NEWSWORTHY
As a resource-poor nation, Japan's prosperity relies on free trade. Under worldwide protectionism, it can't survive. That's the message Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko wants to send as the emergence of protectionism across the globe becomes a worsening headache for export-reliant Japan. "If free ...
Japan's young farmers pin hopes on technology to revitalize agricultural industry
A new breed of younger, business- and tech-savvy farmers is transforming Japan's shrinking agriculture sector with cutting-edge techniques and marketing strategies, giving new hope to an industry in slow decline. Hiroki Iwasa, a 40-year-old IT entrepreneur with an MBA, grows strawberries in seven high-tech greenhouses ...
Chubu-based firms set up Silicon Valley hubs to tap local tech expertise
Okaya & Co. Ltd., a Nagoya-based trading company for iron and steel, is set to open an office in Silicon Valley in California in the hope of teaming up with tech-savvy ventures there. "I want to learn about new business models that utilize IT," said ...
Japan's IT firms struggle to secure engineers amid acute shortage
The rapid spread of internet services has accelerated the shortage of information technology engineers, prompting IT companies to conduct in-house reforms to lower turnover and outsource orders to overseas firms. ISA Plan Inc., a contract systems developer, introduced a system in fiscal 2010 under which ...
Japan's 15-year-olds among world's best at retrieving data from digital devices: OECD
The ability of Japanese teens to comprehend information from digital equipment is above the global average, a survey has found. That is despite spending less time online, the assessment, by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, showed Tuesday. The Paris-based club of 34 wealthy nations ...
Trade negotiators tentatively agree on tariff cuts worth $1 trillion
Trade negotiators have tentatively agreed to eliminate tariffs on an array of technology products valued at $1 trillion in global commerce, with Japan standing to benefit from ¥8 trillion of its annual exports becoming tariff-free, according to sources. A final deal by the World Trade ...
Hitachi IT unit to limit acquisitions this year to small firms
Hitachi Ltd.'s information-technology services division will spend this year absorbing several recent data-management acquisitions and will limit further purchases to small outfits, according to an executive with the company. The division, Hitachi Data Systems, plans to spend the rest of this year helping its partners ...
CEATEC kicks off with 4K TVs, wearable devices at the forefront
Japan's biggest consumer electronics and IT trade show kicked off Tuesday in Chiba Prefecture with major firms showing upcoming products and giving an insight into their current research and development. Technologies on display ranged from 4K televisions and fuel-cell and hydrogen technology to wearable ...
Government-backed innovation initiative looking for 'weirdos'
Tech-savvy "weirdos" are now wanted for an unusual government-sponsored project that seeks to spur innovation by backing people capable of producing "disruptive change" in conservative Japan. Starting Monday, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry began taking applications from "idiosyncratic and innovative" individuals who hope to ...
Hack your way into a computerized cocktail
While some bars have live music to bring in customers, newly opened Hackers Bar in Tokyo's Roppongi district holds live computer coding events to bring in the programmers. The bar's owner and founder, Akihiro Nakao, is an entrepreneur who had dabbled in programming since he ...
