Jan 2009 Fukuoka Now by Fukuoka Now Ltd.

Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009

Kyushu Headline News English language summaries of last month's top Kyushu area news stories. 九州エリアの 1 ヵ月分の英文ニュースの中から選り抜きの話題をピックアップホンダ熊本、フル生産化を延期 Honda Kumamoto Delays Full Production Honda Motor Co. revealed that it expects to delay the start of full production at its new motorcycle and motorbike plant in Ozu-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture, until at least early FY 2009, and possibly for longer than a full calendar year. The plant was built to consolidate Honda's motorcycle and motorbike production in Japan. The delay is the result of the global economic downturn and the decline in sales in Japan and the Western countries. Honda also said that it does not expect to lay off workers. 福岡市、こども病院移転、住民投票条例案を否決 Referendum on Children's Hospital Move Families of patients and others opposed to the pending move of the Fukuoka Children's Hospital and Medical Center for Infectious Diseases from its current location in Chuo Ward to "Island City", a man-made island in Higashi Ward, formed a citizen's group opposed to the plan and collected enough signatures on a petition to call for a citizen's referendum on the issue. They presented the petition to Mayor Wataru Aso, who said he thought it wasn't necessary, but left it in the hands of the City Council. The City Council voted down the proposed referendum by a 50-12 margin. One of those council members who voted against the referendum said, "We've debated that issue for a long time here. Holding a citizen's referendum would be contemptuous of the Council." 福岡・熊本・鹿児島が連携、3 市の魅力を中国で PR Joint PR Effort in China Fukuoka City, Kumamoto City, and Kagoshima City jointly participated in a tourism and trade fair in Shanghai, China, from the 20th to the 23rd to promote themselves as the primary cities on the Kyushu Shinkansen route due to open in 2011. The fair is the largest of its kind in China, and draws roughly 100,000 visitors every year. It is the first time the three cities have worked together on a promotional project overseas since signing a cooperative agreement in August. 伊万里焼学ぼう「キッズサイト」 Children's Website for Imari-yaki The Imari Board of Education has launched the Imari-yaki Kids' Site as an educational tool for primary and middle school students to learn about Imari ware. The site features easy-to-understand explanations about the history and production processes of the ceramics, as well as videos and quizzes. The board wants schools to use it in their general education and social studies courses. For those classes that do not use PCs, the board has put together a 64-page booklet with the same content.

九州地場企業も来年度採用抑制 Kyushu Companies to Limit Hiring A survey conducted by the Nishinippon Shimbun of the 20 leading companies in the Kyushu region shows that seven, or 35%, plan to cut new hires in FY 2009 by at least 10% from the totals this fiscal year. Those companies that had been actively seeking new employees are concerned about rapidly deteriorating economic conditions. Only two companies plan to hire at least 10% more new employees than they did this year. 後部シートベルト着用率、福岡県全国最低 Worst in Nation for Rear Seat Belt Use The National Police Agency and the Japan Auto Federation released the results of their nationwide survey of seatbelt awareness, which ranked prefectures ac c o r d i n g t o t h e p e r c e n t a g e o f r e a r seatbelt use in automobiles on ordinary roads. The national average was 30.8%, and Fukuoka Prefecture ranked at the bottom nationwide with a usage rate of 8.0%. In contrast, Kumamoto Prefecture's rate of 50.1% placed it second in the nation, behind Shiga Prefecture's 50.5%. The rest of the five Kyushu prefectures were below the national average, with the exception of Nagasaki Prefecture at 33.6%. 九州全 106 市調査、給付金賛成は 34% Mayors Split on Stimulus Payment The Nishinippon Shimbun conducted a survey questionnaire of Kyushu's 106 mayors asking for their opinions of the government's proposed payment to citizens as an economic stimulus measure. Of those responding, 34% said they approved while 17% said they were opposed. Those mayors in the remaining categories ("don't know", "others") thought it wouldn't have any effect, or that the money would be better spent on other government programs. When added to the 17% opposed, those with an overall negative attitude accounted for 36%, roughly balancing out those in favor. 女性漁業者、悩み共有、釜山市 Regional Female Fishermen Meet in Busan Twelve female commercial fishermen from Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Yamaguchi prefectures met six of their counterparts from South Korea at a conference held to discuss mutual problems in Busan, South Korea. Among the issues that arose were soaring fuel costs and the difficulty in finding successors to the business. One Korean representative said during her opening address, "We hope to achieve mutual development with our neighbors across the sea." The Japanese representative answered during her address, saying, "We will look for new ideas through our exchange."

Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009

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大川家具「日本一」譲る No Longer Leading Furniture-Producing Region For many years, the city of Okawa in Fukuoka Prefecture and the surrounding area has led Japan in furniture production based on the value of product shipments. A survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry for production in business year 2006, however, shows that the area has lost its number one status to the Chita area of Aichi Prefecture, which rose from the number two position it held the previous year. Okawa had continuously been the industry leader since 1990, but its dominance was based primarily on the sale of new furniture to newlyweds. Changing lifestyles have resulted in declining sales in that category. 長崎タクシー会社がハイブリッド車を導入 Taxi Company to Use Hybrids The Hikari-Nikko Taxi Group in Nagasaki City is moving ahead with plans to add 30 hybrid vehicles to its fleet by next fall. The company is concerned about rising prices of liquid propane gas, and estimates that a conversion to hybrids would result in savings of 40,000 yen per month per vehicle. They will be the first cab company in Nagasaki Prefecture to use hybrid vehicles on a large scale. ごみ焼却灰から金属 Metals to be Recycled from Waste Mitsui Kinzoku subsidiary Miike Smelting Co. of Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, announced it will build in that city a furnace capable of extracting such metals as zinc and copper from the incinerated ash of household refuse for conversion into resources. Ordinarily, this ash from household refuse is fused and then buried by local governments. The processors are having difficulty finding burial sites for the processed waste, however, so Miike Smelting thinks there is a latent demand for their service. 九州企業 5 割 ― 金融危機が長期化覚悟 Prolonged Financial Crisis Expected A questionnaire survey conducted by the Nishinippon Shimbun revealed that roughly half of the leading companies in Kyushu and Yamaguchi Prefecture think the current financial crisis will not be resolved quickly. Broken down, 26.6% think it will last at least two years, while 23.4% have no idea when conditions will improve. The questionnaire was distributed to the CEOs and chief financial officers of 76 exchange-listed companies in the region from the end of October to November 14.

九州ニュース

地場 7 割減益、赤字 70% of Regional Companies Post Profit Declines Most of the exchange-listed companies in the Kyushu/Yamaguchi Prefecture region have released their interim reports for the current fiscal year, and roughly 70% have suffered either year-on-year profit declines or outright losses. A total of 63 companies have statistics for which year-before comparisons can be made, and 45 have taken a financial hit. A detailed look shows that this includes 22 of the 25 companies in the manufacturing industry, or nearly 90%.

九州輸出 8.3% 減 Kyushu Exports Plunge 8.3% in October Moji Customs announced that the value of October exports from the Kyushu region, which includes Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures, fell 8.3% from the year-before period to 676.1 billion yen. This is the first year-on-year decline in Kyushu exports since May 2005, a period of three years and five months. This confirms the impact that the global financial downturn has had on exports, which drive the Kyushu economy.

九電、風力買取り枠拡大 Kyushu Electric to Expand Wind Power Kyushu Electric Power announced it will increase the amount of power it purchases from regional wind power generators from the present 700,000 kW to one million kW. This will be the first expansion in the utility's wind power purchases since August 2006. It will also be the largest amount of wind power purchased by any of Japan's 10 power companies, exceeding the 850,000 kW acquired by Tohoku Electric Power. The power buys are made to promote the use of wind and solar power, the generation of which does not create greenhouse gases.

佐賀牛、中東輸出ピンチ UAE Defers Halal Designation for Saga Beef Saga Prefecture has been working to export Saga-brand beef to Middle Eastern countries, and the greatest obstacle has involved the certification of the special processing methods required in Islam, called Halal. It was revealed, however, that the certification of the slaughterhouse in Taku has been denied by authorities in the United Arab Republic because there is insufficient space between the area in the facility for slaughtering cows and slaughtering pigs, the eating of which is forbidden in Islam. This will force the prefecture to reevaluate its export program.

大口電力需要、約 5 年ぶり減 Large-Scale Power Demand Falls Kyushu Electric Power revealed that power demand for industry and other large users in Kyushu fell 2.4% in October from the year-before period to 2.168 billion kWh. This is the first decline in demand for these users since December 2003, or a period of about five years. The drop was attributed to production cutbacks in the local steel, semiconductor, and auto manufacturing sectors. 佐賀空港 10 年連続赤字 Saga Airport Posts Red Ink, Again Saga Prefecture, which operates Saga Airport, released a financial statement showing that the prefectural airport lost 173 million yen in FY 2007, the 10th straight year of losses. The airport has never made money, and the aggregate losses have now risen to 2.76 billion yen. One positive note is that the amount of the annual losses is declining. During its first year of operation, the airport lost 379 million yen.

News source: With permission from the morning editions of the Nishinippon Newspaper.

Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009

Parking

Post Office

Cinema

Gas Station

Bank

Info Desk

Car Rental

Hotel Convenience Stores

The map is split into areas for your convenience. For a full list of the map numbers and letters, please see page 33 for Map Index. 広告や編集ページにある番号は、この地図上の番号とリンクしています。索引は P33 をご覧ください。

Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009

Marine Messe Fukuoka

マップ番号索引記事や広告のマップ番号一覧はコチラ！

Bayside Place

Big Air

Some articles and ads have a 'See Map' symbol. Use this list and the grid references to locate them.

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Fukuoka International Congress Center Fukuoka Fukuoka Sun Palace Kokusai Center

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JAL Resort Sea Hawk Hotel Fukuoka

Marizon Seaside Momochi Park

Fukuoka Tower RKB

United Cinemas Fukuoka National Hospital Toysrus Organization Kyushu Hawks Town Medical Center Namco

Fujitsu Twins Momochi

Fukuoka City Public Library Chuo-Park

Korean Consulate

Pietro Chinese Consulate Hyatt Residential Seinan High + Middle Suites School

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Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009

27 No.1 Travel C2 __________________________________________________ Hotels

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Nishijin Palace

Don Quijote Praliva Freshness Burger KFC Shuyukan Rosarian High School McDonald's Doutor Daiei Poplar

Kamo Noke

3 La Boheme Qualita B2 __________________________________________________ 2 Musk / The Voodoo Lounge B2 __________________________________________________

41 The Hakata Harp C1 __________________________________________________ 1 Three Kings B2 __________________________________________________

Seinan Gakuin Univ.

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Fukuoka City Museum Bon Repas

Fukuoka International School

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Change for JR & Shinkansen Higashi-hie Fukuoka kuko (Airport)

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31 Dental Office Plumeria C3 __________________________________________________ 47 Okamura Dental Clinic F2 __________________________________________________ Various Map# Grid . __________________________________________________ 5 Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy A2 __________________________________________________

27 Eurocentres Fukuoka C2 __________________________________________________ 24 Foreign Talent Club B1 __________________________________________________

Fukuoka Now #121 January 2009