[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
TAKING A CHANCE
Starting up Net portal for women turns into lifetime career choice
By HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writer
Kikuko Yano was searching for a job she could do her entire life, and found it in the Internet firm she started on her own.
Yano's career as a magazine editor helped her found cafeglobe.com, a front-runner in Internet portals catering to working Japanese women.
Yano founded the site in 1999, when Internet use began proliferating in Japan. The site (www.cafeglobe.com) began drawing attention for its wide range of content, which includes not only fashion, but also economics and politics — topics women's magazines usually avoid.
The site has been a success. It currently draws about 400,000 visitors a month — larger than most monthly magazines — and logs about 8 million page views.
The first thing the company had going for itself was timing.
"The era of the Internet was coming, so I thought I should start the Web site as soon as possible," the 47-year-old president told The Japan Times in an interview.
Cafeglobe.com advanced quickly, chalking up its first monthly profit in March 2001 and first annual profit in 2003.
Another plus has been its e-commerce platform.
The portal conducts marketing on visitors, mostly working women in their 20s and 30s, and sells clothing, shoes, cosmetics and other goods online.
But launching the company was not easy. When Yano began working as a magazine editor more than 20 years ago, she found herself spending countless days and nights on the job. That was when she started wondering how long she'd be able to keep it up. Until her 60s? Unlikely.
"I wondered what I could do to work on the front lines as long as I live," Yano said.
Kikuko Yano's career highlights
1985 — Joins Nikkei Business Publications Inc.
1986 — Becomes a freelance writer and editor.
1999 — Establishes cafeglobe.com and opens Web site.
2000 — Cafeglobe.com begins Web consulting and Web page production business.
2001 — Cafeglobe.com logs first monthly profit.
2003 — Cafeglobe.com starts e-commerce business and generates first annual profit.
The idea nagged her for a few years. Then she made the decision to quit her job and become a doctor. She started attending a preparatory school to pass the entrance exam for medical school.
"I thought that doctor and lawyer jobs were those worth betting one's life on," she said, adding that the idea stemmed from all the health stories featured in magazines.
But her dream ran into a major setback after 20 months when, after passing the test for a private medical school, she failed to get into a public one. There was no way she could afford the extremely high tuition at the private school.
Yano continued to study anyway with plans to try again the next year but soon found that she was unable to support herself. So she returned to her original life, spending 24 hours a day as a magazine editor.
But things were different this time, thanks to a feature story that changed her life at age 31. The topic: "Japanese women who work across the world."
"I thought the topic was the only one I could do then, physically and mentally," she said. So she applied for a related job.
She spent three to four years traveling in the United States, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong to interview working Japanese women. The interviews moved her, she said, because these people were directly experiencing political and social tensions outside Japan and naturally had a better understanding of politics and economics — two topics many Japanese women are unfamiliar with, she said.
That was when she decided to start her own business.
Yano set up shop on the Internet in November 1999, and the rest is history. Her site runs a column on domestic political news and offers news reports from more than 50 cities around the world.
The highest hurdle Yano had to overcome was her unfamiliarity with business management.
"I'm totally a layperson in the fields of business management because all I had done was just work as a magazine editor," Yano said.
The fact that the Internet was such a new industry at the time was a plus for Yano, and many people have given her advice on dealing with the ins and outs of running a business.
Still, Japan is not a good place for entrepreneurs compared with the United States, where the whole idea of Internet startups was born, she said.
"It is not comfortable to start a business in Japan. People didn't learn it was an option to start up a firm, and there are few people who succeed in doing it around you," she said.
Although Yano admitted the global economic slump is weighing on her business, she believes she made the right decision.
"I had a job that I wanted to do, and there was no other option for me but starting up a new business in order to continue what I wanted to do," she said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
Exports to China place a first first
Kyodo News
China was Japan's biggest trading partner in both exports and imports in the January to June period of this year, with exports to China surpassing those to the United States for the first time ever, the Japan External Trade Organization said Wednesday.
Although exports to China fell 25.3 percent from a year earlier to $46.5 billion and imports from the country dropped 17.8 percent to $56.2 billion, trading with other countries and regions, including the United States, showed larger declines, JETRO said in its report.
While the total value of the two-way trade in the half-year period with China slid 21.4 percent, the trade with China accounted for 20.4 percent of the total, while that with the United States accounted for 13.7 percent and that with South Korea 6.1 percent.
The data were calculated by JETRO based on yen-denominated trade figures released by the Finance Ministry.
But JETRO said Japan's trade with China is almost certain to contract in 2009 for the first time since 1998, when bilateral trade was affected by the Asian currency crisis.
In order for Japan-China trade to see a recovery, it is necessary that advanced nations' economies recover and give China greater external demand, a JETRO official said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
Toyota raises 2009 global production target
NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. has raised its parent-only global production target for 2009 to 5.95 million units, up 150,000 units from its initial forecast in May amid signs of recovery in auto sales due to worldwide stimulus measures, sources said Wednesday.
The automaker has received robust orders for its new Prius and Lexus hybrids thanks to recent government tax breaks and subsidies introduced in Japan for fuel-efficient cars.
In addition to reduction in inventories due to heavy production cuts, auto demand has also been picking up elsewhere due to other support measures worldwide, including the Cash for Clunkers incentive program introduced in the United States and similar programs in Europe.
Toyota has already notified its key auto parts suppliers of the revised target in view of the number of car orders it has received recently, the sources said.
In 2008, Toyota produced 8.21 million units globally.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
TAKING A CHANCE
Starting up Net portal for women turns into lifetime career choice
By HIROKO NAKATA
Staff writer
Kikuko Yano was searching for a job she could do her entire life, and found it in the Internet firm she started on her own.
Yano's career as a magazine editor helped her found cafeglobe.com, a front-runner in Internet portals catering to working Japanese women.
Yano founded the site in 1999, when Internet use began proliferating in Japan. The site (www.cafeglobe.com) began drawing attention for its wide range of content, which includes not only fashion, but also economics and politics — topics women's magazines usually avoid.
The site has been a success. It currently draws about 400,000 visitors a month — larger than most monthly magazines — and logs about 8 million page views.
The first thing the company had going for itself was timing.
"The era of the Internet was coming, so I thought I should start the Web site as soon as possible," the 47-year-old president told The Japan Times in an interview.
Cafeglobe.com advanced quickly, chalking up its first monthly profit in March 2001 and first annual profit in 2003.
Another plus has been its e-commerce platform.
The portal conducts marketing on visitors, mostly working women in their 20s and 30s, and sells clothing, shoes, cosmetics and other goods online.
But launching the company was not easy. When Yano began working as a magazine editor more than 20 years ago, she found herself spending countless days and nights on the job. That was when she started wondering how long she'd be able to keep it up. Until her 60s? Unlikely.
"I wondered what I could do to work on the front lines as long as I live," Yano said.
Kikuko Yano's career highlights
1985 — Joins Nikkei Business Publications Inc.
1986 — Becomes a freelance writer and editor.
1999 — Establishes cafeglobe.com and opens Web site.
2000 — Cafeglobe.com begins Web consulting and Web page production business.
2001 — Cafeglobe.com logs first monthly profit.
2003 — Cafeglobe.com starts e-commerce business and generates first annual profit.
The idea nagged her for a few years. Then she made the decision to quit her job and become a doctor. She started attending a preparatory school to pass the entrance exam for medical school.
"I thought that doctor and lawyer jobs were those worth betting one's life on," she said, adding that the idea stemmed from all the health stories featured in magazines.
But her dream ran into a major setback after 20 months when, after passing the test for a private medical school, she failed to get into a public one. There was no way she could afford the extremely high tuition at the private school.
Yano continued to study anyway with plans to try again the next year but soon found that she was unable to support herself. So she returned to her original life, spending 24 hours a day as a magazine editor.
But things were different this time, thanks to a feature story that changed her life at age 31. The topic: "Japanese women who work across the world."
"I thought the topic was the only one I could do then, physically and mentally," she said. So she applied for a related job.
She spent three to four years traveling in the United States, Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong to interview working Japanese women. The interviews moved her, she said, because these people were directly experiencing political and social tensions outside Japan and naturally had a better understanding of politics and economics — two topics many Japanese women are unfamiliar with, she said.
That was when she decided to start her own business.
Yano set up shop on the Internet in November 1999, and the rest is history. Her site runs a column on domestic political news and offers news reports from more than 50 cities around the world.
The highest hurdle Yano had to overcome was her unfamiliarity with business management.
"I'm totally a layperson in the fields of business management because all I had done was just work as a magazine editor," Yano said.
The fact that the Internet was such a new industry at the time was a plus for Yano, and many people have given her advice on dealing with the ins and outs of running a business.
Still, Japan is not a good place for entrepreneurs compared with the United States, where the whole idea of Internet startups was born, she said.
"It is not comfortable to start a business in Japan. People didn't learn it was an option to start up a firm, and there are few people who succeed in doing it around you," she said.
Although Yano admitted the global economic slump is weighing on her business, she believes she made the right decision.
"I had a job that I wanted to do, and there was no other option for me but starting up a new business in order to continue what I wanted to do," she said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
Exports to China place a first first
Kyodo News
China was Japan's biggest trading partner in both exports and imports in the January to June period of this year, with exports to China surpassing those to the United States for the first time ever, the Japan External Trade Organization said Wednesday.
Although exports to China fell 25.3 percent from a year earlier to $46.5 billion and imports from the country dropped 17.8 percent to $56.2 billion, trading with other countries and regions, including the United States, showed larger declines, JETRO said in its report.
While the total value of the two-way trade in the half-year period with China slid 21.4 percent, the trade with China accounted for 20.4 percent of the total, while that with the United States accounted for 13.7 percent and that with South Korea 6.1 percent.
The data were calculated by JETRO based on yen-denominated trade figures released by the Finance Ministry.
But JETRO said Japan's trade with China is almost certain to contract in 2009 for the first time since 1998, when bilateral trade was affected by the Asian currency crisis.
In order for Japan-China trade to see a recovery, it is necessary that advanced nations' economies recover and give China greater external demand, a JETRO official said.
[BUSINESS NEWS]
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
Toyota raises 2009 global production target
NAGOYA (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. has raised its parent-only global production target for 2009 to 5.95 million units, up 150,000 units from its initial forecast in May amid signs of recovery in auto sales due to worldwide stimulus measures, sources said Wednesday.
The automaker has received robust orders for its new Prius and Lexus hybrids thanks to recent government tax breaks and subsidies introduced in Japan for fuel-efficient cars.
In addition to reduction in inventories due to heavy production cuts, auto demand has also been picking up elsewhere due to other support measures worldwide, including the Cash for Clunkers incentive program introduced in the United States and similar programs in Europe.
Toyota has already notified its key auto parts suppliers of the revised target in view of the number of car orders it has received recently, the sources said.
In 2008, Toyota produced 8.21 million units globally.
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