Toshiba beat out GE and Mistubishi in a bid of nearly $5 billion to purchase Westinghouse, an American nuclear-engineering company owned by the British government, according to a story from Times Online. If nothing else, this is instructive on the international scope of large-scale business today: A Japanese company buys an American firm from the British government, eying China’s demand for nuclear reactors. And the only other company that offers a pressurized-water design that China’s government supposedly favors is French company Framatome.

The Independent looks at investing in Japan, and the risks involved given the Nikkei’s rocky history since 1989. Included are fund recommendations for those interested in Japanese investment.

Mainichi reports that Canon’s October-December profit is up 34% thanks to strong digital camera sales and the dollar-yen exchange rate. Cost-cutting, copier and camera sales, and rapid introduction of new products also contributed to the strong earnings.

News.com reports on the recent appointment of American Tim Schaaff to the new role of senior vice president of software development, where he will head the company’s various Japanese divisions in an attempt to overcome duplication of effort and incompatibilities. Schaaff was formerly head of Apple’s QuickTime engineering team.

Though the Japanese property market has not drawn a lot of foreign interest, that is starting to change, according to Times Online report. This is thanks in large part to the recovery of the Japanese economy, along with low interest rates and rising property prices; however just as important is the easing of various barriers to entry for foreign investors. Financing and the willingness of banks to lend to foreigners, along with the necessity of permanent residence and a long term visa, are some of the difficulties that have either been eased or done away with entirely, according to the report.

Nintendo announced strong third-quarter profits, thanks largely to strong Nintendo DS software sales. Like Sony however, much of the earnings performance can be attributed to favorable dollar-yen exchange rates.

Nintendo also announced a revised design for their Nintendo DS handheld, dubbed “Nintendo DS Lite,” to be released this March in Japan.

Both Reuters and Mainichi report.

Set to be 30% cheaper than Uniqlo’s already cheap merchandise. Via Mainichi.

Despite the torrent of bad news Sony Corp. has faced in recent months, today’s revised earnings forecast shifted yearly earnings through March 31 in a positive direction: from losses of ¥10 billion (US $86 million) to gains of ¥70 billion (US $600 million). Still, the turnaround may be more attributable to the weak yen and strong Japanese stock market performance than to any factors within Sony, according to reports. Sony is still in the middle of a massive restructuring plan, and announced today that their AIBO and QRIO robots will soon cease production.

The Japan Times has the story, while Business Week provides some additional analysis (albeit before the official announcement by Sony).

News on Livedoor having become a daily occurrence as of late, a couple more items of interest came out today. First another editorial, coming from a site about science and technology news of all places, opines about Livedoor and the possible damage recent events may bring to the rise in entrepreneurial spirits among Japanese college students.

And in the news, Fuji TV, target of a hostile takeover attempt, is now looking into buying Livedoor itself, in an ironic twist of fate. Kyodo News has the story.

A special for Asahi Shimbun attempts to explain how the Japanese car industry managed to advance so rapidly, catapulting past the United States to become the largest car producer. According to this commentator, two elements are at work here:

First is the effectiveness of Japan’s “development, production and dealing systems.” The second element is the nature of Japanese people, which I think is suited for manufacturing cars.

Factoring heavily into the “nature of Japanese people” element are Japan’s seniority-based management and lifetime employment. Despite the problems seen in other industries’ productivity due to these traditional systems, could they be a natural fit for car manufacturing? Or is something else really at work here?