Japan Inc. articles from May 2003

Japan Inc. archives from May 2003

From the editor.(Summary of contents)
May 1, 2003... SPRINGTIME IN JAPAN MEANS CHERRY blossoms and the threat of a stock market and banking collapse. This year, of course, the war in the Middle East has dominated the news. The markets and the banks can hum merrily along--or collapse quietly. ...

Nobody's fools?(Tobacco industry)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... "A CIGARETTE," THE OLD saying goes, "is a pinch of baccy wrapped in paper with a fire at one end and a fool at the other." For nearly a century, the world has kindly provided a constantly swelling number of fools, and a handful of...

Smartcards to play new roles for JR East, ANA.(East Japan Railway Company, All Nippon Airways )(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... TOKYO IS QUICKLY BECOMING the world's smartcard laboratory. About 5.7 million cards with integrated circuits (ICs) have been sold to commuters to use on JR East trains--the noncontact cards don't even have to be taken out of commuters' wallets...

NTT units to regroup to kill off broadband competitors.(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)(Company Profile)
May 1, 2003... Nippon Telegraph and Telephone is reportedly planning to join together units of its empire to form a more cohesive broadband operation. If the report is true, NTT could quickly have competitors in a stranglehold. Meanwhile, Softbank is...

Toshiba creates fuel cell for laptops.(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: Toshiba announced in March that it has developed a fuel cell that will power laptop computers in the same way that larger fuel cells power cars. The company is hoping to work out the remaining kinks and have the fuel cell for sale...

Toppan forms cellphone content alliance with Handango.(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: Toppan Printing is officially getting into tire cellphone content business by acquiring the Japan sales rights of US content provider Handango. The US company owns about 20,000 types of software, according to press reports, and...

Epson "Monsieur II" robots.(Seiko Epson mini robots)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Launched at April's Robodex exhibition, these little guys are said to be the world's smallest and thinnest micro-actuator- and Bluetooth-equipped robot prototypes. Monsieur II's predecessor, "Monsieur" (no, really?), got into the Guinness Book...

Panasonic VDR-M30K.(Camcorders)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... I've wanted one of these since they were just twinkles in the eyes of smart engineers everywhere, and the better they get, the harder it is to write about them without getting real jealous. The VDR-M30K DVD player/recorder records onto 8 cm...

Demand for chaku-uta exceeds expectations.(Music download service)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... ... IN BRIEF: Yuiichi Katoh, director of Label Mobile, told the Japanese media recently that demand for the company's chaku-uta music download service is much greater than originally expected. Katoh said that 20,000 to 30,000 songs are...

Iiyama LCD display ProLite C480T.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Now, your Iiyama ProLite C480T is basically a 19-inch SXGA LCD display with a built-in TV tuner. We've certainly seen a few of those recently. But Iiyama is a very well respected PC peripheral manufacturer, and this product could very well turn...

Ricoh RDC-i700 model G.(The pulse 2: the best of J@pan Inc's newsletters)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Surveyors all over the world will rejoice with the arrival of Ricoh's RDC-i700 because it is GPS conversant. Aimed at business users (we're thinking private eyes, professional explorers and garden gnome hunters), the i700 will take a photograph...

Cell-based location services on target and Japan has cheapest WLAN.(Wireless Local Area Network )
May 1, 2003... Darren Coleman, with Orange PCS (UK), said in an email in March that he was surprised to learn that J-Phone's new location service, Loco Guide, uses cell ID for location--and not GPS (or some other, more accurate, technology). "Do you think...

Japan's fast food funk: McDonald's Japan slips into the red for the first time in 30 years. Blame deflation--and fashion.(Upfront)(Company Profile)
May 1, 2003... "[yen] 59 ISN'T A REAL price. [yen] 59 doesn't buy you anything in Japan. You show me a place that can sell something for [yen] 59, and I'll show you a place that's going to end up bust." This is the grim conclusion of Tomoki Harada, the...

Price slashers: cash-and-carry wholesalers in Tokyo's Okachimachi district treat the latest gadgets like groceries--if the goods sit on the shelf for a day, they lower the price.(Upfront)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... SAVVY SHOPPERS ARE SURFING the Internet to check the latest prices on electronic goods, then heading off to Okachimachi in Tokyo's Taito ward to buy the best bargains. They're finding unprecedented discounts at the neighborhood's many...

Two Japans: while Tokyo is on the cutting edge, the provinces hang on for dear life, says a prominent political analyst.(Upfront)
May 1, 2003... VISITORS TO TOKYO OFTEN say they don't get any sense of a recession in Japan's capital city. Immaculate subway cars pull into stations every two to three minutes during rush hour, consumers Buy all sorts of expensive brand-name goods and...

Convenience (done cheap) is the king of cool: video giant Tsutaya and convenience chain Lawson send coupons via keitai, calling out to deflation's kids.(Upfront)
May 1, 2003... What do a video rental shop and a convenience store have in common? That's what many were asking themselves when Culture Convenience Club (CCC), which operates Japan's largest video rental chain, Tsutaya, and Lawson, one of the country's...

China's visionary B2B: who says the dot-com era is over? Alibaba.com thrives as Chinese imports and exports boom. CEO Jack Ma has a vision: helping SMEs buy and sell goods through his sites.(Upfront)(Company Profile)
May 1, 2003... NOW THAT RED HERRING is gone, one may think all the buzz about dot-coms and dot-bombs is finally over. Not so fast. China-based Alibaba.com is not only alive and kicking, but also taking giant strides in tire global e-commerce industry. ...

Buffalo burgers, anyone? Two Hokkaido entrepreneurs bet that the Japanese palate has a place for bison meat.(Upfront)
May 1, 2003... WITH BSE THREATENING TO blast beef into burger oblivion, could now be the time for buffalo meat to catch on in Japan? It may not be the first time buffalo were here. In fact, some researchers believe these huge animals roamed the range in...

The low cost of living in Japan: one expat argues that it's easy to cut daily living expenses in Tokyo and Osaka.(Upfront)
May 1, 2003... THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT recently reported that Tokyo and Osaka placed No. 1 and 2, respectively, as the most expensive places for expat executives to live. We can only hope that this doesn't prompt yet another wave of media reports...

Out of a war-torn world: young Osamu Tezuka's wartime experiences forged the basis for Astro Boy.(Upfront)
May 1, 2003... THE HOT-SPRING RESORT town of Takarazuka is an incongruous birthplace for one of Japan's most enduring modern icons, Tetsuwan Atom, better known to his Western fans as Astro Boy or the Mighty Atom. It was here, in this genteel environment a...

The matrix redux: Japanese anime inspired the 1999 blockbuster, "The Matrix." Now, a series of animated films will complete the story of the first film and provide a link to its forthcoming sequel.(Upfront)(Movie Review)
May 1, 2003... IT'S NO SECRET THAT Andy and Larry Wachowski, the creators of the blockbuster movie "The Matrix," starring Keanu Reeves, are Japanese anime fans. So it should come as no surprise that "Matrix Reloaded," the much awaited sequel to the movie,...

A global standard.(Cellephones)(Interview)(Advertisement)
May 1, 2003... IT'S APRIL 15TH AND you're counting down the days before a well-earned break with the wife and kids in Europe for Golden Week. Suddenly the phone rings, and the boss breaks the bad news that you're overseeing a project for a major client--every...

The night is still young: Tokyo's club scene pulses with recession-beating energy.(Industry Overview)(Cover Story)
May 1, 2003... Cover Story IT'S 5 AM ON A Saturday morning and up to 1,000 people are continuing to dance ecstatically inside the sprawling concrete bunker in Shibuya, Central Tokyo. This is Womb, a four-level, subterranean super-club where big name,...

Humane Management: Hu-Management KK: getting personal with a JASDAQ-listed outplacement performer.(Japan Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations listed)(Interview)(Company Profile)
May 1, 2003... Laying off people is especially difficult in Japan, where cooperation between management and unions has been prized. The outplacement industry particularly well suited to the challenge, providing professional mediators to assist company...

Bricks and mortar and beyond: in a time of worldwide economic uncertainty, some investors are searching for safer options for their capital. Property has an inherently safe image and offers expanding and diversifying opportunities for investment. It is firmly on the agenda.(Real Estate Investment)(Industry Overview)
May 1, 2003... The biggest financial investment many people will make in their rives will be their home. Although not all homeowners necessarily see it this way, property is one of the most widely held investments in existence. From the basic starting point...

Directory listing--real estate investment.(Real Estate Investment)(Directory)
May 1, 2003... American Life Inc. 3223 Third Avenue South Seattle, WA 98134 USA Tel +1-206-381-1690 TI Akasaka Bldg. 3F, 6-19-46 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107-0052 Tel (03)5575-5005 Fax (03)5575-0877 URL www.americanlifeinc.com/e...

Stalking the corporate corridors.
May 1, 2003... SHAREHOLDERS HAVE WATCHED FROM the sidelines as Japanese corporations have muddled through the last decade or so. The typical Japanese shareholder offers little or no dissent and often is forgotten or ignored by top executives. In short, he's...

Online shopping: Japan has become a major broadband Internet force in recent years. The telecommunications infrastructure has allowed outstanding consumer brands to emerge online and find an eager consumer audience.(Aunt Stella's Cookies and RIE COFFIE)(Company Profile)(Advertisement)
May 1, 2003... AUNT STELLA'S COOKIES ARE well known in Japan, as many of the company's retail stores can be found in Japan's urban centers. The company philosophy is "warm hearted communication," which is an indication of its ability to serve the needs of...

Groceries for English speakers with a taste for the West.(Online Shopping)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS DESIRING Western grocery products, there have traditionally been few speedy and reasonably priced shopping options in Japan. TheFlyingPig.Com works closely with Costco Wholesale Japan to offer English language access to a...

Directory listing: online shopping.(Online Shopping)(Directory)
May 1, 2003... Aunt Stella Inc Sunshine 60 Bldg. 40F, Box 1124, 1-1 Higashi Ikebukuro, 3-chome, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-6040 Tel (03)3981-1789 Fax (03)5958-5799 URL www.auntstella.co.jp www.auntstella.com Contact person(s) Christine...

A lonely world: Japan's latest export: jaded students who have few hopes of finding fruitful careers at home.
May 1, 2003... NOZOMU SHINOZAKI'S STAY AT West Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, was meant to be a respite from Japan. The 22-year-old from Yokohama, with his parents' support, enrolled in the New Zealand chapter of the International Columbus Academy, a...

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
May 1, 2003... We received the following letter from the author of "The Irrelevance of Japan," which our editor in chief mentioned in his April letter: I am flattered to have attracted the attention of your publication, but I suspect that you may have...

Mangia, mangia.(Survey of pasta consumed in Japan)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Pasta sales are booming, and Japanese are slurping up skinnier spaghetti. A survey by Nissin Foods comparing 2002 with a similar period two years earlier found that spaghetti has slimmed down considerably. Back in 2000, nearly two-thirds of...

Sing along with Saitama.(Karaoke usage)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... The weekly magazine Diamond rates the top 10 prefectures by their keenness on karaoke: Saitama (45%), Chiba (44), Tokyo (43), Kanagawa (43), Osaka (43), Okinawa (42), Shiga (41), Nara (40), Tochigi (40). Gunma, Yamanashi, Aichi, Kyoto, Hyogo...

Good providers.(Internet providers market share)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... With the exception of the various forms of NiftyServe, which holds a 12.5% chunk of the market, none of Japan's Internet providers manage to break the double-digit barrier when it comes to market share. Here they are in descending order by...

Zero emissions.(Survey of environmentally friendly businesses)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Claims of environmental friendliness are not merely the preserve of manufacturers. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun also surveys businesses in non-manufacturing sectors to see what they are doing to reduce waste and conserve resources. Rated top in its...

Razor-thin profits.(Survey of profit margins)
May 1, 2003... Razor-thin profits. What items have the most attractive markup from the unit cost of manufacturing? Dacapo magazine produced this list: vitamins and other dietary supplements (only 5%); designer brand goods (10-20); a martini at a bar (18); a...

Been there, going back again.(Survey of Tokyo's landmarks)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Sunday Mainichi surveyed those places in Tokyo that impressed people enough to warrant a return trip. Ranked first with 33.8% was the Marunouchi Building, opened in September 2002. This was followed by Ebisu Garden Place (29.2%); Takashimaya...

Bottoms up.(Beer survey)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... A survey of the beer market by Jokai Times, a trade publication of the brewing industry, rated Japan's best-selling brands in 2002. Asahi Super Dry remained the nation's top seller, with 159.55 million cases shipped. The first five places were...

Potpourri (as reported in the Asohi Shimbun).(Surveys of boiled foods and commuters)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... When asked by the "be monitor" organization what types of stewed foods respondents eat most frequently, the top three, with almost equal votes, were sukiyaki, with 459 votes; yosenabe (seafood), with 457 and yudofu (boiled tofu), with 445....

Two front teeth?(Christmas toys wish list)(Brief Article)
May 1, 2003... Toymaker Bandai, whose business it is to know such things, asked kids what they really wanted for Christmas. Here are the most frequently given replies in 2002, with 1997 responses shown in parentheses for comparison: 1. plush toys (Tamagotchi,...