Public Relations Office, Govemment of Japan

September 2007

Asian Gateway

The number of small hotels and ryokan actively seeking foreign visitors is rising. Sawanoya ryokan in downtown Tokyo is one of the originals.

Tourism is booming in the Niseko district of Hokkaido (the northernmost of Japan's four main islands), where a young Australian entrepreneur has helped to develop a world-class year-round resort.

The chances of another currency or financial crisis in Asia would at present seem to be small, but as Toshihiko Kinoshita explains, there is still much to be said for new risk and greater regional cooperation in the economic realm.

With Japan's intellectual property expected to function as an ever more important source of economic growth and social energy, Hiroshi Ogawa comments on the measures being taken by the government to create, protect and exploit said property, taking an in-depth look at the Intellectual Property Strategic Program 2007.

University of Tokyo Professor Osamu Sudoh outlines his work to develop health care services using sensor networks and explains the contribution the system could make to his vision of businesses and local governments "bundling information technology into social infrastructure."

ABI Co. of Japan is making waves in the food industry with an innovative freezing technology that its inventor, ABI President Norio Owada, believes has the potential to revolutionize perishable food transport logistics and revitalize regional economies. Osamu Katayama reports.

As the development of high-definition organic EL displays gathers pace, Tetsuo Tsutsui explains the technology behind the products and looks forward to the flat, lightweight and flexible screens of the future.

Energy consumption in Japan has continued to grow along with economic development. This in itself is hardly surprising, but the figures are. Yohji Uchiyama comments.

Ryu Arakawa launches a new series in which he visits businesses with exceptional products to learn how they have established their reputation and developed the human resources to maintain it. In his opening article, Arakawa visits cheese maker extraordinaire Kyodogakusha Shintoku and meets some of the perhaps “unusual” employees behind the company's success.

Young Japanese people have been rediscovering- and partially reinventing- the centuries-old kimono. Gavin Blair investigates.

To the delight of kabuki fans nationwide, entertainment company Shochiku has transported Japan's 400-year-old traditional theater into the digital age. Tony McNicol reports.

Japan's affection for all things cute manifests itself in myriad ways, as Stephen Mansfield reports.