Uchikura & Co Blog
2026-07-24
One thing I find interesting about many posts promoting Chinese innovation is that they often highlight the achievement but rarely identify the individual inventor, research team, or company behind i...
2026-07-24
An Edo-Period Crime That Still Exists Today Japan has an old name for a crime that still happens today: tsutsumotase (美人局). Tsutsumotase is a form of extortion involving romantic or sexual entrap...
2026-07-24
Hisashige Tanaka — Birth of TOSHIBA When people think of Japan's technology industry, companies like Toshiba often come to mind. Few realize that its roots trace back to one remarkable inventor: Hi...
2026-07-24
Hankyu Didn't Just Build a Railway. It Built a City. When people think about successful railway companies, they often assume the key is building faster trains or longer rail lines. But one of Japan's...
2026-07-23
The Japanese character 満 (man / mitasu) carries the idea of being "full," "complete," or "filled to the proper amount." It appears in many everyday words. A full moon is 満月 (mangetsu), a perfect scor...
2026-07-23
Kendō Sanbai — Never Fight the Wrong Battle In Japanese martial arts, there is an old saying: 「剣道三倍」 (Kendō Sanbai). It is often misunderstood as meaning that a kendo practitioner is "three times...
2026-07-23
A Bolt That Refuses to Loosen: How a Small Factory in Osaka Earned the World's Trust When people think of world-changing technology, they often imagine computers, rockets, or artificial intelligenc...
2026-07-22
Mairimashita (参りました) — Admitting Defeat by Respecting the Other Person In Japan, when someone loses a contest, they may say, “Mairimashita,” meaning, “I concede” or “You have defeated me.” What m...
2026-07-22
Do What You Can Do One piece of advice has guided successful people for generations: "Do What You Can Do." Many people spend enormous amounts of time worrying about things they cannot control—o...
2026-07-22
Thinking About "Japanese-Style Management" What exactly is Japanese-style management? Is it treating employees like family, guaranteeing lifelong employment, or waiting for a complete consensus in mee...