Japan Business News

The management of six major electronics manufacturers showed an understanding on Saturday of unions' demand for the full implementation of regular wage hikes at this spring's annual labor- management wage negotiations. Kenji Ono of Hitachi Ltd., who represented the management during the day's talks with the Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union, told a news conference that as unionists' cooperation with management has been commendable, management intends to study the unions' demand. (AP)

ABC News has acknowledged it used visuals in its story on sudden acceleration problems with Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles that did not show what was actually happening, U.S. media reported. The network's Feb. 22 story illustrated a report by David Gilbert, a Southern Illinois University professor who suggested that a design flaw in Toyotas might trigger a short circuit that would go undetected by the car's computer system, causing sudden unintended acceleration. (AP)

Foreign financial companies in Japan are increasingly shedding their local staff and leaving the country for greener pastures elsewhere in Asia, according to a recent report by a human resources company. The report issued by Executive Search Partners Co. said that roughly 4,500 full-time employees at foreign banks, securities companies, investment funds and asset management firms lost their jobs between early 2008 and August 2009. Of that total, only about 900 found new work at foreign financial companies, while the remaining 3,600 landed jobs in other industries or remained more or less unemployed, the report estimated. (Asahi)

Claiming their air-purifying ion technologies can also increase moisture in the skin, consumer product makers are keen to spread the news to aging-conscious women. Several years ago, Sharp Corp. and Panasonic Corp. began selling ion-emitting devices they say help neutralize nasty airborne particles, including viruses and allergens. The companies have also put the new technologies--"Plasmacluster ion" from Sharp and "nanoe" from Panasonic--in air conditioners, refrigerators and other products. (Asahi)

The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday confiscated several items from the home of former Livedoor Co. President Takafumi Horie in connection with a lawsuit filed against him and fellow executives over a window-dressing case involving the once high-flying Internet venture. The items seized at the upscale Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo included a television set, a shamisen, golf clubs and a wine storage unit, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs. The items are worth ¥330,000 and will be put up for auction on April 7, with the proceeds to be distributed to plaintiffs, including individual shareholders. (Japan Times)

While Europe stalls, Japan has raced ahead to become the largest economy so far to take advantage of new accounting rules reformed in the wake of the banking crisis. Japanese companies began using the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) new fair value rules yesterday, increasing pressure on other developed nations to adopt as well. It is the first stage of a three-part revision of the fair value standard. The rules, redesigned with banks in mind, use a mixed-measurement model to value assets at either their market price or amortised cost. (Accountancy Age)

Japan's gambling industry is expected to be an unlikely beneficiary of a national child subsidy scheme, which aims to shower parents with cash and encourage young couples to start families. Pachinko parlours - the cacophonous pinball arcades that claim about 23 trillion yen in illegal gambling revenues every year - are expected to perform especially well. The monthly family benefit payments are perfectly suited to fuel a couple of hours' play. (Times Online)

Sixty-one airports across the nation failed to meet projected demand in fiscal 2008, underlining a widely held belief that many were built on the basis of overly optimistic projections. Actual and predicted passenger numbers at the nation's 98 airports for fiscal 2008 were released by the transport ministry on Tuesday. Of the 69 airports with comparable demand forecasts, only eight, including Haneda, Naha and Kumamoto, cleared their targets. (Asahi)

Sci-fi is becoming reality. Did you know they now make digital billboards that capture your expression, response, age, and relevance to their product on the billboard? Digital billboards are new in Japan currently. They want to get to know their audience and consumers better by seeing people's reactions to their advertisements. This way they can create more affective advertisement. Billboards will capture you expression towards the ad. (postchronicle.com)

Japan's gangsters may remember 2010 as a banner year. That's not how the vast majority of Japan's 126 million people will see it. Deflation is accelerating, Japan Airlines Corp. went bankrupt and the hits at Toyota Motor Corp. keep on coming. And the year is barely 2 1/2 months old. Amid such gloom, it will soon be good to be a yakuza, a member of Japan's organized-crime syndicates. We learned this week that almost 3,000 consumer-finance companies risk being shut out of the market by the end of June as stricter rules take effect. It will be a boon for extortionate lenders. It also helps explain why Japan's central bank has virtually no chance of ending deflation. (BusinessWeek)

The operator of Kansai Airport off Osaka Prefecture aims to promote the airport code KIX as its nickname, instead of the current "Kanku." Kansai International Airport Co., which will open its remodeled international departure hall on Monday, hopes the new "smarter" nickname will help attract more customers to the airport. The airport firm registered "Kanku" as a trademark before the airport opened in 1994, but it never caught on. A mascot named Kankun was also developed for the airport. (Yomiuri)

Kansai International Airport Co. plans to ask the government to help it trim at least 800 billion yen of its interest-bearing debts totaling more than 1 trillion yen, the president of the Osaka-based airport operator said Wednesday. Drastic improvement of the company's financial structure is the "top priority" for enabling Kansai airport to serve as an international hub for Japan, Shinichi Fukushima, 61, said in an interview with Kyodo News. (AP)

Citigroup Inc (C.N) has sold one of Japan's most famous ski resorts, Niseko Village, to Malaysia's YTL Corp (YTLS.KL), with the property and power conglomerate seeking to develop it into a world class summer and winter destination. Niseko Village, sold for 6 billion yen ($67 million), is popular with Chinese and Australian skiers and a mecca for domestic snowboarders due to its quality powder snow. (Reuters)

A battle has broken out for the hearts and minds of Japan's notoriously sweet-toothed consumers as two of the key players in the donut market unleash their new ranges for the spring season. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, the local arm of the US donut giant, is first off the mark with a selection of four new products from March 15. The new varieties include the Pure Banana, a shell-shaped donut with condensed milk, maple sugar and banana chips, and the Rare Cheese Cake, which comes decorated and topped with lemon sauce. The line is rounded out by the Coffee Beans donut, which has a coffee milk filling and is topped with espresso beans, and the Soy Milk Cake, an old-fashioned Krispy Kreme variety made with soy milk. (independent.co.uk)

Dogs come to resemble their owners, or so the saying goes. In Japan, the human population is greying, with a record 29 million of the island nation's 128 million citizens now over the age of 65, and with a life expectancy of 86.1 for females and 79.3 for males. Likewise, more than half of Japan's dog and cats are older than seven years, and roughly 30 per cent are past the 10-year mark. Here the mimicry ends, however. While the number of Japanese began dwindling in the mid-naughts, the number of pets has swollen. Last year, Japan had 13.6 million dogs and 11.3 million cats, a nine and 29 per cent increase respectively on 2004, according to the Japan Pet Food Association. (media.asia)

The latest buzzword in Japan's policymaking circles is "community business." Basically, a community business is a solution to local challenges run as a business by local residents. The concept has recently attracted the attention of government officials and some government-supported community business projects are now up and running. A cynical view might put down the policymakers' interest to their habitual fascination with any concept with a foreign name transliterated into katakana. (Asahi)

In a bid to burst rivals' bubbles, a number of consumer goods firms have introduced dishwashing detergents that promise to be gentle on the hands--an idea that has captured the attention of many homemakers keen to protect their skin while washing up. In 2009, domestic shipments of dishwashing detergents increased 6 percent over the previous year to 52.1 billion yen. Despite the economic slump, such shipments remained buoyant, recovering for the first time in 11 years to hit the 50 billion yen mark. (Yomiuri)

Ibaraki Airport held an opening ceremony Sunday ahead of what will be the operational launch Wednesday of the Tokyo metropolitan area's third airport after Haneda and Narita. The airport, Japan's 98th, was built at the Air Self-Defense Force's Hyakuri base in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, about 80 km northeast of the capital. (Japan Times)

BHP Billiton has made a big breakthrough in its drive to overturn the annual coking coal price-setting system, with Japanese steel mills agreeing for the first time to a quarterly contract at a 55 per cent premium to the current rate. Unable to get BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance to accept a 12-month price, Japanese mills gave ground last night, agreeing to the Queensland producer's offer $US200/tonne for the three months to June 30. This represents a decisive breakthrough in the BHP-led campaign to force Japanese and Korean steelmakers to give up their jealously guarded annual contract system and move to a pricing system more closely reflecting current market conditions. (The Australian)

Undeterred by the ongoing economic gloom and increasing competition in Japan's clothing sector, two foreign-owned chains are expanding their presence here by opening their first stores in western Japan this weekend. Barneys New York is opening its first Japan flagship store outside Tokyo in the port city of Kobe Friday, with a special fashion collection designed in collaboration with British supermodel Agyness Deyn. Companies such as Barneys New York and H&M are taking advantage of the newfound popularity of reasonably priced clothing lines in a country that not long ago prided itself on the amount of famous brand-name goods snapped up by consumers. Today, cheaper is chic. (independent.co.uk)