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

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

Japanese Companies in the United States: CHEMICALS.
November 30, 1998... The world's second-biggest manufacturer of polyester film is now wholly owned by MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORP. Japan's top chemical company bought out partner HOECHST AG's equity interest in their seven-year-old joint production, research and...

Japanese Companies in the United States: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
November 30, 1998... In a move that highlighted its primary business, SOFTBANK CORP. -- Japan's largest distributor of software but a company that has made a name for itself recently by buying into Internet ventures and other technology-related companies in the...

Japanese Companies in the United States: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
November 30, 1998... MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP. is in the process of restructuring its U.S. operations to better focus them on businesses that are key to the electronics multinational, including digital television, computer hardware and software, and...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
November 30, 1998... The need to raise money to finance the write-off of bad loans plus a strong American stock market led DAI-ICHI KANGYO BANK, LTD. to sell a large block of its CIT GROUP, INC. shares. The secondary offering, one of the biggest ever, generated...

Japanese Companies in the United States: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
November 30, 1998... Soy sauce manufacturer KIKKOMAN CORP., one of the first Japanese companies to begin production in the United States, has started shipments from its second American manufacturing facility. The $46 million Folsom, California plant initially has...

Japanese Companies in the United States: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
November 30, 1998... An explosion and fire have shut down ADVANCED SILICON MATERIALS, INC.'s polycrystalline silicon plant in Moses Lake, Washington. The company, a KOMATSU ELECTRONIC METALS CO., LTD. affiliate, has ramped up production at its polysilicon plant in...

Japanese Companies in the United States: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
November 30, 1998... By 2001, Cleveland-headquartered EUCLID-HI-TACHI HEAVY EQUIPMENT, INC. will be a wholly owned HITACHI CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD. company. The world's third-largest manufacturer of dump trucks used in mining now is jointly owned by AB...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
November 30, 1998... To respond more quickly to changes in the American marketplace, FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD. is building a R&D facility at its sprawling Greenwood, South Carolina manufacturing complex. The center should be fully operational by early in 1999. How...

Japanese Companies in the United States: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
November 30, 1998... Precision measuring instrument manufacturer MITUTOYO CORP. is building a second plant in Aurora, Illinois to supply the growing American demand for dial indicators or gauges. Scheduled for operations in June 1999, the $4.4 million factory will...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SEMICONDUCTORS.
November 30, 1998... Within the space of a week, two big Japanese semiconductor manufacturers announced relationships with CENTILLIUM TECHNOLOGY CORP., an 18-month-old fabless chip company developing DSL (digital subscriber line) chipsets for makers of...

Japanese Companies in the United States: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SERVICES.
November 30, 1998... Hoping to exploit the growing popularity of MICROSOFT CORP.'s Windows CE operating system for handheld PCs and embedded devices, CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD. created a subsidiary in San Jose, California to develop and market software for this...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
November 30, 1998... Using the nationwide backbone of Internet service provider VERIO INC., the New York City subsidiary of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. has launched Internet access services for corporate customers, particularly Japanese multinationals...

Japanese Companies in the United States: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
November 30, 1998... After 15 years, divergent business interests have led to a change in the ownership of NORTH AMERICAN LIGHTING, INC., the largest independent U.S. manufacturer of automotive lighting equipment. KOITO MANUFACTURING CO., LTD., which owned 40...

Japanese Companies in the United States: MISCELLANEOUS.
November 30, 1998... Japan's biggest residential mapmaking company, ZENRIN CO., LTD., acquired INTERSTATE AMERICA INC. from Canada's SOUTHAM INC. for roughly $1.8 million. Norcross, Georgia-based IA is the publisher of four travel resource directories for...

American Companies in Japan: CHEMICALS.
November 30, 1998... Two American manufacturers of animal health-care products have set their sights on Japan, second only to the United States as a market for veterinary drugs. HESKA CORP. gave NOVARTIS ANIMAL HEALTH, INC. exclusive rights to distribute through...

American Companies in Japan: COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS.
November 30, 1998... In December, NCR CORP., one of the world's biggest manufacturers of automatic teller machines and cash dispensers, will spin off part of its subsidiary's ATM/CD business into an independent company that will offer multivendor solution services...

American Companies in Japan: CONSTRUCTION AND REAL ESTATE.
November 30, 1998... The group that runs the Asia Trade Center in Osaka has turned to Dallas-headquartered CROW HOLDINGS INTERNATIONAL (formerly Trammell Crow International) for assistance in managing and running its Town Outlet mall project. Scheduled to open in...

American Companies in Japan: ELECTRIC MACHINERY.
November 30, 1998... ENERGY AUTOMATION SYSTEMS, INC., a Hendersonville, Tennessee manufacturer of energy-conservation equipment, has tapped a Tokyo start-up to help it move into the Japanese market. The master distribution deal with JAPAN SAVING ENERGY PLANNING...

American Companies in Japan: FINANCIAL SERVICES.
November 30, 1998... The huge volume of low-yielding personal financial assets in Japan and banks' freedom come December 1 to sell investment trusts -- Japanese-style mutual funds -- over the counter are behind the first investment trust management alliance between...

American Companies in Japan: FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.
November 30, 1998... The Tokyo District Court has given CARGILL INC.'s subsidiary the go-ahead to help restructure TOSHOKU LTD., a midsized trader of agricultural commodities that declared bankruptcy in December 1997. According to current planning, the world's...

American Companies in Japan: MERCHANDISING.
November 30, 1998... The third Office Depot office supply store in Japan will open soon in Tokyo's Ginza, an area better known for upscale retailers than discounters. Given the high property prices, the outlet is just three-fifths the size of the 31,300-square-foot...

American Companies in Japan: METALS AND FABRICATED PRODUCTS.
November 30, 1998... TITANIUM METALS CORP., one of the world's largest integrated producers of titanium metal products, has formed strategic alliances with two Japanese companies in the same business. The most far-reaching of the deals involves TOHO TITANIUM CO.,...

American Companies in Japan: NONELECTRIC MACHINERY.
November 30, 1998... Engraving systems manufacturer XENETECH USA, INC. has made COMMAX LTD. its exclusive distributor for Japan and elsewhere in Asia. Initially, the Shizuoka prefecture maker of jewelry grinders will market Xenetech's recently introduced line of...

American Companies in Japan: PHOTO EQUIPMENT AND COPIERS.
November 30, 1998... Shifting its marketing strategy to become a bigger player in the local market for digital cameras, EASTMAN KODAK CO. will develop models specifically for Japan rather than selling there the same digital cameras sold elsewhere around the world....

American Companies in Japan: PRECISION AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT.
November 30, 1998... Two market newcomers have lined up GUNZE SANGYO, INC. to handle their products. From January 1999, it will distribute 10 different models of ACUMEN, INC.'s heart-rate monitors for fitness enthusiasts, or what the Sterling, Virginia company...

American Companies in Japan: SEMICONDUCTORS.
November 30, 1998... Along with many other players in the semiconductor industry, the three-year slowdown in sales is forcing LSI LOGIC CORP. to retrench to lower costs. Its restructuring plan includes the closure of an 11-year-old wafer fabrication facility in...

American Companies in Japan: SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
November 30, 1998... NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC., the Reston, Virginia-based registrar of American World Wide Web addresses, has entered the Japanese market for domain name registration services. NSI and software developer ASCII CORP. have inked a two-year pact to...

American Companies in Japan: TELECOMMUNICATIONS.
November 30, 1998... Three acquisitions in as many months have made PSINET INC. second only to NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORP. as an Internet service provider to business and commercial users. In its biggest purchase, the Herndon, Virginia company paid an...

American Companies in Japan: TEXTILES AND APPAREL.
November 30, 1998... Los Angeles-headquartered THE OUTDOOR RECREATION GROUP, INC. has made MARUBENI FASHION PLANNING CORP. the master licensee for the Outdoor Products brand of outerwear, apparel, jeans, shoes, sunglasses, watches, camping equipment and other...

American Companies in Japan: TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT.
November 30, 1998... The U.S.-designed, Marysville, Ohio-built 1999 Acura 2.5TL and Acura 3.2TL sedans are on sale at selected HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD. dealerships as the Inspire and the Saber, respectively. The five-cylinder Inspire has a manufacturer suggested...

American Companies in Japan: MISCELLANEOUS.
November 30, 1998... The world's top manufacturer of fiber-optic cables for voice, data and video applications, Hickory, North Carolina-based SIECOR CORP., has opened the Japan Optical Cable Processing Center in Urayasu, Chiba prefecture in cooperation with...