The word “Groupies” refers to people who devotedly follow stars around, often with the vain hope of meeting them. The past few years have seen a surging phenomena of middle-aged women going gaga over some handsome-looking Korean stars, ignited by the drama “Winter Sonata” starring Bae Yong Joon.

The phrase, "Placebo Effect", referring to the positive effect of fake medicine, has been introduced into the medical lexicon and widely accepted over the years. It has been scientifically proved that those given fake medicine for their diseases without the knowledge of it lacking any medicinal value, actually could get better. In other words...

The past several months have witnessed two young Japanese entrepreneurs abruptly fall from the height of great success: one is Mr. Horie Takafumi, the former president of the Livedoor Co. who allegedly cheated his investors by window-dressing his company accounts to boost his company's stock value and the other is Mr. Yoshiki Murakami, the former manager of an investment fund, who was arrested for violating Securities and Exchange Law.

Imperial Household Law stipulates that only male Imperial family members in the male line are allowed to ascend the throne. This practice has been observed for well over 1000 years except for eight female monarchs between the 6th and 18th centuries. But they were all descendants from the male line and no emperors have descended from the female line.

The term "glass ceiling" refers to the artificial barrier which prevents women or minorities from climbing the corporate ladder to the upper echelons.  As the term implies, the glass ceiling allows us to see the clear sky above but limits how far we can go in our attempt to reach higher goals. This phenomenon is evident in Japan in that women’s participation in managerial posts accounts for less than 1%.