industry facts

Compiled by Ken Worsley -- Hard information on selected economic sectors and industries -- Automotive -- Consumer Electronics -- Mobile Telephony

By Ken Worsley -- Hard industry facts -- Retail -- Mobile Phones -- Food and Fast Food -- Department Stores

By Ken Worsley -- Hard industry facts -- Mobile Telephony-- Corporate Bankruptcies -- Real Estate -- Food and Supermarkets

By Ken Worsley -- Hard industry facts -- The Environment -- Labor and Wages -- Household Budgets and Finance

By Sarah Noorbakhsh -- Analysis on retail venture QB House: QB House -- A trip to the barbershop that was inundated with loads of extra services and carried a price tag to match was the original motivation for Kuniyoshi Konishi, founder of QB Net Co Ltd, to develop the wildly successful QB House. This no-frills bare-bones barber service offers a 10-minute haircut for ¥1000, with a brand image marked by its ubiquitous presence in shopping malls and train stations across the nation.

by Ken Worsley, Sarah Noorbakhsh, Peter Harris -- Measure For Measure -- Hard information about selected industries, a corporate profile of a major Japanese listed company, and a column on a selected player from the retail industry. -- Retail Focus -- Don Quijote, a chain of one-stop discount shops that offers more than just no-frills low prices, established in Tokyo in 1980. The company listed on the second section of the Tokyo stock exchange in 1998 followed by a listing in the first section in 2000.