A unique type of business has developed in Japan called yonigeya, which translates as "night movers." These companies offer a service that at first glance seems like something out of a movie: they help people disappear without a word in a single night. No arguments, no goodbyes—just an empty apartment waiting for unsuspecting neighbors in the mo...
When we pull out our phones and scan a QR code today, few people realize that behind this simple black-and-white image is a modest Japanese engineer. In 1994, while playing the strategy game Go, Masahiro Hara came up with an idea that changed not only industrial production, but later also the everyday lives of millions of people. His employer...
China is the leader in the number of patents related to generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to a UN report. Between 2014 and 2023, more than 38,000 patents on generative AI came from China, about six times the number of patents filed in the United States, which came in second place. Overall, more than 54,000 patents related to ...
According to a UN report, China is the world leader in the number of patents related to generative artificial intelligence (AI). Between 2014 and 2023, over 38,000 patents in this area were filed in China, about six times more than the United States, which is in second place. In total, more than 54,000 patents related to generative AI were filed...
Two years ago, Japan's Minister for Digitization, Taru Kono, launched a fight against a technology that most people consider obsolete - computer floppy disks. Until recently, these were used for hundreds of administrative tasks in Japan. The Japanese government has now announced that it has won this "war". The curious thing about this situati...
While the common trend in supermarkets is to speed up the checkout process, one store in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, has taken the opposite approach. They have introduced a so-called super-slow checkout, where there is no room for rush and stress. This checkout is designed especially for the elderly and people with health problems. Everyone ha...
It's not uncommon for some special products to have long waiting times. However, frozen mass-produced croquettes aren't typically items you'd expect to wait for so long that a significant portion of customers might not even live to see them delivered. And if that weren't bizarre enough, for their manufacturer, it's also a loss-making pro...
UNICEF reports that among the 41 developed countries of the European Union and the OECD, Japan stands out as the only country where fewer than one in five children are overweight. In 1896, the progressive physician and pharmacist Sagen Ishizuka introduced a Japanese concept known as 'shokuiku'. This term is a combination of two words: 'shoku'...
