Toyota Automobiles revealed on 24th August that the company has recalled around 680,000 passenger vehicles from customers in China. The re-called models include the mid-size ‘Camry’ sedan, the ‘Corolla’ sedan and the ‘Vios’ and ‘Yaris’ compact cars. Regular use of window ‘open/close’ switches in these vehicles can cause them to overheat and stop working.
According to [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Business’
August 24, 2009
Toyota in China re-call
August 13, 2009
64 gigabyte SD card
Toshiba unveiled a new SD card today that can store 64 gigabytes of data – amounting to around 12,000 high-quality still pictures or 16 hours of high-quality video images. Until now, the largest SD memory card on the market has a capacity of 32 gigabytes which is doubled by the new Toshiba card. It is [...]
June 22, 2009
Nationwide pessimism re:local economy
[ Asahi Shinbun, 22nd June '09 ]
A nationwide survey of the opinions of business owners/managers re: the local economic situation in the regions has revealed that over 70% believe local business conditions are getting worse. This is a considerably worse result than for a similar survey conducted at the same time with 100 top companies. [...]
June 9, 2009
‘Salaryman’s’ pocket money… Public Survey
The Asahi Shinbun reports today that, according to consumer finance body Shinsei Financial’s “2009 Salaryman Pocket Money Survey”, company workers have on average a quarter of the ready cash they enjoyed during the bubble period. Male company workers’ pocket money has decreased by 700 yen since last year to 45, 600 yen. This represents a [...]
May 25, 2008
J-Power Shareholders’ Meeting
The UK investment fund TCI (The Children’s Investment Fund) held a meeting in Tokyo for J-Power shareholders to seek support for TCI proposals with regard to dividend payments and other matters. TCI is now the largest shareholder in major Japanese electricity producer J-Power and are seeking to gain support from other investors before the general [...]
April 5, 2008
METI to warn British investment fund
METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and the Finance Ministry of Japan will make an official decision by 11th April to ‘advise’ a British investment fund to modify or desist from its investment plans as announced in its application to increase its stock holdings in Japanese electricity-producing giant J-Power as “There is a risk [...]
March 27, 2008
ANA to seek Compensation from Boeing
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is to seek compensation from American aircraft manufacture Boeing over the late delivery of new 787 passenger aircraft, which has forced the company to change its plans and projections, reports the Asahi Shinbun today. The exact amount of compensation to be sought will be given careful consideration when the planes have [...]
March 25, 2008
Overwhelming Support for Life-time Employment
An independent survey by the Labour Policy Research and Training Council has revealed that nearly 90% of people in Japan still support the idea of life-time employment.
March 24, 2008
Corporate Pessimism
According to a survey into Corporate optimism, the results of which were released by the Finance Ministry and Cabinet Office today, the business outlook index (the rate for ‘pessimistic’ subtracted from the rate for ‘optimistic’) for the first 3 months of 2008 stands at -9.3%.
March 14, 2008
Pfizer Japan No Smoking Stand
Pfizer Japan has requested all employees to refrain from smoking, not just in company offices and property, but even in their own homes. The company is offering to make contributions to any medical expenses that employees may incur in their effort to give up smoking. Behind this decision stands Pfizer Japan’s plan to release, within [...]
March 14, 2008
Dollar falls below ¥100 for first time in 12 years, etc
The dollar fell to ¥99.77 as the ‘Strong Yen, Weak Dollar’ phenomenon continued, breaking the ¥100 line for the first time since November 1995, reports the Asahi Shinbun today.
March 14, 2008
Sharp to Compete in Chinese Mobile Phone Market
Mikio Katayama, President of Sharp, revealed in an interview with the Asahi Shinbun on 13th March that the company intends to begin sales of its flagship line of ‘Aquos Mobile’ phones in China by the summer of this year.
March 12, 2008
GDP figures revised for last quarter of 2007
According to revised figures released by the Cabinet office today, nominal (ie., excluding the effect of price fluctuations) GDP (seasonally adjusted) in the last quarter of 2007 (excluding the effect of price fluctuations) rose by 0.86% on the previous quarter; (equivalent to an increase over the year of 3.5%), reports the Asahi Shinbun.
March 10, 2008
J-TUC Rally Calls for Working Women’s Rights
International Women’s Day (8th March) saw a rally held in Tokyo by the Japan Trade Union Confederation calling for greater pay equality and child support for working women, the Asahi Shinbun reports today (10th March).
March 7, 2008
TV Makers Fill Their Sails with the Olympic Wind
Matsushita Denki, Sony, Toshiba and other high-quality TV makers have released new ranges of their digital and high-definition plasma and liquid crystal wide-screen displays to take advantage of the Beijing Olympics later this year.
“We’ve never failed to get bumper sales in an Olympic year”, says a Matsushita representative. The expected burst in sales will deepen [...]
March 7, 2008
Gasoline Tax, Road Maintenance Plan : call for Compromise
Secretary General Ibuki of the ruling LDP has announced that ’substantial compromises need to be made’ if agreement is to be achieved in the Diet over the extension of the Provisional Gasoline Tax and the next 10-year Road Maintenance Plan.
March 7, 2008
Airport Maintenance Law – Restrictions on Foreign Investment to be Lifted
Proposed revisions to the Airport Maintenance Law were decided by the Fukuda Cabinet on 7th March, reports the Asahi Shinbun today.
March 7, 2008
Fukuda to Japan Business Federation : “Pass the Fruits of Reform to the People”
PM Fukuda invited Fujio Mitarai (御手洗富士夫) (President of the Japan Business Federation 経団連) to his official residence to seek his cooperation in responding to demands for pay raises for company employees. (Asahi Shinbun, 7th March ‘08)
March 7, 2008
New Governor of Bank of Japan – Fukuda selects Candidate
With Toshihiko Fukui (福井俊彦) due to step down as Governor of the Bank of Japan on 19th March, and with barely enough time for the Diet to discuss and approve a new candidate, PM Fukuda has announced that he will be consulting with the DPJ leader Ozawa for approval of
March 5, 2008
Public-Service Corporations ‘Ama-kudari’ Un-reformed
The Asahi Shinbun reports today that 37% (total 124) of public-service corporations under the jurisdiction of government ministries are still in breach of new government standards on ‘ama-kudari’; the Minister for Internal Affairs has been pushing in Cabinet for stronger enforcement of regulations.
March 5, 2008
Mitsubishi Passenger Jet Project – Toyota on Board
Toyota Motors is in the final stages of a decision (as of 4th March) to participate in Mitsubishi Heavy Industry’s project to develop a small, Japanese passenger jet aircraft, reports the Asahi Shinbun today.
February 26, 2008
Changing Tides – What 2007 Statistics Reveal
Jirou Terajima gives an interesting overview of socio-economic statistics for 2007, with a mind to what can be expected in 2008 (Sekai, March edition).
February 26, 2008
Advancing Solar Technology
The Asahi Shinbun reports today that electronics maker Sharp is investing in a joint venture to be set up with Daiwa Housing and Dainihon Printing, under the name of ‘Eli Power’ (hq: Tokyo) to produce Lithium Ion storage cells (batteries) to be used in housing solar heating systems; each company will be reportedly investing ¥600 [...]
February 26, 2008
Japan & Middle East Sovereign Wealth Funds
Yoshiki Hatanaka, a senior consultant with Japan’s International Development Centre specializing in Middle Eastern economics, international oil, etc., writes in Sekai about Sovereign Wealth Funds. After providing an explanation of what SWFs are, an overview of the effect of the sub-prime crisis on them, and a brief analysis of Russian and Chinese SWFs, the [...]
August 19, 2007
Environmental Action
Despite being the host nation for the Kyoto protocol on reducing carbon emissions, it is reported in the September issue of the monthly current affairs journal ‘Sekai’, that Japan is far from attaining its 2008-2012 target of a 6% overall reduction from 1990 levels. In fact, carbon emissions have risen by about 7.8% since 1990.
