For Hiromi Kano, head of a well-known Japanese mascot maker, the company's costumed characters not only bring joy to people but also signify the labor of love performed by her all-female staff. "Just as important as the happiness of customers is the happiness of our ...
Takashi Oyabu is the president of a company in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, that operates tourist infrastructure with a difference. Its portfolio includes ryokan (traditional inns), restaurants and shops that sell high-end, locally made items such as towels and ceramics. In the lobby of Dogo Yaya, a ...
Three years ago, Tokyo resident Qi Hongqiang launched Skypechina, an online Chinese-language school, using ¥5 million borrowed from his parents back home in Hebei province, China. The 27-year-old graduate of a Japanese university needed the cash to fulfill one main requirement for obtaining an investor/business ...
If Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder and CEO of SoftBank Corp. needs a fresh strategy to fend off a surprise French counterbid for a prized U.S. telecommunications target, he could do worse than ask budding entrepreneurs at the SoftBank Academia. There, some 300 or so ...
Makoto Kai, 62, is the founder and CEO of Hatagoya Co., which operates Japan's only motel chain. Kai, an avid biker, started the business in 1994 out of frustration with the lack of comfortable and inexpensive accommodation across the Japanese countryside. After traveling around ...
A U.S.-based entrepreneur who became the first Japanese invited to a U.S. presidential State of the Union address has said that Japan must shake off its "stagnation" by fostering innovation and ditching outdated ideas. Speaking in Tokyo, Hiroyuki Fujita, the 47-year-old founder and president of ...
A young British entrepreneur has devised a novel way to use the green tea powder known as "matcha," which has already become a popular flavoring in cakes, chocolate and coffees. James Shillcock's startup business is selling an energy drink that incorporates matcha, which he believes ...
Joichi Ito, better known as Joi Ito, defies any one simple label. Japanese-born, he is U.S.-educated, and as a result is both bicultural and perfectly bilingual. Although he is a highly successful free-market venture capitalist, he is also a fervent advocate of social democracy and ...
