Here are about 75 useful sites regarding Japan. To visit more than one, it is easiest to go to each site by opening a new window, keeping this one open on your desktop, or return by pressing "Back" on your internet browser.

Internet links are constantly changing, so please let me know if updates would be useful. A few seem to be currently down (as noted below), but are worth trying anyway.

Japan Laws, Government and Trade

U. S. Government Links Relating to Japan

Latest News of Japan in English

Kansai Region of Japan -- Maps, Travel and Trade Links

Weather -- Typhoons, Earthquakes, Tsunami, Heavy Rains

Japan Laws, Government and Trade

Supreme Court of Japan has a few major decisions, a tour of the Supreme Court building, court procedures, and a description of the judicial system in Japan.

Japan Federation of Bar Associations NEW CONTENT The Nichibenren site now has much excellent information on the legal system and regulation of lawyers and foreign lawyers, in both English and Japanese. Want to know how to become a Gaiben? How lawyers' fees are set in Japan? Check this site.

Osaka Bar Association NEW Largely in Japanese but some information in English. Getting better.

Japanese Law and Regulation Information Guide NEW URL From Stanford University and NTT, the telephone company, this site has the Constitution of Japan, the 1994 Product Liability Law and other materials in English. Good and getting better as new content has been added.

Japanese Law DOWN Another good selection of links, from Tohoku University.

Japan Law Links from Professor Luke Nottage, a New Zealand lawyer who studied at Kyoto University here in Kansai until 1994, and is now teaching at Kyushu University in Fukuoka. Coauthor with Harald Baum of the recent book "Japanese Business Law in Western Languages: An Annotated Selective Bibliography" (Littleton Co. USA 1998), described further there. Some very good, extensive links on Japanese law.

Japan Law Resources has a fine selection of articles, cases and statutes in English from Vicki L. Beyer, Associate Dean and Director of the Temple University Law Program in Japan.

Copyright Law In Japan DOWN? (Japanese only.)

Japan Ministry of Justice NEW URL The MOJ or Homusho now has some fine content in English, including a long explanation of how foreign lawyers may qualify as Gaiben, under the heading Judicial System and Research Department. If the link will not open, keep checking as the content is worth it.

Japan Commercial Arbitration Association NEW includes arbitration costs and procedures.

Japan National Tourist Organization NEW URL Helpful information on travel to Japan.

National Holidays in Japan Do not schedule any business in Japan on these days, as all offices are closed and travel bookings are full.

Japan Ministry of Trade & Industry MITI is an elite ministry staffed by top professionals. Its site includes the Government of Japan's White Papers on the Kodak-Fuji film dispute and on Japan's position on trade restrictions of other countries, including the US, and the 1998 Report on the WTO Consistency of Trade Policies by Major Trading Partners. (Compare these to the USTR reports below.) MITI can be of great assistance to prospective foreign direct investors, and seems to be fully willing to help those who can stimulate the economy.

The Japan Patent Office is part of MITI and its site discusses current and pending changes in Japanese law on patents, trademarks and other intellectual property to harmonize with international treaties and to cope with increasing globalization. Note the NEW fee schedule as of June 1, 1999.

Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs The diplomatic corps' site deals with Japan's role in the United Nations, Japan-European Community relations, visits of heads of state, etc. Since much of Japan's diplomacy centers on economic relations, trade and investment, these issues are covered here too.

Japan External Trade Organization JETRO is a quasi-governmental entity to promote trade and economic relations. It can be very helpful to companies seeking to market in Japan. Check the list of offices around the world, examples of business contacts, news of trade fairs.

Japan Ministry of Post and Telecommunications Struggling to manage the demanding new areas of technology, including telecommunications, digital TV and the Internet. An attractive site.

Japan Ministry of Finance The MOF guides the nation's economy by setting its fiscal and monetary policy. This page was established "because of a need [by others] to gain international understanding of Japan's policies."

Japan Customs Law and Procedure from the MOF in English.

The Bank of Japan has a site to provide new economic data, such as major economic indicators, together with data for the past 20 years. The goal is to offer a wide range of up-to-date information about the Japanese economy and Bank of Japan activities so as to reduce the number of people trying to get data directly. Check this site for discussions by the Policy Board on the proposed revision of the Bank of Japan law.

Japan Development Bank NEW offers very generous low cost, long term financing for foreign investors.

Japan Export-Import Bank NEW

Keidanren The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations is big business in Japan and has much information in English.

Japan Ministry of Agriculture, Forestries and Fisheries Rice, apples, lumber and whales are among the politically sensitive trade issues which this ministry regulates. An important ministry for merchandisers. Lots of statistical data.

U. S. Government Links Relating to Japan

United States Department of State U.S. foreign policy priorities, country commercial guides and fact sheets, press statements, major speeches, etc. Check the new link on "Living Overseas" regarding travel warnings, passport and visa information and much more.

United States Trade Representative See the USTR's National Trade Estimates on Foreign Trade Barriers for 1999, 1998, 1997 and 1996. (Guess what nation gets most of the attention in each.) To view these and other Reports at this site, such as those on other Japan-related issues and Section 301, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download from Adobe Systems.

United States Department of Commerce Some parts of this site, such as STAT-USA regarding U.S. trade data, leads and information, are only available on a fee basis. Look at the Office of Technology Policy's Asia-Pacific Technology Program (NEW URL) for analysis of technology issues and developments in Japan, China and APEC.

United States Commerce Department - International Trade Administration Information on anti-dumping and countervailing duties, including proposed regulations. It offers the full text of the Uruguay Round Agreement and implementing U.S. legislation at its Internet Library.

United States International Trade Commission This has the complete Harmonized Tariff Schedule and other trade information.

United States Patent and Trademark Office Many leads on intellectual property law issues. Its U.S. and International Legal Materials has the texts of laws and regulations, including the Patent Act, Trademark Act, Examination Guidelines for Computer-Related Inventions, and, in the international field, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Uruguay GATT, Paris Convention on industrial property, Berne Convention on literary and artistic works, etc. The entire 20 million pages of U.S. patent and trademark data have been promised to become publicly available here.

Latest News of Japan in English

Daily Yomiuri This seems to have the best coverage of general newspaper stories summarized on line. There is good editorial material and news content.

Nihon Keizei Shinbun The best business news coverage, from Japan's top daily business paper, updated three times a day. Now promoting free trial subscriptions.

Japan Times Online JTO now has a weekly news summary for the past year and complete Sumo results of the most recent basho.

Asahi Shimbun Another good national daily newspaper.

Mainichi Daily News A good newspaper, but a rather weak web site.

Kyodo News Includes current U.S. dollar-yen exchange rate and Nikkei stock average.

Japan Company Record NEW Financial and stock market data on companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

What's New in Japan From NTT, the major telephone company in Japan, this is mainly a promotional bulletin board.

Kansai Time Out Web site of the English language magazine on events in Kansai.

Computing Japan Terrie Lloyd's invaluable monthly magazine on computers, information technology and telecommunications in Japan. Back articles are available on site and even a few new ones, including some that got squeezed out of the print version. With a password, subscribers can access the entire current magazine on line. A very useful site.

Japan Web Guide from Forest Linton, writer of the "Digital Forest" column in Computing Japan, lists around 500 web sites in Japan, including most of the media sites and many useful business company links. Not up to date, but an impressive collection.

Tokyo Q The Tokyo restaurant reviews are fine, but the best is "Last Week in Japan - What Really Happened," a humorous collection from this Tokyo magazine.

Weekly Post Home Page Hard-hitting inside news stories on politics and the economy.

Sidelights My own page on a few noteworthy events in recent news in Japan.

Kansai Region of Japan -- Maps, Travel and Trade Links

Map of Kansai Region The six traditional prefectures of Kansai shown (plus Mie and sometimes Fukui) are the geographic and cultural center of Japan. Actually, regional development agencies are adding other prefectures to their definitions, and Kansai means Western Japan, so the term is flexible.

Map of Japan This is a big map, 545k, so it may load slowly.

Simple Map of Japan A simple overview (18k), with links to other regional and transportation maps.

United States Consulate in Osaka NEW CONTENT This excellent, informative site has the guidelines, based on diplomatic treaty, for taking evidentiary depositions in law suits and for getting notarial documents in Japan . It also has useful material on U.S. passports, visas, getting married, dual citizenship, etc. The site has recently been updated and has a whole new look.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Kansai has now become part of the revamped ACCJ Tokyo site. A few useful Kansai phone numbers, but little other content since the main focus is on Tokyo. The Tokyo site has some information on living in Japan, but is shifting towards being exclusively limited to ACCJ members on a password basis, a disadvantage for the foreign community in Japan and others who might be interested in the ACCJ. One must enable "cookies" in the browser to see this site.

Kansai Economic Federation (Kankeiran) NEW URL Information on business and the economy of Kansai at the new web site.

KIPPO NEW URL The Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office has further information of business and the economy of Kansai, plus more contact information. A rather informative site, with some interesting news stories on current business developments.

K-CIP NEW The Kansai Council of Investment Promotion site is a good access point regarding Kansai. Worth a look.

Osaka Tourist Association This site used to be the Osaka City Air Terminal (OCAT), including nice color pictures and information on tourist sites and the history of the city. Now administered by the Tourist Association, it again has some good English language content.

Osaka Prefecture Getting better.

Guide to Kyoto Kyoto is the living cultural centerpiece of Japan and a "must see." This site has mainly tourist information from JETRO, but it is certainly worth a look. (For much more excellent background on Kyoto and the rest of Japan, browse the voluminous "Japan Inside Out," an outstanding travel book by Jay & Sumi & Garet Gluck, before you come to Japan.)

Kyoto Prefecture DOWN Some nice information in English for tourists.

Guide to Nara Nara was the ancient capital of Japan until the 700's, and in terms of cultural significance and interest, it is in many ways fully the equal of Kyoto.

Kobe Home Page NEW URL Kobe has been a center of the foreign community and commerce since the Meiji period (1868 - ) and thus has more of the flavor of a Western city. Devastated by the major earthquake in early 1995, it has bounced back. Today, Kobe and adjoining Ashiya and Nishinomiya continue to have a diversified expatriate community (from 98 countries) and some nice foreign shops and restaurants.

Hyogo Prefecture NEW URL Hyogo includes Kobe and Himeji (the magnificent, archtypical feudal "white crane" castle, filmed in James Clavell's movie "Shogun.")

Mie Prefecture's Home Page CURRENTLY DOWN English pages have been added to this site recently. The Suzuka international F1 and motorcycle circuit is located here.

Iga Ueno City in Mie Prefecture. One of my favorite tourist spots, not far from Osaka, this is the home base of the Iga Ninja clan of mercenaries, famous in Japanese history. This web site, lately on its third version, has become so popular throughout the world that its new "NINJA" page has been expanded to more than 36 Megabytes of material in Japanese and English, describing ninja secrets, training, mental preparation, diet, etc. These are all claimed to have applications to modern life and business success. There is a fine, innocent-looking ninja farmhouse full of secret compartments and an adjoining ninja museum on the grounds of Ueno Castle. Iga Ueno was the home of the poet Basho (1653-1704), who invented haiku, and there is a memorial to him next to the castle.

Wakayama Prefecture's Home Page DOWN There is not much here yet about this beautiful Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, but the web site is under construction, so check from time to time. Scenic mountains, temples, hot springs and seaside resorts.

Kansai International Airport NEW URL and BETTER DATA This has useful information on the major new airport in Osaka Bay, which is an excellent point of entry into Japan and is becoming the main link to Asian countries. More convenient and user-friendly than Narita Airport outside Tokyo. The site now includes daily flight and departure-arrival information.

Weather -- Japan's Typhoons, Earthquakes, Tsunami, Rains

ABCNews Lately, the most useful weather site I have seen is this one, at this site of the American Broadcasting Company in the US. Forecasts for many Japanese cities are included. Because it uses complex scripts, you may need one of the newer web browsers, such as Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later, to access it.

The CNN Storm Center NEW DATA covers storms around the world. Good links on weather disaster relief.

Hurricanes, Typhoons and Tropical Cyclones Fairly current updates and satellite images tracking big weather.

CIMSS Tropical Cyclones at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rather technical meteorological information with satellite images and MPEG videos of storm movements. Full coverage during the Spring/Summer cyclone season, and Java movies are being added.

The Volcano Research Center Home Page of the Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo makes living in the shadow of 10 percent of the world's volcanoes look quite exciting. (Watch out, they expect a big one from Mount Fuji, which last erupted in 1707.) Take a look at the VRC's page on Current Eruptions in Japan.

The Research Center for Earthquake Prediction ("Eq. Info.") from Kyoto University's Disaster Prevention Research Institute is exactly that -- they are researching ways to predict earthquakes. Look at the material on the Hanshin Dai Shinsai (Great Hanshin Earthquake or, literally, Hanshin great shaking calamity) of January 17, 1995 at 5:46 a.m., which devastated Kobe and was unexpected for the Kansai area, although they detect a lot of minor activity here -- see the maps showing hundreds of earthquakes in the preceding 30 days, just in the Kansai area!

The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo has good reports on the most recent major earthquakes and volcanic activity in Japan. Currently focusing mainly on volcanoes.

The National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention has updates every 30 minutes on seismic activity in the Kanto-Tokai region around Tokyo. Since many people think that Tokyo is due for the next major earthquake disaster, tremors get much attention there.

U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Very useful guides on how to prepare for and handle earthquakes, storms, tsunami (tidal waves), poison gas attacks and other emergency conditions relevant to Japan.

The U.S. Geological Survey's earthquake information page has tips on ways to prepare for a major earthquake.