Japan Inc. articles from February 2003

Japan Inc. archives from February 2003

From the editor.
February 1, 2003... FOR THOSE OF YOU who have written off the Osaka Stock Exchange after the exit of Nasdaq, here's a challenge: Read our piece on the OSE this month, The OSE Is Not Dead Yet starting on page 14, and see if you still feel the same way about the...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2003... The COMET II landmine detector, the prototype of COMET III, appears in the far right photo on page 12 of Technology for the Front Lines in our December 2002 issue.

Ishihara's Tokyo revival bonds start strong. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... TOKYO GOVERNOR SHINTARO ISHIHARA is not alone in trying to diversify the source of local government's revenue, but he has a special way of getting public attention. On November 29, the Tokyo government issued Tokyo Revival Bonds, totaling...

Ghosn, other business leaders call for more foreign investment. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: A dozen captains of industry -- including Carlos Ghosn, president of Nissan, and Minoru Makihara, chairman of Mitsubishi Corp. -- teamed with local government representatives and academics to tell prime minister Junichiro Koizumi...

Can Japan come back? The Pacific Council thinks so. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... THESE DAYS, UPBEAT REPORTS on Japan are seen about as much as [yen]2,000 notes. That's why the Pacific Council on International Policy's recent report on Japan seems so unusual. "We believe that the fashionable notion of a Japan in inexorable...

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking eyes stake in Aozora Bank. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is thinking of buying all of the approximately 49 percent stake that Softbank holds in Aozora Bank, formerly Nippon Credit Bank, the Japanese media reported. If the purchase were made, Sumitomo Mitsui...

Song's portable audio NW-MS70D. (Upfront).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2003... Lord, how sweet is this? Sony has just announced a totally beautiful Network Walkman and, while I wouldn't normally say this in mixed company, I lust after it. With a passion. It's unbelievably sexy in chunky titanium with a sweet,...

Mouse computer I-friend-51YB. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... If you're in the market for a high-end PC but don't want to get another loan against your house to buy it, Yodobashi Camera has just the thing for you. On the retailer's direct sales Web site, you can take advantage of a special discount plan...

GM, FedEx to test fuel-cell vehicle on Tokyo streets. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: General Motors (GM) and Federal Express (FedEx) announced in December a joint program to advance fuel-cell technology by conducting the first commercial test of a fuelcell vehicle in Tokyo. FedEx will participate in GM's...

No Japan impact as CEO Sir Chris Gent leaves Vodafone. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... Vodafone's chief executive, Chris Gent, announced in December that he is to resign from his position in July. His successor is the 48-year-old Arun Sarin. CSFB telecoms analyst Mark Berman said in December that, given the fact that the...

Sharp Auvi Excellence SD-SG40. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... Sharp's championing of 1-bit audio continues unabated, as the SD-SG4O is revealed to the world. With an integral 1-bit digital amp, the new "Auvi Excellence" gear samples at 5.6 MHz, which is 128 times higher a sampling rate than regular CDs...

Kumazaki aim NE-388 audio system. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... For a company that appears to be able to provide a veritable Aladdin's cave of products, knocking out everything from battery chargers to air conditioners and window cleaners, Kumazaki Aim has miraculously produced a pretty stylish touch-panel...

10 HVR-HD240S "Data Rec-POT S". (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... The Rec-POT S is a smart little silver box with some purty little LED lights on the front panel that uses its built-in BS tuner to stream BS digital broadcasts via iLINK to the hard disk and, using the special remote control that comes with the...

Goodbye to the glory days: trading houses are trying to shift from being all-around elites to focused middlemen. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... "LIKE DOCTORS AND LAWYERS, becoming a shosha-man was one of the most honorable careers that a young university graduate could dream of back in the 1980s," says a 39-year-old Nissho Iwai employee who wishes to remain anonymous. He never dreamed...

Turning the criminally absurd into art: Londoners enter a violent, twisted Japan -- and laugh about it -- in a stage show by Issey Ogata and Kaori Momoi. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... ISSEY OGATA AND KAORI Momoi are turning absurdity and violence into laughter at the Playhouse Theater in London's West End on this fall day. Ogata, playing a member of the former Aum cult, stands on the almost empty stage and mutters: "I am...

Home is where the car ads are: a New Zealander watches her scenic countryside turn into a TV commercial for the newest Japanese cars. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... THE OAK-LINED ROAD TO Fairlie once meant only one thing to me: the best way to get to Lake Tekapo so that my granddad Dudley and I could fish for trout. Now when I'm home, especially when the autumn leaves turn golden and the mountains get...

Keitai cartoon antics get personal: Hello Kitty, move over. The new hip character is, well...look in the mirror. (Upfront).
February 1, 2003... IT JUMPS, IT CRIES, it's cute, it's -- good god, it's you in an animated teddy bear suit on my keitai. Keitai are fun. It's undeniable. In Japan a mobile phone is as much an entertainment system as it is a portable medium to route voice...

Ready to rock: KDDI's song clip download service for the cellphone could be the next hot item in mobile content.
February 1, 2003... KDDI's long-awaited song clip download service for mobile phones, launched in December, allows users to download 15- to 30-second MP3 clips of hit songs (dubbed chaku-uta in Japanese) onto the newest au handsets. At a time when Japanese...

The OSE not is dead yet: the Osaka Stock Exchange has a new vision for the future -- and it looks suspiciously like the old vision. (Kansai Eye Speical).
February 1, 2003... GORO TATSUMI IS DRIVEN. He founded a securities company while still in his 20s and has never looked back. As president of the Osaka Stock Exchange, he had ambitious plans to partner with Nasdaq and turn the second city's bourse into a global...

Love in the age of spam: online dating sites are slashing the sleaze to help grownups find mates.
February 1, 2003... LOVE IS MAKING A comeback on the Internet. Online dating services in Japan are cleaning up their image and catering more to women. US services are entering the market, too, because serving singles online is proving to be a recession-proof...

Tokyo total FM: not a new funky radio station for the metropolis but the increasing demand for, and provision of, comprehensive facilities management services. (Facilities Management: Special Advertising Section).
February 1, 2003... MOST PEOPLE'S IDEA OF facilities management now extends beyond an outside team ensuring there is ample A4 in the copier and sufficient toner in the printer. The whole business of outsourcing was given a huge boost by the privatization of every...

The art of killing time online.
February 1, 2003... No one does wireless entertainment better than the Japanese; that's why American carriers are taking pains to copy the Japanese model, and why transpacific alliances are all the rage. THE REMARKABLE POPULARITY OF downloadable wireless...

More than meets the eye: the financial revival program has been criticized for being watered down and vague; so why are the banks reacting so strongly to it? (Moneywatch).
February 1, 2003... FROM A PEAK IN early 2000 when the Topix barely cleared 1,700 for the fourth time since 1994, it's been a one-way downhill street for the Japanese equity market. Ironically, the worst perpetrator of this rout was not the beleaguered banks, but...

Cable TV: lots of viewers, little profit. (Statistics).
February 1, 2003... While almost half of Japanese households are now hooked up with cable television services, only two-thirds of cable broadcasters are making money in Japan. According to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Pasts and...

To the editor.
February 1, 2003... One of the more interesting letters we received this month was from a reader who took us to task for using the phrase "lifetime employment" in one of our newsletters. When, oh when, will the myth of "lifetime" employment be laid to rest?...

Sonic booms. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... Ever wonder about the names of the tunes that emanate from loudspeakers on the gaisensha, right-wing trucks that cruise the streets of Tokyo and other major cities in Japan? Wonder no more. DaCapo magazine did a cover story on Japan's...

The Joneses? (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... Never heard of them. According to the Police White Paper of 2002, of the criminals apprehended and sent up on charges during 2000, only 5,729 cases were processed through police canvassing of witnesses in the vicinity of the crime. The figure,...

Rubbish ain't free no more. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... Want to get rid of unwanted items? You can expect to pay [yen]800 for a single bed and [yen]1,400 for a double. Some other hauling charges: large chests, [yen]l,400, small chests, [yen]500; large sofas, [yen]l,400, small ones, [yen]500; small...

East vs. West. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... A recent poll of 440 salarymen in Tokyo and Osaka found that Tokyoites talk into their keitai for an average of four minutes a day while at work, while Osakans talk for 14.2 minutes. During their private time, usage increases, but Osakans still...

Japan as (cough! hack!) No. 1. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper noted that according to the World Health Organization, Japan ranks as the largest single importer of cigarettes, bringing in some 83.5 billion a year.

Look out, Iceland. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... According to The Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003, released by the World Economic Forum, Japan rose from 21st place last year to 13th, behind Iceland. It was the first time Japan's position had changed for the better in four years....

Stocking stuffers. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... When it comes to year-end gifts, what items are most desired? A survey of Japanese housewives by Ajinomoto General Foods came up with the following responses (percentages in parentheses): gift vouchers redeemable for anything (66.3%); beer...

Talk isn't cheap. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... The UC credit card company polled 500 single company employees between the ages of 20 and 29 about the means they most frequently use to make contact with their friends when outside of the workplace. For the age segments of 20-to-22, 23-to-25...

Water please. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... Web research firm Macromill asked 500 consumers what main factors influenced their purchases of bottled water. First, stated by 59 percent, was price. 49.5 percent said taste, followed by "good quality" (33.2%); name of bottler (26.7), brand...

Out of work. (Blowfish).
February 1, 2003... According to the Ministry of Education, the number of high school students with jobs awaiting them after graduation in March 2003 fell 3.6 points to an average of 33.4 percent. For the women, the figure was an especially low 30.1 percent. For...