Mar 2010 Fukuoka Now

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Kyushu Headline News

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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 福岡市、世界 9 都市と連携

Fukuoka City Networks with Nine World Cities Fukuoka City revealed it is one of 10 cities around the world to have created a network in 2008 to discuss different ways to deal with local issues.

The cities have held international conferences since that year, first in Seattle in the U.S., and last year in Barcelona, Spain. This year’s conference will be held in Fukuoka City in July, and the theme of the conference will be urban development based on the knowledge economy. 昨年の福岡市、クルーズ船効果は 10 億 5700 万円

Cruise Ships Had Large Economic Benefit Fukuoka City announced that the economic benefit from Chinese cruise ships that called at the Port of Hakata during 2009 amounted to roughly 1.57 billion yen. This year, 66 cruise ships departing from China are scheduled to call at the port, an increase of 2.7 times. The economic benefit from that is estimated at 2.889 billion yen. The city said it will work to ensure that more Chinese cruise ships stop at the city in the future.

JP モルガン、九州進出

First J.P. Morgan Branch in Kyushu The Japanese subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Asset Management, one of the world’s largest asset management firms, opened its first Kyushu branch in the Tenjin district of Fukuoka City on February 1. The new office is responsible for business in western Japan. This Japanese subsidiary already has offices in Tokyo and Osaka. 井筒屋に金融支援

Troubled Izutsuya Gets Assistance Kitakyushu-based Izutsu-ya, the prominent regional department store company, is suffering from financial difficulties. As part of its restructuring plan, it will ask for about 240 employees, about 20% of its workforce, to volunteer for early retirement. In addition, 16 companies that have provided financing to the company, including its main banks, have agreed to postpone loan repayments and to extend additional credit. Finally, current President Makoto Nakamura will accept responsibility for the company’s problems by stepping down in May. ベスト電器、直営 3 割閉鎖

Best Denki to Close Outlets Fukuoka City-based consumer electronics mass merchandiser Best Denki said they would close from 50 to 70 of their 218 directly operated sales outlets by February 2012. That would mean as many as 30% of their shops would shut their doors. They also plan to lay off several hundred employees. The company says the steps are required because they projected 30.1

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billion yen in net losses on their consolidated report for the year ending February 2010. オフィスビル、新築 2 棟だけ

Only Two New Buildings This Year The Fukuoka branch of leasing brokerage firm Miki Shoji revealed the results of its survey showing only two new office buildings are planned to be erected in Fukuoka City’s business districts of Tenjin and the JR Hakata Station area this year. This is a sharp downturn from the 28 buildings that were completed in those areas over the past two years. This total is a result of the collapse of a mini-real-estate bubble, though the current low occupancy rates are expected to continue due to oversupply and the poor economy. Miki Shoji predicts competition to attract tenants is going to grow more intense. 水素 HV、九州初登場

First Hydrogen Hybrid for Use in Kyushu Mazda Motor Corp. has leased its Premacy hydrogen hybrid with a rotary engine to the Kitakyushu branch of gas company Iwatani.

It is the first hydrogen hybrid to be used in Kyushu. Mazda began leasing the automobile to governments and corporations in 2009, but keeping down costs has become a problem.

The monthly leasing fee is 420,000 yen, and the national government will pay half. トヨタ九州、400 万台突破

Toyota Kyushu Production Up Fukuoka Prefecture-based Toyota Kyushu’s aggregate auto production, since it opened in December 1992, has climbed above four million units, the company announced. Production at the site expanded in 2005 when they became the parent company’s second factory to produce the luxury Lexus model. They reached the threemillion mark in 2007, and then production of the Lexus HS250h hybrid began in 2008. 西鉄バス、57 路線廃止へ

Nishitetsu Bus to Eliminate 57 Routes Fukuoka City-based Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu) announced that it would eliminate 57 bus routes, both long-distance and city routes, in 2010 to improve the financial health of its money-losing bus company. It will also cut back on service for 57 more routes. They have not yet announced the specific routes to be affected, but will begin discussions with local government in the affected areas to alleviate the impact. 百貨店売り上げ高 10.2% 減

Department Store Sales Down The Kyushu Department Store Association announced that aggregate sales for the 26

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stores from 17 companies in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture in 2009 fell 10.2% from the previous year to 546.257 billion yen. That is the seventh consecutive decline and the worst since the start of record keeping in 1952. The drop-off in sales was particularly pronounced for upscale items. 福岡市、小 3 まで入院費無料

Hospital Care Extended Fukuoka City, which already compensates the parents of preschool age children for hospital stays, plans to extend the program to children through the third year of primary school. It was incorporated in the FY 2010 budget proposal in the City Council this month and will take effect in April. Mayor Hiroshi Yoshida was elected in November 2006 on a pledge of implementing such a program. At the time, the city paid for hospital care for children to age three. 九電工がオリーブ栽培

Kyudenko to Grow Olives Fukuoka City-based Kyudenko announced it had formed an agreement with Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture, to grow olives. The agreement began in FY 2010 and will run for three years. The company will plant 6,700 olive trees on cropland in the city that is currently unused, and will study cultivation techniques and the potential for profitability. If successful, they could elect to continue the operations.

Kyudenko says it is open to using land owned either by the public sector or the private sector. ニューヨークで福岡料理フェア

Fukuoka Food Fair Held in NYC The Fukuoka Food Fair in New York was held in the popular New York seafood restaurant BLT Fish on the 26th of January for an invited audience of about 50 people in the local food service industry and the mass media. The menu featured different dishes prepared using local Fukuoka produce. The objective was to support the business of local companies producing the ingredients and to promote exports. Similar fairs have been held in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, but this was the first one in the West. 九州、年末年始高速バス利用客 11% 減

Kyushu Expressway Bus Passenger Numbers Fall The Kyushu District Transport Bureau released statistics from the 24 companies operating expressway buses on longer routes in Kyushu showing that the number of passengers during the year-end period from December 27 to January 5 fell 11.3% from the year before to about 373,000 people. The bureau attributes the decline to the combination of a poor economy, the flu epidemic, and the increased

九州ニュース

number of people traveling by automobile due to the lower expressway tolls. Also, three routes in Oita were temporarily impassable due to snow, and the number of passengers on those routes dropped more than 20%.

1 台 3 役介護用品開発

Three-in-One Long-term Care Equipment Nagasaki chiropractor Tsugiharu Nagayoshi has invented and received a patent for equipment for long-term care use that has three functions.

The equipment serves as a bed with castors for easy movement, a wheelchair, and a simple bath. Nagayoshi established a venture capitalbacked company called Rakurakuyu in January to sell the device. Sales will officially begin in April, but the company already has more than 100 advance orders from hospitals and longterm care facilities. 石の癒、新空調システムを開発

New Climate Control System Fukuoka City-based Ishinoyu, which sells the Stone Spa baths, has invented a light-based climate control system and applied for an international patent. The system utilizes the

infrared rays emitted by special ceramics. Rather than heat or cool the air, as in conventional systems, this system employs the phenomenon of sympathetic resonance in the infrared rays. It emits no sound or air, and does not cause drying of the skin. Installing the system in a new house will cost 1.5 million to 2.5 million yen more than an air conditioning system, but Ishinoyu says it will produce cost savings because it uses from 40% to 70% less power. サムスン福岡に開発拠点

Samsung Opens R&D Center in Fukuoka South Korean semiconductor and consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung opened a research and development center for semiconductors in the Tenjin district of Fukuoka City in early February. Initially staffed by ten people, that number will be increased in stages to about 50. It is the company’s fourth R&D center in Japan. 中絶率、佐賀県が最高

Saga the National Leader in Abortions A Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare survey has found that Saga Prefecture has the highest rate of abortions in Japan at 13.4 per 1,000

women, despite declining 0.3 points from the previous year. The prefecture had previously been the national leader in 1996, and it has been in the top three nationwide continuously since 1993. Kumamoto Prefecture was tied for second with Tottori Prefecture with a 13.2 rate, followed by Fukuoka Prefecture at 12.3. 海苔色落ち、有明海に栄養塩供給へ

Dam Water Released to Save Nori Harvest With the problem of poor color plaguing the current crop of frozen net nori in the Ariake Sea, water from the Matsubara and Shimouke Dams in Hita, Oita Prefecture, was released as an emergency measure from January 29 to February 2. The step was taken at the request of maritime industry groups in Saga and Fukuoka prefectures. The discoloration, in which the nori turns a tan color, is the result of a lack of nutritional salt required for cultivating the seaweed. Some growers have had to remove nets for cultivation they had already placed in the sea.

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

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