While hard work is certainly the key to success, billionaire Richard Branson maintains that there is value in taking time away from the office to unplug and decompress. In a recent blog post, the entrepreneur explains why a three or four day work week can actually be beneficial to the future workforce.
Japanese men in their 30s and 40s are the biggest drivers of the bitcoin boom.
Forty percent of bitcoin trading between October and November was conducted in yen, according to a Nikkei report.
Japanese investors, mostly men, came to dominate trading after regulators started to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges in China.
Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it will develop “connected cars” jointly with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to offer online services to drivers.
Together with the Chinese e-commerce giant, Japan’s third-largest automaker by volume will aim to launch online payments for fuel, parking and other services in China through the jointly developed vehicles.
Global automakers are focusing on connected cars with internet access to provide drivers with online payments, shared traffic information and other advanced services.
It seems like everyone is getting into blockchain these days. After all, companies claim to like "transparency", "security", and anything to do with the roller coaster ride that is Bitcoin. But consider this: Tuna.
There are now several blockchain-based projects that aim to stop illegal tuna fishing. The idea is that blockchain-verification would assure consumers and others that the fish were ethically sourced. Or maybe it's just PR, who knows.
Some of my favourite authors are comedic writers. Here is a quote from Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything where he describes the method in which a chemist tested if a substance can catch fire.
“In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a mouthful and blowing across an open flame, proving at once that hydrogen is indeed explosively combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one’s face.”
Japan’s biggest banks are racing to adapt to changing business conditions amid the shrinking population and spread of online banking.
Many have laid out plans to downsize their workforce and massive network of branches while investing in “fintech”—technological innovation in the financial sector—to streamline their operations and make banking more convenient for their customers.
Mitsubishi UFJ plans to trim 6,000 jobs from the unit’s domestic workforce of 40,000 by the end of fiscal year 2023.
ZOZOTOWN, Japan’s largest fashion e-commerce company, has announced the launch of the ZOZOSUIT, a revolutionary body measurement device. The suit’s technology will allow the company to create clothes that are guaranteed to fit, every time.
Retail giant Aeon Co. has renovated 13 outlets across the country to cater to seniors, offering earlier opening hours and services that encourage asatomo (morning friends) get-togethers.
Kohei Nakahara, a store manager, canvassed elderly people who frequent nearby parks to better understand their needs. “We brought what they want to do into our store, and it resulted in them staying longer. We want to make the store a place like a community hall for neighbors,” he said.
GMO Internet, which operates a range of web-related businesses including finance, online advertising and internet infrastructure, will start paying up to 100,000 yen (£660/$890) monthly by Bitcoin to its employees in Japan from February this year.
“Employees can receive salaries by Bitcoin if they want to,” company spokeswoman Harumi Ishii said. “We hope to improve our own literacy of virtual currency by actually using it.”
The offer will be open to around 4,000 employees of the GMO group in Japan, she said.
On one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, Black Friday, thousands of Amazon employees decided it was also a good day to walk off the job. Warehouse workers in several distribution centers in Germany and Italy took the day off to demand higher wages and better treatment.
A Russian politician proposed labeling American fast food chains like McDonald's and KFC as foreign agents, following recently passed legislation which provides the same classification for international news outlets.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R.S. Sharma has called for the Internet being kept open and free, and not cannibalised.
“No one owns the Internet... so, it should be open and accessible to everyone,” Mr. Sharma said, suggesting that service providers should not indulge in gate-keeping of this important platform.
The TRAI issued the much-awaited recommendations on Net neutrality and has sought to bar service providers from any discriminatory practice on Internet access.
Critics of media consolidation are decrying an announcement that the media company Meredith Corp., with a $650 million boost from conservative billionaires David and Charles Koch, will buy Time Inc.—which owns Time, Fortune, People, and Sports Illustrated magazines—for an estimated $2.8 billion.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, became the world's richest man, defeating Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft.
The recent surge in Amazon stock has pushed Bezos' fortune to over $90 billion, vaulting him past Bill Gates. Bezos has been chasing Gates for the number one spot for a few years now and finally succeeded in superseding him. But this dream run was short-lived. On Thursday, Bill Gates was crowned again as the world's richest man as Amazon stocks went down by 1%.
Forbes Coaches Council contends that boredom at work, far from being a terrible thing, offers a chance “to reflect, strategize and create”.
Here are some of the more constructive aspects of boredom, in their opinion:
1. Boredom Inspires Us To Expand Horizons
Boredom provides a great opportunity for us to examine ourselves and seek new ways to expand our world and thinking, so go and learn something new. Get out of the rut that is creating the boredom. Do more. Be more. Live more.
David O. Russell’s crime drama “American Hustle” could be a big winner at the Academy Awards. But for the movie’s many international fans, it may take a little longer to realize it. In their country, there is simply no word that captures the true essence of “Hustle.”
So in Israel the film is known in Hebrew as “American Dream.” In France, it’s translated as “American Bluff.” In Argentina, it’s “American Scandal.” In Portugal, it’s “American Sting.” In Quebec, it’s “American Scam.” In Spain, it’s the “Great American Scam.” And in Turkey, it’s merely known as “Trickster.”
The Japanese government is urging steelmaker Kobe Steel to clarify the extent of manipulation of data on steel, aluminum and other metals used in a wide range of products, reportedly including rockets, aircraft and cars.
A government spokesman on Wednesday criticized the apparently widespread falsification of data as "inappropriate," saying it could undermine product safety.
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kotaro Nogami told reporters that about 200 of Kobe Steel's customers were affected.
In a global study of IT security architecture, IT practitioners from Japan (79%) and Canada (74%) are the most concerned about millennials in the workplace posing a significant risk to security.
As the world’s first “connected” generation, millennials are hyperactive on their mobile devices, using apps and social media platforms for both personal and professional purposes.
What happens when the oil runs out?
We cannot go on using oil forever. We can do so for a few more decades - perhaps until 2070, then it will run out - or at least, there will be hardly any left.
At present, there is still plenty of oil under the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Engineers keep finding new sources of oil, but there are some unavoidable issues with fossil fuels which cannot be ignored.
Japanese Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said on Friday that unauthorized technicians had been found certifying vehicles at five Nissan plants that the ministry has been inspecting.
The unauthorized technicians included contract workers, Ishii told a news conference.
"It's extremely regrettable, causing anxiety for users and shaking the foundation of the certification system," he said.
