Let's begin with the news. If you're interested in what is going on in Japan on a daily basis, there are four major English-language daily newspapers that can keep you up to date via their Web sites. These are:
Asahi Shimbun (http://ajw.asahi.com/)
Mainichi Daily News (http://mainichi.jp/english/english)
The Daily Yomiuri (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/)
The Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/)
If you are interested in what is going on in Japan on an hourly basis, then it is best to look at the news tidbits pumped out by a wire service. Try the following.
Kyodo News Service (http://english.kyodonews.jp/)
For economics news on Japan--if you don't mind paying for it--one of the best places to begin looking is the "Nikkei.com" site run by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. The URL for this Web site is:
For those who have Japanese language skills to use it, the Yahoo! Japan Web site is a good place to look for information. Although it isn't as comprehensive as the main Yahoo! site in the U.S. (http://www.yahoo.com/), there are a lot of links to interesting Web sites in Japan listed there, not to mention the latest news. The URL is as follows:
The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Web site has lots of English-language information at the following "NHK World" link. There are also Japanese language lessons available there.
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/
In addition, NHK has an "NHK Online English" Web site that has various programs for visitors to watch. Here's the URL, which links back to "NHK World."
http://www.nhk.or.jp/english/index.html
Westerners interested in the Japanese computer industry will be happy to learn that there is an English-language magazine dedicated to the topic. The magazine is J@pan Inc, and it has a Web site at the following URL:
As for search engines, most search engines used in the U.S. and Europe, such as Google, now have Japanese language search capability. However, there are also Web search engines aimed solely at Japanese Web surfers. Here are four of them.
Infoseek: http://www.infoseek.co.jp/
Excite: http://www.excite.co.jp/
People looking for employment in Japan might start with the job listings at the Daijob Web site. The URL is:
If you are a Japanese-to-English or English-to-Japanese translator and need an on-line dictionary, here are a couple of dictionary Web sites that can make your work easier.
Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese-English Dictionary Server: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C
Goo dictionary page: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/
Finally, electronics junkies who have lots of money to spend and who are in or soon to be in the Tokyo area might want to take a look at the Akihabara Web site, which provides all the latest information on Tokyo's famous electronics district. Information is offered both in Japanese and English.
Last updated: September 26, 2012.