JAPAN TRENDS
If you’ve been to Japan you’ve seen them: Brightly lit vending machines with rows of beverages lined up, each facing the passerby and beckoning to be sampled. Maybe you’ve noticed the coffee options as well. Where I’m from drinking coffee out of a can, never mind a hot can, sounds cr...

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JAPAN TODAYTOKYO —Operating in Japan since March 2010 and serving consumers for over 160 years, Western Union launched a brand new SMS service in December 2015 that makes transferring money even more convenient. And to sweeten the deal, it’s also free *1.
When sending a payment to your loved ones...

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BEACON REPORTS
 In May 2013 a Vietnamese game developer named Dong Nguyen shot to fame when a simple app he produced on a shoestring budget called ‘Flappy Bird’ became the most downloaded gaming app in the Apple App Store. The app took only a few days to produce and reportedly earned Nguyen $50,0...

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NEWS ON JAPAN
Beverage makers, aiming to curb a decline in beverage sales via vending machines, have increased the number of machines that can interface in foreign languages.
The companies hope that by enabling more non-Japanese speakers to use the machines, they can take advantage of the recent ...

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JAPAN TODAY
 LAS VEGAS —Sony this week unveiled a prototype TV capable of showing 4K programming with a brightness level it claims is four times as bright as its competitors.
Using a technology it called Backlight Master Drive, the company said its prototype TV could emit 4,000 nits of brightness...

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ECONOMIST
THE Bank of Japan’s move to tweak its programme of quantitative easing (QE) on Friday came from left field. Financial markets had largely given up on any further action this year from the bank’s governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, and were in any case entirely focused on the rate rise by America...

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JAPAN TRENDS
At Ceatec Japan 2014 last week Denso Corp showcased a prototype mobility device for transporting babies and light luggage that can be controlled by your smartphone or tablet.
The X-mobility can have three or four spherical wheels, each with its own motor, battery, decelerator, contro...

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ROCKET NEWS
 With 60 items for just 1,000 yen (US$8.35), Animate’s lucky bag might just be the luckiest of all.
At New Year’s, almost every major retailer in Japan sells “lucky bags,” which are bundles of merchandise bought sight-unseen. While it might seem a little strange to buy something witho...

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JAPAN TODAY
 TOKYO —Japan’s Nikkei share average tumbled to a 2-1/2 month low on Monday after weak China factory activity surveys and year-end losses on Wall Street discouraged investors on the first trading day of 2016.
The benchmark Nikkei average fell 3.1% to 18,450.98 for its biggest single-d...

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JAPAN TODAY
 TOKYO —Japan’s All Nippon Airways is buying three Airbus A380s in a billion-dollar deal, business daily Nikkei said Friday, making it the first Japanese carrier to own the superjumbo jet.
The Japanese airline plans to introduce the double-decker planes on flights to Hawaii and other ...

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