Fresh & Hot from Japan, 25 to 29 July 2016

Please enjoy fresh & hot news from Japan with comments by Europe-Japan Dynamics.

25 July. A free application for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to obtain legal knowledge, developed by Tokyo bar association

The Tokyo bar association has developed a free application “Poke Ben (Pocket lawyer)”, which delivers latest legal news or ways to avoid legal problems for owners and managers of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). It is intended to narrow the distance between SMEs’ managers and lawyer.

Comments: Knowledge is the power, also for SMEs. It is a good marketing strategy for lawyers to approach to SMEs to demonstrate in what way they may help.

26 July. Cash withdrawal by smartphone, starting by Mitsubishi UFJ Bank from 2018

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ is newly creating a system to do “identity verification” by a smartphone. To pave the way forward, the bank will enable clients to establish a bank account with a smartphone from September, and introduce the first “cardless” cash withdrawal service using a smartphone with an automated teller machine (ATM) in the spring 2018.

Comments: Adding a cash withdrawal function on top of already crowded applications of smartphones, importance of information security is ever increasing.

27 Jul. Kubo, an ace player of the Japanese team of football of Olympic Games, rejected participation by his Swiss club team

Swiss football club, Young Boys, announced in its official Home Page (HP) that the club refused to send Kubo, who had already been selected as a member of the Japanese national team, to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. This was due to an injury of the left knee of the FW of the club, during the first match of three rounds of European champions league held in Ukraine. The Swiss club said that it needed to keep Kubo in the team to maintain the strength.

Comments: What a difficult decision the Swiss team had to make!

28 Jul. NTN developing hybrid power generation business, such as installation of street lamps powered by the sun and wind

NTN, a major bearing company, is entering markets of the wind and hydraulic power generation device. The company used to be a supplier of components, but is set to manufacture a high-efficiency power generator for a small windmill and waterwheel used in local communities, drawing upon its own bearing technology.

Comments: This market appears to have a high growth potential.

29 Jul. “Will reshuffle a cabinet on 3 Aug.”, said the prime minister in a meeting of cabinet members 

The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he would reshuffle the cabinet on 3 August   in an informal meeting of cabinet members. The Prime Minister plans to have the Minister of Finance and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso continued in the new cabinet.

Comments: There will be many challenges to the new cabinet members.

  • All the news items are picked up from “Asahi Digital”, and summarized and translated by Europe-Japan Dynamics. The articles are not an official translation by the Asahi Newspaper.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *