We had three words for shoveling snow in Japan.
The first was yukikaki, the second was yukioroshi and the third was yukihori. You might guess that yuki is the word for snow. I know, I …

In the 1980s not a few Toyota Corollas and Datsun B210s were trashed by angry protesters. (Do you know how Datsun got its name? The boss came in and told the Japanese car name maker that …

Japan knows how to capitalize on gift giving = make money.
Feb. 14th is Valentines Day in Japan like it is everywhere else. One difference is that in Japan only the women folk give gifts…chocolate…to anyone. …

The best way to mess up anything, good or bad, is to let a politician get involved. It’s no different in Japan.
Takafumi Horie, founder of www.livedoor.com was all the rage of the business press just a half …

My first duke blog was about a little guy, a blogger no less, in China being pushed around by a very rich guy.
This one is about a very very rich guy going after one of the …

Who would have thought that by doing something good you could make so many enemies?
The Toyota Prius and the Honda Civic Hybrids, not only get 50 mpg, they also get to travel solo in the …

Japan has four distinct seasons. Spring goes from March to May. Summer goes from June to August, Fall from September to November and Winter from December to February.
In Spring we enjoy the Cherry Blossoms . …

Here in the Valley (I live in Silicon Valley) Toyota Priuses were back ordered for months not long ago. I don’t know where it stands now. But people were buying these snazzy ‘green cars’ and …

I am looking at a chart that was published in a recent Businessweek article.
Since the early 1990s, when Japan’s recession supposedly began AND when Russia began to open up after the Berlin walls came tumbling down (I …

Which Asian country’s GDP expanded at 5 times the US rate of 1.1%?
If you guessed Japan, you are right. In the last quarter of last year, Japan’s GDP grew at a rate of 5.5% annual …