Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe listens to questions during a session of the upper house budgetary... [+] committee at parliament in Tokyo on March 26, 2018. Abe vowed a day earlier to press on with his controversial move to amend Japan's pacifist constitution, undeterred by a political scandal that has dented his popularity. (Photo Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images) It’s a debate worthy of the Fre

Is Okinawa governor Onaga Takeshi Japan’s bravest man?  Who else, we might ask, would have the courage to steadfastly defy the governments of Japan and the United States, the U.S. Pentagon, the virulent and sometimes violent right wing fringes of Japanese politics, and most of the generally pliable, but pro-Abe, Japanese media? Onaga’s predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima, was, in the end, unable to with

Dubbed as the “city of the future”, Dubai, which plans to have robot cops, flying taxis and autonomous vehicles on its roads in coming years and appointed a minister in-charge of Artificial Intelligence recently, is planning yet another transformation: to become the world’s first blockchain-powered government. By 2020, the emirate wants all visa applications, bill payments and license renewals, wh

The worldwide Enterprise Software Market (ERP) market grew just 3.8% in 2013, a slight improvement of 2.2% growth in 2012 yet not nearly enough to sustain the large, complex cost structures of existing market leaders.  The recent report, Market Share Analysis: ERP Software, Worldwide, 2013 published on May 5, 2014 by analysts Chris Pang, Yanna Dharmasthira, Chad Eschinger, Kenneth F. Brant, and Ko

Tokyo Governor and leader of the Party of Hope Yuriko Koike greets her supporters during an election... [+] campaign appearance in Saitama on October 18, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Behrouz MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images) Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is a remarkable woman and a politician; unfortunately, she also has a remarkable prejudice against Japan’s Korean residents an

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s approval numbers are plummeting. A poll conducted from June 17-18 by Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest newspaper (by circulation), showed that only 41% of respondents support Abe’s administration, a six-point drop since May. Meanwhile, 37% do not support the administration, up six points over the same time frame. Other polls show a similar trend: Support fo

Too many job seekers make the interview process more complicated than need be, thinking they need to do something special to stand out. Actually, you want to focus on the simple over the extraordinary -- nailing basic interview etiquette and typical interview questions. You want to treat the interview like a conversation, not an interrogation. You want to relate to the other person, develop a conn

One of the most pervasive metaphors about big data is that it is like teenage sex: everybody’s talking about it, but nobody is doing it. And while I heartily disagree, perhaps some of the best proof that this metaphor is false is that big data and sex are becoming much more than just metaphorically linked. We have long known that companies like Match.com, OKCupid and Tinder use big data to try to

Back in what now seems like a different world – before last year’s US election – I published an article called “Is Big Data Donald Trump’s Achilles Heel?” The gist of my thoughts was that, based on what we knew at the time, it seemed that Trump had little interest in running the type of Big Data-driven, analytical election campaign that had propelled Barack Obama to the presidency (and indeed was

This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

Demand for big data expertise is growing every day, as more and more companies become aware of the benefits of collecting and analyzing data. Unfortunately, the number of people trained to analyze this data isn’t growing in line with the demand. This creates a challenge for companies looking to hire expert people, especially for smaller firms less able to compete on salary and benefits. The good n

Police investigators check the Tsukui Yamayuri-en, a facility for the mentally disabled where a... [+] number of people were killed and dozens injured in a knife attack in Sagamihara, outside Tokyo Tuesday, July 26, 2016. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) It was a day when the U.S. disability community should have been celebrating the progress made since the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed on J

Sensors, cognitive computing and robots — how will the technological innovations taking place rapidly all around us also change one of the most intimate human behaviors? Sex bots have been a science fiction staple since the genre began. But could realistic robotic sex dolls ever be a real thing? They already are, and it’s not just robots that are infiltrating this market; several kinds of new tech

The International Olympic Committee has made a safe choice in naming Tokyo the venue for the 2020 summer games. For a start no city in the world boasts a hotel industry better equipped to accommodate a sudden influx of foreigners. Indeed, contrary to Tokyo’s image as an impossibly expensive place, hotel rates are actually quite modest compared to major American cities. The explanation is regulatio

It is a puzzle, with an intriguing, possibly explosive, solution. Why now, after 70 years, did Japan’s Imperial Household Agency on August 1 agree to release the original phonograph record of Emperor Hirohito's surrender speech first broadcast to the nation and the world on August 15, 1945? The most probable answer is that Hirohito’s son, reigning Emperor Akihito, now 81, ordered the release. So s

The headquarters of what has rapidly become the largest school in the world, at 10 million students strong, is stuffed into a few large communal rooms in a decaying 1960s office building hard by the commuter rail tracks in Mountain View, Calif. Despite the cramped, dowdy circumstances, youthful optimism at the Khan Academy abounds. At the weekly organization-wide meeting, discussion about translat