car-loving kindred spirits. Although a lot of top business managers have appeared in this magazine to date, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a top manager […]
The Globalization of Japanese Business: What Is the Challenge?
By P. Pringle Recent Interest in Globalization Not too long ago, globalization and Japanese responses to it were the province of Japanese government think tanks and large multinational companies, but recently it has become a hot topic in Japanese media and at the dinner table. Why now? Gradually the Japanese public has become aware that […]
Disasters in Japan: How to Prepare for Emergency?
Disaster Prevention Park The Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park is a massive area of 13.2 hectacres in the Ariake waterfront region of Tokyo. Completed in 2011, it is an intriguing and unique place. On a daily level, it is a recreational park with facilities for barbequing and picnics and a museum with science workshops for […]
THE TRUTH ABOUT Japanese People’s WELLNESS
By D. McCaughan It’s a very personal subject and yet one that has great social consciousness and public awareness. Maybe it’s not surprising that the discussion of what is “wellness” is definitely a thought-provoking subject. A sticky topic that people find interesting, one on which they want to hear others’ opinions and share ideas about. […]
The Truth About “Locomo Syndrome” in Japan
Boom in Zero Drink By D. McCaughan Mets Cola is a product of its time. Every now and then you come across a new product that seems to succeed because it in some ways sums up the current trend in people’s lives. In the last decade, we saw the boom in zero drinks led by […]
Saving Money in Japan: Japanese Love Saving
What Is Chokinbako? By Ryoji Shimada, staff writer “A man takes aim at a bear and shoots a coin into it.” “A dog with a coin in his mouth jumps through a hoop and tosses it into a barrel.” “A clock stops unless it is fed some money regularly…” All these gimmicks work in coin […]