JAPAN RETAIL NEWS - Inside consuming Japan: Japan retail, Japan market, Japan economy, Japan trends, Japanese people, Japan brands, Japan tech
 
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Sony has signed on the dotted line to use RealD technology to power the glasses for its next-generation of 3D televisions. Although the company has been using RealD tech in its demos since the company unveiled its 3D Bravia TVs, it has only just made the relationship official.
 
 
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Few people would want to be guinea pigs for aspiring dentists but Japan has found an always-willing patient - a robot. Doctors and robotics researchers on Thursday unveiled a humanoid that happily goes under the drill for orthodontics students and can also express pain, roll her eyes and even drool like a real patient.
 
 
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Japan on Wednesday said exports grew at the fastest pace for 30 years in January, supporting recovery as the world's second largest economy battles deflation and weak domestic demand.
 
 
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The QR code is breaking out of its box both physically and virtually as an increasing number of innovative new formats and uses are coming onto the scene. Take creative agency Set Japan, who have dreamed up some groovy artwork that incorporates the code itself. Its recent Frisk mints video a QR code is constructed by hand out of the tiny round mints themselves, demonstrating how codes can be displayed in 3-D.
 
 
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 For those still in love with the blips and beeps of their favorite retro games, Bandai’s new Bousou (wild idea) Controller key chain, which goes on sale March 20, is a dream come true. Available for Street Fighter II, Xevious and Family Stratagem the controller is shaped like an old-school game pad and re-creates the sounds of the dawn of the digital era.
 
 
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Japan is well ahead of the rest of the world in mobile phone technology: handsets that can pick up TV channels have been standard for years and in many shops payments can be made by swiping a phone over a sensor. But the latest craze is ring tones said to be therapeutic.
 
 
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There's gold in mineral makeup...at least for shareholders of Bare Escentuals. Shiseido acquired Bare Escentuals for approximately $1.7 billion through an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger. The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of both companies by unanimous vote of those directors present and voting.
 
 
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TSUKUBA, Japan — It giggles and wiggles its feet when you shake its rattle, but will get cranky and cry from too much tickling: Meet Yotaro, a Japanese robot programmed to be as fickle as a real baby.
 
 
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The new helmsman of supermarket chain Seiyu GK, a wholly owned unit of Walmart Japan Holdings G.K., says he intends to expand the network of Seiyu stores in Japan by deviating from the policy of focusing on closing down unprofitable stores.
 
 
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Undeterred by the ongoing economic gloom and increasing competition in Japan's clothing sector, two foreign-owned chains are expanding their presence here by opening their first stores in western Japan this weekend.