[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
49.5% of households have minivehicle
Kyodo News
Nearly one out of every two households in Japan has a minivehicle, reflecting the increasing popularity of low-priced, fuel-efficient cars amid the economic downturn, according to an industry survey released Friday.
As of the end of March, an all-time high 49.5 minivehicles were owned per 100 households, up 0.8 unit in the 33rd consecutive year-on-year increase, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said.
A record 26.173 million minivehicles, with engine displacements of up to 660cc, were owned by households as of March 31, an increase of 711,581 units over a year earlier.
The number per 100 households first topped 40 units in 2000.
Unit sales of minivehicles posted a moderate decrease of 4.4 percent in fiscal 2008 from the previous year, in comparison with a 15.6 percent fall for sales of larger vehicles.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Flat-screen TVs under ¥30,000
Kyodo News
In another price-cutting move to stimulate consumption amid an economic slowdown, Japan's largest retailer, Aeon Co., plans to offer 18.5-inch flat-screen digital television sets for ¥29,800 per unit, starting Tuesday, company officials said Friday.
The price is much lower than comparable TVs with a 19-inch liquid crystal display panel, which sell for just under ¥45,000 at big discount home appliance stores, analysts said.
Aeon will sell 10,000 units of the stripped-down TV, manufactured in South Korea by Tokyo-based audiovisual equipment maker Dynaconnective Co., at 300 Jusco, Saty and other outlets across Japan other than Okinawa, according to the officials.
Aeon will procure more TVs form Dynaconnective if demand proves strong.
The TV is covered by the government Eco-point program for energy-efficient air conditioners and refrigerators, and televisions that are capable of receiving high-quality terrestrial digital broadcasting. Under the program, aimed at promoting Japan's battle against global warning, up to 10,000 Eco-points, equivalent to ¥10,000, will be given to buyers, lowering the effective price of the TV to ¥19,800.
Aeon decided to offer the inexpensive digital TVs because Japan will end analog broadcasting in July 2011.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Pay, quality issues cloud future of nursing biz
Kyodo News
Miki Watanabe, chairman of the Watami Co. chain of discount "izakaya" (pubs), was speaking with a passion to some 5,000 shareholders and their families who came to the company's general shareholders' meeting in June.
"The food service division is struggling, but nursing is doing fantastic," he said at the Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo stadium in Tokyo. "Amid an aging society, the nursing care business is not being swayed by the economy."
Watami's nursing care unit — Rest Villa — thrives on the high-quality food nurtured by the izakaya unit and on its comfortable facilities. The company has 42 facilities and hopes to triple that to 140 by the end of fiscal 2013.
Masato Nakamura, whose hobby is drawing, is satisfied living at Rest Villa Kitakamakura, his new resortlike nursing home. The facility was built on a hill in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
"The rooms are more spacious than other facilities, which makes it easier for me to draw," he said.
After the government launched a nursing care insurance program in 2000, many companies began entering the industry. But they soon found out that the mainstream at-home nursing care business isn't that profitable.
The trend took a sudden dip after a licensing scandal involving home nursing provider Comsn Inc. broke. But the government raised nursing care benefits to nursing facility operators in April, prompting companies to resume their interest in the field.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Kobe Steel Ltd., whose main businesses have nothing to do with nursing, both jumped in via subsidiaries.
A subsidiary of Panasonic Electric Works Corp. is also running high-tech nursing homes that can monitor residents with infrared cameras. But their main target is the wealthy, who can afford to live in high-end nursing homes that bring in a higher profit. Nursing homes for people in lower income brackets, however, remain scarce.
Some companies have started hiring aggressively to expand their foothold.
"The truth is, they are all young staff with little experience," said a senior official at a nursing care dispatching company who asked not to be named. "They have not been able to receive sufficient training."
A woman in her late 30s who used to be caregiver said she quit her job because the working conditions were poor.
"This job is harsh both physically and mentally," she said. "We were always short of staff, but the management refused to hire more people in order to cut costs."
A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey conducted in fiscal 2008 found that the nursing industry suffered from a much higher annual turnover rate, of 18.7 percent, compared with other industries.
The survey also said the average age of a nursing employee was 44, and that they received an average monthly salary of \210,000.
Some of the male nursing staff said they quit after getting married because they can't support a family on those wages.
In their campaigns for the Aug. 30 Lower House election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan both vowed to increase public nursing care benefits.
But critics are skeptical that higher salaries for caregivers will ensue.
"Some of the medical facilities operating nursing homes use their profit to operate hospitals," said a woman who once worked at such a hospital.
"I don't want companies to enter the business just to use the profit for some other business," she said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Japanese M&As off 21% this year
Kyodo News
Mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies have decreased sharply this year as slowing sales and large restructuring costs have eaten into financial resources, according to recent data compiled by leading M&A adviser Recof Corp.
In the first seven months of the year, the number of M&As involving Japanese companies totaled 1,124, down 20.8 percent, with a combined value of ¥3.64 trillion, off 47.3 percent from the corresponding period of last year, Recof said.
In particular, M&As overseas by Japanese companies plunged to one-third of the level a year before.
The biggest deal in the January-July period was clinched by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in May to acquire operations from Citigroup Inc., including Nikko Cordial Securities Inc., for ¥570 billion.
In July alone, there were 148 M&As involving Japanese companies, down 32.4 percent from year earlier, Recof said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Isetan Mitsukoshi plans China stores
Kyodo News
Department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. is considering opening more stores in China over the next several years to boost its overseas business amid shrinking demand in Japan, sources said Friday.
The company, which currently operates four Isetan stores and one Mitsukoshi store in China, plans to set up large Isetan stores with sales floors of about 30,000 sq. meters in such places as Shanghai and Tianjin, the sources said.
By opening additional stores in the fast-growing market, Isetan Mitsukoshi aims to strengthen its earnings by making its Chinese business a pillar of its overseas operations, they said.
The company has judged that the Isetan brand has achieved a certain level of recognition in such places as Shanghai, the sources said.
The floor space of the new stores will be bigger than existing stores, and they will sell a full lineup of goods ranging from luxury items to food to meet the needs of a wide range of customers, the sources said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Demand for services rises due to stimulus
Bloomberg
Nationwide demand for services rose unexpectedly in June as government stimulus measures spurred consumer spending, another sign that the economy is emerging from the recession.
The tertiary index, which gauges 63 percent of the economy, climbed 0.1 percent from May, when it slid a revised 0.3 percent, the trade ministry said Friday. The median estimate was for a 0.3 percent drop.
Prime Minister Taro Aso's ¥25 trillion stimulus has helped counter Japan's deepest postwar recession by providing people with cash handouts and incentives to buy energy-efficient cars and electronics. Worsening job prospects and falling wages make it unlikely consumers will lead a recovery once the government spending runs out.
"The improvement in consumer spending was largely bolstered by the government's stimulus measures," said Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. "It's unclear whether consumers will continue spending after the measures are withdrawn."
Business at service providers is growing. Fast Retailing Co. reported sales at its Uniqlo stores rose 6.4 percent in June. Softbank Corp., Japan's third-largest mobile phone firm, said profit rose 41 percent last quarter amid subscriber growth.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
49.5% of households have minivehicle
Kyodo News
Nearly one out of every two households in Japan has a minivehicle, reflecting the increasing popularity of low-priced, fuel-efficient cars amid the economic downturn, according to an industry survey released Friday.
As of the end of March, an all-time high 49.5 minivehicles were owned per 100 households, up 0.8 unit in the 33rd consecutive year-on-year increase, the Japan Mini Vehicles Association said.
A record 26.173 million minivehicles, with engine displacements of up to 660cc, were owned by households as of March 31, an increase of 711,581 units over a year earlier.
The number per 100 households first topped 40 units in 2000.
Unit sales of minivehicles posted a moderate decrease of 4.4 percent in fiscal 2008 from the previous year, in comparison with a 15.6 percent fall for sales of larger vehicles.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Flat-screen TVs under ¥30,000
Kyodo News
In another price-cutting move to stimulate consumption amid an economic slowdown, Japan's largest retailer, Aeon Co., plans to offer 18.5-inch flat-screen digital television sets for ¥29,800 per unit, starting Tuesday, company officials said Friday.
The price is much lower than comparable TVs with a 19-inch liquid crystal display panel, which sell for just under ¥45,000 at big discount home appliance stores, analysts said.
Aeon will sell 10,000 units of the stripped-down TV, manufactured in South Korea by Tokyo-based audiovisual equipment maker Dynaconnective Co., at 300 Jusco, Saty and other outlets across Japan other than Okinawa, according to the officials.
Aeon will procure more TVs form Dynaconnective if demand proves strong.
The TV is covered by the government Eco-point program for energy-efficient air conditioners and refrigerators, and televisions that are capable of receiving high-quality terrestrial digital broadcasting. Under the program, aimed at promoting Japan's battle against global warning, up to 10,000 Eco-points, equivalent to ¥10,000, will be given to buyers, lowering the effective price of the TV to ¥19,800.
Aeon decided to offer the inexpensive digital TVs because Japan will end analog broadcasting in July 2011.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Pay, quality issues cloud future of nursing biz
Kyodo News
Miki Watanabe, chairman of the Watami Co. chain of discount "izakaya" (pubs), was speaking with a passion to some 5,000 shareholders and their families who came to the company's general shareholders' meeting in June.
"The food service division is struggling, but nursing is doing fantastic," he said at the Ryogoku Kokugikan sumo stadium in Tokyo. "Amid an aging society, the nursing care business is not being swayed by the economy."
Watami's nursing care unit — Rest Villa — thrives on the high-quality food nurtured by the izakaya unit and on its comfortable facilities. The company has 42 facilities and hopes to triple that to 140 by the end of fiscal 2013.
Masato Nakamura, whose hobby is drawing, is satisfied living at Rest Villa Kitakamakura, his new resortlike nursing home. The facility was built on a hill in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, in April.
"The rooms are more spacious than other facilities, which makes it easier for me to draw," he said.
After the government launched a nursing care insurance program in 2000, many companies began entering the industry. But they soon found out that the mainstream at-home nursing care business isn't that profitable.
The trend took a sudden dip after a licensing scandal involving home nursing provider Comsn Inc. broke. But the government raised nursing care benefits to nursing facility operators in April, prompting companies to resume their interest in the field.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Kobe Steel Ltd., whose main businesses have nothing to do with nursing, both jumped in via subsidiaries.
A subsidiary of Panasonic Electric Works Corp. is also running high-tech nursing homes that can monitor residents with infrared cameras. But their main target is the wealthy, who can afford to live in high-end nursing homes that bring in a higher profit. Nursing homes for people in lower income brackets, however, remain scarce.
Some companies have started hiring aggressively to expand their foothold.
"The truth is, they are all young staff with little experience," said a senior official at a nursing care dispatching company who asked not to be named. "They have not been able to receive sufficient training."
A woman in her late 30s who used to be caregiver said she quit her job because the working conditions were poor.
"This job is harsh both physically and mentally," she said. "We were always short of staff, but the management refused to hire more people in order to cut costs."
A Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry survey conducted in fiscal 2008 found that the nursing industry suffered from a much higher annual turnover rate, of 18.7 percent, compared with other industries.
The survey also said the average age of a nursing employee was 44, and that they received an average monthly salary of \210,000.
Some of the male nursing staff said they quit after getting married because they can't support a family on those wages.
In their campaigns for the Aug. 30 Lower House election, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan both vowed to increase public nursing care benefits.
But critics are skeptical that higher salaries for caregivers will ensue.
"Some of the medical facilities operating nursing homes use their profit to operate hospitals," said a woman who once worked at such a hospital.
"I don't want companies to enter the business just to use the profit for some other business," she said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Japanese M&As off 21% this year
Kyodo News
Mergers and acquisitions involving Japanese companies have decreased sharply this year as slowing sales and large restructuring costs have eaten into financial resources, according to recent data compiled by leading M&A adviser Recof Corp.
In the first seven months of the year, the number of M&As involving Japanese companies totaled 1,124, down 20.8 percent, with a combined value of ¥3.64 trillion, off 47.3 percent from the corresponding period of last year, Recof said.
In particular, M&As overseas by Japanese companies plunged to one-third of the level a year before.
The biggest deal in the January-July period was clinched by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in May to acquire operations from Citigroup Inc., including Nikko Cordial Securities Inc., for ¥570 billion.
In July alone, there were 148 M&As involving Japanese companies, down 32.4 percent from year earlier, Recof said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Isetan Mitsukoshi plans China stores
Kyodo News
Department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. is considering opening more stores in China over the next several years to boost its overseas business amid shrinking demand in Japan, sources said Friday.
The company, which currently operates four Isetan stores and one Mitsukoshi store in China, plans to set up large Isetan stores with sales floors of about 30,000 sq. meters in such places as Shanghai and Tianjin, the sources said.
By opening additional stores in the fast-growing market, Isetan Mitsukoshi aims to strengthen its earnings by making its Chinese business a pillar of its overseas operations, they said.
The company has judged that the Isetan brand has achieved a certain level of recognition in such places as Shanghai, the sources said.
The floor space of the new stores will be bigger than existing stores, and they will sell a full lineup of goods ranging from luxury items to food to meet the needs of a wide range of customers, the sources said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009
Demand for services rises due to stimulus
Bloomberg
Nationwide demand for services rose unexpectedly in June as government stimulus measures spurred consumer spending, another sign that the economy is emerging from the recession.
The tertiary index, which gauges 63 percent of the economy, climbed 0.1 percent from May, when it slid a revised 0.3 percent, the trade ministry said Friday. The median estimate was for a 0.3 percent drop.
Prime Minister Taro Aso's ¥25 trillion stimulus has helped counter Japan's deepest postwar recession by providing people with cash handouts and incentives to buy energy-efficient cars and electronics. Worsening job prospects and falling wages make it unlikely consumers will lead a recovery once the government spending runs out.
"The improvement in consumer spending was largely bolstered by the government's stimulus measures," said Yoshiki Shinke, a senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. "It's unclear whether consumers will continue spending after the measures are withdrawn."
Business at service providers is growing. Fast Retailing Co. reported sales at its Uniqlo stores rose 6.4 percent in June. Softbank Corp., Japan's third-largest mobile phone firm, said profit rose 41 percent last quarter amid subscriber growth.
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