Jan 2011 Fukuoka Now

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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 エアプサン福岡―釜山、搭乗率 80% 超

小さな草刈り機、米国市場に挑む

80% Ridership on Fukuoka-Busan Route Boosted by the high yen, more Japanese are taking overseas trips, and that is the reason cited for the success of discount airline Air Busan’ s Fukuoka – Busan route. The increase in Japanese passengers has resulted in a ridership rate of more than 80% in October. This is expected to rise further with the yearend holiday season.

Kyushu Mower to American Market Orec, based in Hirokawa-cho, Fukuoka Prefecture, has launched a full-scale effort to sell what it calls its “ride-on bush cutter”, a riding mower capable of handling tall grass, in the American market through a local subsidiary. The company already sells its products in Europe, but their new sales office is their first in the United States. They have high hopes for success because the same product has slightly less than 20% of the European market.

中国に進出した九州・沖縄企業は 434 社

434 Kyushu Companies with a Presence in China The Fukuoka branch of Teikoku Databank released the results of its survey on Kyushu / Okinawa companies in China, which discovered that 434 regional firms have a presence in that country. The initial wave consisted of companies in the manufacturing industry building factories, but the recent move by retail companies to establishing a presence there has been noteworthy. Of all the companies in Japan with a presence in China, however, Kyushu / Okinawa firms account for only 4%. スーパー売上高、16ヵ月ぶりプラス

Supermarket Sales Rise The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry released its figures for September sales at large retail stores in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture. Sales totaled 111.8 billion yen, a 1.3% year-on-year decline and the 26th consecutive monthly drop. Sales at supermarkets and convenience stores rose for the first time in 16 months, however, fueled by the demand created by the sharp increase in cigarette taxes that went into effect in October. 唐津観光協会、玄海町電気アシスト自転車レンタルへ

Karatsu to Rent out E-Bikes Starting at month-end, the Karatsu Tourism Association will rent out electric-assist bicycles for visitors to Genkai-cho along the Japan Sea coast. The objective is to promote tourism in the district. The association will also provide advice on scenic routes. スターフライヤーが北九州空港に本社移転

Star Flyer Moves Headquarters Budget airline Star Flyer moved its corporate headquarters to the Kitakyushu Airport this month. The company said that consolidating business planning and operations management in the same building in the airport would cut costs. The airline now has a HanedaKitakyushu flight and two daily roundtrips to Kansai. They plan to launch five daily roundtrips next July between Haneda and Fukuoka Airport, increasing that to 10 by 2013. They’re also working to develop regularly scheduled flights to Asian cities.

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九州主要会社、増益か黒字転換 58%

Kyushu’s Primary Companies Profit According to the interim financial results released on the 12th, 58%, or 31 of the 53 primary Kyushu companies for which a comparison is possible either showed an increase in profits or a swing to profits from losses from the previous year. Profits for 17 of those companies roughly doubled. The recovery is centered on the manufacturing industry, due in part to increased demand from newly developing countries and governmental economic measures. 九州電力、大牟田市でメガソーラー運転開始

Mega Solar Power Plant Begins Operation Kyushu Electric Power began operation of its Mega Solar Power Plant in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, on the 15th, on the site of its former coal-burning power plant. A mega solar plant is defined as a solar power plant that produces more than 1,000 kW of electricity, and the output of the Omuta plant is 3,000 kW, making it, along with the Sakai Power Plant operated by Kansai Electric Power, the largest in the country. The plant uses about 13,800 solar modules provided by Kyocera. The modules will have a lifespan of 15-20 years. 福岡市長に 36 歳高島氏、現職破り当選

Soichiro Takashima New Fukuoka City Mayor Former KBC announcer Soichiro Takashima prevailed in a field of eight candidates to win election as the new mayor of Fukuoka City.

Takashima was backed by both the LiberalDemocratic Party and New Komeito. He received 209,532 votes, 60,000 more than the runner-up, incumbent Mayor Hiroshi Yoshida. Takashima is the youngest mayor of Fukuoka City in the postwar period, and the youngest mayor in Kyushu. 熊本 - 大阪片道 8,000 円、天草エア就航

¥8,000 Yen One-Way Tickets to Osaka Kumamoto Prefecture-based Amakusa Airlines announced it will launch new service to Osaka’ s Itami Airport on December 15. If purchased up to seven days before the flight, tickets will cost 8,000 yen for a one-way trip, less than half the normal fare. They are competing with both JAL

Fukuoka Now #145 Januay 2011

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and ANA, whose regular one-way fares are 7,500 yen cheaper. The company said the airline had to make an impact with price because prop-driven aircraft take longer to reach their destination. 高速道路、無料化より整備事業を優先

Build More Highways Before Making them Free The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport sent questionnaires to all the prefectural governments asking their opinion on the trials conducted in which tolls were removed from some expressways. Most of the Kyushu prefectures reported favorable results, including contributions to the economy, tourism, and relieving congestion on other roads. But it was the general consensus among the Kyushu prefectures that new expressways should be built before expanding the program of toll-free driving. スマートフォンに天神・大名の「やさしいルート」表示

LAN Planned for Tenjin Underground A local council for providing WiFi to the Tenjin district in Fukuoka City said it plans to start trials in January of a LAN for the Tenjin underground shopping mall that will provide information to people with smart phones about the most convenient route to their destination. It is envisioned that the system will be used by the elderly who have difficulty walking, those in wheelchairs, and mothers pushing baby strollers. The proposed courses would avoid as much as possible stairways and locations with different floor levels.

The project has been adopted as a Mobility Support Model program for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. 大学生の就職内定率、九州過去最低に

Advance Hiring Rate Worst Ever Surveys by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, Welfare of Labor show that as of October 1, the advance hiring of university students in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture planning to graduate in March was 51.5%. This is an 8.2 percentage-point drop from the yearbefore rate, the lowest rate for Kyushu ever recorded, and the lowest of the rates of the six nationwide blocs. One reason cited for the downturn is difficulties automakers and others in the manufacturing industry are having due to the high yen. クルーズ船誘致へ共同ウェブサイト

Website to Attract Cruise Ships Established The Kyushu Cruise Promotion Association, consisting of the Kyushu District Transport Bureau and local governments, met in Fukuoka City and decided to conduct promotions overseas using a jointly created website to attract cruise ships to call on Kyushu ports. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Chinese cruise ships in particular stopping in Kyushu ports in recent

九州ニュース

years. The website will contain information about the ports and nearby tourist sites of interest. 釜山銀行、福岡市の FFG 本社を視察

Busan Bank Employees Visit FFG A group of employees from Busan Bank, one of South Korea’s major regional banks, visited the headquarters of Fukuoka Financial Group in Fukuoka City. Busan Bank plans to become a financial holding company with a subsidiary for selling securities, and they visited FFG to study the mechanisms the local company used to create a similar company. The South Korean group was accompanied by 10 prints and broadcast media reporters. 奄美のサンゴに彩り戻ったと熊本大、発表

Amami Coral Recovers Local residents were concerned that a large amount of sedimentation caused by intense rains in the area would destroy the coral reefs off of Amami, Kagoshima Prefecture.

Researchers from Kumamoto University used an unmanned probe to discover that the coral had grown back to close to its original state, however. They attribute the removal of the sedimentation to the passage of Typhoon #14 through the area eight days after the rains.

有田焼、7、8 月の売上高が前年越え

Arita Ware Sales Recovering Sales of Arita ware by the primary merchants for July and August exceeded those of the same months in the previous year, according to the Saga office of the Ministry of Finance’s Local Finance Bureau. It was the first time in four years that year-on-year sales rose for two consecutive months. The increase was attributed to large-lot orders from Japanese-style inns and wedding ceremony halls for replacement items. アビスパ福岡、5 年ぶり J1 復帰

Avispa Fukuoka Promoted to J1 League Avispa Fukuoka, which finished in third place in soccer’s J2 league, defeated FC Gifu 2-0 while the league’s fourth-place team lost, thereby earning the Fukuoka team promotion to the J1 league. It has been five years since they last played in the J1 league. It is also the first time in league history that a team has won promotion from J2 to J1 without foreign players on the roster.

HTB 英語村、福岡経済界 5 社出資

Huis ten Bosch English Village Investment Kyushu Electric Power, JR Kyushu, and three other major Fukuoka City-based Kyushu companies announced their intention to increase

their financial stakes in the venture capitalbacked company that will operate the English Village enterprise planned by Huis ten Bosch.

The amount of increase will be roughly 10 million yen, and it is possible they could increase their stakes further in the future. The resort plans to create a special area on the premises in which only English is used. The idea is to attract school study trips, Japanese tourists with an interest in English, and Asians who are English language-capable. It is also planned to use the family members of American service personnel in the nearby Sasebo naval base to act as language instructors. 熊本高校生、米大リーグドジャースと契約

Dodgers Sign Kumamoto High School Pitcher The Los Angeles Dodgers announced the signing of 18-year-old Kazuya Takano of Buntoku High School in Kumamoto City to a minor league contract. Takano is the first Japanese high school pitcher signed by the Dodgers. The team has been scouting him since his first year in high school. Takano said that he wanted to stand on the world’s most prominent baseball stage and go up against Ichiro Suzuki.

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

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January 2011 #145 Providing Kyushu’s international community, overseas visitors and kokusai-jin with news, information, opinions and laughs since 1998. フクオカ・ナウは、九州に暮らす外国人の方々や海外からの観光客、 そして国際文化に興味を持つ多くの方々 に向けて、楽しく賢く過ごすための情報を発信していく英語／日本語／中国語／韓国語表記のマルチリンガ ル遊び情報誌です。

Copyright 2011 Fukuoka Now Ltd. Views expressed here in are not necessarily those of the publisher. Contact us at contact@fukuoka-now.com Fukuoka Now Ltd. 3F Abundant 89 Bldg.

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