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

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

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS
June 30, 1998... Although details have not been finalized, IIDA INDUSTRY CO., LTD., a manufacturer of foamed plastics used as antivibration and shock absorber materials, plans to build a production facility somewhere in suburban Detroit in 1999. Before then, the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS
June 30, 1998... In an effort to improve its competitive position in the market for servers running the forthcoming Windows NT 5.0 operating system, HITACHI, LTD. has forged a broad technological tie-up with MICROSOFT CORP. One thrust of their collaboration will...

Japanese Companies in the United States: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE
June 30, 1998... In a break with the typical story of financially strapped Japanese companies pulling out of the American real estate market, the NOMURA INVESTMENT CO. unit of NOMURA SECURITIES CO., LTD. bought into the developer and operator of the Woodfin Suite...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY
June 30, 1998... Its Sega Saturn machine blown out of the home video game market by SONY CORP.'s PlayStation and NINTENDO CO., LTD.'s Nintendo 64 (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 343, April 1998, p. 4), SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD. will spend as much as $100 million...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES
June 30, 1998... The ranks of primary dealers -- companies that buy and sell U.S. government securities through direct deals with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York -- are being thinned by two to 34. EASTBRIDGE CAPITAL INC. is closing down because of the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
June 30, 1998... Japan's top institutional food service company is using an acquisition to bolster its expertise in this field. For $45.4 million, SHIDAX CORP. bought a 74.3 percent interest in BON APPETIT CO. The 11-year-old Menlo Park, California company...

Japanese Companies in the United States: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS
June 30, 1998... To better serve its automotive customers, NATIONAL STEEL CORP. will add a 500,000-ton-a-year hot-dip galvanizing line at its Great Lakes division in Ecorse, Michigan. The state-of-the-art facility, expected to be operational in the first quarter...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY
June 30, 1998... TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., the world's biggest electricity provider, has ordered $500 million-plus worth of turbines and generators from GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. to expand its Chiba prefecture generating plant. With the additional equipment, the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS
June 30, 1998... Document management equipment marketer SAVIN CORP., which is owned by RICOH CO., LTD., acquired for roughly $15.6 million the nationwide copier and facsimile-related retail operations of Morris Plains, New Jersey-based MONROE SYSTEMS FOR...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
June 30, 1998... Scottsdale, Arizona-based AQUARIUS MEDICAL CORP., a medical systems developer that KOBAYASHI PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. acquired in February 1997 for about $9.3 million, will start to make and market this summer its parent's Thermo-STAT body core...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS
June 30, 1998... With SONY CORP.'s technical guidance, BROADCOM CORP., an Irvine, California developer of high-speed semiconductors for cable modems, has come up with what it says is the first single-chip solution capable of receiving cable television signals as...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES
June 30, 1998... Add FIRST VIRTUAL HOLDINGS INC. to the list of American businesses owned in whole or in part by SOFTBANK CORP. Through its U.S. holding company and an affiliated venture capital fund, the acquisition-hungry software wholesaler has a majority...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
June 30, 1998... Worried about excess capacity, two groups planning to lay undersea fiber-optic cables across the Pacific have joined forces as the Japan-U.S. Cable Network. In essence, the consortium spearheaded by AT&T CORP. and KOKUSAI DENSHIN DENWA CO., LTD.,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT
June 30, 1998... Now in its tenth year of building Subaru cars and Isuzu sport-utility vehicles, SUBARU-ISUZU AUTOMOTIVE INC. finally is close to operating at capacity of 240,000 vehicles a year. One key to this change in fortunes is the start of Japan-bound...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS
June 30, 1998... F-2 fighter aircraft prime contractor MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD. has tapped the Sanders unit of LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. to provide its next-generation mission planning systems. The MPS III systems, which are similar to the Air Force Mission...

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS
June 30, 1998... In its first deal covering a new drug for a connective tissue disease, CONNECTICS CORP. signed a development, commercialization and supply agreement with SUNTORY LTD.'s pharmaceutical division for ConXn (recombinant human relaxin-H2) for the...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS
June 30, 1998... Data warehousing has spread from big financial institutions to Japan's shinkin (credit associations or credit unions). Two Kanagawa prefecture shinkin, one based in Kawasaki and the other in Tachikawa, are the first in their business to install...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE
June 30, 1998... The problems in Japan's real estate market have given time-share operator SUNTERRA CORP. an inexpensive way to move into the market. The new Tokyo subsidiary of the former Signature Resorts Inc. bought what was an employee training facility in...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES
June 30, 1998... With deregulation introducing more competition into Japan's financial services market, Japanese banks are scrambling to gain the necessary expertise to offer new products and services. That search for help is producing business for American...

American Companies in Japan: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
June 30, 1998... What is described as the first service in the world to certify that foods have not been genetically engineered was to be launched in June by trader KANEMATSU CORP. with program management supplied by the local office of FARM VERIFIED ORGANIC,...

American Companies in Japan: MERCHANDISING
June 30, 1998... Moving beyond its concept shop program, active outdoor apparel manufacturer COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR CO. opened a retail outlet in Nagoya. The 1,200-square-foot store features a range of Columbia apparel and footwear for the entire family. The...

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY
June 30, 1998... Market newcomer UNIVERSAL LASER SYSTEMS INC. has named NAKAZAWA CO., LTD. to distribute its computer-controlled, carbon dioxide laser engraving, marking and cutting systems. The Scottsdale, Arizona manufacturer's two families of products offer a...

American Companies in Japan: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS
June 30, 1998... Continuing its recent rapid rollout of new products for both the industrial and the consumer market, EASTMAN KODAK CO.'s subsidiary introduced three versions of the MEGAPLUS Camera Model ES 1.0. Designed for medical imaging and other applications...

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
June 30, 1998... High costs forced MEDTRONIC, INC. to end production of implantable cardiac pacemakers at its plant in Chitose on the northern island of Hokkaido. That output, equivalent to annual sales of $51.9 million to $59.3 million, was transferred to the...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS
June 30, 1998... Ensuring that it has adequate capacity for forthcoming 0.35-micron flash memories, SILICON STORAGE TECHNOLOGY, INC. signed a new foundry agreement with SEIKO EPSON CORP. The two companies have had a similar arrangement in place since 1996...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES
June 30, 1998... To keep its Web site at the cutting edge, AMERICA ONLINE INC.'s subsidiary has teamed with EXCITE INC. of Redwood City, California to develop a localized version of AOL's NetFind Internet search and navigation tool, which relies on Excite's...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
June 30, 1998... Another cable television operator has selected COM21, INC.'s ComUNITY Access cable modem system to launch a high-speed data-over-cable service (see Japan-U.S. Business Report No. 344, May 1998, p. 23). NIHON NETWORK SERVICE CO., LTD., which has...

American Companies in Japan: TEXTILES AND APPAREL
June 30, 1998... To expand its business in the world's fourth-largest jeans market, the owner of the Wrangler brand, VF CORP. of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, joined current Wrangler licensee and big textile manufacturer TOYOBO CO., LTD. and MITSUBISHI CORP. to...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT
June 30, 1998... The first TRW INC. engineering center in Asia to support all of the big automotive parts maker's varied product lines will be located in Japan. The site selection process will be completed by the end of this year, with the facility opening in the...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS
June 30, 1998... A variety of ONE-WRAP straps from VELCRO USA INC. is being sold by the Manchester, New Hampshire company's longtime marketing partner and licensee, KURARAY CO., LTD. Reusable, self-gripping ONE-WRAP straps are available for small appliances,...