Oct 2009 Fukuoka Now

2Fukuoka Now #130 October 2009

3 Fukuoka Now #130 October 2009

4Fukuoka Now #130 October 2009 4

11 Fukuoka Now #130 October 200911 Fukuoka Now #130 October 2009


61


Kyushu Headline News Get Kyushu News Now! !Mobile phone: http://www.fukuoka-now.com/mobileHP: www.fukuoka-now.com/news

English language summaries of last month's top Kyushu area news stories. 1

Inexpensive Used Car Rental Business BoomingInexpensive car rental chains offering used cars are thriving in all Kyushu prefectures. Some even have deals with gas stations to cut costs, and the cars can be rented there. In some cases, the total cost to the customer is half that of outlets that rent new cars.

1 4 New Korean Airline Offers Busan-Fukuoka FlightsAir Busan, a new airline based in that South Korean city, announced plans to offer round trip service between Busan and Fukuoka City as its first international flight. They hope to begin op-erating one round trip flight by next March, and plan to charge 20% less for seats than their do-mestic competitors KAL and Asiana on the same route. When the airline begins service to Fukuoka City, it will bring the total number of daily round trip flights between the two cities to four.

2,000 Fukuoka-Hiroshima by BusJR Kyushu Bus Co. and three other local bus companies announced they will begin selling 10 seats on their express buses for the one-way trip to Hiroshima for 2,000 yenhalf-price. The seats must be purchased in advance, and the offer will last only from September 19 to the end of November. The move is part of the com-panys effort to compete with the reduction of highway tolls to 1,000 yen.

New Weather Radar StationsThe Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Trans-port will install four new, high-performance weather radar stations in northern Kyushu in FY 2010 to deal with the recent increase in more intense storms. Conventional stations can survey up to one kilometer in four directions every five minutes, but the new stations can survey at a distance of 250-500 meters in four directions ev-ery minute. In addition to monitoring the shape of the raindrops, the stations reduce the time differential between observation and announce-ment from 5-10 minutes to 1-2 minutes.

IT Kitakyushu and Busan Sign IT AgreementPublic sector organizations and IT corporate groups in Kitakyushu and Busan, South Korea, signed agreements to promote cooperation in the IT sector. The public sector agreement will promote information sharing and create a mechanism for information sharing, while the private sector agreement will publicize each others products and create new sales channels. The signatories said they hope the agreements will create a new business model for the region.

Fisheries Employ All-Time LowFukuoka Prefecture and the Japanese govern-

ment conducted a joint census of people in the fisheries industry for 2008, which revealed a de-cline of 3.9% to 6,147 people engaged in that occupation from the previous survey in 2003. This is the lowest number of people working in the sector since surveys began in 1949. The surveys are conducted once every five years, and there has been a steady decline in each one since the one held in 1973.

2 Kagoshima Shochu Shipments DownA federation of shochu distillers in Kagoshima Prefecture revealed that shipments of shochu from local companies in the business year from July 2008 to June 2009 fell 1.7% from the previ-ous year to 149,500 kiloliters. It is the second consecutive annual decline after nine straight years of growth. The federation attributed the decline to rising prices and concerns about the safety of rice used in the rice-based varieties.

8 15.8%Benefits for Students Hits Record HighThe Nishinippon Shimbun conducted a survey of municipal government financial assistance to individual primary school and junior high school students in the Kyushu prefectural capi-tals and eight designated cities with enhanced authority as of May this year. The survey found that the financial assistance, which alleviates the burden of expenditures for such items as school supplies, meals, and school trips, was provided to 15.8% of the students, the high-est percentage ever. Those students whose families are already receiving welfare payments were not included. The totals for both Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures exceeded 20%.

New Solar Cell Plant in MiyazakiShowa Shell Sekiyu said it had purchased property in Kunitomi-cho, Miyazaki Prefecture, to build one of the largest solar cell plants in Japan. They plan to invest about 100 billion yen and have the plant in operation by mid-2011. The plant will employ 800 people, and the company will hire at least 400 new people for its operation.

HTB No Bail Out for Huis ten BoschAt a conference earlier this week between offi-cials from large Fukuoka businesses, including JR Kyushu and Kyushu Electric Power, and the Huis ten Bosch resort in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, it was revealed that a decision about possible companies to financially rescue the ailing resort will be postponed until the end of September. If no new company is willing to help, the primary regional businesses will not provide any funds. HTBs parent company, Nomura Principal Fi-nance, did not even send a representative.

Bank Establishes Securities SubsidiaryThe Nishi-Nippon City Bank announced it will create a securities subsidiary jointly with Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings Inc. The banks objective is to expand its business by offering services to invest the assets of individuals and to act as a stock brokerage. The bank says it is the first regional bank in Kyushu to form a securities subsidiary.

All Nishitetsu Buses Accept nimocaFukuoka City-based Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu) announced that all of the route buses operated by the Nishitetsu Group now accept the contactless payment card nimoca. This is a total of roughly 2,400 buses on 210 routes. As of the end of August, about 370,000 nimoca cards have been issued.

Lithium Ion Battery Production in KyushuMitsubishi Heavy Industries announced they will establish Kyushus first plant to produce lithium ion batteries on the grounds of their Nagasaki shipyard. They plan to invest about 10 billion yen in capital and begin production in the fall of 2010. The company anticipates annual produc-tion at the plant to total 400,000 units.

Kumamoto to Export Milk to VietnamThe Kumamoto Prefecture Federation of Dairy Industry Cooperatives said they plan to export milk this year to meet the growing demand for the beverage in that country. The exports will be conducted in partnership with Vietnamese breweries. If the plans go through, it will be the first milk exports to that country from Japan.

Gang-Related Businesses out of Wholesale MarketIn an effort to stem crimes committed by crimi-nal gangs, the city of Kitakyushu will present legislation in September to prevent firms with ties to those gangs from doing business in the citys Central Wholesale Market. A similar mea-sure was passed last year in Tokyo. Fukuoka City also plans to introduce legislation of the same type in September, so the two cities will be the first in Kyushu with laws of this type. As of this April a total of 741 companies handling produce and maritime products do business in the Kitakyushu market.

TOTOToto Cutting BackKitakyushu-based Toto announced it will trans-fer some of the production lines making water faucets at its Oita plant to its plant in Kokura, Kitakyushu, by next March. The company wants to consolidate production now that its rate of operation is at roughly 80% due to the economic downturn. In conjunction with the


move, the company will not renew the con-tracts of 160 seconded workers.

DPJ Now Strongest Party in KyushuThe results of the landslide victory by the Dem-ocratic Party of Japan in the recent lower house elections means that the party has for the first time won the most number of seats in the 38 direct-election districts in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture. It won 20 of the 28 seats it directly contested with the former ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party. Meanwhile, the LDP lost all the seats in Nagasaki, Oita, and Okinawa Prefectures for the first time.

Moji-Busan Ferry Service EndedC&Cruise of Busan, South Korea, announced it would end service on the currently sus-pended ferry line between that city and the Port of Moji in Kitakyushu. After the com-pany suspended service on the line in June 2008, engine breakdowns on the ships and other problems prevented its resumption. The company planned to resume service, but the poor business performance caused by the economic downturn has resulted in a cash shortage.

Chinese Language Signs in TenjinFukuoka City has started installing Chinese-language information signs in the citys Tenjin district, the largest commercial area in Kyushu. The objective is to make Chinese tourists feel more comfortable. There has been an upsurge in Chinese tourism to the city with the increase in cruise ships calling on the Port of Hakata, and the elimination of visa requirements for some Chinese tourists to Japan in July. The signs are being installed in 55 locations in Tenjin.

Fukuoka Hanoi Flights AnnouncedVietnam Airlines will begin operating two round-trip f l ights a week from Hanoi to Fukuoka on October 10, it was announced. The airline already operates three weekly flights to Fukuoka from Ho Chi Minh City, but one of those flights will be eliminated. The flights to Hanoi will be on Tuesdays and Saturdays and take three hours and 50 minutes.

Best Denki Overseas SubsidiariesThe Taiwan and Singapore subsidiaries of Fukuoka City-based mass merchandiser Best

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

Denki are planning capital partnerships with local companies. The Taiwan subsidiary, which is not a consolidated subsidiary, will have a majority of its shares purchased by a local electronics firm named Action Co. Meanwhile 49% of the stock of the companys Singapore subsidiary will be transferred to a subsidiary of Indonesian consumer electronics mass mer-chandiser Bangun Persada.

Special Financing for Environmental ProjectsThe Fukuoka City-based Nishi-Nippon City Bank has begun a program of providing loans with favorable interest rates for such environmental projects as the corporate purchase of energy-saving equipment. The bank plans to expand the program next April when new energy conservation laws take effect and offer loans with preferential interest rates to larger retail stores, hotels, hospitals, and office buildings. Companies will be required to cut average annual energy use by at least 1% from the FY 2009 base in the future, so the bank sees the potential to increase its loan portfolio.

Oct 2009 Fukuoka Now

Documents

fukuoka city

busanfukuoka flightsair

new stations

new airline

new cars

kyushu news

new korean airline

new business model