Japan Business News

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)

Toyota's poor handling of its massive global recalls has highlighted a glaring weakness in Japan's otherwise sophisticated corporate culture: crisis management know-how. Major companies have detailed plans for dealing with killer earthquakes or terrorist attacks but are largely unprepared to deal with disasters of their own making like product flaws that could lead to injuries or even death. Toyota, a brand-name once synonymous with quality, has come under fire for being slow and indecisive in responding to the safety problems that ultimately led to recalls of 8.5 million vehicles worldwide. The puzzle is why Japanese companies that confidently stride the global corporate stage could set themselves up to fail on this crucial score. (AP)

The Japan Tourism Agency (JTA) has compiled a proposal to stagger long holidays by region in the spring and fall, alleviating the overcrowding of transportation services and hotels and stimulating demand for domestic tourism. According to the proposal, which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) aims to implement in 2012, some of the days that are currently designated as public holidays will be eliminated. Instead, five-day holidays that include Saturdays and Sundays will be allotted to the public by region in both spring and fall. (Mainichi)

The words "Japan, wine exporter" have a somewhat unlikely ring but that is the aim of a new organisation, Koshu of Japan, which is keen to shine an international spotlight on a grape variety that is often dismissed within its native country. I have just made my second visit in 12 years to Yamanashi prefecture, the Bordeaux of Japan in terms of winemaking. Except it reminds me more of Switzerland than Bordeaux. Every square metre in the heavily populated Kofu basin overlooked by Mount Fuji is cosseted. Individual vineyards are tiny, partly thanks to the postwar policy, implemented by General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw Japan's reconstruction, of weakening the powerful landowners by redistribution. Farmers are protected. Labour costs are high. And the most-planted vine variety, like the Chasselas that is known as Fendant in French-speaking Switzerland, is also a table grape. (FT.com)

Kirin Holdings Co. may seek control of its Philippine beer venture after dropping a planned merger with Suntory Holdings Ltd. that would have created the world's fifth-biggest food and drinks maker. "We'd like to take a majority" of San Miguel Brewery Inc. from the current 48 percent if its parent is willing to sell, Senji Miyake, who will become Kirin's president this month, said in an interview late Thursday in Tokyo. "We're not in a hurry," he said, declining to say whether they're in talks. (Japan Times)

Cash-strapped Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is facing renewed pressure to improve its financial standing after deciding not to form a capital alliance with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen. Opting for freedom in management, MMC dropped out of the deal because the two companies could not agree on which projects to implement after the tie-up was to take effect. DaimlerChrysler sold its entire stake in MMC in 2005. MMC still has an urgent need to bolster its financial standing, which deteriorated amid a string of defect cover-ups that surfaced in 2000. (Asahi)

Western marketers are adept at catering to the tastes of Japanese consumers, with quirky products such as McDonald's Filet-O-Shrimp burgers and a cucumber-flavored soft drink by Pepsi. But Nestle has upped the ante for the most creative only-in-Japan product by creating 19 unique flavors for Kit Kat, one of the best-selling chocolate candy bars in the world and the No. 1 brand confectionery brand in Japan. Besides the regular chocolate variety, which must seem mundane to Japanese by now, Nestle has come up with variations that reflect the local produce and palate of each region. There are some staple flavors like miso, soy sauce and green tea, but the list doesn't end there. (adage.com)

Ario Toyoda returned from his "sorry" tour yesterday promising again to restore the automaker's quality reputation, but the question being asked at home is whether he has the qualities to lead Toyota back to the high ground. Toyota sales are recovering and its position at the top of the pile of global car companies remains, but its aura of product quality and management excellence is badly damaged. His last stop in Beijing, where the Chinese had the unusual and gratifying spectacle of a Japanese industry captain bowing in apology, was eased by local executives revealing that Toyota's Chinese vehicle sales grew 30 per cent year-on-year in February. (The Australian)

While auto manufacturing giants spend millions to develop environmentally-friendly electric cars, one Japanese company has taken a more low-key approach, crafting hand-made "green" cars. Takeoka Jidosha Kogei may be the antithesis of the world's Hondas and Nissans. The family-run business makes its cars from scratch in a garage workshop in the snowy foothills in the northwest of the country. There are no industrial robots or assembly lines in sight. Instead just a dozen mechanics crafting each model by hand, right up to the finishing touch of adding a set of beady headlights to their "Milieu" range. (AFP)

Britain has postponed signing a contract with Hitachi Ltd. for a train project worth more than 1 trillion yen ($11.21 billion) until after the general election expected in May. The signing had been scheduled for mid-March, but Britain's Department for Transport cited a deterioration in the environment for borrowing funds and a slowdown in growth of passenger numbers. In February 2009, Hitachi acquired preferential negotiating rights for the Intercity Express Program contract to supply about 1,400 train cars for main trunk lines in Britain between 2013 and 2018, plus up to 30 years of maintenance. (Asahi)

Forget Scotch whisky, for the alcoholic beverage making to the top is Japanese whisky. Yoichi 20 years old, distilled on the shores of the Sea of Japan, has become the first variety produced outside Scotland to win the coveted single malt award in an international competition run by Whisky Magazine, the main industry publication. The whisky, distilled near the city of Sapporo on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, beat dozens of other varieties, including last year's winner, Talisker 18 years old, produced on the Isle of Skye. (oneindia.in)

Atlantic bluefin tuna is one of this country's most popular foods, but it might very soon become too expensive to eat. It has become increasingly likely that Atlantic bluefin will be designated as an endangered species at a meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Washington Convention to be held in Qatar starting March 13, resulting in a ban on imports and exports of the fish. Japan currently imports about 80 percent of its Atlantic bluefin catch quota of about 23,900 tons and therefore strongly opposes the plan. However, the international situation is not at all favorable for Japan. (Yomiuri)

Energy-efficient houses, in particular those equipped with solar panels, are growing in popularity as home buyers seek out environmentally-friendly options. One factor behind the rising demand for eco-friendly houses was apparently the start in November of a system in which electric power companies buy surplus electric power from such households at 48 yen per kilowatt--double the previous price. In June, a 34-year-old company employee in Osaka Prefecture built a two-story house that incorporates light steel bars that he fitted with solar panels capable of creating up to 3.4 kilowatts of electric power. All energy consumed in the house is powered by electricity, most of which is generated by the panels. (Yomiuri)

Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores Co., a product of the merger of two leading department stores--Daimaru Inc. and Matsuzakaya Co.--began operations Monday, aimed at boosting its purchase of of merchandise and streamlining its operations. Yet a similarly, large-scale reorganization of leading department stores, such as Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings under which Mitsukoshi Ltd. and Isetan Co. have integrated their management, has brought about few tangible effects. As fears have begun to be voiced over the survival of department stores, which have lost the support of many consumers with the rise in popularity of mass retailers selling products such as clothing and home electrical appliances, some experts have said the entire distribution industry will need to reorganize itself. (Yomiuri)