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://www.asahi.com/english/english.html)
Mainichi Daily News (http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/)
The Daily Yomiuri (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm)
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://home.kyodo.co.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 Net Interactive" site run by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. The URL for this Web site is:
For those who have a Japanese-language capable browser and the 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:
Those who can understand Japanese and would like to see video clips of what's going on in Japan can go to the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Web site, the URL for which is as follows.
There is also an English-language NHK Web site with links to various subcategories, such as the news, special programs, and even a 19 lesson on-line Japanese language course. Here's the URL.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/index-e.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:
J@pan Inc is the follow-on magazine to the first English-language magazine dedicated to the computing industry in Japan. Computing Japan, which was published from 1994 through 1999. The archives for that magazine are at the following URL.
http://www.computingjapan.com/back.html
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/
Netscape: http://www.netscape.co.jp/
People looking for employment in Japan might start with the job listings at the Work in Japan Web site. The URL is:
http://www.workinjapan.com/wij/
There are also many job listings for bilingual professionals who speak English and Chinese, Japanese, or Korean at the "Asia Net" Web site. The URL is:
A new jobs-in-Japan Web site called "JobDragon.com" opened in May 25, 2000. You can post your resume if you're looking for a position in Japan. Unfortunately, most of the jobs listed as of this writing are for "native speakers" of Japanese.
http://www.jobdragon.com/index_e.asp
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/wwwjdic.html
Goo Benri tsuuru [Goo Convenient Tools]: http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/cgi-bin/ej-top.cgi
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.
These links were last revised on May 31, 2001.