JIN-148 -- America is Burning

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J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:
T H E J @ P A N I N C N E W S L E T T E R
Commentary on the week's business and technology news
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Issue No. 148
Wednesday, September 12, 2001
Tokyo

CONTENTS

+++ Viewpoint: America is Burning
+++ Events

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+++ VIEWPOINT

America is Burning

Any sort of analysis of how the still-unfolding tragedy in the US may
affect Japan is, we think, entirely premature. It appears, however,
that Japan has not been unaffected by the turmoil in America. Here are
some of the main points (all times JST):

** The Tokyo markets took a dive (the Jasdaq was down 6.1
percent), with the bellwether Nikkei average falling 5 percent
this morning -- below the key 10,000 level for the first time
in 17 years. The Tokyo Stock Exchange reduced its price limits
by half for the day due to expected volatility.

** At around 10:00 AM today, the Bank of Japan announced it
had started buying JPY2 trillion worth of treasury bills and
established a crisis management headquarters. JP Morgan chief
economist Masaki Kanno was quoted as saying the liquidity move
was intended to provide psychological support for investors in
Japan, whose confidence has been shattered following the
devastating attacks. This should help Japan's banking system
avoid any disruption. A particular concern for Japan will be
any rise in oil prices.

** In moves similar to those last seen during the Gulf War,
companies across Asia started canceling travel plans and
delaying airfreight shipments (the FAA grounded all US flights
on Tuesday, with many inbound flights being diverted to
Canada). Pioneer Japan said it has halted all overseas travel
for 10 days. Shares in Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways
fell more than 10 percent in Tokyo trading.

** Japan Airlines posted a list explaining the location of all
of its US-bound flights on its Web site at 3:00 PM Tuesday.
Several flights returned to Tokyo and Osaka; others went to
Vancouver. JAL said all US departures are cancelled until
further notice. Nearly half of the 354 flights due to arrive
and depart at Narita today have been cancelled.

** This morning, PM Koizumi denounced the terrorist attacks
and pledged to work to prevent the incident from triggering
worldwide economic confusion. The Security Council of Japan
was meeting to discuss ways to deal with the attacks -- this
being the first such meeting since March 1999 (after a North
Korean spy ship charged Japan's coast). The PM also issued
instructions to tighten security at US facilities in Japan.

** At least one 20-year-old Japanese student was confirmed to
have been aboard the United Airlines flight that crashed in
Pennsylvania. TV stations have given a lot of coverage to
listing which Japanese banks and companies had offices in the
World Trade Center, and trying to determine what the casualty
count amongst NYC-based staff might be.

Keeping all this in mind, J@pan Inc Newsletter's weekly coverage of
the rise of innovation, technology, and the New Economy in Japan seems
somewhat, well, inconsequential.

But tossing in the towel is precisely what the bad guys in the world
would like, so perhaps the best thing for those outside the US to do
is simply to carry on with our lives -- mindful, nonetheless, of the
courage, sacrifice, and loss unfolding by the minute in New York and
Washington.

-- Daniel Scuka

Note:

On June 5, 1973, Canadian radio commentator Gordon Sinclair decided
he'd had enough of the unrelenting criticism directed against the
United States from seemingly all quarters -- primarily foreign
journalists.

Sure, most of the bad press centered on America's (mostly
indefensible) involvement in Vietnam (then recently ended by the Paris
Peace Accords). The war's end had resulted in a worldwide sell-off of
American investments, share prices tumbled, the US economy was in
trouble. At home and abroad, it seemed everyone was lambasting the
United States.

But Sinclair wasn't going to put up with the vitriol any longer.
Arriving at the studios of Toronto radio station CFRB that morning, he
took 20 minutes to dash off a two-page editorial which he delivered in
a defiant, indignant tone during his regular 11:45 AM broadcast.
Selected excerpts from Sinclair's editorial are below; he died in
1984.

"The Americans" (Originally broadcast June 5, 1973)

by Canadian radio commentator Gordon Sinclair
http://www.cfrb.com/archives/american.html

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and
British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in
West Germany. It has declined there by 41 percent since 1971 and this
Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most
generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I
read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with
men and money to help? The Americans did.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted
out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of
dollars and forgave other billions in debt. None of those countries is
today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United
States.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States
that hurries into help. Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent
examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been
flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon
billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in
those countries are writing about the 'decadent, war-mongering
Americans.'

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the
erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a
plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet? If so, why don't they fly them?
Why do all international [air]lines except Russia fly American planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman
on the moon?

When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could
blame them if they said, 'the hell with the rest of the world'?

Let someone else buy the Israel bonds; Let someone else build or
repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart
in earthquakes.

Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans
in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San
Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned
tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing
with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb
their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

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+++ EVENTS (Advertisement)

** Risk Management Forum 2001
September 19, 2001, Nippon Kaiun Club, Nagatacho, Tokyo

*** REMINDER ***

The Risk Management Forum is scheduled for September 19, 2001 at the
Nippon Kaiun Club, Tokyo. The conference aims to provide risk
professionals in financial institutions with key information on
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For further information:
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====

** Bluetooth Seminar at WORLD PC EXPO 2001
September 20, 2001, Tokyo

With cooperation from the Bluetooth SIG, Nikkei Electronics will hold
a technical seminar focusing on Bluetooth, the short-distance
wireless data communications technology, for development engineers.
Mr. Thomas Baker, the leading figure at the SIG, will provide the
keynote speech, and persons in charge of drawing up specifications
will give lectures on the details of the high-speed spec for "Radio
Enhancements" and on the specifications for 3G cellular phones drawn
up by NTT DoCoMo and others.

In addition, Sony will provide its perspective on Bluetooth
applications in the near future as a company keen on commercializing
Bluetooth products, and a panel discussion on Bluetooth logo
certification -- indispensable for commercialization of Bluetooth
products -- will be conducted by four panelists from Japan's leading
Bluetooth qualification test facilities (BQTF). Simultaneous
translation (Japanese <--> English) will be provided.

For further information please visit:
http://dk.nikkeibp.co.jp/dk/seminar/010920e.html

====

** 8th Int'l Web Site Globalization Conference
September 23-25, 2001, New Orleans

Attend the 8th International Web Site Globalization conference on
September 23-25 in New Orleans and hear from European-based
corporations, including Adidas (Germany), as well as from
international country managers, such as Yahoo! Brazil, to learn the
latest strategies in multinational, multilingual content management.

For more information:
1-800-882-8684
info@iqpc.com
http://www.iqpc.com/NA-805-06/J060IN.

====

** FCC Marketing & Communications Symposium 2001
October 19, 2001, the Tokyo American Club, Tokyo

The Forum for Corporate Communications is proud to announce the FCC
Marketing & Communications Symposium 2001, a one-day event focusing
on targeting different sectors of the Japanese market, with specific
discussions on marketing to women, the Internet/i-mode generation,
youth, teens, the silver market, and the foreign market in Japan.

For more information:
Susy Harrison, Z-CARD Japan, Tel: +813-3560-5387
David Wright, Bios, Tel: +813-3499-2175 x1516
fccsymposium@hotmail.com
http://fcc.gol.com

Exclusive Sponsor: Starcom Worldwide Japan
http://www.starcommedia.com

Official Publication: J@pan Inc magazine http://www.japaninc.com

====

** Economist Conferences: 6th Roundtable with the Government of Japan
November 29, 2001, Imperial Hotel, Tokyo

"Policy vision & industry action towards a transformed Japan"

Never before has the state of Japan's economy been as critical or as
interesting. You need to attend this highly informative event which
will include the release of an in-depth study of 100 dynamic, newly
listed Japanese companies.

For information, registration, and an EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT visit:
www.economistconferences.com/grt/jpt/nov01.html

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Subscribers: 4,370 as of Sep. 12, 2001

STAFF
Written by Daniel Scuka (daniel@japaninc.net)

Assistance with news compilation:
Richard Ochero (richard@japaninc.com)

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