May 2010 Fukuoka Now by Fukuoka Now Ltd.

Fukuoka Now #137 May 2010

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厳しい留学生雇用の現状

Effor ts Needed to Promote Hiring of Foreign Students The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry released a report on its survey of issues involving highly skilled foreign workers and students in Kyushu. More than half of the students interviewed for the survey said they would be open to working for a Kyushu company, but the employment rate of foreign students at Kyushu companies is only about 10%. The bureau recommended that a consortium of industry, academia, and government be established to help connect students with companies.

campus of a university, and a satellite studio of an FM radio station. 電力ほぼ自給の住宅

Home Largely Self-Sufficient in Power Fukuoka City-based Oaks Construction is offering for sale a home it calls the “e-sola”, which is largely self-sufficient in electric power. Techniques and materials that enhance insulation capabilities are used in its construction, and it is equipped with solar panels. The company is primarily engaged in the construction of rental condominiums, but as that market is slumping, they decided to enter the home building sector with this model.

外国人雇用の活性化を目指す動き

百貨店売り上げ、前年割れ、過去最長並ぶ

Conference to Promote Hiring of Foreigners The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry held a conference for local businesses in Fukuoka City on March 15th to promote the hiring of foreigners. About 120 people, including representatives of companies, universities, and local governments, as well as foreign students, attended. As of 2008, the percentage of foreign students who were employed by Kyushu companies accounted for just 4.1% of the national total. One solution suggested was three-week internships for the students at local companies.

Regional Department Store Sales Declines The Kyushu Department Store Association announced sales results for the 26 department stores operated by 17 companies in Kyushu and Okinawa for February. Sales revenue fell 3.2% from the year-before period to 36.4 billion yen. This is the 27th consecutive yearon-year decline, which makes it the longest consecutive monthly downturn since records have been kept. The previous longest period of decline was from November 1992 to January 1995, following the collapse of the economic bubble. The association says that with prices overall continuing to fall, the sector’s situation will likely remain difficult.

福岡市、「核」搭載を照会

American Naval Vessels Queried For the first time, Fukuoka City officials inquired of the Foreign Ministry whether American naval vessels entering the Port of Hakata had nuclear weapons on board on March 16th. Previously, the city operated on the assumption that naval vessels weren’t carrying such weapons. Now that the Japanese Foreign Ministry has confirmed the existence of a secret agreement in which the Japanese government tacitly accepted the possibility that American ships would be carrying nuclear weapons, the city has changed its policy. The first inquiry concerned the U.S.S. Rushmore, and Fukuoka City was told by the Foreign Ministry that the ship did not have the capability to carry nuclear weapons. 新駅ビル名称は JR 博多シティ

New Hakata Station Building Name The name of the new Hakata Station Building set to open with the start of service of the Kyushu Shinkansen in March 2011 is to be JR Hakata City, it was learned. The building will have 10 floors above ground, three basement levels, and occupy 200,000 square meters. There are expected to be about 200 commercial facilities, including the Hakata Hankyu Department Store. There will also be a movie theater, the satellite

Fukuoka Now #137 May 2010

人工島高層マンション、国際最優秀作品賞受賞

Condo Wins International Award The condominium developed by Fukuoka Citybased Shinei Jutaku on Island City, the artificial island in Higashi Ward, has won the grand prize for outstanding concrete structures presented by The International Federation for Structural Concrete (fib) in Switzerland. The federation is a non-profit organization of national and privatesector groups that presents these awards once every four years. The condo is 42 stories high and has 409 units. The company said they were pleased at the recognition for what it said was an advanced design with three connected wings. JR 九州、設備投資が過去最大

Record High Capital Investments for JR Kyushu JR Kyushu announced on March 19th the projects it has planned on a non-consolidated basis for FY 2010. The company plans to invest 75.6 billion yen in plants and equipment, its highest annual total ever. The investments are being made to prepare for the start of the Kyushu Shinkansen in March 2011. They also forecast a sharp downturn in revenue, and are projecting an operating loss of 5 billion yen for the year, their first in seven years.

九州新幹線鹿児島ルート全 257 キロレール直結

Kyushu Shinkansen Connected The work for laying the rails for the part of the Shinkansen line running from Hakata to Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture has been completed, and a ceremony commemorating that linkage was held in Kumamoto City on March 22nd. That means the rails for the entire 257-kilometer route of the Kyushu Shinkansen are now tied together. The enterprise handling the construction work for the project says it is 96% completed, and trials of the system will begin in the fall. 韓国・済州航空、スター社が総代理店業務

Starflyer Acting as Agent Jeju Air Kitakyushu-based Starflyer airlines has agreed to act as the business agent for South Korea’s Jeju Air in Fukuoka, Oita, and Yamaguchi prefectures, it was learned. Their work began in April. Starflyer hopes to operate on international routes in the future, so they hope to use the arrangement as an opportunity to gain expertise in that field. They also hope it leads to similar arrangements with overseas airlines concurrent with the completion of a fourth runway at Haneda in Tokyo in October. 佐賀市、市営バス事業に 6 億円

600 Million Yen to Municipal Bus Company The Saga City Council agreed on March 25th to provide 600 million yen to the cash-strapped entity operating the Saga City municipal buses. The condition of the allocation is that present service be maintained. The money will be provided over a four-year period starting in FY 2010. The objective is to reduce the capital shortfall ratio to less than 20%. 山口 FG, 北九州市に新銀行

New Bank in Kitakyushu The Yamaguchi Financial Group, which controls the Yamaguchi Bank in Shimonoseki, and the Momiji Bank in Hiroshima, announced that it will open a new bank in Kitakyushu with the working name of the Kitakyushu Bank. The objective is to expand its business in northern Kyushu for retail financial services. The new bank is slated to open in 2011. 福岡都市圏でタクシー減車実験

Fukuoka Taxi Companies Furlough Part of Fleet Employment conditions have become more difficult for taxi drivers with the entry of new companies in the business and the increase in the number of taxicabs, so the members of the Fukuoka City Taxicab Association decided to conduct a trial that involved a reduction of almost 30% of the number of cabs on the street in the Fukuoka City metropolitan region. The trial was conducted over four days—the four

九州ニュース

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

Mondays in April. Participation was voluntary. The trial will be used to determine whether the smaller fleets had any effect on revenue per cab and traffic congestion. エアプサン福岡―釜山線就航

Air Busan Service Takes Off Air Busan, an airline based in Busan, South Korea, launched service between that city and Fukuoka City on March 29th. There is one round-trip a day on a Boeing 737-400 with a capacity of 162 passengers. The airline has set rates lower than those for the high-speed ferries between the two cities, hoping to attract people traveling for both tourism and business. JR 九州とイオン協業

JR Kyushu and Aeon Form Ties JR Kyushu and Chiba-based Aeon announced the formation of business ties to develop business in Asia and new products and shops in Japan. They plan to share their operating resources and expertise in their respective business areas to enter new sectors and create

new markets. For example, JR Kyushu plans to open eating and drinking establishments in China. Their entry into that market could be made smoother by Aeon, which already operates about 1,600 stores in Asia. Also, the JR contactless payment card Sugoca became acceptable in Aeon stores starting April 22. 福岡県、暴排条例施行

New Anti-Gang Law In Effect A new law has gone into effect in Fukuoka Prefecture that imposes penalties for business enterprises that offer financial considerations to criminal gangs. It is the first prefecture in the country to have a law with these provisions. The headquarters of five of the largest gangs in the country are located in Fukuoka Prefecture. Penalties for infractions include a maximum of one year in jail and a 500,000 yen fine. 竹からバイオ燃料

Bamboo Biofuel Trials The Minamata Environmental Technocenter, a public-private partnership in Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, announced it will begin

trials this year to distill the biofuel ethanol from bamboo. The center says that southern Kyushu, where Minamata is located, has some of the largest bamboo groves in the country, and they are continuing to expand. This growth is damaging cropland, and that was the inspiration for the company’s idea. They’ve been conducting basic research since 2007, and think the potential for success has increased. 博多港、今年中国発着クルーズ船が 66 回、経済波及効果 29 億円

China-Based Cruise Ships to Bring 2.9 Billion Yen in Economic Benefits The first large cruise ship based in China has called on the Port of Hakata this year. The port expects 68 calls from cruise ships this year, 66 from China, which would make the port the most popular destination for cruise ships in Japan. The economic benefit from this tourism is estimated at 2.89 billion yen. Fukuoka City is promoting the port as a gateway for Asia, and tying in those promotions with the opening of the Kyushu Shinkansen next spring.

Fukuoka Now #137 May 2010