April 2008

Wise Selection 2008

Spring Is the Time to Replace Your Products!

Mobile Phones: 5 million pixels, organic EL, ultra-thin - should you invest?

Smartphones: Can you really use them for business? We tested them from every angle

Electronic Dictionaries: Pen touch operation - there is a gap in performance between various manufacturers

Linear PCM Recorders:  Can they also be used for work, rather than just for pleasure?

Ultra-Small Notebook PCs: the “Eee PC” retailing for 50,000 yen - Should you buy it rather than Kohjinsha’s?

Document Scanners:  The results are out in champion ScanSnap vs. Canon

Compact Digital Cameras: Which one would perform best at welcome parties or sports meetings?

Special Imaging Equipment: Ultra-high speed cameras and spy cameras! Special motion shots made simple

Color laser printers, PC bags, business card management software, etc.

Undercover Checking

Competing for Business Travel Needs - The Rush to Open and Refurbish

The Latest Business Hotel Ratings (Tokyo Edition)

The influence layout has changed! If you’re looking in the 6,000 to 10,000 yen range, don’t hesitate to choose these

The keywords are “Ginza Bubble”, “The Rise of the Niche Market,” “The Counter-Offensive of the Old Establishment”

The latest 15,000 yen high-end business hotels - Is it worth staying there?

Price under Construction

Should you buy apartments in 2008 or wait it out?

Look for recently built rather than newly built

Will second-hand apartment prices in the metropolitan area collapse?

The Last Resort

Hotels: Yokohama and Kobe

Taxis: Sendai

Japan’s Ultra-Competitive Areas

Next Characters

TV just isn’t enough anymore

The next strategy for the character business

New twist to e-money

Big changes! “Electronic money”

Unclear Black and White

Is filtering “censorship?”

2013 - Forecasting Japan’s Eating Habits in 5 Years’ Time

Kenji Yamamoto, President, Good Tables Co., Ltd.

Yukihiro Furuse’s Testing Workshop

Kyosho’s “Manoi” robot

The Up-to-Date News: This Month’s Topics

Rapidly gaining in popularity: Kleingarten

“Superior Variety Concourse” in Kyoto’s new station

Israeli culture - a slow penetration

The Hit Makers Tell - The Stories behind Hit Products

Energy-saving Pa-Look Ball Premier bulbs

Getting into Trends - Investigating Trends

Will high-tech vegetables help eating habits?

A-Person - The Competent Person behind the Scenes

The person responsible for soup development at Soup Stock Tokyo

What’s New

A multi-purpose (work, live and play) complex goes up in Tokyo’s Akasaka area

Can liquid crystals reflect the future? Portable toys that use psychology

Favorite Matsushita finally enters the PND (Personal Navigation Device) market

Close-Up

Running shoes

Around the World

Space travels by ordinary people is finally becoming a possibility

New hotel based around a Beatles concept

The 4 Tell A Why - Dissecting unexpected hits

Sengoku Busho (Feudal Warlords)

Welcome to Pro Specs - the 7 tools used by professionals

Barbers divulge the secret of feeling good at the barber shop! An ear care lotion

Check out the Food World! The Gourmet Detectives

The foreigners are coming! The new Sushi style

Coming up

Moth repellents