Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met with 10 parents and their kids in an informal gathering to discuss the government’s child allowance payments, child care and other child rearing issues. The 80-minute meeting Feb. 14 was held at the Prime Minister’s residence, in a room dubbed the "Pigeon Cafe". The Japanese word "hato" means
January Canon Japan employees leave early to make babies Canon lets workers leave early twice a week to encourage them to have more babies. The 5:30 p.m. lights-out program at Canon addresses the declining birthrate problem while also reducing employee overtime costs. February ‘Doorplate mania’ man arrested. A 42-year-old Tokyo man is arrested for stealing
An ad campaign by the Bicycle Association of Japan advises bicycle buyers to look for the BAA-approved safety sticker on new bicycles. BAA ads focus on bicycle brake response and night visibility. Laws in Japan requires seatbelts be worn by all occupants in vehicles. A regulation requires helmets be worn by riders of motorized bicycles and
An IC card security system that tracks kids is being offered by Tokyu Land Corp. Homeowners who purchase a Tokyo Security home security service plan have the option to enable the Tokyu Kids Security system. Tokyu has partnered with PASMO Co. which issues rechargeable contactless PASMO IC smartcards for rail and bus systems in Japan.
A soft, chewy candy that was linked to choking deaths and pulled from the market in October will be available again in early December in a new formula and with larger warnings on the packaging. Mannan Life Co., stopped production of its Konnyaku Batake brand konnyaku jelly Mini Cup after receiving reports of children and
The new Hi-Kara handheld cube from Takara-Tomy is designed to make the popular karaoke singing activity more easily available to teens and kids in Japan. Two headphone-mics can connect to the device, and plug-in music cartridges provide the lyrics that are displayed on the LCD screen. Users hear the music and their own voice
Bye Buy Butter Thirty-five years ago, it was toilet paper. Now, consumers and bakeries are hunting butter as Japan is suffering a butter shortage. Supermarkets are limiting butter to one per customer. At OK Mart, Hokkaido butter brand was available, up 100 yen from it’s previous price of 199 yen. Buyers were allowed only one
