ASICS races for larger share of global sport shoe...

ASICS, Japan’s largest sport shoe, apparel and equipment manufacturer, is gradually starting to make lengthy strides into the global athletic shoe market dominated by...

Young Americans motivate children in disaster area...

American stage director Ross MacDonald has a simple piece of advice for children wanting to learn how to dance: Pretend it’s your last performance.

Prospects better for refugees in Japan, but still...

Japan has long been considered by many an "isolationist" country in regards to accepting refugees from other nations. But nowadays, an increasing number of displaced people are ...

Cost pressures leads to baseball gloves made in...

Aiming to cut costs, a Japanese baseball glove manufacturer long supported by the labor of skilled craftspeople is moving its production base to China. It would appear that...

University engineering faculties aim to return to...

University engineering departments, pillars of support for Japan's manufacturing industry, are losing their footing. Though faculties are generating large numbers of research...

In pro tennis management, IMG is the reigning...

IMG is a major American sports management company, representing tennis stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Japan's own ace, Kei Nishikori. What...

Youth and higher education trump experience in MLB...

In the corporate world, the title GM, or general manager, refers to a person in charge of overall business operations. In the world of professional baseball, however, it refers ...

French adopt martial art of judo as their own

Taking quick little tap dancer-like steps, the children move nimbly across the dojo's tatami mat floor. Careful not to step on the strings of the agility ladder laid out for...

Period dramas fading into history on Japanese TV

Period dramas, known as "Jidaigeki," are being shown with increasingly less frequency by Japan's terrestrial broadcasters. Kyoto, a once-popular location for shooting these...

Foreign journalists club in Tokyo loses its luster

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) in Tokyo's Yurakucho district has served as a haven for overseas journalists reporting on Japan’s breathtaking changes since...

It's 'sink or swim' time for Japanese ship owners...

Imabari city in Ehime Prefecture is home to numerous family-run companies that own a considerable number of tankers and container ships plying the Atlantic and Pacific oceans....

Freemasons emerge from shadows following quake

The Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Japan, depicted as a feared "secret society," is engaging in relief activities in areas afflicted by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Using...

Nation's first low-cost carrier to fly out of Kansai

Based out of Kansai International Airport (KIX), Japan's first full-fledged low-cost carrier (LCC), Peach Aviation, will begin flying next spring. Kansai Airport, debt-ridden...

Triumph, confusion marked Japan-based NGOs in Tohoku

Battle tested and experienced from operating overseas in war-torn districts and areas suffering from natural disasters, Japan-based NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) rushed...

Digital archive forming tied to March 11 disasters

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, research projects adopting long-term perspectives on various topics have been gaining prominence among Japan specialists in the...

Establishing a cooperative society to rebuild after ...

For three years, I lived and worked as a reporter in Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture, which suffered massive damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. As I visited ...