Hotels, publishers and retailers are trying to capitalize on the buying power of people in their 40s and 50s who experienced the go-go days of the 1980s bubble economy before it imploded in 1991. In early August, the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in ...

A new library that opened in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in April is not an ivory tower of books, but an innovative attempt to boost liquor sales and interest in libraries themselves. Sake.come Maehara Library was built in a liquor store. The microlibrary consists of ...

Recipes using leftovers have been growing more popular as they help homemakers reduce waste and save time in the kitchen. Expecting this trend to contribute to sales of their products, food manufacturers have been moving to promote recipes using leftovers on their websites and ...

With popular interest in health and food safety growing stronger in Japan, food products incorporating the finds of university researchers are drawing strong attention. In early June, at Takashimaya’s department store in Shinjuku held a fair to promote a variety of food products produced ...

At Sign with Me, a cafe on the second floor of a building in central Tokyo, orders are given and taken without a word being spoken. Customers and staff communicate in sign language, in writing or by running a finger over the menu. All ...

An Internet-based sign language service launched by a university student a few years ago is finding its way into hotels, restaurants and other public places. The service works by allowing a hearing-impaired person at, say, a shoe store, to “speak” to an interpreter via ...

A wedding is a major event in life but many couples are unable to hold marriage ceremonies for economic and other reasons. To help such couples make their wish come true, a variety of new types of wedding services are becoming available. Minnano Wedding ...

Women are increasingly finding opportunities to learn or enjoy traditional Japanese arts and games primarily pursued by men. Yamato Takahashi, a professional player of “shogi,” also known as Japanese chess, holds evening lessons for women twice a month at an office in the Shimokitazawa ...

The Tokyo Stock Exchange has been saying for some time that investors and listed companies could be the biggest winners in a global realignment of the world’s major stock exchanges, a shakeup that has been gathering pace, as seen in the TSE’s tieup talks ...

Drinks containing Korean ginseng, chameleon plant — or “dokudami” — and other substances used in herbal medicine are rapidly gaining acceptance, not only with health-conscious consumers but also with their pets. At the end of May, Coca-Cola Japan Ltd. launched a blended tea called ...

When Toyota Motor Corp. placed a TV ad in December for its new model, it withheld the name of the car, limited the commercial to five seconds and ran it only late at night. The commercial announced that Toyota was releasing a music player ...