Japan Inc. articles from November 2002

Japan Inc. archives from November 2002

To the editor.(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2002... I WAS READING WITH interest the September Blowfish column and was wondering what was the source for the "rounder heads" entry. Michael Fitzpatrick We had several inquiries about that item. The magazine that said 85.7 percent of the...

How much is an innovative engineer worth?(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)
November 1, 2002... AROUND THE J@PAN INC office, Shuji Nakamura is something of a folk hero. The former Nichia Chemical Industries engineer created the blue light-emitting diode (LED) in 1993, Nichia quickly dominated the market for blue LEDs and has made...

EBank to start money transfer via email.(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Internet bank eBank has just started a new service allowing customers to transfer money via email accounts. The sender is now able to send money to the receiver by simply punching in his email account. Both the sender and the receiver need to...

Tokyo cheapest when it comes to broadband.(The pulse: the word on the street from the heart of Tokyo)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Tokyo offers the cheapest broadband connections among major international cities, according to the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. For example, Flets ADSL in Tokyo charges [yen] 4,850 per month while...

KDDI handsets go to the movies.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... KDDI is out to get its share of the burgeoning market for cellphone handsets offering video. The company in September released handsets, one of which offers movie mail services. The A5301T handset from Toshiba can record video at about eight...

Mitsubishi Corp. to launch a buyout fund in the US.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... There was a time when foreign buyout funds were called vultures, buying up what was left of ailing "Japan Inc." Over the past few years, the buyout business has become more common in Japan and there are now many Japanese buyout funds buying up...

Remote mail venture remains robust; IPOed in September.(Net Village)
November 1, 2002... TOKYO-BASED VENTURE NET VILLAGE'S services are by no means fancy; they allow users quick access to their email messages anywhere they go. The company's "remote mail" service allows a user to access messages sent to almost any account via any...

Nikon COOLPIX4300.(The pulse 2: the best of J@pan Inc's newsletters: gadget watch, wireless watch, and music media watch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The successor to the 3,000,000-pixel COOLPIX885 digicam, the COOLPIX4300 ([yen] 87,000) has--wait for it--4 million pixels! "So why's it called the 4300?" I hear you ask. "Why not 4000?" Because it has a 4,130,000-pixel CCD of course. Er,...

J-Phone, Hutchison unfazed by DoCoMo's 3G outlook.(The pulse 2: the best of J@pan Inc's newsletters: gadget watch, wireless watch, and music media watch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... EXTRACT: Japan's J-Phone and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa said they would stand by plans to launch 3G mobile services this year, despite a sluggish start to the high-speed service by industry leader NTT DoCoMo. J-Phone, Japan's...

Casio XFER XF-800 and XF-600.(The pulse 2: the best of J@pan Inc's newsletters: gadget watch, wireless watch and music media watch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The world famous calculator company has produced another totally mind blowing, world-altering calculating machine in the XFER. Not really; actually it's a wireless LAN LCD television. Two of them, in fact, as the 336,960-pixel XF-800 has an...

NTT DoCoMo introduced new easy-to-use F671iS handset.(The pulse 2: the best of J@pan Inc's newsletters: gadget watch, wireless watch and music media watch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... NTT DoCoMo launched its F671iS handset in September 2002. The F671iS, an enhanced version of Docomo's popular F671i introduced in September 2001, offers a variety of new, convenient features, such as larger text and a function that reads aloud...

Sony CSV-E77 CoCoon.
November 1, 2002... This new CoCoon channel server from Sony (open price, but approx. [yen] 130,000) is a 160Gb broadband (or regular connection) hard disk recorder that allows users to record up to 100 hours (35 hours at highest MPEG2 quality) of programming...

Conspiracy theories: some calls are more equal than others: ever notice how expensive calling from a fixed line to a mobile one can be? Two companies argue that they're being blocked from offering consumers a cheaper alternative.
November 1, 2002... HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED how fast your coins run out when you're calling your friend's cellular from a pay phone? If your friend carries an au or J-Phone handset, a [yen] 10 coin runs out every 15 seconds or less in the daytime on weekdays. Each...

Homemaking on the fly: the Panasonic Center offers a glimpse of how technology may someday help all of us working stiffs keep pace at home.
November 1, 2002... AYAKA YADA, 34, WHO works for a publishing company, says she suffers occasional pangs of guilt when she feels she is sacrificing her family for her work. She faces a difficult question: "How can I prepare dinner according to schedule and spend...

Women's business: New Zealand entrepreneur offers organic feminine products to the world and finds 80 percent of her market in Japan.(Upfront)
November 1, 2002... MENSTRUATION MIGHT BE AN awkward topic for conference rooms. Most men in business suits look squeamish at the mete mention of it. But last July Helen MacDonald, a savvy New Zealand businesswoman, formed an online store selling certified organic...

It's our birthday again: we're wiser, thinner and poorer as we turn three, but dammit, we're still here!
November 1, 2002... Wow, What a year. We know what pediatricians mean when they talk about the "terrible twos." Our last year was one of transition--from a magazine that grew up in the Internet bubble to a magazine that knows how to survive in an anemic economy....

First Tokyo, then the world: one of Japan's most influential families has some very big plans, but will they fly?
November 1, 2002... THE WORLD'S TALLEST BUILDING. Structures that lure residents back to the city center. Temples of art and culture. An architectural movement that will first change Tokyo, then the nation, then who knows. This is what the Moris, one of Japan's...

Digital Osaka: Japan's second city desperately needs an image makeover; entrepreneurs and visionaries are planning everything from technology clusters to waterways filled with fresh flowers to give Osaka a boost.
November 1, 2002... CALLING OSAKA "DIGITAL" IS a bit like calling Birmingham, England, "trendy." It might be, but if so, only a few still know about it. Just as Birmingham seems stuck in its industrial past, Osaka is stuck with an image of a slightly cranky,...

The relocation professionals: sometimes trusting the experts is the best bet for stressed out expats trying to navigate a new culture.(Relocation In Japan)
November 1, 2002... The logistics of moving to Japan can be a stressful challenge that distracts relocating expatriates from the positive cultural and professional experience. Luckily, there is a diverse array of relocation specialists in Japan that aim to ease...

Directory listing.(Relocation In Japan)(Directory)
November 1, 2002... ASIAN TIGERS PREMIER WORLDWlDE MOVERS 3rd F, Kobunacho Bldg., 15-10 Kobunacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0024 Tel +81-3-3663-2685 Fax +81-3-3663-2668 URL www.asiantigers-premierwwm.com Contact person Mr. Nick Masee Email...

Companies find international relocation of executives with a working spouse complex.
November 1, 2002... It used to be simpler for firms to relocate executives overseas. An executive (usually male) was selected; discussions were held with the spouse and the opportunity was polished up with "great private schools," "private clubs," "benefits" and...

The Hyogo advantage: from port city to international business hub.
November 1, 2002... Kobe has such a foreign brand image in Japan that bread shops and Western confectionaries are named after it. Its difference lies in its history. Since its assignment as a treaty port at the beginning of the Meiji era, it has attracted waves of...

The death of a wetland: destruction in Isahaya Bay reveals Japan's love of nature as nothing more than myth.
November 1, 2002... Editor's note: Japan, perhaps more than any other industrialized country, has relied for decades on public works as a way to spark the economy. For years, despite environmental sacrifices, the plan worked: Build a bridge, line the coffers of...

A Web of rules: how the Internet is affecting Japanese content liability, privacy and consumer protection laws.(Case Study)
November 1, 2002... IDENTIFYING THE WEB OF rules that govern the wired and wireless Internet in Japan is a time-consuming but essential task for businesses engaged in Japan-related activities. This article summarizes a number of Internet-related laws in Japan and...

Shaky recovery: Japan's growth depends on demand from Asia.(Statistics)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Japan has posted quarter-to-quarter GDP growth in two consecutive quarters this year. In the second quarter (April-June), Japan posted 0.6 percent growth. But some argue that it's too early to conclude that Japan's economy has gotten back on...

No rest for the weary.(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... On the national average, Japanese are accorded 18 days of annual paid leave. This compares with 31 in Germany, 24 in the UK and 13 in the US. The problem is the average Japanese worker uses up only half that figure. Why, for heaven's sake? No...

Playing catch-up.(Japanese athletes)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... How well are Japanese faring at sports these days? Not too well, based on teams of individuals involved in sports that issue international rankings. Japan was 17th place in soccer, for example. Interestingly, women outranked men in most sports:...

Scientific method.(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... HILL, the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living, surveyed 364 adults holding university degrees about certain activities and came to the conclusion that science majors are much more precise in their habits than those who pursued liberal arts in...

Cheap digs.(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Where are the least expensive cities to live in Japan? According to data from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, with Tokyo pegged to 100, the consumer price index in Naha, Okinawa, was 88.5. In...

Meet the beetles.(beetle imports)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... In 2001, Japan imported some 680,000 rhinoceros and giant stag beetles from 25 different countries, according to the local branch of the World Wildlife Foundation. Of these, 62 species were brought in legally and 10 species illegally....

Out of pocket expenses.(raises, cost of lunch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... When GE Consumer Credit asked 471 salarymen in Japan's two largest urban areas if they had received a raise the previous spring, only 43.7 percent of the respondents in Tokyo replied in the positive. In Osaka, the figure was 58.5 percent. This...

Tokyo is Japan's biggest municipality, right?(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Well, no, actually it's Yokohama, with 3,403, 077 people. When counting heads, Tokyo treats its ku (wards), cities, towns and other municipalities as independent entities. The largest Tokyo community, Setagaya Ward, had just 783,152 souls...

Your honor, I object.(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Tokyo is home to no fewer than 3,203 law offices. I don't know what big-name attorneys like Alan Dershowitz or Johnny Cochran are raking in these days, but I did find a listing of the nation's most successful attorneys in a recent issue of...

One point two million and counting.(Blowfish)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... According to Merrill Lynch, at the end of last year some 7.1 million individuals in the world possessed assets equivalent to or greater than $1 million. This was an increase of 20,000 over the year before. Of these, Japan had roughly 1.2...