A Japanese entrepreneur’s answer to Google Glass, but with a Japanese manga-style twist. Japanese entrepreneur Takahito Iguchi wants people to see the world through other people’s eyes. But as a less ambitious jumping off point, he’ll kick it off with a world that looks like a Japanese manga cartoon. His device, called the Telepathy One, is the closest thing I’ve seen under development yet to Google’s Glass gadget.  

TWO years have passed since an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the huge Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), on the Japanese north-east coast—and precipitated a phased shutdown of the country’s 54 nuclear plants for stress testing, maintenance and further seismic analysis. 

With the last reactor turned off in May 2012, the past summer was when Japan started to live without nuclear power for the first time since 1970. Before the disaster struck, nuclear power accounted for 29% of the country’s electricity supply, with plans for boosting it to 50% by 2030. Such intentions are now out of the question. To compensate for the loss of such a large chunk of electrical capacity, households and businesses across Japan were threatened with black-outs and to make reductions of up to 15% in consumption or face stiff penalties. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the electricity was switched off in some parts of the country for up to four hours a day.

Abenomics (a portmanteau of Abe and economics) refers to the economic policies advocated by Shinzō Abe, the current Prime Minister of Japan. Expectations for Abenomics have apparently shifted the economy into a positive cycle, as seen through increased personal spending, the gradual expansion of corporate production and an improvement in unemployment.

Japanese consumer confidence improved in March to the highest level in almost six years, a Cabinet Office survey showed on Wednesday, indicating that aggressive government and central bank policies are having their desired effect. The survey's sentiment index for general households, which includes views on incomes and jobs, was 44.8 in March, which was the highest since May 2007. That was also up from a revised 44.2 in February. 

We posted about tiny housing in Japan before but this time, the home's even smaller: Fuyuhito Moriya is 39 and still lives with his mother, but in circumstances you would call a tad unusual. Moriya, an unmarried man, and his mother, Yoko, live in a house that's built on 30 square meters, that's the same as the size of a parking space for one car. They live in what's called an ultra-small house, a genre of single family homes bred of Japan's economic stagnation and brought to life by architectural ingenuity.

People come from all over the world to get a short glimpse of Japan's blooming cherry blossoms. Google is taking advantage of this worldwide sakura passion to show off their virtual-tour map feature with Street View Sakura Edition, which shows cherry blossom scenes not only in normal pictures but also as 360-degree panoramas. The Blossom Edition features sites from Kyushu all the way up to Aomori, including about 50 different spots, and gives information such as the number of cherry blossom trees, the area they cover and, in some cases, the history of the locations.

All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's leading airline, has launched "Let's Do Japan", a site that lets visitors create their own Japanese manga personality and learn helpful tips about Japanese culture and trends. In this first-ever campaign by ANA targeting U.S. consumers, visitors to the site create their own characters through Manganizer, which uses the popular Japanese manga style of comics and features five distinct Japanophile travelers that embody the characteristics of ANA and Japan. Visitors choose to be either Executive, Fashionista, Gourmand, Designer or Aficionado to create their original manga hero and manga stories with their own pictures.

Press your index fingers and thumbs together in a triangle pattern in front of any Japanese person over the age of 35, and there’s every chance the gesture will score an immediate reaction from them. “Aussie Beef!” will be the response, and this reporter has seen it happen time and time again. It is a powerful reminder of the unbelievable ‘stickability’ of Australia’s original marketing campaign in Japan, executed during the years immediately after the Japanese beef market liberalised in 1990.

Attempting to read and understand food labels in Japan can be a tricky thing. Even when being able to read hiragana, katakana and some kanji, the majority of the food labels are still confusing to many consumers -- EVEN JAPANESE !!  Japan-based blogger Ashley (Surviving Japan) wrote this awesome guide on how to read food labels in Japan which we are now sharing with you. Enjoy to realize what you're eating in Japan! Thanks Ashley !!

FOODeX JAPAN is the largest annual food and beverage trade show in Asia and has been a highly successful trade event since its debut in 1976 serving not only Japan’s $700 billion food market but many lucrative Asian markets. Over 75,000 professional visitors attend FOODEX 2013, including over 6,500 from Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Location: Tokyo, Makuhari Messe Chiba Exhibit Profile: Food, beverage products Visitor Profile: Supermarkets, hypermarkets, wholesalers, grocery stores, food service hospitality, fast food chains, convenience stores, distributors, importers, agents and brokers No. of Exhibitors: 2,500 producers from 73 countries