Japan

The agony of Japan Inc.

Companies like Apple, IBM and Microsoft once stood in the shadow of much larger and more powerful Japanese electronics giants. Those days are long gone -- and, lately, it looks like they may never come back.

By Kevin Kelleher, contributor

"This country is in a war and some people understand it and some people are siding with the enemy."

FORTUNE -- Believe it or not, someone once wrote those paranoid words about MORE

Videos: Customers queue for the new iPad around the world

Apple's (AAPL) latest is greeted with the usual display of fervor and endurance

Paris, New York, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney:

Sydney:

Singapore:

Tokyo:

London (Regents Street): 

London (Covent Garden): 

More as they come in.

Videos: iPhone 4S launches around the world

Waitin', whoopin' and hollerin' in seven countries and four languages

Apple (AAPL) launched the iPhone 4S Friday in Australia, Japan, Germany, France, the U.K., Canada and the U.S.

Videos below the fold as they come in.

See also our report from New York City, 17 days in the iPhone line: Wet, cold and smelling like Cheetos.

How Nissan zoomed to the front of the pack

The Japanese automaker was a perennial also-ran, behind Honda and Toyota. Until now. Nissan is making deft moves just as its rivals stall.

By Doron Levin, contributor

FORTUNE -- Japan's auto industry has been battered by disasters natural and unnatural unlike this year. A tragic earthquake and a steroidal yen have wreaked havoc on the bottom lines of major firms Honda and Toyota. The exception? Nissan. The perennial third place finisher has MORE

Earthquake coming? There's an app for that

Apple has included an early-warning service in the next version of its Japanese iPhones

No one knows better than the Japanese what a difference a few minutes -- or even seconds -- warning can mean when a major earthquake or tsunami is on its way. That's why they have developed the world's most sophisticated early warning system.

9to5Mac reports that the latest beta of iOS 5 -- the new mobile operating system Apple MORE

Apple's Asia-Pacific profits grew 2,991% in the past 5 years

In Japan, its profits grew 1,156% between 2005 and 2010. Europe's were up 1,518%

"Apple's international sales are simply on fire"

So wrote the Motley Fool's Erik Bleeker Monday in a piece assessing Apple's (AAPL) overseas demand.

It is, as he puts it, exploding.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following COO Tim Cook's Q&As with analysts, where he's been highlighting Apple's growth in the Japanese and Asia Pacific MORE

Where in the world are Mac sales growing? Everywhere.

The contrast with Windows PC sales is especially striking in Asia, the U.S. and the rest of the world

As is his wont, Needham's Charlie Wolf waited until the middle of Apple's (AAPL) current quarter to issue his analysis of the last. As usual, it was worth the wait.

In a note to clients Friday entitled "What a Streak," he uses a series of charts based on IDC data to zero in MORE

Bill Gates: Don't dismiss nuclear energy

These days, Microsoft's co-founder has more on his mind than software sales figures or even his charitable work -- namely he wants to help solve the world's energy problems. 

FORTUNE -- At WIRED's Disruptive by Design Business Conference today, Bill Gates discussed the current state of energy and potential technology replacements for oil and coal.

Gates suggested there's much more potential for nuclear energy, despite the recent disaster with Japan's Fukushima reactor. MORE

Hundreds line up for iPad 2 in Tokyo

The first video shows a queue three city blocks long for Japan's post-tsunami launch

Earthquakes, a tsunami and a few nuclear meltdowns don't seem to have cooled the ardor of Japanese Apple (AAPL) enthusiasts for the iPad 2, which launched Thursday after a five week postponement.

The first customers took their place on line at 8 p.m. Wednesday and withstood a night of heavy rain, according to the Wall Street Journal. A MORE

Apple earnings: 5 numbers to watch

Despite strong sales, iPad supplies and Japan's quake make Q2's report a hard one to call

Nobody, not even CFO Peter Oppenheimer, thinks that Apple (AAPL) earned as little as $4.90 per share on revenues of $22 billion last quarter -- the numbers he offered in January when he issued his guidance for the company's second fiscal quarter of 2011.

As usual in the Steve Jobs/Tim Cook era, the game at the MORE