Akiko Naka, the 32-year-old chief executive leads a young team that forgoes the usual black-and-white attire of Japanese business to pad around in jeans and socks. Meeting rooms are named after characters from a famous manga comic. Yet Wantedly is a rarity. ( read original story ...)
IOC: All options on table in cost-cutting for Tokyo Games
TOKYO - All options remain on the table — including moving the rowing venue to a site hundreds of miles (kilometres) outside of Tokyo — after a working group set up to review costs of the 2020 Olympics met for the first time, a top IOC official said ... ( read original story ...)
IHG Opens Holiday Inn Osaka Namba
LONDON—InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) opened the Holiday Inn Osaka Namba. This is the fifth Holiday Inn hotel in the brand family in Japan, joining others in Sapporo, Sendai, Kanazawa and Miyazaki. The 314-room Holiday Inn Osaka Namba is located in ... ( read original story ...)
Japan nudges wary firms to invest in Russia to help resolve islands dispute
Russia's Ministry for Development of the Russian Far East said last week that attracting Japanese business was a priority, and deputy minister Alexander Osipov said "we plan to reach concrete results" by the December meeting. The ministry said Japan was ... ( read original story ...)
A portrait of the tattooist as a nice young man
When Hori Benny moved into his brand new business premises in 2014 near Nipponbashi in downtown Osaka, there was an unwelcoming committee waiting for him. A neighboring business owner had gathered over 1,000 signatories for a petition to get him to move ... ( read original story ...)
Halloween all the rage in Japan
Enthusiasm among young Japanese for Halloween continues to grow year by year, not only as a day to enjoy "cosplay" but as a time to spend on goodies like nobody's business. Observed in many countries as a time dedicated to remembering the dead, the ... ( read original story ...)
Japanese companies are getting offers from EU countries to move operations out of the UK
one of Japan's most senior business ambassadors said. The lack of clarity over how much European market access the UK will push for during Brexit negotiations has forced Japanese companies to postpone investment decisions, the president of the Japanese ... ( read original story ...)
Temples enter matchmaking business in marriage-shy Japan
TOKYO - Traditionally seen as conductors of funerals or memorial services, some Buddhist monks in Japan are carving out a new niche as matchmakers for men and women looking for marriage partners. In a country where an increasing number of people are ... ( read original story ...)
Anthony Bourdain explains why, even after touring 80 countries, his favorite destination will always be Japan
If you ask him, as Business Insider did earlier this year, what his favorite destination is, he will immediately tell you it's Japan. "Japan is endlessly, endlessly interesting to me," he said. And even after going on nine filming trips there, "I don't ... ( read original story ...)
Japan demands talks with U.K. government over Brexit strategy
“Japanese companies are not leaving, they like it here and they have been operating profitably in the U.K.,” the ambassador said. The two governments “should make certain there will be a business environment that will continue to allow them to make ... ( read original story ...)
3 Japanese Shipping Companies to Merge Container Businesses
“This is a big decision, since it will create what will be the only container-shipping company in Japan,” he said. “But with the European industry consolidating and the business becoming more of an oligopoly, we need the scale that being a single ... ( read original story ...)
Japanese shippers to merge container lines; Puget Sound impact unclear
Japan’s three biggest shippers agreed to combine their container operations to create the world’s sixth-largest box carrier, as the industry steps up consolidation this year amid global turmoil in the sea-cargo business. Nippon Yusen KK (NYK), Mitsui O ... ( read original story ...)
Bank of Japan delays inflation goal in blow to 'Abenomics'
TOKYO: Japan's central bank on Tuesday (Nov 1) again pushed back the timeline for hitting its inflation goal, the latest policy change that has raised questions about attempts to revive the deflation-plagued economy. The Bank of Japan has for the past ... ( read original story ...)
Starbucks' new Willy Wonka-inspired store in Tokyo offers a glimpse into the brand's future
On Thursday, CEO Howard Schultz announced that the coffee giant would open its fourth Roastery in Tokyo in 2018. "It’s clear to the me that the universal interest in premium retail experiences is not skewed to only the US," Schultz told Business Insider. ( read original story ...)
Japanese and German cooperation on Industry 4.0
That has made Japan a more interesting place for German companies to do business. Suddenly, they're working together "Japan in some sectors makes more foreign direct investments than does China or Korea," Schürmann said from his perch in a glass-fronted ... ( read original story ...)
Capsule hotels in Japan reach out to foreign tourists
New Japan Kanko Co, which claims to have inaugurated the first ... "But we need to attract younger people as new guests to continue our business." First Cabin Inc has designed its rooms along the line of the first class cabin of a passenger airline ... ( read original story ...)