Japan-U.S. Business Report articles from August 1998

Japan-U.S. Business Report archives from August 1998

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS.
August 31, 1998... In a major expansion of its business, automotive coolant manufacturer INTAC AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS, INC. bought DOW CHEMICAL CO.'s North American OEM (original equipment manufacturer) factory-fill coolant operations. The acquisition includes a...

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
August 31, 1998... Pulling the plug on a money-losing diversification, MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP. is exiting the floppy disk field in the United States and elsewhere. That decision means the end of production for Charlotte, North Carolina-based VERBATIM CORP. Once...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
August 31, 1998... The top Japanese maker of uninterruptible power supplies is moving into the American power supply market. SANKEN ELECTRIC CO., LTD.'s wholly owned ALLEGRO MICROSYSTEMS, INC. subsidiary is handling sales, marketing and customer support through a...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ENERGY RESOURCES.
August 31, 1998... In the latest demonstration of its belief in the future of wind-produced electricity in the United States, trader NICHIMEN CORP. and its Dutch partner in this business have bought two more wind-generated power plants in California. The purchase...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
August 31, 1998... With NIKKO SECURITIES CO., LTD. set to transfer most of its international operations to SALOMON SMITH BARNEY INC. as part of a broad affiliation with TRAVELERS GROUP INC. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 346, July 1998, p. 15), Japan's...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
August 31, 1998... The Department of Agriculture has given AJINOMOTO CO., INC.'s U.S. subsidiary the go-ahead to market an enzyme, transglutaminase, that has the unique ability to make soft food textures firmer by cross-linking proteins. Given that property,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MERCHANDISING.
August 31, 1998... Competition, particularly from national chains specializing in sales of personal computers, proved to be too much for ADO ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. The PC retailer had planned to open 10 T-Zone stores in California, carving out a niche by...

Japanese Companies in the United States: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
August 31, 1998... For $35.5 million, NISSHO IWAI CORP. acquired a 25 percent interest in STRATEGIC MINERALS CORP., one of the world's largest vanadium producers. In conjunction with their new relationship, the trader will assume responsibility for the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
August 31, 1998... Eleven years after TOSHIBA MACHINE CO., LTD. was forced to end sales of its mainstay machine tools and other products in the United States for shipping prohibited machine tools to the then Soviet Union, the company is ready to resume robot...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
August 31, 1998... MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP.'s blueprint for getting its North American production operations back on a money-making track also reportedly includes changes at its WESTERN LITHO PLATE & SUPPLY CO., INC. A maker of lithographic plates, platemaking...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
August 31, 1998... Medical equipment manufacturer FUKUDA DENSHI CO., LTD. has forged a strategic relationship with ENDOSONICS CORP., a developer and marketer of intravascular ultrasound and coronary functional assessment products for the diagnosis and treatment...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS.
August 31, 1998... Recognizing the advantages that silicon carbide semiconductors offer for high-voltage, high-power switching devices, KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC. is prepared to spend up to $3 million over the next 32 months to help CREE RESEARCH, INC....

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
August 31, 1998... One of the hottest names in on-line investment services has received a strong endorsement. SOFTBANK CORP. will invest $400 million in ETRADE GROUP, INC., acquiring a 27.2 percent interest in the Palo Alto, California Internet company. The two...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
August 31, 1998... In an unusual, perhaps unprecedented move by a Japanese company producing in the United States, MI-TSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP. plans to outsource U.S. production of cellular telephones to big contract manufacturer SOLECTRON CORP. The five-year...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
August 31, 1998... In a bid to consolidate distribution of its manmade suede fabric in the Americas, TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC. paid $15 million to acquire the Ultrasuede marketing business of SPRINGS INDUSTRIES, INC. Since 1971, the big Fort Mill, South Carolina...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
August 31, 1998... The Prius hybrid-powered sedan will arrive at TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. dealerships in North America in the fall of 2000. The Corolla-sized car incorporates a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and an electric motor powered by a nickel-metal hydride battery...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS.
August 31, 1998... NIPPON VALQUA INDUSTRIES, LTD., Japan's largest manufacturer of industrial packings and an up-and-comer in the area of fluoroplastic products for high technology industries, has formed a wholly owned marketing subsidiary in Larchmont, New York....

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS.
August 31, 1998... The blockbuster impotence drug Viagra could be officially launched in Japan during the first half of 1999. Manufacturer PFIZER INC. said that the Ministry of Health and Welfare promised an accelerated review of its late July marketing...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
August 31, 1998... The first automated system for handling the payment of bills by one business to another at bank branches is in operation in Japan. Built by NCR CORP. for SUMITOMO BANK, LTD., the $10.6-million image processing system has been installed at the...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
August 31, 1998... Eleven years after moving into the Japanese market, the world-renown landscape architecture, master planning and urban design firm of SWA GROUP has built an enviable record, having worked on more than 40 private and public projects. The...

American Companies in Japan: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
August 31, 1998... One of the biggest U.S. manufacturers of lighting fixtures for industrial, commercial/institutional and outdoor/roadway applications is mounting a major Japan marketing push. HOLOPHANE CORP. already has appointed LILIPUT CO., LTD. of...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
August 31, 1998... Few American financial services providers have been more aggressive than GE CAPITAL SERVICES CORP. in taking advantage of the market openings created by either deregulation or business problems (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 342, March...

American Companies in Japan: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
August 31, 1998... A shakeout is underway in Japan's pet food industry in the wake of higher yen prices for imported ingredients and sagging retail prices in the main distribution channel. RALSTON PURINA CO., the manufacturer of a number of popular brands,...

American Companies in Japan: MERCHANDISING.
August 31, 1998... Liz Claiborne and Dana Buchman shops will be opened by a partnership between LIZ CLAIBORNE INC. and JUSCO CO., LTD. (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 341, February 1998, p. 25). The big New York City manufacturer of women's career clothing...

American Companies in Japan: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
August 31, 1998... The leader in base metal thermocouple alloys has moved into the Japanese market. HOSKINS MANUFACTURING CO., which produces a complete line of nickel-chromium, iron-chrome-aluminum and copper-nickel electrical resistance and resistor alloys,...

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
August 31, 1998... FOSTER WHEELER CORP.'s subsidiary has won a contract from SUMITOMO HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. to design and supply a 149-megawatt circulating fluidized-bed steam generator. The Clinton, New Jersey company is the world leader in this technology. The...

American Companies in Japan: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
August 31, 1998... EASTMAN KODAK CO. continues to work with minilab pioneer NORITSU KOKI CO., LTD. to develop state-of-the-art photographic processing equipment utilizing its SM chemical process. The Kodak technology eliminates manual mixing of film and paper...

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
August 31, 1998... The Tokyo subsidiary of BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP., a world leader in products for minimally invasive surgical treatment, has opened a technology and training center in Satohara, Miyazaki prefecture. The 20 people now on staff will work on new and...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS.
August 31, 1998... Late this year, FUJITSU-AMD SEMICONDUCTOR LTD. will launch production of 64-megabit flash memories at its wafer fabrication complex in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima prefecture. In the process, it will switch to 0.23-micron fabrication techniques...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES.
August 31, 1998... AMERICA ONLINE, INC.'s local operation has added an on-line stock-trading page to its list of customer services. Developed and supported by IMAGAWA SECURITIES CO., LTD., the service provides real-time stock quotes over the Internet as well as...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
August 31, 1998... The nationwide rollout of Japan's first CDMA (code-division multiple access) digital cellular network has started. Three of DDI CORP.'s eight regional cellular operations have launched the service, marketed under the cdmaOne name, in such...

American Companies in Japan: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
August 31, 1998... Uniform manufacturer CINTAS CORP. gave ITOCHU CORP. exclusive rights to market three styles of uniforms under the Cintas name in Japan. The trader turned around and named COCOS NOBUOKA CO., LTD. of Hiroshima prefecture to form a nationwide...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
August 31, 1998... Two of the launch customers for BOEING CO.'s 777-300 widebody plane -- ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO., LTD. and JAPAN AIRLINES CO., LTD. -- have taken delivery of their aircraft. Both airlines will use the planes on domestic routes. ANA configured its...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS.
August 31, 1998... An antibacterial skin protectant developed by BIO-SAFE SKIN PRODUCTS is available through exclusive distributor SCI-PARK CORP. of Nagano prefecture. The Milwaukie, Oregon company describes the product as an invisible glove that helps to...