Feb 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

外食産業上位 50 社、売り上げ高 2 年連続減少

Restaurant Industry Revenue Continues to Fall The Fukuoka branch of Teikoku Databank has released its ranking of Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture-based companies operating restaurants by revenue for 2009. Sales revenue for the top 50 ranked companies totaled 393.351 billion yen, a year-on-year decline of 2.0%. This is the second consecutive annual decline, and it is attributed to the continuing slump of personal consumption and deflationary tendencies in the economy. 佐賀県、空港の滑走路延長へ調査

Saga to Study Runway Lengthening Saga Prefecture, examining ways to attract flights from overseas low cost carriers, has begun research into how to modify existing facilities for foreign flights. This includes the construction of a separate terminal for international flights, and lengthening the runway. The prefecture is anxious to expand service because the daily late-night freight flight into the airport stopped service on Saturdays and holidays at the end of October, and the two daily round-trip flights to Osaka will be eliminated in January. 諫早二審も開門命令

Isahaya Bay Dike Ordered Opened The Fukuoka High Court upheld the 2008 Saga District Court ruling agreeing with the plaintiffs—fishermen from Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka, and Kumamoto Prefectures—that the closure of the Isahaya Bay dike for a reclamation project has harmed the fishing industry, and ordered the dike opened for five years. Judge Hiroshi Koga said that local agriculture does not require the dike to be closed, and that closing it violates fishing rights. The judge also said the government should put a three-year moratorium on the opening the dike because a different disaster prevention scheme is required. 上海―長崎新航路

Passenger Ship between Shanghai and Nagasaki Sasebo resort Huis ten Bosch revealed plans to create a new passenger ship service between Shanghai and Nagasaki this summer. They established a company in Panama last month to operate the ships, and have begun discussions with several European ship companies. They plan to purchase used ships with a capacity of 1,500 to 1,700 passengers, and operate them three times a week with one-way fares at 7,000 to 8,000 yen. 小売販売 27 ヵ月ぶり増

Retail Sales Up The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry released figures for sales at large retail

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outlets in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture for October 2010 showing a 0.7% year-on-year rise to 121.8 billion yen. That is the first monthly year-on-year increase in 27 months. Two factors cited for the increase were the colder than normal weather, which drove sales of warm clothing, and one extra shopping day in October 2010. 下関―光陽にフェリー

Ferry Service between Shimonoseki and Gwangyang Gwangyang Ferry of South Korea and the city of Shimonoseki announced the company will provide the first ferry service between the two cities starting at the end of January. Gwangyang is South Korea’s second largest container port after Busan. The company plans to operate two round trips a week. The ferries will depart in the morning and reach their destination later that night. Currently, sea travelers between the two cities have to go through both Busan and Fukuoka City. It is hoped the new service will boost travel between the two cities, as well as facilitate freight shipments. 韓国ジンエア、佐賀空港に格安航空就航

Jin Air to use Saga Airport Low-cost carrier Jin Air of South Korea will fly regularly scheduled charter flights from Incheon Airport in Seoul to Saga Airport for tourists, it was learned. The flights will begin on the 29th of this month and continue until March 1 next year. They plan to fly a total of 19 round trips in all. These are the first flights for a low cost carrier into Saga Airport. 九州新幹線、「さくら」全駅に停車

Sakura to Stop at Every Station JR Kyushu plans to have the new Sakura trains stop at every station on the new Kyushu Shinkansen at least once a day in both directions, it was learned. Several patterns of operation are expected to be used for the Sakura that continues past Kyushu to the Sanyo Shinkansen line. There are a total of 12 stations on the Kyushu line, running from Hakata Station to Kagoshima Chuo Station. The decision was made at the request of local governments, but as there are a total of seven stations from Hakata to Kumamoto in a distance of about 100 kilometers, the new policy will result in less of a time saving. 中華マネー、福岡にも

Chinese Investment in Fukuoka Rising Seeking new outlets for their investment, the wealthy classes and high growth firms in China are increasingly turning their attention to Fukuoka real estate, the Nishinippon

Fukuoka Now #146 February 2011

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Shimbun reports. One reason cited is that the Chinese real estate bubble has made it difficult to get a reasonable return for domestic investments. Meanwhile, the real estate market in Japan hasn’t fully recovered and prices are still depressed. The newspaper also reports that representatives from the Fukuoka real estate sector are more frequently attending investment seminars in China. スゴカ、本州全域 OK

Sugoca Card Valid Nationwide JR Kyushu announced it has reached agreement with JR West and JR Central to allow the use of each of the others’ non-contactless payment cards starting on March 5, 2011. JR Kyushu already has an agreement for the use of its Sugoca card on JR East trains, so the agreement means the card can be used throughout Honshu. The Sugoca card is now accepted at 146 stations in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures, and 430,000 had been issued by the end of November. 宮崎県に 128 億円の特別交付税

Miyazaki Gets 12.8 Billion Tax Grant The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has determined it will distribute 276.6 billion yen in special tax grants for the month of December. A total of 16.6 billion yen will be distributed to local governments in Miyazaki Prefecture to offset the costs for measures they took to combat the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in April. The prefecture itself will receive 10.87 billion yen to deal with the epidemic in addition to the usual 1.94 billion yen allocation, making a total of roughly 12.8 billion yen. 北九州市、省エネ造水実証プラントが完成

Desalinization Plant Kitakyushu The opening ceremony was held for Water Plaza Kitakyushu, Japan’s first desalinization certification plant that will certify both the conversion of seawater to fresh water and the purity of reclaimed sewage water. The plant was built by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Plans call for the plant to begin operation next April. It is hoped the plant will disseminate technology and management and operational expertise both in Japan and overseas. 博多―熊本 3,000 円台

Hakata-Kumamoto Shinkansen Fare Decided JR Kyushu intends to keep the one-way fare between Hakata and Kumamoto City on the new Kyushu Shinkansen at the 3,000 yen level, it was learned. They also intend to have the one-way fare between Hakata and Kagoshima City at the 9,000 yen level. These decisions were made to

九州ニュース

expand regular use of the trains and keep the fares within range of expressway buses and other transportation alternatives. 糸島みるくぷらんと「牛乳焼酎」を発売

Milk Shochu Hits Market Fukuoka City-based milk products company Itoshima Miruku Puranto has begun sales of a shochu made with milk and Itoshima-grown rice, calling it Gyunyu Shochu, Ito Monogatari.

The company removes bacteria from the milk at a low temperature of 63 degrees C for 30 minutes, thus retaining the original milk taste.

The production of the beverage itself is outsourced to a Kumamoto Prefecture shochu distiller. The company says it has a fruity taste that they think will appeal to women.

HTB 内に短大誘致

Junior College Opens at Huis ten Bosch The Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture resort facility Huis ten Bosch is poised to launch a business strategy next spring to attract tourists from China and other Asian countries. As part of that strategy, the English Department of the Nagasaki Junior College will establish a branch at the facility. The Chinese students in that department will be tapped to serve at interpret-

ers for the expected increase in tourists from China, particularly Shanghai. About half of the students at the English Department are from overseas, and most of them are from China. 福岡パルコ来客 1,000 万人

Parco Customers Top 10 Million The number of customers who visited the Fukuoka City Parco outlet in the Tenjin shopping district from its opening on March 19 to the end of November exceeded 10 million people, it was learned. The company had hoped for 10 million visitors during the first year in operation, but they reached their target four months in advance. They attributed the turnout to greater numbers of shoppers coming from Saga and Nagasaki on weekends than they had expected. 佐賀競馬場、配当 4,051,110 円

Big Trifecta Payoff at Race Track For the eighth race at the Saga Race Track in Tosu on the 19th, there was a record payoff of 4.051 million yen for those who picked the trifecta winners, i.e., the horses who finished first, second, and third. The previous record was a 3.066 million yen payoff for the perfecta in October 2007. Nine horses were entered in the race.

スターフライヤー北九州ー釜山便、就航へ

Starflyer Runs Kitakyushu-Busan Flight Kitakyushu-based airline Starflyer revealed that it plans to begin operation in July 2012 of a Kitakyushu-Busan, South Korea flight. It will be the airline’s first regularly scheduled international flight. They are planning to operate two round-trip flights a day. It is the first step in the airline’s plan to link Kyushu with countries throughout Asia. 九州一周豪華列車 13 年春出発

JR Luxury Train Tours in 2013 JR Kyushu has decided to operate tours of Kyushu using new luxury trains with spacious suites for sleeping starting in the spring of 2013.

The trains will run twice a week and travel to all parts of Kyushu for two nights and three days.

They will be limited to 30 passengers who will pay 200,000 yen each. JR Kyushu anticipates spending from 100-150 million yen for each car, and they expect each train will contain six or seven cars. The itinerary of the trains will change seasonally.

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

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