Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category
Forward looking: Yoshiharu Fukuhara makes a point during the recent interview he gave The Japan Times at the head office of Shiseido in Tokyo's central Ginza district. The world-famous cosmetics and toiletries company was founded by his grandfather in 1872, and Fukuhara now serves as its Honorary Chairman, while also running the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. YOSHIAKI MIURA PHOTO
Yoshiharu Fukuhara not only headed the iconic company his grandfather started, but there’s his orchids and cameras — and a museum to run, too…
Among the many thousands of visitors who crammed in for some wartime distraction was an 11-year-old boy named Yoshiharu Fukuhara. Gazing at da Vinci’s paintings, drawings and designs for such machines as helicopters and water pumps, the young Fukuhara was astonished that a single person could embody such diverse interests and expertise.
It’s not surprising that da Vinci struck a chord with Fukuhara. His own family boasted several modern-day Renaissance men. The pattern for their lives was to combine artistic activities with careers at the business that Fukuhara’s grandfather, Arinobu, had founded in 1872: the cosmetics and toiletries-maker Shiseido. As Fukuhara explained recently to The Japan Times, it was a pattern he followed himself.
By the time Fukuhara was born, in 1931, Shiseido — whose name derives from a passage in the “I Ching” calling for “the virtues of the Earth” to be praised — had established a thousands-strong network of stores throughout Japan, where it profitably sold its toothpaste, perfumes, facial powders, vanishing creams and soaps.
The company was then under the leadership of Fukuhara’s uncle, Shinzo, a multitalented man who had not only steered the business through expansion and incorporation, in 1927, but had also established himself as one of Japan’s leading art photographers. In 1919, he was also responsible for creating what is now Japan’s oldest existing art gallery, the Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo.
Fukuhara’s father, Nobuyoshi, also shared his brother Shinzo’s twin interests of business and photography. When he wasn’t keeping tabs on the Shiseido books as the firm’s accountant, he was snapping flowers in his carefully kept garden.
The young Fukuhara followed his forebears into Shiseido in 1953 — a move he puts down to a series of coincidences rather than familial grooming. Nevertheless, his commitment to the company, and the respect he was accorded within it, led to him being named the president of its then-new U.S. subsidiary, Shiseido Cosmetics America, in 1966. Just over two decades later, in 1987, he took over the presidency of the entire operation.
Fukuhara oversaw massive expansion of the Japanese brand, playing a direct role in its metamorphosis into an international, or, as he says, a “stateless” icon. Shiseido now has annual net sales of over ¥690 billion, with more than a third coming from abroad. Top products such as its Tsubaki shampoos and the Shiseido makeup line have seen it become a household name not just in Japan but in Asia and elsewhere around the world.
Nevertheless, Fukuhara never forgot the lesson he learned from da Vinci and his own family members, and the horizons of his interests have always extended far beyond the Shiseido domain. His two greatest passions are orchid cultivation and photography, both of which he has pursued since his student days.
But he has done more than that. For the last two decades, in particular, Fukuhara, now 78, has become a self-made champion of the arts, lobbying high-flyers in the public and private sectors to improve their support for the arts. – read more at The Japan Times Online…
A twelve story building in Tokyo's Ginza houses Abercrombie & Fitch's first Asian store.
Abercrombie, an Ohio-based luxury casual brand, promises to deliver the same ‘‘all-American’’ experience—including the buff, shirtless ‘‘store models’’—found at its four other flagship stores in New York, Los Angeles, London and Milan. Long lines of over 700 people snaked around the Tokyo store as the doors were opened by international store models, clad in their signature red and blue-checkered shirts, with their cheery ‘‘Hi Guys’’ greetings in English.
‘‘Abercrombie is unique and there’s nothing like it in other brands,’’ said Shinji Yamaguchi, a 20-year-old university student from Tokyo who lined up from Monday afternoon. ‘‘It’s definitely exciting.’‘
Its long-delayed entry into Japan comes at a critical time as the retailer, an icon of ‘‘preppy coolness’’ for fans in their late teens to early 20s, suffers from months of double-digit declines in sales at home.
‘‘The future of our business is tied to international growth,’’ Chief Executive Officer Michael Jeffries said during a conference call in mid-November.
While Abercrombie already enjoys a strong following in Japan, the company also hopes to lure fans from the wider Asian region by opening its store in Ginza, a district popular with tourists. It is also considering opening its second Japanese store in Fukuoka Prefecture and its first in Copenhagen, Denmark next year. – read more at JapanToday.com…
Japan Airlines is a participant in the new open skies agreement.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways made a pitch for improvement in their operations, with JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu saying in a statement, ‘‘We will aim for providing better services for customers through managing air routes efficiently and establishing a strong network.’‘
Japan’s biggest airline, currently restructuring itself under government supervision, has been in negotiations with Delta Air Lines and American Airlines separately for a possible capital and operation tie-up.
In the wake of the open skies accord, JAL appears to now be accelerating its efforts to choose a partner.
In a similar move, JAL’s rival ANA President Shinichiro Ito also released a comment, pledging, ‘‘We will take strategies that will improve the convenience of the users of our services such as increasing flights to American cities and selecting a U.S. partner as early as possible.’‘
Delta released a welcoming statement, saying the accord will provide ‘‘benefits for consumers, airline employees and investors,’’ and expressed hope that it will enable Delta and JAL ‘‘to engage in deeper and more effective cooperation, producing greater benefits for the carriers and their customers.’‘
American Airlines’ Senior Vice President Will Ris also praised the newly struck deal, saying in a statement, ‘‘This open skies agreement will effectively reset the playing field and enable new working relationships.’‘ – read more at JapanToday.com…
Pepsi White is sold by Suntory in Japan
Suntory’s acquisition of Conway-Myrtle Beach Inc., a franchise bottler based in South Carolina, comes as Suntory is holding merger talks with Kirin Holdings Co. that would create one of the world’s largest beverage and food firms.
Suntory, which has the exclusive sales rights to PepsiCo products in Japan, bought the assets and exclusive marketing rights from Conway-Myrtle Beach through a joint venture with PepsiCo.
The firm buys ingredients from PepsiCo and sells the products in South Carolina.
The shrinking domestic market due to a falling birthrate and aging population has pushed Suntory and other food and beverage makers to expand into foreign markets. – read more at JapanTimes.com…
Despite financial woes, Japan Airlines remains a desirable partner
American’s chief financial officer, Tom Horton, told reporters that the offer is “far superior” to the $1 billion rival proposal from Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners.
He refused to describe the composition of the offer, or say how much of the money would come from American. But he said the proposal by American, its oneworld partners and private equity firm TPG Inc. is part of a larger restructuring plan to get JAL back on solid footing.
Horton and his team asserted that if JAL enhances its links with American, over a 10-year period it would gain additional revenues of some $700 million.
Delta, meanwhile, is trying to lure JAL away from its partnership with American.
Aviation consultant Mark Kiefer of CRA International in Boston said the battle is far from over.
“It does sound like it has the potential to drag on further,” Kiefer said. “There’s a lot at stake here, especially given the importance of the Japanese market and the Asian market to all of these carriers.”
Demand for air travel has been under intense pressure from the global economic slowdown, but U.S. carriers that compete internationally know it will be important to have a strong presence overseas when things rebound. Airlines can reap a premium for long-haul seats, particularly business and first class.
Japan Airlines has been teetering for years, hammered by surging fuel prices, global competition and an image problem caused by a series of safety lapses. It lost $1.5 billion in the first half ended September and has obtained approval for government loans in recent weeks to avoid grounding flights. The airline remains attractive as a partner because of its extensive routes in Japan and other important markets in Asia. – read more at JapanToday.com…
A shopper buys Windows 7 at Bic Retail in Tokyo (Photo: Microsoft)
Microsoft Japan said the company made Windows 7 lighter on system resources after learning a lesson from Vista’s bad reputation. The number of computers shipped in October has also increased thanks to the Windows 7 effect on the PC market. Microsoft is aiming to further increase its sales as retailers enter their year-end sales battle.
“Sales of Windows 7 since its release have surpassed those of XP, not to mention Vista, and they continue to advance at a good pace,” said Shoji Doyama, vice president of Microsoft Japan, at a recent sales strategy meeting.
Microsoft said that in the four days after Windows 7 hit shelves, sales topped the number of copies of Vista sold in a year. To further boost sales, Microsoft is teaming up with 26 computer and computer equipment manufacturers in a promotional campaign aimed at fathers in their 30s who have children attending elementary school. It plans to advertise the ability to easily edit videos, create New Year’s postcards with photographs and animated characters, and carry out other operations using Windows 7’s new features, such as its touch-panel support. – read more at The Mainichi Daily News…
Stuck: An accelerator in a Toyota car is seen stuck to a floor mat. NHTSA/KYODO PHOTO
As a temporary step, Toyota will have dealers shorten the length of the gas pedals beginning in January while the company develops replacement pedals for their vehicles, the Transportation Department said in a statement. New pedals will be available beginning in April, and some vehicles will have brake override systems installed as a precaution.
They said owners of the ES350, Camry and Avalon would be the first to receive notification because the vehicles are believed to have the highest risk for pedal entrapment.
Toyota plans to install a brake override system on the Camry, Avalon and Lexus ES350, IS350 and IS250 models as an “extra measure of confidence,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. The brake override system, commonly called a “smart brake,” will ensure the vehicle will stop even if both the brake and the accelerator pedals are applied simultaneously.
Dealers will be instructed on how to modify the pedals before the end of the year and will begin shortening the accelerators in 2010. New replacement pedals are expected to be available for some models beginning in April and will be provided even if the vehicles have already received a modified pedal under the recall. – read more at The Japan Times…
Iraqi oil fields to be developed by Japan's Nippon Oil
Negotiations on final details may begin as early as Sunday.
The other Japanese companies involved are energy supply firm Inpex Corp. and plant engineering firm JGC Corp. Talks are expected to focus on the purchase price of crude oil from the field.
The Japanese side is proposing a system through which the Japan Bank for International Cooperation would lend the Iraqi government funding to develop the field, and Iraq would use money from sales of crude oil to repay the debt.
The negotiations also are expected to touch on such subjects as making it possible to extend the initial two-year period of the contract in certain cases, so as to ensure a certain level of crude oil imports to Japan. Participants also are expected to discuss the question of responsibility for losses should development of the field not proceed according to plan.
The Italian firm that Iraq had drawn to the negotiations over developing the Nasiriyah field effectively has withdrawn, and the Japan side felt it should be able to achieve a contract unless there was some considerable conflict over terms. – read more at the Daily Yomiuri…
Sony 3D Tech Electronics
The maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation 3 game consoles said Thursday 3-D-related products, excluding content, will generate more than ¥1 trillion in the 12 months ending in March 2013. The Tokyo-based company will begin offering TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles that adopt the technology starting next fiscal year, it said.
Stringer’s bet that 3-D will spread from the movie theater to the living room highlights part of his strategy to revive a company that’s forecasting its first back-to-back annual losses in half a century. The move may signal a shift in focus as the Welsh-born executive nears his target of cutting ¥330 billion in costs by eliminating 20,000 jobs and shutting 10 factories.
“I doubt 3-D will become a hit,” said Naoki Fujiwara, who helps oversee $4 billion as chief fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “Investors want to see how the company will make money.”
Stringer also plans to drive sales growth by offering electronic-book readers and an online service that can be accessed from Sony’s TVs, music players, game machines and other mobile products, a business the company projects will generate ¥300 billion in the year ending in March 2013. – read more at JapanTimes.com…
Toyota plant in Tahara, Japan (KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)
Toyota is believed to have already agreed to the planned voluntary repair of gas pedals possibly involving 4 million cars, the sources said.
The carmaker is now in the final stage of arranging the move with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, they said.
Repair costs are estimated at tens of billions of yen, but Toyota expects it will not affect its overall business performance because the company has set aside nearly ¥500 billion in case of such an event, a senior Toyota official said. – read more at The Japan Times…
