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This article discusses Japan's paper industry, which is beset by high prices for inputs, notably energy, and low prices for paper, which are kept down by foreign competition, chiefly from China. A merger was proposed between Japan's biggest paper company, Oji Paper, and Hokuetsu Paper Mills. Oji sees a merger as a chance to cut the industry's oversupply by allowing it to scrap its older papermaking machines and use Hokuetsu's newer ones, which not only also coat paper for items like tissue boxes.

Contends that Japan's struggling paper industry is as bloated and overmanned as any in America or Europe. Predictions from the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI); The number of new paper plants that have come on line just as demand has slumped.

Discusses legal matters in Japan. Emerging trends concerning lawyers; Assertion that few legal professions are as closed as Japan's; Why the Japanese government banned all foreign attorneys not already in the country; Shortcomings of Japanese legal policies.

In this article author talks about opening of bar by Kim Jae-geun. Topics include considered that stacks of scrap paper and pens on the countertop and the tables let customers request their favorite songs; and considered that LP bars opened in the 1990 inspired by the listening bars that originated in mid-20th century Japan.

The article discusses a precarious future for newspapers in Japan. Although circulation remains strong, newspapers are much more popular among baby boomers than with younger people, who prefer to get news via television and the Internet. The fact that sales agents usually serve as middlemen between newspapers and readers makes it more difficult for the papers to introduce new services.

Tired--or scared--of the high prices and wafer-thin yields on Japanese government bonds (JGBs), investors have begun selling. Investors bought ¥3 trillion of foreign bonds in April, and ¥3.7 trillion in May, the most--bar one freak month--on record. Besides investing in Treasury bonds, insurers have been buying the paper of American quasi-governmental agencies. Japan's wretched investment environment is also pushing regional banks to break with tradition and move money into foreign bonds. That will be one reason why the Bank of Japan, which already buys ¥1.2 trillion-worth of bonds each month as a way of pumping money into the economy, will not want to let the market slip too far.

The article discusses the suicide of Yoshiki Sasai, a stem-cell biologist at the RIKEN (Rikagaku Kenkyusho) Center for Developmental Biology, and supervisor of Haruko Obokata, a researcher found guilty of fabrication and plagiarism for two papers published in the January 2014 issue of "Nature" purporting to have developed a simple method of creating stem cells. The author argues that Sasai was innocent of any wrongdoing and questions whether pressure put on scientists to make discoveries is not to blame.

The article reports that the International Court of Justice ruled on April 1, 2014 that Japan had no scientific reason to cull around 1,000 whales in Antarctic waters each year. It mention the court found research had produced only two peer-edited papers from 2004-2014. It comments on a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare concerning Japan's nationalization of its whaling program and states that Japan has over 5,000 tonnes of whale meat unsold in freezers.

The article discusses biomedical research funding in the U.S. and Asia as of January 2014, focusing on the results of a paper published in the periodical "New England Journal of Medicine" by researchers such as Justin Chakma. Topics include research fraud in China, the pharmaceutical industry of Japan, and drug development.

The article discusses steps taken by the Bank of Japan to spur the Japanese economy. In addition to lowering its policy interest rate, the bank has reaffirmed its intention to keep interest rates down and suggested it might begin forcing money into the economy by purchasing corporate bonds, commercial paper, and other assets from banks.

Discusses how cardboard is in short supply in Japan. In Japan, China's insatiable demand for raw materials is now endangering the most vital commodity in retailing: the cardboard box. Once blamed for exporting deflation to Japan, China is now charged with causing the recent surge in the prices of nickel, plywood and other commodities. Japanese cardboard-makers are reluctant to match these prices and have opted to lower production instead. Still, after another hike in procurement costs last autumn, the Japan Corrugated Association, the industry body, called on its members to start raising cardboard-box prices. Local governments, which collect waste cardboard along with other sorts of rubbish, are also affected: they find private collectors now swipe the stuff before they arrive.

en prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals. Mammoths, mastodons, massive ground sloths, woolly rhinoceros, cave bears and large flightless birds suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans. That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What Ransom Myers and Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, have shown is just how fast things are changing. According to their paper in the latest issue of "Nature," the biomass of large predators (generally the most valuable species) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then. The researchers' data came from two sources. Those for fisheries on the continental shelves were derived from standardized research surveys of large bottom-dwelling fish such as cod, flatfish, skates and rays. Those for fish in the open ocean, such as tuna, billfish and swordfish, were estimated from figures collected by Japan's longline fishing fleet (composed of vessels that trail fishing lines with baited hooks at intervals along their lengths). The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, an inter-governmental body that manages tuna fisheries in the eastern Pacific, has a different view of the status of tuna stocks. Robin Allen, its director, says longlines only catch older tuna, and the data the authors are using therefore comprise only part of the actual stock.

The article focuses on the dilemma facing the Ministry of Finance in Japan regarding the banking system. The Ministry is having a hard time dealing with the banking system's problem. It has recommended to use public money to clear the debt of banks but tax papers would not agree to such an idea. They hate the idea of subsidizing strong banks like Daiwa Bank. The Ministry, to be fair, does not have any plan to give money to bankers but only to depositors at risks. The catch, however, is that some of the depositors are strong banks. It is suggested that depositors should be bailed out by an expanded deposit-insurance scheme. In return, banks are required to disclose information about their debts.

This article focuses on the growth and development of Canon Inc., the camera and office equipment firm in Japan. On October 29th, the company reported a 53% jump profits in the third quarter. It now expects to earn $1.43 billion for the full year. An 81% jump in digital-camera sales helped. But these account for less than 10% of total sales. Much of Canon's consistent profitability stems instead from two other factors. And it has boosted profits further by relying on more prosaic western business practices to cut costs. But Canon is hardly the only firm to shift from assembly-line to small production cells. Even in Japan, where it is admittedly a leader, it is not the first to try cutting costs. The rest of the Canon story hinges on technology and how it is used.