Whisky & Chocolate

Lotte and Suntory have teamed up once again, this time to release a limited edition set of Whisky and chocolate in time for next year's Valentine Day.

Dean & Deluca

Dean & Deluca has released a new and seasonal flavour for its premium ice-cream line with "Modena Balsamic Vinegar with Fig".

White goods go ECO

The large Japanese manufacturers of household electronics have launched campaigns touting the environmental friendliness of their products in recent months. Slogans are quite similar (Toshiba with Eco Style and National with Eco Ideas) and seem to try and persuade consumers to trade in their current products for the latest, energy-saving model.

Suntory Smoothie

Suntory has come up with a new take on the liquid breakfast with this Fruit and Tofu Smoothie

Spot the difference

From time to time, Japanse companies release what can only be considererd brazen imitations of their competitor's package design. The most recent example are Ebisu and Kirin - one of the above is a so-called third beer (brewed without malt) and retailing for about 130 Yen for a 350ml can, the other a premium beer sold for approximately twice that amount.

Virginia Slims Noire

Virginia Slims "Noire" is the latest tobacco brand targeted at women.

Eneloop Kairo

Sanyo has released a rechargeable and thus eco-friendly pocket-warmer with the Eneloop Kairo

Sony integrates LISMO!

KDDI has announced that the next generation 'LISMO' mobile music download service will be fully compatible with Sony audio equipment, allowing owners of Sony's NETJUKE HDD stereo system to back up and play music files downloaded using an au mobile phone or transfer music stored in 'NETJUKE' directly to an au mobile phone or Walkman - without using a PC.

Glico Almond Premio

Glico has released a premium version of its almond chocolate sweets with Premio.

Haagen Dazs Kokuto & Kuromitsu

Haagen Dazs Japan has released another flavour inspired by traditional Japanese ingredients with Kokuto & Kuromitsu, brown sugar and sugar syrup.

SUICA goes ECO

Train operator JR East is jumping on the recent craze for re-usable shopping bags with the SUICA de Eco campaign, offering new users of its smart card SUICA the chance to win a cute SUICA cloth shopping bag.

Peace Infinity

The premium trend that has been evident in so many recent new product launches in the food and beverage sectors has reached cigarettes - Japan Tobacco has released Peace Infinity, a premium version of its Peace brand.