September was an extremely busy month for Ms. Kamikawa Yoko. Less than a week after becoming Japan’s first female foreign minister in almost two decades, she flew to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly and met with 16 leaders and foreign ministers over the course of just 5 days. A very busy agenda for the…
Ken Hasebe, the mayor of Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, has made his stance clear: “I don’t want people to come to Shibuya if they’re only coming for Halloween,” he declared at a press conference held at the ward office on September 12th. This strong statement aims to ensure the safety of the ward’s streets during the…
Take a look at this commercial. It is the latest commercial of the “Oi Ocha catechin green tea” drink, by the Japanese beverage company Ito En Ltd. While it seems like a typical Japanese commercial, you will be surprised to discover that the model is actually not a real human: it’s an AI-generated representation. This is the first case of…
Smokers of Japan, beware! With the health-themed 2025 Osaka-Kansai EXPO on the horizon, Japan is preparing for the event by enhancing new measures to reduce the smoking habits of its citizens. In particular, the Osaka city government is set to expand the no-smoking zones (smoking prohibited in the streets) from the current six locations to the whole city…
Hundreds of thousands of small businesses and freelancers in Japan are very concerned. The reason is the new tax regulation that took effect last October 1st. This regulation is known as the Qualified Invoicing System, a new system decades in the making with the aim of enhancing transparency in the collection of consumption tax. Before the introduction of the Qualified…
There is good and bad news for Japanese universities. The good news is that in the World University Rankings 2024, released last September 27th, Japanese universities showed significant improvement in their standings. The University of Tokyo ranked the highest in the country, with a jump of 10 positions, from 39th place to 29th. Kyoto University ranked 55th, from 68th in…
Moda Makers is a showcase of the excellence and know-how of Italian SME manufacturers of women’s ready-to-wear fashions, accessories, and sportswear. The 16th edition will be next 14 and 15 November at ModenaFiere, in the very heart of Emilia-Romagna’s fashion valley, and will feature both local manufacturers and companies from all over Italy, highlighting the…
The traditional Japanese working system is built upon a lifelong commitment to a single company. Historically, Japanese employees would join a company, put in long and intensive hours to support its success, and dedicate their entire careers to it, reflecting a profound sense of duty and loyalty towards the employer. While this remains true for…
Learning Japanese is no joke. Featuring three distinct writing systems, a sentence structure which is the opposite of English, and an intricate politeness hierarchy deeply rooted in the culture, the Japanese language is not an easy one to master. This is so true that even artificial intelligence has its share of challenges with it! The…
Social media is saturated. With countless platforms to choose from, millions of content creators engaging daily across them, and an incessant stream of new content being posted and shared every day, the sheer volume of information and digital contents to keep up with can be quite overwhelming. This is not only true for those who…
