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

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

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS.
May 31, 1998... Thirteen years after acquiring an American manufacturer of injectable generic drugs used in hospitals, the primary U.S. subsidiary of FUJISAWA PHARMACEUTICAL CO., LTD. sold the never profitable business to AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL PARTNERS, INC....

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
May 31, 1998... Like the American competition, Japanese-affiliated firms selling notebook computers in the United States announced new products featuring the mobile Pentium II microprocessor the same day INTEL CORP. released the fastest mobile processor yet...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1998... From a plant being built in Tijuana, Mexico, the recently established San Diego, California marketing unit of KOYOSHA CO., LTD. will start shipping printed circuit boards in November to Japanese-affiliated and other customers in the United...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
May 31, 1998... Second-tier regional banks continue their U.S. retrenchment. Among the latest to announce that they are ending local operations are BANK OF NAGOYA, LTD., which will close its New York City branch, its only one offshore, in late August and...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
May 31, 1998... A major expansion is underway of the hog operation that ITOHAM FOODS INC. established near Witland, Wyoming last year with MARUBENI CORP. The big processed pork producer has earmarked $54.5 million to build and equip facilities on land adjacent...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1998... Work has begun on a plant in New London, North Carolina for NABELL CORP., a Mie prefecture-based manufacturer of bellows for cameras and other optical equipment, medical equipment like computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging beds,...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
May 31, 1998... SEIKO EPSON CORP.'s subsidiary is hoping that a 26 percent price cut will boost sales in the competitive American digital camera market. The new $500 estimated street price applies to the PhotoPC 600, Epson's top-of-the-line product, which...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1998... The number-two Japanese maker of dental materials, SHOFU INC., has signed a development agreement with NORIAN CORP. under which the pair will work on a new formulation of the Cupertino, California firm's proprietary Norian SRS for periodontal...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS.
May 31, 1998... Companies designing Windows CE-based products have a processor option for the forthcoming 2.1 version of MICROSOFT CORP.'s embedded operating system. HITACHI, LTD.'s S7750 embedded RISC (reduced instruction-set computing) processor, the first...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES.
May 31, 1998... In a move to extend its Arcstar Internet service to the United States, NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. agreed to invest $100 million in VERIO INC. or to buy a 12.5 percent stake, whichever is less, before the Englewood, Colorado company...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
May 31, 1998... FUJITSU NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS, INC., the Richardson, Texas fiber-optic transmission and broadband switching platform design and manufacturing unit of FUJITSU, LTD., landed two major contracts recently. In a significant win, it will be the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1998... Although production of TOYOTA MOTOR CORP.'s new full-size T150 pickup truck will not begin until December at the company's Princeton, Indiana factory, which still is being built, the automotive maker announced a major expansion of the plant. At...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS.
May 31, 1998... The prime contractor for Japan's new support fighter, MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD., has awarded top subcontractor LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP. a contract to build components for an additional eight F-2 aircraft. Work continues at the company's...

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS.
May 31, 1998... Biaxially oriented polypropylene film production technology developed by MOBIL OIL CORP. will be used by DAICEL CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES, LTD. in a plant that is scheduled for operation in the third quarter of 2000. The license agreement, limited to...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
May 31, 1998... In a U.S.-style tender offer, NCR CORP. bought the publicly traded 30 percent share of NCR JAPAN, LTD. that it did not own directly or indirectly for around $300 million. The Japanese unit, which posted a revenue gain of 9.8 percent in 1997 to...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
May 31, 1998... In what is thought to be a first for a U.S. developer, ODAKYU ELECTRIC RAILWAY CO., LTD. has contracted with AMERICAN MALLS INTERNATIONAL INC. to redevelop one of its three department stores into a high-end outlet mall featuring international...

American Companies in Japan: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1998... Expanding its line of made-in-Japan products, the Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture subsidiary of big connector maker AMP INC. has added production of internally developed connectors for CompactFlash Association-compliant memory cards and Smart...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
May 31, 1998... In a move to expand its Japanese business, insurance giant AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC. is studying the possibility of taking over AOBA LIFE INSURANCE CO. Forty-three members of the Life Insurance Association of Japan formed that company...

American Companies in Japan: MERCHANDISING.
May 31, 1998... Early this fall, JC PENNEY CO., INC. and DEODEO CORP. (formerly Daiichi Corp.) plan to open a second JC Penny Home Collections store, this one in Tokyo. An in-store shop was opened in the major appliance retailer's main Hiroshima location in...

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
May 31, 1998... To better serve its automotive and other industrial customers, BINKS SAMES CORP., a manufacturer of spray finishing and coating application equipment, has opened a technical sales center in Toda, Saitama prefecture. The facility outside Tokyo...

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1998... Through its local unit, MTS SYSTEMS CORP. delivered testing equipment to MAZDA MOTOR CORP. to support the Mazda Digital Innovation Project. The $7.6 million contract included the Model 329 Multi-Axial Road Simulator, which, depending on the...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS.
May 31, 1998... System-on-a-chip supplier LSI LOGIC CORP. has earmarked more than $757.8 million to add a third wafer fabrication facility at its production complex in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture. Work on the front end will begin in 1999. At capacity...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES.
May 31, 1998... YAHOO! INC. has joined DENTSU INC. and SHARP CORP. in backing CYBERMAP JAPAN CORP., a digital topographic information search service founded by TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD. and NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. Cybermap searches for companies...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
May 31, 1998... In a coup for CISCO SYSTEMS, INC., the world leader in networking equipment has recruited JAPAN TELECOM CO., LTD. as a member of the Cisco Powered Network. That affiliation means that the domestic long-distance carrier will provide ATM...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
May 31, 1998... Although it manufactures in Japan, turbocharger maker GARRETT AUTOMOTIVE INC. like other American automotive parts suppliers, sees an in-country development center as one key to boosting business with local car and truck manufacturers. The...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS.
May 31, 1998... An Arizona consulting firm has developed nonferrous metal waste recycling technology for CHICHIBU ONODA CEMENT CORP., which plans to use it to build up its environmental business. In this process, ammonia and sulfuric acid are used to separate...