With weeks to go until Valentine’s Day (and its younger Japanese cousin, White Day), the barrage of new chocolate products and chocolate marketing has begun. Japan’s 285,000-ton-a year habit pales in comparison to western consumption, but the sweet stuff plays an major role in the country’s snack and dessert markets, as well as in societal traditions such as the o-chugen, o-seibo and omiyage.

Blu-ray recording: If you can't beat them, don't join them — just copy their ideas and improve them. Toshiba is endeavoring to do just that having abandoned its HD-DVD format and instead opted to craft versions of Sony's brainchild, Blu-ray.

In Japan and many countries around the world, it is common to receive free samples of stuff to promote buying the actual thing. The costs have not stopped Japanese manufacturers from going all out to encourage potential customers.

Yakult Honsha, a Japanese maker of yoghurt-like drinks, plans to start output in the United States by 2012 to meet growing demand, the head of the company's overseas business said on Thursday.

A new flexible, lithium polymer battery, that a group of Japanese scientists now created, could have uses in solar batteries, flexible displays, or being attached to curved surfaces. It can be made using printing technology only.

“Tiger tiger burning bright in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?” Well, Japanese artists for one, who have not only managed to render the tiger tame, but have also depicted it as being unbelievably cute. If you live in Japan you won’t have failed to have noticed that the Year of the Tiger is about to pounce upon us and the shops are filled with tiger-themed stuff in all ranges.

Now this is a fantastic idea. The Japanese firm Mobile Art Lab has combined iPhone Apps and a book cover. What comes out when you cross Phone and Book they call PhoneBook and the first release is a great interactive children’s book!

The government on Wednesday announced a basic policy for its economic growth strategy through fiscal 2020. Envisioned is average economic growth of 3 percent in nominal terms and 2 percent in real terms in the coming decade, plus a reduction in the unemployment rate from the current 5 percent level to around 3 percent in four years.

Major department stores kicked off their business for 2010 on Saturday, with reasonably priced lucky bags gaining popularity as consumers tightened their belts amid the recession. Mitsukoshi Ltd.'s flagship store in Tokyo's Nihombashi opened at 9:45 a.m., 15 minutes earlier than scheduled, as about 8,000 peopled lined up in front of the store.