Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
2010 - Japan Leisure Hotel Operator Announces sales and EBITDA growth
Alchemy Japan KK Announces its Japanese Leisure Hotels’ 2010 Earnings Results: EBITDA 10% Growth on Previous Year
Tokyo, Japan January 24, 2011 – Alchemy Japan’s Japanese Leisure Hotels reported: an EBITDA of ¥564 million, a 10% improvement on the previous year, and a Net income of ¥909 million being a 9% growth on net income for 2009. Sales grew to ¥2.036 billion, a 4.3% increase on 2009. Revenue growth was led by an 18% increase in customer numbers as 2010 average Occupancy Rate (OCR) reached 257%.
Our positive results can be attributed to a combination of factors said Mr. Mijatovic:
the success of our operating partner, Urban Resorts Japan’s “Guaranteed Value”™ customer retention and acquisition strategy evidenced by OCR increasing by 18% and the 8% increase in Food & Beverage revenues,
the systemization of our yield maximization processes enabled specific analysis, precise examination and quicker reaction times to changes in the competitive market environment at each hotel and customer preferences,
industry leading levels of operational efficiency, in particular labour productivity.
“Despite the weakening economic conditions in Japan we have achieved our greatest revenues and net income growth in the second half of 2010, with the end of year holiday period in particular achieving record revenues.” noted Mr. Mijatovic
“Our hotels and operating procedures have been updated to comply with the new regulatory changes governing Leisure Hotel operations and we are well placed to continue both revenue and bottom line growth in 2011."
Alchemy Japan’s management anticipates that their 2011 leisure hotels’ earnings will maintain or exceed the growth levels achieved in 2010.
“We expect to see significant opportunities for acquiring new hotels as a large number of hotel owners seek to exit their investments due to liquidity constraints, distress in their financing arrangements and the impact of the new regulations” stated Mr. Mijatovic.
About Alchemy Japan:
Headquartered in Tokyo, Alchemy Japan is an asset management, investment and advisory company that creates value by transforming and managing real estate, investments, and financial assets.
Alchemy Japan commenced management of Leisure Hotel assets in Japan in 2004 with an asset
management mandate for one of the first foreign institutional investors into the sector. Its Leisure
Hotel division now owns and manages a nationwide portfolio of 15 hotels.
Urban Resorts Japan is one of Japan’s leading and most dynamic leisure hotel operators and is
ranked 10th nationally in terms of room inventory.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/alchemy-japan-kk-announces-strong-results-in-love-hotel-sector
http://alchemyjapan.jp/en/whoweare/Alchemy%20Japan-MediaRelease-January2011.pdf
Tokyo, Japan January 24, 2011 – Alchemy Japan’s Japanese Leisure Hotels reported: an EBITDA of ¥564 million, a 10% improvement on the previous year, and a Net income of ¥909 million being a 9% growth on net income for 2009. Sales grew to ¥2.036 billion, a 4.3% increase on 2009. Revenue growth was led by an 18% increase in customer numbers as 2010 average Occupancy Rate (OCR) reached 257%.
Our positive results can be attributed to a combination of factors said Mr. Mijatovic:
the success of our operating partner, Urban Resorts Japan’s “Guaranteed Value”™ customer retention and acquisition strategy evidenced by OCR increasing by 18% and the 8% increase in Food & Beverage revenues,
the systemization of our yield maximization processes enabled specific analysis, precise examination and quicker reaction times to changes in the competitive market environment at each hotel and customer preferences,
industry leading levels of operational efficiency, in particular labour productivity.
“Despite the weakening economic conditions in Japan we have achieved our greatest revenues and net income growth in the second half of 2010, with the end of year holiday period in particular achieving record revenues.” noted Mr. Mijatovic
“Our hotels and operating procedures have been updated to comply with the new regulatory changes governing Leisure Hotel operations and we are well placed to continue both revenue and bottom line growth in 2011."
Alchemy Japan’s management anticipates that their 2011 leisure hotels’ earnings will maintain or exceed the growth levels achieved in 2010.
“We expect to see significant opportunities for acquiring new hotels as a large number of hotel owners seek to exit their investments due to liquidity constraints, distress in their financing arrangements and the impact of the new regulations” stated Mr. Mijatovic.
About Alchemy Japan:
Headquartered in Tokyo, Alchemy Japan is an asset management, investment and advisory company that creates value by transforming and managing real estate, investments, and financial assets.
Alchemy Japan commenced management of Leisure Hotel assets in Japan in 2004 with an asset
management mandate for one of the first foreign institutional investors into the sector. Its Leisure
Hotel division now owns and manages a nationwide portfolio of 15 hotels.
Urban Resorts Japan is one of Japan’s leading and most dynamic leisure hotel operators and is
ranked 10th nationally in terms of room inventory.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/alchemy-japan-kk-announces-strong-results-in-love-hotel-sector
http://alchemyjapan.jp/en/whoweare/Alchemy%20Japan-MediaRelease-January2011.pdf
Friday, January 21, 2011
Tokyo Residential Real Estate: Back and Bubbling - Japan Real Time - WSJ
Tokyo Real Estate: Back and Bubbling - Japan Real Time - WSJ
Some signs of the health of the Tokyo residential real estate market
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Record low 68.8% graduating university students receive job offers+
Record low 68.8% graduating university students receive job offers+
TOKYO, Jan. 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Only 68.8 percent of university students had found jobs as of Dec. 1 before their graduation this March, down 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier and the lowest level since 1996, when comparable data became available, a government survey showed Tuesday.
Among junior college students, the percentage stood at 45.3 percent, also a record low and down 2.1 points, according to the survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
The ministries picked 62 four-year universities, both public and private, and 20 two-year junior colleges nationwide to check job offer conditions for graduating students.
The survey showed 70.1 percent of male students had got job offers, down 2.9 points, and 67.4 percent of female students, down 5.8 points. Among students at state- and local government-run universities, 76.7 percent had received job offers, down 4.0 points, while 66.3 percent at private ones had found jobs, down 4.2 points.
Job offers to science and engineering students fell by the largest margin ever, down 7.3 points to 71.3 percent, according to the survey.
An education ministry official said, "Companies favor students from graduate school as work-ready graduates."
Among students majoring in humanities courses, 68.3 percent had received job offers, down 3.7 points.
In the face of the tough employment situation, the labor ministry on Tuesday announced temporary measures to help graduating high school and university students find jobs, featuring subsidies to be paid to companies that decide to employ such students during a two-month period through March.
It will also organize job fairs bringing together students and companies, particularly small- and midsize ones, nationwide.
It has been pointed out that while there are small- and midsize companies that are little known but aggressive in employing, graduating students tend to favor big, high-profile corporations.
TOKYO, Jan. 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Only 68.8 percent of university students had found jobs as of Dec. 1 before their graduation this March, down 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier and the lowest level since 1996, when comparable data became available, a government survey showed Tuesday.
Among junior college students, the percentage stood at 45.3 percent, also a record low and down 2.1 points, according to the survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
The ministries picked 62 four-year universities, both public and private, and 20 two-year junior colleges nationwide to check job offer conditions for graduating students.
The survey showed 70.1 percent of male students had got job offers, down 2.9 points, and 67.4 percent of female students, down 5.8 points. Among students at state- and local government-run universities, 76.7 percent had received job offers, down 4.0 points, while 66.3 percent at private ones had found jobs, down 4.2 points.
Job offers to science and engineering students fell by the largest margin ever, down 7.3 points to 71.3 percent, according to the survey.
An education ministry official said, "Companies favor students from graduate school as work-ready graduates."
Among students majoring in humanities courses, 68.3 percent had received job offers, down 3.7 points.
In the face of the tough employment situation, the labor ministry on Tuesday announced temporary measures to help graduating high school and university students find jobs, featuring subsidies to be paid to companies that decide to employ such students during a two-month period through March.
It will also organize job fairs bringing together students and companies, particularly small- and midsize ones, nationwide.
It has been pointed out that while there are small- and midsize companies that are little known but aggressive in employing, graduating students tend to favor big, high-profile corporations.
Firm's real-time Internet broadcasts of Japanese TV programs ruled copyright violation - The Mainichi Daily News
Firm's real-time Internet broadcasts of Japanese TV programs ruled copyright violation - The Mainichi Daily News
A company providing real-time Internet broadcasts of Japanese television programs to subscribers overseas was found to be in violation of the Copyright Law by the Supreme Court.
Public broadcaster NHK and five private key broadcasters based in Tokyo brought the suit against Tokyo-based company Nagano Shoten, demanding that it halt its online broadcasting service "ManekiTV" and sought approximately 10 million yen in damages -- demands which were rejected in lower court rulings.
Presiding Judge Mutsuo Tahara of the Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench overturned the lower court rulings on Jan. 18 after judging that the service violates the Copyright Law, and ordered that the case be sent back to the Intellectual Property High Court.
As the ruling effectively indicates Nagano Shoten's defeat, the company is expected to be forced to terminate its online service. The amount of compensation will be determined in deliberations at the Intellectual Property High Court.
According to Nagano Shoten, subscribers purchase a commercially available transmission appliance, which they entrust to the company. With an initial enrollment fee of 10,000 yen and a monthly users' fee of 4,800 yen, subscribers located overseas or in Japan outside of Tokyo can view programs from key broadcasters in real time.
The focus of the lawsuit was whether or not "ManekiTV" constituted an "act of public transmission," which would signify a violation of the broadcasters' copyrights. The judges in the lower courts ruled that the service was a one-on-one relationship between each subscriber and the company, and therefore did not constitute public transmission.
The top court's Third Petty Bench, however, concluded that anyone could subscribe to the service, and that Nagano Shoten had proactively transmitted programs to an unspecified number of people.
Meanwhile, Nagano Shoten President Shuhei Nagano argues: "It's doesn't make sense to strip others of the right to receive useful services in order to protect broadcasters' vested interests."
Nagano intends to continue providing the online service until the Intellectual Property High Court hands down a ruling. It is unknown how many "ManekiTV" subscribers there are currently, but Nagano says that in 2007, there were 74 subscribers.
The ruling on Jan. 18 does not suggest that the transmission of programs from one individual to another is illegal. For example, it is possible for Japanese living overseas to entrust family members or friends in Japan with a transmission appliance in order to watch Japanese television programs elsewhere.
A company providing real-time Internet broadcasts of Japanese television programs to subscribers overseas was found to be in violation of the Copyright Law by the Supreme Court.
Public broadcaster NHK and five private key broadcasters based in Tokyo brought the suit against Tokyo-based company Nagano Shoten, demanding that it halt its online broadcasting service "ManekiTV" and sought approximately 10 million yen in damages -- demands which were rejected in lower court rulings.
Presiding Judge Mutsuo Tahara of the Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench overturned the lower court rulings on Jan. 18 after judging that the service violates the Copyright Law, and ordered that the case be sent back to the Intellectual Property High Court.
As the ruling effectively indicates Nagano Shoten's defeat, the company is expected to be forced to terminate its online service. The amount of compensation will be determined in deliberations at the Intellectual Property High Court.
According to Nagano Shoten, subscribers purchase a commercially available transmission appliance, which they entrust to the company. With an initial enrollment fee of 10,000 yen and a monthly users' fee of 4,800 yen, subscribers located overseas or in Japan outside of Tokyo can view programs from key broadcasters in real time.
The focus of the lawsuit was whether or not "ManekiTV" constituted an "act of public transmission," which would signify a violation of the broadcasters' copyrights. The judges in the lower courts ruled that the service was a one-on-one relationship between each subscriber and the company, and therefore did not constitute public transmission.
The top court's Third Petty Bench, however, concluded that anyone could subscribe to the service, and that Nagano Shoten had proactively transmitted programs to an unspecified number of people.
Meanwhile, Nagano Shoten President Shuhei Nagano argues: "It's doesn't make sense to strip others of the right to receive useful services in order to protect broadcasters' vested interests."
Nagano intends to continue providing the online service until the Intellectual Property High Court hands down a ruling. It is unknown how many "ManekiTV" subscribers there are currently, but Nagano says that in 2007, there were 74 subscribers.
The ruling on Jan. 18 does not suggest that the transmission of programs from one individual to another is illegal. For example, it is possible for Japanese living overseas to entrust family members or friends in Japan with a transmission appliance in order to watch Japanese television programs elsewhere.
Employment 'ice age' shows no signs of thawing - The Mainichi Daily News
Employment 'ice age' shows no signs of thawing - The Mainichi Daily News
The employment "ice age" shows no signs of improvement with only 68.8 percent of those graduating from university this coming spring having received informal job offers, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has announced.
The number of senior college students who had found jobs before Dec. 1 declined by 4.3 points from a year earlier to 68.8 percent, hitting a record low since the ministry started collecting such data in 1996.
The figure also dropped by 2.1 points for those graduating from junior college in March, with only 45.3 percent having received unofficial job offers by December last year, again the worst result since 1996.
In 2009, the placement rate among new university graduates was 91.8 percent at the end of the academic year in March, while it was 88.4 percent among new junior college graduates. The ministry said a larger number of college and junior college students may finish school this spring with no job prospects.
The survey revealed 76.7 percent of national and public university students in their final year had received job offers by December 2010, marking the second lowest figure on record, while students at private universities experienced the worst-ever employment situation, with only 66.3 percent offered work.
At national and public universities, the number of graduating students with job prospects was 75.4 percent among males and 78.1 percent among females -- the second and the sixth lowest levels for each group, respectively. The results turned out to be the worst on record for both male and female students at private universities, at 68.4 and 63.9 percent, respectively.
The figure was also the lowest for students in both humanities and science courses, with each remaining at a low of 68.3 percent and 71.3 percent, correspondingly.
Similarly, students at technical colleges and special vocational schools each experienced a year-on-year drop of 2.2 points and 2.6 points to 94.7 percent and 54.1 percent, respectively.
The results suggest that about 130,000 out of all 430,000 job seekers who are graduating from universities and junior colleges in spring remain without job prospects, a ministry official said.
By region, schools in the Kanto, Chubu and Kinki regions saw the placement rate as of December plunge to hit a record low of 72.1 percent, 61.7 percent and 71 percent, respectively. The figure was 63.1 percent for Kyushu, 64.7 percent for Chugoku and Shikoku and 69.9 percent for Hokkaido and the Tohoku region. All of these regions experienced one of the worst results on record.
In particular, the Chubu area suffered a significant year-on-year decline of 8 points, likely after local businesses affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp. restricted the hiring of new recruits for next fiscal year.
As part of its efforts to alleviate job scarcity, the ministry has held a series of meetings between universities and companies since last November, but any effect has yet to show in figures.
"Companies are looking for adaptable new employees. However, as the lengthy job-hunting process prevents students from focusing on their studies, an increasing number of individuals are trying to get a job without sufficient knowledge, causing a vicious cycle," an education official said.
The survey covered a total of 6,250 students at 112 educational institutes, including 62 universities, 20 junior colleges and 10 technical colleges.
The employment "ice age" shows no signs of improvement with only 68.8 percent of those graduating from university this coming spring having received informal job offers, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has announced.
The number of senior college students who had found jobs before Dec. 1 declined by 4.3 points from a year earlier to 68.8 percent, hitting a record low since the ministry started collecting such data in 1996.
The figure also dropped by 2.1 points for those graduating from junior college in March, with only 45.3 percent having received unofficial job offers by December last year, again the worst result since 1996.
In 2009, the placement rate among new university graduates was 91.8 percent at the end of the academic year in March, while it was 88.4 percent among new junior college graduates. The ministry said a larger number of college and junior college students may finish school this spring with no job prospects.
The survey revealed 76.7 percent of national and public university students in their final year had received job offers by December 2010, marking the second lowest figure on record, while students at private universities experienced the worst-ever employment situation, with only 66.3 percent offered work.
At national and public universities, the number of graduating students with job prospects was 75.4 percent among males and 78.1 percent among females -- the second and the sixth lowest levels for each group, respectively. The results turned out to be the worst on record for both male and female students at private universities, at 68.4 and 63.9 percent, respectively.
The figure was also the lowest for students in both humanities and science courses, with each remaining at a low of 68.3 percent and 71.3 percent, correspondingly.
Similarly, students at technical colleges and special vocational schools each experienced a year-on-year drop of 2.2 points and 2.6 points to 94.7 percent and 54.1 percent, respectively.
The results suggest that about 130,000 out of all 430,000 job seekers who are graduating from universities and junior colleges in spring remain without job prospects, a ministry official said.
By region, schools in the Kanto, Chubu and Kinki regions saw the placement rate as of December plunge to hit a record low of 72.1 percent, 61.7 percent and 71 percent, respectively. The figure was 63.1 percent for Kyushu, 64.7 percent for Chugoku and Shikoku and 69.9 percent for Hokkaido and the Tohoku region. All of these regions experienced one of the worst results on record.
In particular, the Chubu area suffered a significant year-on-year decline of 8 points, likely after local businesses affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp. restricted the hiring of new recruits for next fiscal year.
As part of its efforts to alleviate job scarcity, the ministry has held a series of meetings between universities and companies since last November, but any effect has yet to show in figures.
"Companies are looking for adaptable new employees. However, as the lengthy job-hunting process prevents students from focusing on their studies, an increasing number of individuals are trying to get a job without sufficient knowledge, causing a vicious cycle," an education official said.
The survey covered a total of 6,250 students at 112 educational institutes, including 62 universities, 20 junior colleges and 10 technical colleges.
2010 - Department store sales fell 3.1%
Department store sales fell 3.1% in '10 | The Japan Times Online
Department store sales in 2010 declined 3.1 percent from the previous year on a same-store basis, down for the 14th consecutive year due to weak consumer confidence amid the economic downturn, an industry group said Tuesday.
Sales totaled ¥6.29 trillion, the lowest level since 1982, according to the Japan Department Stores Association.
The hot summer dampened sales of autumn and winter clothing, an association official said. Clothing sales, accounting for around 35 percent of the total, fell 4.7 percent.
Sales of luxury items, including artwork and jewelry, were also sluggish, down 3.7 percent, due to weak consumer sentiment partly stemming from falls in stock prices, the official said
Department store sales in 2010 declined 3.1 percent from the previous year on a same-store basis, down for the 14th consecutive year due to weak consumer confidence amid the economic downturn, an industry group said Tuesday.
Sales totaled ¥6.29 trillion, the lowest level since 1982, according to the Japan Department Stores Association.
The hot summer dampened sales of autumn and winter clothing, an association official said. Clothing sales, accounting for around 35 percent of the total, fell 4.7 percent.
Sales of luxury items, including artwork and jewelry, were also sluggish, down 3.7 percent, due to weak consumer sentiment partly stemming from falls in stock prices, the official said
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Love hotel operators lose some loopholes
Another article on the change in the Japan leisure hotel or love hotel regulations
Some of the more interesting things to come out of this article are -
Love hotel operators lose some loopholes | Yen for Living
Some of the more interesting things to come out of this article are -
This particular business is what is called a giso (fake) love hotel, meaning that it looks like a regular hotel but operates as a love hotel. Regular hotels do not fall under the fuzoku eigyo-ho, even if couples use them for sexual trysts. So how does one distinguish a love hotel from a city or business hotel, or even a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn)? Apparently, it all has to do with structure and features. According to the fuzoku eigyo-ho, if a hotel has no kitchen and no lobby; or if its operators install vending machines selling “adult goods” and its guest rooms have features such as glass-partitioned bathrooms, rotating beds and ceiling mirrors, they qualify as love hotels. However, according to a non-profit organization called Zenkoku Giso Rabu Hoteru Nakasu Kai (The Group to Remove Fake Love Hotels Nationwide), fake love hotels have taken advantage of the wording of the law, which implies that businesses must have both special structures and special features. If either doesn’t apply, it doesn’t meet the legal criteria for a love hotel. When operators build their hotels, they include lobbies and kitchens so that they can qualify for registration as a regular inn or hotel under the ryokan gyo-ho (commercial inn law), and then after they receive certification they remodel the place with the usual love hotel fixtures, though usually only with regard to the interior so as not to attract too much attention from neighbors. Several years ago the National Police Agency said it identified about 3,600 fake love hotels operating throughout the country. The real number is undoubtedly higher.
What really distinguishes a love hotel is its fee schedule. Regular hotels charge by the night, while love hotels charge for “rests” that can last as little as an hour or two. This system is appealing to guests who only want to use the place for a brief bit of whoopie, and profitable for the hotel because it guarantees higher turnover. However, it’s another aspect of the loophole that mainly bothers the NPO. The commercial inn law that regulates regular hotels allows guests under the age of 18 to occupy and pay for accommodations.
Now, the police have more legal means to crack down on fake love hotels. On Jan. 1, revisions to the fuzoku eigyo-ho went into effect. According to the revisions, a love hotel is defined as having 1) signs indicating that rooms are available for stays of less than 24 hours, 2) no foyer, or no foyer that is not blocked from view, and 3) no interaction between guests and hotel staff, a criterion that addresses one feature common to almost all love hotels, which is payment for rooms through vending machines often located in the rooms themselves (i.e., one cannot unlock the door and leave the room until it’s paid for).
Though there are still some loopholes here — does the sign have to be on the building’s exterior? — the NPO is confident that the new revisions will lead to raids on many fake love hotels located in sensitive locations, such as the one in Nishi Ward, especially since the new law is retroactive. In fact, it’s already had an effect. The police say that of the 580 fake love hotels they identified in Tokyo as of July of last year, 75, or 13 percent, have already re-registered as bona fide love hotels.
Love hotel operators lose some loopholes | Yen for Living
2011 Revised Japan Leisure Hotel laws: What changes?
On July 6 of this year, the Diet approved proposed revisions of Japanese law regarding “adult entertainment” establishments (風俗営業等の規制及び業務の適正化等に関する法律). The laws are periodically revised as police attempt to keep up with and keep control over the country’s ever-expanding adult entertainment venues. Information on the changes is slightly difficult to come upon, but this site reportedly has the low-down on what will be different.
The upcoming revisions will hit two types of businesses that have been identified as problems in recent years: gisou love hotels and deai-kissa. Gisou love hotels are establishments registered as hotel or ryokan that are effectively operating as love hotels. They include small spaces that don’t resemble love hotels but can be rented for short-term trysts much like this unfortunate punter did. This allows the gisou love hotel to dodge regulations that bind normal love hotels to certain districts, allowing them to set up shop near schools, residential neighborhoods and other areas. Easiest way to beat the competition is monopolise an area they can’t touch, right?
While both gisou love hotels and deai kissa have trampled the grey line of adult entertainment laws, as of January 1, 2011, this will no longer be the case.
The revisions have redefined what a love hotel is in order to re-evaluate businesses and close many of the loop holes gisou love hotels have been taking advantage of. As of January 1, businesses that do one or more of the following may be classified as love hotels:
- Are available for “rest” use
- Have dining and lobby floor area that are less than legal standards set by capacity
- Have an entryway or reception area that is hidden from the outside
- Take payment through a machine or tube
- Use signage to direct customers to rooms instead of staff guidance
- Have installed a form of obstruction to prevent face-to-face interaction between customers and staff
The rules get complicated from there. For example, hotels that have signage to guide customers and obstructions so they may not come face-to-face with staff qualify as love hotels if payment for the room is made through a machine. If a hotel has very little restaurant or lobby space, displays “rest” prices, and has a reception that’s difficult to see, they must have a rotating or vibrating bed, a mirror in the room where people can observe themselves while lying down, “facilities that incite sexual curiosity” such as S&M goods or glass walls in the bathroom, and/or adult toys for sale in vending machines. Whew. Also, spaces which exist particularly to be rented at “rest” rates by members of the opposite sex fall under the love hotel article.
Some say that, under these restrictions, there are almost no entertainment district in which new businesses will be able to set up.
As a requirement, businesses must submit up-to-date blueprints or measurements of the entire premises together with their application. Other information that must be submitted includes:
- Method of doing business
- Map of the surrounding area (at least 200m)
- A diagram of the entryway and lobby
- Certificate of residence if the owner is a private individual
- In the case of a company, the above for all executives as well as company registration
Police say they will only accept applications until January 31, with all businesses neglecting to register before that presumably being slowly shut down. Ultimately, the authorities get to determine what qualifies and what does not under such complex stipulations. Whether this results in loads of shutdown or loads of bribery (or both) remains to be seen, but expect a large shift in the love hotel landscape over the upcoming year.
Memo From Jake: Every change in the law has interesting ripple effects. I can’t help but speculate on the effects this time around. There are now several “love hotel” funds–investment trusts that are involved in the love hotel industry. It’ll be interesting to see how the new laws will effect the value of those funds or whether it will have any effect at all. What puzzles me about the changes in the laws is why do the authorities even feel they are needed? I can see that there are some problems with the Deaikai cafes, but other than that, is an abundance of love hotels bad for Japanese society? Many people using love hotels are couples who live with their parents, or have room-mates and want some privacy to fool around. They are also used by married couples with children that don’t have space in the house to really enjoy their marital bliss. For a nation concerned about a declining birth-rate, you’d think Japan would actually be encouraging love hotel construction. I know of at least one child that was probably conceived in a love hotel because her over-worked father had to sneak out of the office to rendezvous with his wife on her ovulation day, knowing that he’d be trapped at the office all night. Ahem.
2011 Revised adult entertainment laws: What changes?
The upcoming revisions will hit two types of businesses that have been identified as problems in recent years: gisou love hotels and deai-kissa. Gisou love hotels are establishments registered as hotel or ryokan that are effectively operating as love hotels. They include small spaces that don’t resemble love hotels but can be rented for short-term trysts much like this unfortunate punter did. This allows the gisou love hotel to dodge regulations that bind normal love hotels to certain districts, allowing them to set up shop near schools, residential neighborhoods and other areas. Easiest way to beat the competition is monopolise an area they can’t touch, right?
While both gisou love hotels and deai kissa have trampled the grey line of adult entertainment laws, as of January 1, 2011, this will no longer be the case.
The revisions have redefined what a love hotel is in order to re-evaluate businesses and close many of the loop holes gisou love hotels have been taking advantage of. As of January 1, businesses that do one or more of the following may be classified as love hotels:
- Are available for “rest” use
- Have dining and lobby floor area that are less than legal standards set by capacity
- Have an entryway or reception area that is hidden from the outside
- Take payment through a machine or tube
- Use signage to direct customers to rooms instead of staff guidance
- Have installed a form of obstruction to prevent face-to-face interaction between customers and staff
The rules get complicated from there. For example, hotels that have signage to guide customers and obstructions so they may not come face-to-face with staff qualify as love hotels if payment for the room is made through a machine. If a hotel has very little restaurant or lobby space, displays “rest” prices, and has a reception that’s difficult to see, they must have a rotating or vibrating bed, a mirror in the room where people can observe themselves while lying down, “facilities that incite sexual curiosity” such as S&M goods or glass walls in the bathroom, and/or adult toys for sale in vending machines. Whew. Also, spaces which exist particularly to be rented at “rest” rates by members of the opposite sex fall under the love hotel article.
Some say that, under these restrictions, there are almost no entertainment district in which new businesses will be able to set up.
As a requirement, businesses must submit up-to-date blueprints or measurements of the entire premises together with their application. Other information that must be submitted includes:
- Method of doing business
- Map of the surrounding area (at least 200m)
- A diagram of the entryway and lobby
- Certificate of residence if the owner is a private individual
- In the case of a company, the above for all executives as well as company registration
Police say they will only accept applications until January 31, with all businesses neglecting to register before that presumably being slowly shut down. Ultimately, the authorities get to determine what qualifies and what does not under such complex stipulations. Whether this results in loads of shutdown or loads of bribery (or both) remains to be seen, but expect a large shift in the love hotel landscape over the upcoming year.
Memo From Jake: Every change in the law has interesting ripple effects. I can’t help but speculate on the effects this time around. There are now several “love hotel” funds–investment trusts that are involved in the love hotel industry. It’ll be interesting to see how the new laws will effect the value of those funds or whether it will have any effect at all. What puzzles me about the changes in the laws is why do the authorities even feel they are needed? I can see that there are some problems with the Deaikai cafes, but other than that, is an abundance of love hotels bad for Japanese society? Many people using love hotels are couples who live with their parents, or have room-mates and want some privacy to fool around. They are also used by married couples with children that don’t have space in the house to really enjoy their marital bliss. For a nation concerned about a declining birth-rate, you’d think Japan would actually be encouraging love hotel construction. I know of at least one child that was probably conceived in a love hotel because her over-worked father had to sneak out of the office to rendezvous with his wife on her ovulation day, knowing that he’d be trapped at the office all night. Ahem.
2011 Revised adult entertainment laws: What changes?
Nintendo Gets Tough on Love Hotels's Renting Games
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Revised love hotel regulations
From January 2011, a revision to the section of the nationwide Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses that pertains to love hotels will come into force, and, as Shukan Asahi Geino (Oct. 7) reports, the industry will be in for a shake up.
The weekly tabloid explains that the revisions are intended to remove prostitution and underage porn shoots from hotel premises.
“There are two types of love hotels,” explains journalist Akihira Otani. “Those operating under the approval of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses and those operating as lodging entities under the conventional lodging law, just as with any hotel or ryokan you may see.
“Giso (camouflaged) love hotels operate under the conventional lodging law yet provide adult-oriented gear, such as dildos,” he continues. “In both cases, one can go straight to a room without being seen. This is believed to be a contributing factor to crimes for which this revision is designed to counter.”
There are 3,590 of these pseudo-love hotels and that number matches the figure for those operating under the adult-entertainment law.
“The revised law will extend the list of requirements for love hotels to become eligible,” says a reporter who covers social issues.
The changes can be found here in Japanese. Most notably, guests will be asked to register personal information at the front desk. Other measures mainly deal with the establishment’s facilities and layout.
“Infrastructure must be in place to ensure that room fees are clearly shown and automatic room-fee payment machines are situated in every guest room,” continues the source. “Further, the entire building must be designed so that guests will not be visible by staff members in common areas.
(Ostensibly, these latter requirements are to specifically impact pseudo-love hotels, which contain nearly standard hotel rooms and open hallways and common areas.)
“While some of the pseudo-love hotels may apply for the license under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses,” the reporter adds, “the current design of the buildings will result in rejection. Many will be forced to redesign their hotels.”
Asahi Geino believes that some may be forced to close altogether as they will not be able to afford such renovations.
While this revision is targeting certain crimes, it is actually nonsense, according to Ikkyon Kim, a part-time professor and author of the book “The Evolution of the Love Hotel,” published by Bunshun Shinsho.
“It is old fashioned to separate love hotels from regular hotels,” she says. “City hotels nowadays offer short-stay programs. It will be just a continuous game of cat-and-mouse between the hotels and law enforcement.”
Will this revision end the problem? Journalist Otani is skeptical. “Is a front desk clerk likely to determine whether a female is a high school girl or not?” he asks. “Unless the roots of the problems are resolved, it may simply shift the crime scenes to city hotels.”
A male guest laments the move. “Checking in and facing the staff members defeats the whole point of the love hotel,” he says. “It’s intended to be a discrete environment.”
Revised love hotel regulations to pinch prostitution and underage porn | The Tokyo Reporter - "All the News That's Fit to Squint"
The weekly tabloid explains that the revisions are intended to remove prostitution and underage porn shoots from hotel premises.
“There are two types of love hotels,” explains journalist Akihira Otani. “Those operating under the approval of the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses and those operating as lodging entities under the conventional lodging law, just as with any hotel or ryokan you may see.
“Giso (camouflaged) love hotels operate under the conventional lodging law yet provide adult-oriented gear, such as dildos,” he continues. “In both cases, one can go straight to a room without being seen. This is believed to be a contributing factor to crimes for which this revision is designed to counter.”
There are 3,590 of these pseudo-love hotels and that number matches the figure for those operating under the adult-entertainment law.
“The revised law will extend the list of requirements for love hotels to become eligible,” says a reporter who covers social issues.
The changes can be found here in Japanese. Most notably, guests will be asked to register personal information at the front desk. Other measures mainly deal with the establishment’s facilities and layout.
“Infrastructure must be in place to ensure that room fees are clearly shown and automatic room-fee payment machines are situated in every guest room,” continues the source. “Further, the entire building must be designed so that guests will not be visible by staff members in common areas.
(Ostensibly, these latter requirements are to specifically impact pseudo-love hotels, which contain nearly standard hotel rooms and open hallways and common areas.)
“While some of the pseudo-love hotels may apply for the license under the Law Regulating Adult Entertainment Businesses,” the reporter adds, “the current design of the buildings will result in rejection. Many will be forced to redesign their hotels.”
Asahi Geino believes that some may be forced to close altogether as they will not be able to afford such renovations.
While this revision is targeting certain crimes, it is actually nonsense, according to Ikkyon Kim, a part-time professor and author of the book “The Evolution of the Love Hotel,” published by Bunshun Shinsho.
“It is old fashioned to separate love hotels from regular hotels,” she says. “City hotels nowadays offer short-stay programs. It will be just a continuous game of cat-and-mouse between the hotels and law enforcement.”
Will this revision end the problem? Journalist Otani is skeptical. “Is a front desk clerk likely to determine whether a female is a high school girl or not?” he asks. “Unless the roots of the problems are resolved, it may simply shift the crime scenes to city hotels.”
A male guest laments the move. “Checking in and facing the staff members defeats the whole point of the love hotel,” he says. “It’s intended to be a discrete environment.”
Revised love hotel regulations to pinch prostitution and underage porn | The Tokyo Reporter - "All the News That's Fit to Squint"
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Mar - Nov 2010 - Seven & I's group net profit surges 30% on strong Convenience Store sales
even & I Holdings Co said Thursday its consolidated net profit from March through November jumped 30.1% from a year earlier to 90.22 billion yen on the back of a strong performance by its mainstay convenience store business.
Consolidated sales edged up 0.2% to 3.83 trillion yen with convenience store sales climbing 4.2% to 1.56 trillion yen, but the major retail group’s supermarket and department store businesses did poorly.
The number of shoppers at Seven & I’s convenience stores reached a record high for the nine-month period as more people bought food such as precooked dishes, bread and milk, more than offsetting the dampening effect of a tobacco tax hike in October.
The operating profit of the supermarket business dived 59.6% to 1.37 billion yen due to weak clothing sales and increased costs related to the opening of new outlets.
The department store operation saw a loss of 2.12 billion yen.
The company retained its earnings forecast for the business year through February, estimating a group net profit of 100 billion yen, more than double that a year earlier, on sales of 5.14 trillion yen, up 0.6%.
Seven & I's group net profit surges 30% in March-Nov › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Consolidated sales edged up 0.2% to 3.83 trillion yen with convenience store sales climbing 4.2% to 1.56 trillion yen, but the major retail group’s supermarket and department store businesses did poorly.
The number of shoppers at Seven & I’s convenience stores reached a record high for the nine-month period as more people bought food such as precooked dishes, bread and milk, more than offsetting the dampening effect of a tobacco tax hike in October.
The operating profit of the supermarket business dived 59.6% to 1.37 billion yen due to weak clothing sales and increased costs related to the opening of new outlets.
The department store operation saw a loss of 2.12 billion yen.
The company retained its earnings forecast for the business year through February, estimating a group net profit of 100 billion yen, more than double that a year earlier, on sales of 5.14 trillion yen, up 0.6%.
Seven & I's group net profit surges 30% in March-Nov › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
2011 - Auto workers' unions to refrain from demanding pay-scale hike
Due to difficult general economic environment, Auto worked unions will not ask for wage increase but instead will focus on measures to move nonregular employees to a regular status
So the general outlook for Japanese wages in 2011 remains stagnant
Auto workers' unions to refrain from demanding pay-scale hike › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
So the general outlook for Japanese wages in 2011 remains stagnant
Auto workers' unions to refrain from demanding pay-scale hike › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
2010 - Business failures in Japan fall 14%
Corporate bankruptcies in Japan in 2010 fell 13.9% from a year earlier to 13,321 for the second consecutive year of drop, slipping below the 14,000 line for the first time in four years, but the amount of debts left by the failed firms rose due to a series of failures of big firms, such as Japan Airlines Corp, a credit research firm said Thursday.
Tokyo Shoko Research said while the drop in 2010 failures was attributable to government measures such as an emergency loan guarantee system and other financial aid for small businesses, the pace of decline in corporate failures slowed toward the end of the reporting year as the effects of the government’s measures were fading.
Liabilities that accompanied the corporate failures totaled 7.16 trillion yen in 2010, up 3.3% from a year earlier. Seven cases of large-scale failures, which left behind at least 100 billion yen in liabilities each, accounted for more than half the total debt amount.
Of the seven, the three biggest failures were JAL and its two units, with 2.32 trillion yen in debts, Incubator Bank of Japan with 680.5 billion yen in liabilities, and consumer loan firm Takefuji Corp, which had 433.6 billion yen in debts.
Business failures in Japan fall 14% in 2010 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Tokyo Shoko Research said while the drop in 2010 failures was attributable to government measures such as an emergency loan guarantee system and other financial aid for small businesses, the pace of decline in corporate failures slowed toward the end of the reporting year as the effects of the government’s measures were fading.
Liabilities that accompanied the corporate failures totaled 7.16 trillion yen in 2010, up 3.3% from a year earlier. Seven cases of large-scale failures, which left behind at least 100 billion yen in liabilities each, accounted for more than half the total debt amount.
Of the seven, the three biggest failures were JAL and its two units, with 2.32 trillion yen in debts, Incubator Bank of Japan with 680.5 billion yen in liabilities, and consumer loan firm Takefuji Corp, which had 433.6 billion yen in debts.
Business failures in Japan fall 14% in 2010 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Japan entering the age of living alone › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
rom the extended family to the nuclear family in the 20th century; from the nuclear family to solitude in the 21st—by 2030, reports Sapio (Oct 13-20), 37.4% of Japanese households will be single-occupant. As of now, single-occupant and family households (parents with children) are in rough balance. By 2030, the latter will have fallen far behind, to 21.9%. Two-person husband-and-wife households are projected to comprise 19.2%.
Why the dramatic rise of solitary living? It’s where numerous converging social trends seem to be pushing us, explains researcher Katsuhiko Fujimori in Sapio – fewer marriages, more divorces, fewer couples having fewer children, more grown children living far from their aging parents, and so on.
The question Fujimori poses is, what are the implications of vast numbers of people aging alone? It’s a problem no society has ever faced before. Japan, as the world’s most rapidly aging country, must stand at the vanguard, devise a solution, and show the rest of the world the way. The wait-and-see attitude it seems to be adopting will not be tenable for long.
The best short-term solution, for society as a whole if not necessarily for the individuals involved, would be for people to marry as a matter of course, as they used to. That sounds impossible but may not be, given polls that consistently show some 80% of single men and women in their 40s would marry “if they met the right partner.” Clearly, marriage still has appeal. It’s the “if” that’s the rub. Women, financially independent now as they were not in earlier times, no longer have to marry, and can hold out, indefinitely if necessary, for better terms. Men, too, for that matter, find that much of the sting has been removed from bachelor living – convenience store bentos make meals easy if not delectable, and loneliness can to some extent be beguiled online.
Fujimori points to three problems beyond those and similar day-to-day considerations. First, poverty. Astonishing as it would have seemed 30 years ago, Japan for many of its citizens is now a poor country. Married poverty is easier. The benefits of mutual encouragement aside, if you’re a poor couple, at least one of you is likely to be employed; you scrape by somehow. As an unemployed single, you face potentially dire straits.
Second, nursing care. Health ministry figures show that for 70% of care recipients, the caregiver is a family member. Japan’s care system is premised on family involvement. It is not set up to accommodate masses of family-less care-dependent people. And there is no sign of it being set up for it any time soon.
Third, aging singles tend to lose touch with the outside world, with all the psychological problems that invites. Stronger community ties are a must, says Fujimori. Once, such ties were spontaneous and natural. Now that they no longer are. What can be done to foster them?
Japan entering the age of living alone › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Why the dramatic rise of solitary living? It’s where numerous converging social trends seem to be pushing us, explains researcher Katsuhiko Fujimori in Sapio – fewer marriages, more divorces, fewer couples having fewer children, more grown children living far from their aging parents, and so on.
The question Fujimori poses is, what are the implications of vast numbers of people aging alone? It’s a problem no society has ever faced before. Japan, as the world’s most rapidly aging country, must stand at the vanguard, devise a solution, and show the rest of the world the way. The wait-and-see attitude it seems to be adopting will not be tenable for long.
The best short-term solution, for society as a whole if not necessarily for the individuals involved, would be for people to marry as a matter of course, as they used to. That sounds impossible but may not be, given polls that consistently show some 80% of single men and women in their 40s would marry “if they met the right partner.” Clearly, marriage still has appeal. It’s the “if” that’s the rub. Women, financially independent now as they were not in earlier times, no longer have to marry, and can hold out, indefinitely if necessary, for better terms. Men, too, for that matter, find that much of the sting has been removed from bachelor living – convenience store bentos make meals easy if not delectable, and loneliness can to some extent be beguiled online.
Fujimori points to three problems beyond those and similar day-to-day considerations. First, poverty. Astonishing as it would have seemed 30 years ago, Japan for many of its citizens is now a poor country. Married poverty is easier. The benefits of mutual encouragement aside, if you’re a poor couple, at least one of you is likely to be employed; you scrape by somehow. As an unemployed single, you face potentially dire straits.
Second, nursing care. Health ministry figures show that for 70% of care recipients, the caregiver is a family member. Japan’s care system is premised on family involvement. It is not set up to accommodate masses of family-less care-dependent people. And there is no sign of it being set up for it any time soon.
Third, aging singles tend to lose touch with the outside world, with all the psychological problems that invites. Stronger community ties are a must, says Fujimori. Once, such ties were spontaneous and natural. Now that they no longer are. What can be done to foster them?
Japan entering the age of living alone › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
young generation pursues stability over promotion
This autumn, the Japanese media has been jubilant over the announcement that two compatriots were named to receive the Nobel Prize for chemistry. But looking at the trend toward introverted behavior that’s so apparent among the younger generation, Shukan Post (Nov 5) offers survey data that suggests such laudable achievements may be less likely to occur in the future.
In one of three articles jointly titled “The theory of young people leading to the nation’s downfall,” the magazine examines the laid-back younger set, and the implications in academia and business.
Take the number of Japanese researchers on extended stays abroad, now down by half from its peak. Last year, only 3,739 Japanese spent one month or longer conducting academic or private research outside the country. In 2000, the figure was 7,674.
Out of a total of 666 non-American students who have attended professor Michael Sandel’s long-running “Justice” lecture course at Harvard University, just five have been Japanese—compared to 42 South Koreans, 36 Chinese, 22 Singaporeans and 20 Indians. Overall, the fewer than 30,000 Japanese now enrolled in U.S. institutions pale in comparison to the figures for students from other countries.
Among students from foreign institutions earning doctorates in the U.S., those from the elite University of Tokyo ranked 425th overall, with 23. In first place was Beijing’s Tsinghua University, with 472 candidates. Chinese institutions accounted for three of the top 10.
Japanese are also showing signs of falling further behind in realm of global business as well. According to a survey by the Sanno Institute of Management, 49% of new company freshmen in 2010 said they had no desire to work abroad. The responses were 29.2% in 2001 and 28.7% in 2004, but began to rise sharply from 2007, when 36.2% said they wanted to remain in Japan.
Another significant change among new hirees was that 71.1% of survey respondents this year said they aspired to lifetime careers with the same employer. Ten years ago, the figure had been roughly 50%.
Japan’s public servants show a similar lack of initiative. In recent years, the number of applicants to take examinations, required to move up the promotion ladder, are reported to have declined sharply. Many prefer to put emphasis on personal activities or spending more time with their families.
The disregard for ambition, moreover, appears to apply equally for both males and females. A survey of males and females in their 20s to 40s, conducted by JTB Motivation, determined that the type of person least desired as a “lover,” was “a person driven by ambition, who is obsessed with gaining rank or promotion.” The response, voiced by 40%, was the highest among both genders.
It appears that more young people lack the desire to strike out on their own.
“I was surprised to see a male student who came to a recruiting interview accompanied by a parent,” a personnel manager at a logistics firm tells Shukan Post. “I don’t think someone so attached to his parents can be expected to do good work. He didn’t get the job.”
Human resources training consultant Naomi Hashimoto also expressed concern over the attitudes shown by members of the younger generation.
“A lot of these ‘laid-back company employees’ in their 20s seem to lack common sense,” she says. “New hirees at a regional bank didn’t even know how to pour tea. And as members of the cell phone generation, they have trouble responding to telephone calls from people they don’t know.”
Sure, newbies are always awkward when they encounter unfamiliar things for the first time. But growth can’t be achieved without desire for self-improvement and ambition, and the lack thereof may pose a serious threat for the future of business.
“Now, you no longer see workers who aspire to rise to the top of the ladder and become president of a company,” observes professor Hajime Ota of Doshisha University. “Under the current hard times, a title only means heavier responsibilities, with less esteem or money to go with it. Even after the system of lifetime employment collapsed, the system of merit-based worker assessments didn’t become widespread. Rather than seek jobs that just pile on more responsibility, I think it’s inevitable that more young people would prefer job security.”
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/japans-young-generation-pursues-stability-over-promotion
In one of three articles jointly titled “The theory of young people leading to the nation’s downfall,” the magazine examines the laid-back younger set, and the implications in academia and business.
Take the number of Japanese researchers on extended stays abroad, now down by half from its peak. Last year, only 3,739 Japanese spent one month or longer conducting academic or private research outside the country. In 2000, the figure was 7,674.
Out of a total of 666 non-American students who have attended professor Michael Sandel’s long-running “Justice” lecture course at Harvard University, just five have been Japanese—compared to 42 South Koreans, 36 Chinese, 22 Singaporeans and 20 Indians. Overall, the fewer than 30,000 Japanese now enrolled in U.S. institutions pale in comparison to the figures for students from other countries.
Among students from foreign institutions earning doctorates in the U.S., those from the elite University of Tokyo ranked 425th overall, with 23. In first place was Beijing’s Tsinghua University, with 472 candidates. Chinese institutions accounted for three of the top 10.
Japanese are also showing signs of falling further behind in realm of global business as well. According to a survey by the Sanno Institute of Management, 49% of new company freshmen in 2010 said they had no desire to work abroad. The responses were 29.2% in 2001 and 28.7% in 2004, but began to rise sharply from 2007, when 36.2% said they wanted to remain in Japan.
Another significant change among new hirees was that 71.1% of survey respondents this year said they aspired to lifetime careers with the same employer. Ten years ago, the figure had been roughly 50%.
Japan’s public servants show a similar lack of initiative. In recent years, the number of applicants to take examinations, required to move up the promotion ladder, are reported to have declined sharply. Many prefer to put emphasis on personal activities or spending more time with their families.
The disregard for ambition, moreover, appears to apply equally for both males and females. A survey of males and females in their 20s to 40s, conducted by JTB Motivation, determined that the type of person least desired as a “lover,” was “a person driven by ambition, who is obsessed with gaining rank or promotion.” The response, voiced by 40%, was the highest among both genders.
It appears that more young people lack the desire to strike out on their own.
“I was surprised to see a male student who came to a recruiting interview accompanied by a parent,” a personnel manager at a logistics firm tells Shukan Post. “I don’t think someone so attached to his parents can be expected to do good work. He didn’t get the job.”
Human resources training consultant Naomi Hashimoto also expressed concern over the attitudes shown by members of the younger generation.
“A lot of these ‘laid-back company employees’ in their 20s seem to lack common sense,” she says. “New hirees at a regional bank didn’t even know how to pour tea. And as members of the cell phone generation, they have trouble responding to telephone calls from people they don’t know.”
Sure, newbies are always awkward when they encounter unfamiliar things for the first time. But growth can’t be achieved without desire for self-improvement and ambition, and the lack thereof may pose a serious threat for the future of business.
“Now, you no longer see workers who aspire to rise to the top of the ladder and become president of a company,” observes professor Hajime Ota of Doshisha University. “Under the current hard times, a title only means heavier responsibilities, with less esteem or money to go with it. Even after the system of lifetime employment collapsed, the system of merit-based worker assessments didn’t become widespread. Rather than seek jobs that just pile on more responsibility, I think it’s inevitable that more young people would prefer job security.”
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/japans-young-generation-pursues-stability-over-promotion
Japan Post to suspend recruitment of new graduates for FY 2012 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
Japan Post Service Co, a mail-delivery unit of the Japan Post group, will suspend recruitment of new graduates for fiscal 2012 due to poor business performance. The suspension of recruitment for all job categories will affect students who will graduate between April 2011 and March 2012 as the unit expects a net loss of 54 billion yen in fiscal 2010 ending in March due to decreasing mail and delays in its Yu-Pack parcel delivery.
The suspension will be for the first time since the 10-year privatization process for the state-run postal system started in 2007. For fiscal 2011, the unit plans to employ 1,250 people for all job categories. Japan Post Holding Co and its three other units—Japan Post Network Co, Japan Post Bank Co and Japan Post Insurance Co—will also recruit new graduates as planned for fiscal 2011.
Japan Post to suspend recruitment of new graduates for FY 2012 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
The suspension will be for the first time since the 10-year privatization process for the state-run postal system started in 2007. For fiscal 2011, the unit plans to employ 1,250 people for all job categories. Japan Post Holding Co and its three other units—Japan Post Network Co, Japan Post Bank Co and Japan Post Insurance Co—will also recruit new graduates as planned for fiscal 2011.
Japan Post to suspend recruitment of new graduates for FY 2012 › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
2011 - 2nd Ice Age of Employement
The year 2003 is remembered as the “Ice Age of employment,” when only 60.2% of university seniors managed to line up jobs prior to graduation. But the recruitment picture for the class of 2011 is currently looking even more dismal, as the figure is down to 57.6%.
Some increasingly desperate students, reports Shukan Taishu (Dec 20), are reflexively grabbing whatever they can get. But alas, it appears growing numbers are discovering to their dismay that their new employer is a front company controlled by an organized crime syndicate.
More bad news for 2011 - with university graduates facing grim conditions for employment
The dismay of discovering you're working for organized crime › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
2010 - wholesale prices fall 0.2%, down for 2nd straight year
Japan's wholesale prices in 2010 shed 0.2 percent from a year earlier, falling for the second straight year as the country remained under persistent deflationary pressure, the Bank of Japan's preliminary data showed Friday.
But the prices, measured in the central bank's corporate goods price index, sharply slowed their pace of decline from the record 5.2 percent logged in 2009, signaling that the drop in the index has "nearly halted," according to a BOJ official.
In December alone, wholesale prices grew 1.2 percent from a year earlier for the third straight month of rise, higher than the average market forecast of a 1.0 percent increase.
Noting that prices of petroleum products and nonferrous metals pushed up the index in December, the official said, "Whether the rise in prices of overseas (commodity) markets will gradually affect domestic prices will be a key point when looking at the outlook."
In 2010, transportation equipment, information and communications equipment and other electrical products made a large contribution to the fall amid tough price competition in the domestic market, the official said.
Prices of transportation equipment fell 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, prices of petroleum and coal products grew 15.7 percent.
The index stood at 102.8 against the 2005 base of 100, the BOJ said. The last losing streak was logged for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2003.
Japan's export prices in 2010 fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier in yen terms and rose 2.3 percent on a contract currency basis.
Import prices grew 7.1 percent in yen terms, while rising 13.1 percent on a contract currency basis.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KNRF400&show_article=1
But the prices, measured in the central bank's corporate goods price index, sharply slowed their pace of decline from the record 5.2 percent logged in 2009, signaling that the drop in the index has "nearly halted," according to a BOJ official.
In December alone, wholesale prices grew 1.2 percent from a year earlier for the third straight month of rise, higher than the average market forecast of a 1.0 percent increase.
Noting that prices of petroleum products and nonferrous metals pushed up the index in December, the official said, "Whether the rise in prices of overseas (commodity) markets will gradually affect domestic prices will be a key point when looking at the outlook."
In 2010, transportation equipment, information and communications equipment and other electrical products made a large contribution to the fall amid tough price competition in the domestic market, the official said.
Prices of transportation equipment fell 2.2 percent. Meanwhile, prices of petroleum and coal products grew 15.7 percent.
The index stood at 102.8 against the 2005 base of 100, the BOJ said. The last losing streak was logged for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2003.
Japan's export prices in 2010 fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier in yen terms and rose 2.3 percent on a contract currency basis.
Import prices grew 7.1 percent in yen terms, while rising 13.1 percent on a contract currency basis.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KNRF400&show_article=1
2011 - Increasing Consumption Tax Rates signalled?
A shot of reality from this Bloomberg article comparing to the previous post about 2011 being a potential return to the bubble days
The Japanese Government is confronting a rapidly expanding debt situation by signalling potential Consumption Tax increase
While this may be a unavoidable consequence of Japan's fiscal situation, a rise in Consumption Tax will place increasing pressure on domestic demand - of course, the other point is that an improving fiscal situation will probably also have the impact of raising the value of the Yen; which will hurt Japan's export sector
Some difficult decisions coming for Japan in 2011
`Unhealthy' Japan Debt Picture May Boost Rates, Yosano Says - Bloomberg
The Japanese Government is confronting a rapidly expanding debt situation by signalling potential Consumption Tax increase
While this may be a unavoidable consequence of Japan's fiscal situation, a rise in Consumption Tax will place increasing pressure on domestic demand - of course, the other point is that an improving fiscal situation will probably also have the impact of raising the value of the Yen; which will hurt Japan's export sector
Some difficult decisions coming for Japan in 2011
`Unhealthy' Japan Debt Picture May Boost Rates, Yosano Says - Bloomberg
2011 - Almost time for Japan to break out the bubbly for bubble 2.0 | The Japan Times Online
Japan Times reports on various articles in Japanese publications predicting a rosy 2011 for Japan; based on predictions on large foreign capital inflows into Japanese stocks and real estate; fuelled by US's QEII, Japan's relative stability and close to zero Japanese interest rates
In our view, while capital flows to Japan appear to be improving; consumer demand remains stagnant with deflation and concerns over long term employment foremost in consumers' minds while the export sector faces a strong Yen and challenging conditions in major export markets in China, US and Europe.
Almost time for Japan to break out the bubbly for bubble 2.0 | The Japan Times Online
In our view, while capital flows to Japan appear to be improving; consumer demand remains stagnant with deflation and concerns over long term employment foremost in consumers' minds while the export sector faces a strong Yen and challenging conditions in major export markets in China, US and Europe.
Almost time for Japan to break out the bubbly for bubble 2.0 | The Japan Times Online
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Young Japanese Men losing interest in Sex; Sexless Couples increasing
TOKYO, Jan. 12 (AP) - (Kyodo)—One-third of Japanese men aged 16 to 19 were uninterested in or even averse to sex as of last year, doubling from 2008, a government survey showed Wednesday.
The survey, conducted in September, also showed more married couples were also found sexless than before, with more than 40 percent saying they had no sex in the past month.
The last survey was conducted by a research group of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to study people's views on lifestyle. It is based on replies provided by 671 men and 869 women aged 16 to 49 in interviews.
"The survey result confirmed that young men have become 'herbivorous'," said Kunio Kitamura, head of the Clinic of the Japan Family Planning Association who took part in the survey, using the term used increasingly in Japan to describe young males who are shy and passive in relationships with women.
According to the ministry, 35.1 percent of men aged 16 to 19 said they are uninterested in or averse to sex, surging from 17.5 percent in the previous poll in 2008.
The percentage climbed to 21.5 percent among men aged 20 to 24 from 11.8 percent two years earlier, and among women of any age group, the survey showed.
Those married men and women who said they had no sex in the past month totaled 40.8 percent, up from 36.5 percent in the previous survey and 31.9 percent in a 2004 study.
Respondents cited vague reluctance after childbirth, a sense that it is a bother and job-related fatigue as reasons for shunning sex with their partners.
"Some measures are necessary (to deal with the increase in sexless couples) as it is directly linked to the declining birthrate," Kitamura said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KMQ4681&show_article=1
The survey, conducted in September, also showed more married couples were also found sexless than before, with more than 40 percent saying they had no sex in the past month.
The last survey was conducted by a research group of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to study people's views on lifestyle. It is based on replies provided by 671 men and 869 women aged 16 to 49 in interviews.
"The survey result confirmed that young men have become 'herbivorous'," said Kunio Kitamura, head of the Clinic of the Japan Family Planning Association who took part in the survey, using the term used increasingly in Japan to describe young males who are shy and passive in relationships with women.
According to the ministry, 35.1 percent of men aged 16 to 19 said they are uninterested in or averse to sex, surging from 17.5 percent in the previous poll in 2008.
The percentage climbed to 21.5 percent among men aged 20 to 24 from 11.8 percent two years earlier, and among women of any age group, the survey showed.
Those married men and women who said they had no sex in the past month totaled 40.8 percent, up from 36.5 percent in the previous survey and 31.9 percent in a 2004 study.
Respondents cited vague reluctance after childbirth, a sense that it is a bother and job-related fatigue as reasons for shunning sex with their partners.
"Some measures are necessary (to deal with the increase in sexless couples) as it is directly linked to the declining birthrate," Kitamura said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KMQ4681&show_article=1
Monday, January 10, 2011
2011 - No. of new adults in Japan totals 1.24 million, at fresh record low+
The number of people who became 20 years old, the legal age of adulthood in Japan, in 2010 totaled about 1.24 million, down around 30,000 from a year earlier and hitting a record low for the fourth consecutive year against the backdrop of a continued low birthrate, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
Ceremonies and commemorative events for the new adults -- about 630,000 men and around 610,000 women as of Jan. 1 -- were held nationwide Monday marking Coming-of-Age Day, a national holiday in Japan.
The number of new adults was about half the peak of around 2.46 million in 1970 and accounted for 0.97 percent of Japan's total population, down 0.03 point from a year earlier and dropping below 1 percent for the first time since the government began taking the statistics in 1968.
No. of new adults in Japan totals 1.24 million, at fresh record low+
Ceremonies and commemorative events for the new adults -- about 630,000 men and around 610,000 women as of Jan. 1 -- were held nationwide Monday marking Coming-of-Age Day, a national holiday in Japan.
The number of new adults was about half the peak of around 2.46 million in 1970 and accounted for 0.97 percent of Japan's total population, down 0.03 point from a year earlier and dropping below 1 percent for the first time since the government began taking the statistics in 1968.
No. of new adults in Japan totals 1.24 million, at fresh record low+
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Suicides in Japan top 30,000 for 13th straight year in 2010+
LEAD: Suicides in Japan top 30,000 for 13th straight year in 2010+
The number of people who committed suicide in Japan totaled 31,560 in topping 30,000 for the 13th straight year, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report on Friday.
But the number declined 3.9 percent from the previous year, or a decrease of 1,285 cases, hitting the second-lowest level over the past 10 years, according to the report.
Since assuming power in September 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan- led government has taken steps to help those at risk of suicide.
The government's anti-suicide campaigns last year appear to have had some effect as the number of people who committed suicide declined in the months immediately following the campaigns, falling 15.9 percent in April and 13.5 percent in October from a year earlier.
In November, however, the number of cases rose 10.0 percent, partially because of the prolonged economic downturn.
The number of people committing suicide declined for six months in a row in the first half of last year but rose and fell in successive months.
While 2008 and 2009 saw some months in which over 3,000 people committed suicide, the number of cases remained below 3,000 each month last year.
Of those who committed suicide last year, 22,178 were men and 9,382 women, continuing the trend for a higher number of cases among men.
The government set up an emergency strategy team at the Cabinet Office in autumn 2009 in concert with civic groups and doctors working on suicide prevention.
The team worked on measures to be implemented by related ministries and agencies, including expanding public counters where people can get advice about mental health and debt problems, and compiling region-by- region suicide prevention steps based on relevant police statistics.
The government set up a task force involving Cabinet ministers last September to carry out the measures
The number of people who committed suicide in Japan totaled 31,560 in topping 30,000 for the 13th straight year, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report on Friday.
But the number declined 3.9 percent from the previous year, or a decrease of 1,285 cases, hitting the second-lowest level over the past 10 years, according to the report.
Since assuming power in September 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan- led government has taken steps to help those at risk of suicide.
The government's anti-suicide campaigns last year appear to have had some effect as the number of people who committed suicide declined in the months immediately following the campaigns, falling 15.9 percent in April and 13.5 percent in October from a year earlier.
In November, however, the number of cases rose 10.0 percent, partially because of the prolonged economic downturn.
The number of people committing suicide declined for six months in a row in the first half of last year but rose and fell in successive months.
While 2008 and 2009 saw some months in which over 3,000 people committed suicide, the number of cases remained below 3,000 each month last year.
Of those who committed suicide last year, 22,178 were men and 9,382 women, continuing the trend for a higher number of cases among men.
The government set up an emergency strategy team at the Cabinet Office in autumn 2009 in concert with civic groups and doctors working on suicide prevention.
The team worked on measures to be implemented by related ministries and agencies, including expanding public counters where people can get advice about mental health and debt problems, and compiling region-by- region suicide prevention steps based on relevant police statistics.
The government set up a task force involving Cabinet ministers last September to carry out the measures
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
PostBubble Generations Consumption Drivers
Buying a car is idiotic. It's better instead to have ¥10 million in the bank.
Such is the mentality of Japanese in their late 20s and early 30s, according to Hisakazu Matsuda's book "Ken-Shohi Sedai no Kenkyuu" ("Research into the Anticonsumption Generation").
The book, published in November 2009, delves into the behavior of a generation that has known only economic contraction. The "postbubble generation," as Matsuda defines it, came of age during the decline of Japan Inc.
The book, which has sold more than 10,000 copies, argues that the reluctance of young people to consume is not based on a lack of money but from a perception of future uncertainty, and represents a new generational character.
"No country other than Japan has experienced a 20-year bout of deflation that is still ongoing. That is why other countries are curious about my book," Matsuda said in an interview with The Japan Times.
The 54-year-old director of the Japan Consumer Marketing Research Institute points to articles in The New York Times and a Spanish paper that warn against following the path of Japan. A Chinese translation of his book is planned because many in
China, which lags a generation and a half behind Japan, want to learn from Japan's experience, he said.
Matsuda, who interviewed many young people of the postbubble generation for his book, said they have seen prices in free fall. For example, every three to six months, when TV makers such as Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. release new models, the prices of flat-screen TVs are slashed by 30 to 50 percent, reflecting the drop in prices of semiconductors and other mass-produced components, he said.
"The postbubble generation knows waiting is a wise choice. The older generations want to be the first to purchase cutting-edge products," he said.
Cars, TVs and overseas trips are particularly shunned by the young. Instead, they are drawn to mobile phones and smart phone applications, cooking utensils and inexpensive casual clothes.
According to a 2008 survey by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Inc., college students ranked cars 17th among products of interest. When those now in their 20s and 30s were in college, cars ranked 10th, while those in now in their 40s and 50s ranked them seventh.
From 1997 to 2007, the number of overseas travelers in their 20s dropped more than 30 percent, according to Japan Travel Bureau Foundation statistics. Over the same period, the figures for every other older age group rose.
"They turn away from everything the older generations used to dream of having," he said.
"They don't study abroad because they don't want to learn foreign languages. They don't care about TOEIC scores," he said. "With the yen's recent strengthening, they have become a bit more interested in overseas trips, particularly to Australia. They say it is because the time difference is so small, they can call their friends and family when they feel lonely."
Matsuda argues the attitude toward consumption comes from a shared mentality of conformity and pessimism.
"They underwent or witnessed bullying at school in the '80s. The difference from previous generations was that the bullying could change overnight, so they feared it might be their turn the next day. Consequently, they are careful not to stand out," he said. "Then, they grow up without experiencing any success. They don't feel the taste of success after they start working.
"There is mass pessimism. They fear people despise them for buying a car because everybody in their generation thinks buying a car is economically a stupid choice."
Matsuda advises automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. to develop innovative technology at low cost, such as solar-powered cars for ¥500,000, if they hope to entice the postbubble generation.
Consumer electronics makers such as Sony and Panasonic should abandon attempts to sell TVs to the young, who are satisfied with watching programs on their mobile phones, or watching nothing at all, he said. More popular are expensive rice cookers and vacuum cleaners because the young are spending more time at home, he added.
When the postbubble generation grows older, Matsuda predicts they will continue to rent apartments, stay unmarried and many will have ¥10 million in the bank by their 30s.
But he is unsure what they will spend their money on. Pastimes such as jogging around the Imperial Palace and climbing mountains will probably remain popular, he said.
"They will spend money on something they think is logical," he said, not the Armani suits that people of his day purchased to satisfy their vanity.
They may invest in small businesses or donate to charities if they think that is "a smart and cool thing to do," he said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110105a1.html
Such is the mentality of Japanese in their late 20s and early 30s, according to Hisakazu Matsuda's book "Ken-Shohi Sedai no Kenkyuu" ("Research into the Anticonsumption Generation").
The book, published in November 2009, delves into the behavior of a generation that has known only economic contraction. The "postbubble generation," as Matsuda defines it, came of age during the decline of Japan Inc.
The book, which has sold more than 10,000 copies, argues that the reluctance of young people to consume is not based on a lack of money but from a perception of future uncertainty, and represents a new generational character.
"No country other than Japan has experienced a 20-year bout of deflation that is still ongoing. That is why other countries are curious about my book," Matsuda said in an interview with The Japan Times.
The 54-year-old director of the Japan Consumer Marketing Research Institute points to articles in The New York Times and a Spanish paper that warn against following the path of Japan. A Chinese translation of his book is planned because many in
China, which lags a generation and a half behind Japan, want to learn from Japan's experience, he said.
Matsuda, who interviewed many young people of the postbubble generation for his book, said they have seen prices in free fall. For example, every three to six months, when TV makers such as Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp. release new models, the prices of flat-screen TVs are slashed by 30 to 50 percent, reflecting the drop in prices of semiconductors and other mass-produced components, he said.
"The postbubble generation knows waiting is a wise choice. The older generations want to be the first to purchase cutting-edge products," he said.
Cars, TVs and overseas trips are particularly shunned by the young. Instead, they are drawn to mobile phones and smart phone applications, cooking utensils and inexpensive casual clothes.
According to a 2008 survey by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Inc., college students ranked cars 17th among products of interest. When those now in their 20s and 30s were in college, cars ranked 10th, while those in now in their 40s and 50s ranked them seventh.
From 1997 to 2007, the number of overseas travelers in their 20s dropped more than 30 percent, according to Japan Travel Bureau Foundation statistics. Over the same period, the figures for every other older age group rose.
"They turn away from everything the older generations used to dream of having," he said.
"They don't study abroad because they don't want to learn foreign languages. They don't care about TOEIC scores," he said. "With the yen's recent strengthening, they have become a bit more interested in overseas trips, particularly to Australia. They say it is because the time difference is so small, they can call their friends and family when they feel lonely."
Matsuda argues the attitude toward consumption comes from a shared mentality of conformity and pessimism.
"They underwent or witnessed bullying at school in the '80s. The difference from previous generations was that the bullying could change overnight, so they feared it might be their turn the next day. Consequently, they are careful not to stand out," he said. "Then, they grow up without experiencing any success. They don't feel the taste of success after they start working.
"There is mass pessimism. They fear people despise them for buying a car because everybody in their generation thinks buying a car is economically a stupid choice."
Matsuda advises automakers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. to develop innovative technology at low cost, such as solar-powered cars for ¥500,000, if they hope to entice the postbubble generation.
Consumer electronics makers such as Sony and Panasonic should abandon attempts to sell TVs to the young, who are satisfied with watching programs on their mobile phones, or watching nothing at all, he said. More popular are expensive rice cookers and vacuum cleaners because the young are spending more time at home, he added.
When the postbubble generation grows older, Matsuda predicts they will continue to rent apartments, stay unmarried and many will have ¥10 million in the bank by their 30s.
But he is unsure what they will spend their money on. Pastimes such as jogging around the Imperial Palace and climbing mountains will probably remain popular, he said.
"They will spend money on something they think is logical," he said, not the Armani suits that people of his day purchased to satisfy their vanity.
They may invest in small businesses or donate to charities if they think that is "a smart and cool thing to do," he said.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20110105a1.html
2010 - McDonald's Japan store sales hit record high for 5th year
Sales at McDonald's Holdings Co. (Japan) Ltd.'s own and franchise stores climbed to an all-time high in 2010 for the fifth consecutive year, rising 2 percent from a year earlier to 542.7 billion yen, according to a preliminary report released by the company Wednesday.
Business was strong partly because of brisk sales of the Big America brand of hamburgers introduced in January, McDonald's said.
But the company's President Eiko Harada warned that the restaurant industry is facing hard times ahead, the severity of which is "unforeseeable," when discussing the business outlook for this year at a press conference.
In December, sales on a same-store basis jumped 11.6 percent from a year earlier and the number of customers leapt 8.9 percent while spending per customer grew 2.5 percent.
Consolidated sales in the year ended December, consisting of sales at the company's own outlets and franchise fees, were estimated at 322 billion yen, down from 362.3 billion yen in 2009.
The company is aiming to bolster its business by broadening the lineup of Big America hamburgers this year.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KI50B80&show_article=1
Business was strong partly because of brisk sales of the Big America brand of hamburgers introduced in January, McDonald's said.
But the company's President Eiko Harada warned that the restaurant industry is facing hard times ahead, the severity of which is "unforeseeable," when discussing the business outlook for this year at a press conference.
In December, sales on a same-store basis jumped 11.6 percent from a year earlier and the number of customers leapt 8.9 percent while spending per customer grew 2.5 percent.
Consolidated sales in the year ended December, consisting of sales at the company's own outlets and franchise fees, were estimated at 322 billion yen, down from 362.3 billion yen in 2009.
The company is aiming to bolster its business by broadening the lineup of Big America hamburgers this year.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KI50B80&show_article=1
Valuation of Japanese Leisure Hotels Impacted by New Laws
There have been a number of recent articles about the change in the laws regulating Leisure Hotels in Japan
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2011/01/leisure-hotels-law-changes-forcing.html
http://www.japantrends.com/love-hotels-to-halve-next-year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-2DY3RPrU
Some of the articles are predicting that the number of love hotels will halve in 2011 as hotels which are close to schools and hospitals will be forced to close and also due to many hotels not being able to pay for the necessary renovations or new licensing costs.
Japanese Article links -
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/10125
http://www.j-cast.com/2010/11/22081522.html
We first posted on this topic back in May 2010 -
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/05/japan-leisure-hotels-law-to-change.html
The recent articles do seem to evidence that there have been significant impacts on the industry; with many operators being forced into renovation capex or additional costs arising from the new licensing procedures.
What is clear is that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the new law and its application. All of which suggests to us that valuations will be under pressure until the impacts of the new law become clear.
It will certainly be interesting to watch what happens to valuations in the leisure or love hotel sector in the next few months.
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2011/01/leisure-hotels-law-changes-forcing.html
http://www.japantrends.com/love-hotels-to-halve-next-year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko-2DY3RPrU
Some of the articles are predicting that the number of love hotels will halve in 2011 as hotels which are close to schools and hospitals will be forced to close and also due to many hotels not being able to pay for the necessary renovations or new licensing costs.
Japanese Article links -
http://diamond.jp/articles/-/10125
http://www.j-cast.com/2010/11/22081522.html
We first posted on this topic back in May 2010 -
http://japanrealestatecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/05/japan-leisure-hotels-law-to-change.html
The recent articles do seem to evidence that there have been significant impacts on the industry; with many operators being forced into renovation capex or additional costs arising from the new licensing procedures.
What is clear is that there seems to be a lot of confusion about the new law and its application. All of which suggests to us that valuations will be under pressure until the impacts of the new law become clear.
It will certainly be interesting to watch what happens to valuations in the leisure or love hotel sector in the next few months.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hotel Operators Cutting Room Rates
TOKYO, Dec 8, 2010 (Asia In Focus via COMTEX) --
Japanese hotel operators are seeing slower-than-expected earnings recoveries, as they are forced to slash room rates to lure frugal leisure and business travelers. FUJITA KANKO INC. (TSE:9722) has downgraded its group operating profit forecast for the year to December to 2.4 billion yen (US$28.7 million), up 74 per cent on the year, instead of a 130 per cent jump to 3.2 billion yen.
* Occupancy rates improved in the July-September term, but average guest spending declined 7-8 per cent.
* "To raise occupancy rates amid weak consumption, we had to cut prices," says a finance official.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/ftkkf_japan-hotel-operators-see-slower-than-expected-earnings-recovery-1354358.html
Japanese hotel operators are seeing slower-than-expected earnings recoveries, as they are forced to slash room rates to lure frugal leisure and business travelers. FUJITA KANKO INC. (TSE:9722) has downgraded its group operating profit forecast for the year to December to 2.4 billion yen (US$28.7 million), up 74 per cent on the year, instead of a 130 per cent jump to 3.2 billion yen.
* Occupancy rates improved in the July-September term, but average guest spending declined 7-8 per cent.
* "To raise occupancy rates amid weak consumption, we had to cut prices," says a finance official.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/ftkkf_japan-hotel-operators-see-slower-than-expected-earnings-recovery-1354358.html
Monday, January 3, 2011
Leisure Hotels Law Changes Forcing Capex and Changed Operations
Those who stroll along the streets adjacent to drinking areas these days may notice a large number of “love hotels” undergoing what appears at first glance to be major renovations.
“Revisions in the law controlling public morals will take affect from January, and without the changes we’d be forced to shut down,” the operator of one such establishment explains to Shukan Post (Dec 10). “That’s because we fall under the category of ‘resembling a love hotel.’”
Supervision of hotels in Japan is performed by two separate agencies. The National Police Agency supervises love hotels based on the law controlling public morals; the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare oversees general accommodations facilities such as hotels and ryokans based on a separate statute. One major difference between the two is that zoning laws ban love hotels from operating in certain areas. Such hotels may also be subject to other local ordinances.
The category of “resembling a love hotel” is being applied to establishments that, while licensed as a general hotel, essentially function as love hotels—which also enables them to operate in zones where love hotels are supposed to be banned.
“Because the excluded zones for the love hotels usually include favorable locations, such as in entertainment areas or streets fronting on train stations, these ‘resembling love hotels’ can boost their occupancy, thanks to their general hotel license,” a reporter for a nationally circulated newspaper tells Shukan Post. “About half of the estimated 30,000 love hotels in Japan are believed to be of this type.”
“One reason for this crossover,” explains the aforementioned operator, “is due to the vague distinction between love hotels and ordinary hotels. If an establishment provides a lobby and dining facilities above a designated amount of floor area, then the hotel will come under control of the law for hotels and ryokan. Many hotels are adding these modifications to the building afterwards. If they can be designated as a hotel/ryokan, they’ll be inspected by the local heath department instead of the police, and the likelihood of being charged with some violation would be low.”
The National Police Agency’s rationale for the crackdown on love hotels is that they have become a hotbed—if you’ll excuse the expression—for juvenile prostitution, and therefore act to “inhibit the wholesome upbringing of young people.”
“If the love hotels currently operating in excluded zones want to stay in business, they will have to spend large outlays for modifications,” says hotel management consultant Kazumi Yamauchi. “It also means they won’t be able to operate like they did before.”
When querying the National Police Agency regarding its campaign to quell juvenile prostitution, the magazine was told, “The ‘resembling love hotel’ establishments are a problem, because their premises tend to be utilized more for violations of the juvenile prostitution law than do regular love hotels.”
Love hotel operators found this explanation to be ludicrous. “All it’s going to do is drive the ‘enjo kosai’ activities to rental rooms and Internet cafes,” sighed the operator of one Osaka love hotel.
In Shukan Post’s view, the notion that love hotels situated near schools create a “hotbed of crime” is absurd, since no high school girl would risk being spotted accompanying a john into a hotel close to her own school.
The underage females engaged in such activities are no doubt having a good chuckle at the expense of the “shallow-brained bureaucrats” who imposed the current crackdown, the magazine concludes.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/shallow-brained-bureaucrats-crackdown-on-love-hotels-unlikely-to-thwart-teen-prostitution
“Revisions in the law controlling public morals will take affect from January, and without the changes we’d be forced to shut down,” the operator of one such establishment explains to Shukan Post (Dec 10). “That’s because we fall under the category of ‘resembling a love hotel.’”
Supervision of hotels in Japan is performed by two separate agencies. The National Police Agency supervises love hotels based on the law controlling public morals; the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare oversees general accommodations facilities such as hotels and ryokans based on a separate statute. One major difference between the two is that zoning laws ban love hotels from operating in certain areas. Such hotels may also be subject to other local ordinances.
The category of “resembling a love hotel” is being applied to establishments that, while licensed as a general hotel, essentially function as love hotels—which also enables them to operate in zones where love hotels are supposed to be banned.
“Because the excluded zones for the love hotels usually include favorable locations, such as in entertainment areas or streets fronting on train stations, these ‘resembling love hotels’ can boost their occupancy, thanks to their general hotel license,” a reporter for a nationally circulated newspaper tells Shukan Post. “About half of the estimated 30,000 love hotels in Japan are believed to be of this type.”
“One reason for this crossover,” explains the aforementioned operator, “is due to the vague distinction between love hotels and ordinary hotels. If an establishment provides a lobby and dining facilities above a designated amount of floor area, then the hotel will come under control of the law for hotels and ryokan. Many hotels are adding these modifications to the building afterwards. If they can be designated as a hotel/ryokan, they’ll be inspected by the local heath department instead of the police, and the likelihood of being charged with some violation would be low.”
The National Police Agency’s rationale for the crackdown on love hotels is that they have become a hotbed—if you’ll excuse the expression—for juvenile prostitution, and therefore act to “inhibit the wholesome upbringing of young people.”
“If the love hotels currently operating in excluded zones want to stay in business, they will have to spend large outlays for modifications,” says hotel management consultant Kazumi Yamauchi. “It also means they won’t be able to operate like they did before.”
When querying the National Police Agency regarding its campaign to quell juvenile prostitution, the magazine was told, “The ‘resembling love hotel’ establishments are a problem, because their premises tend to be utilized more for violations of the juvenile prostitution law than do regular love hotels.”
Love hotel operators found this explanation to be ludicrous. “All it’s going to do is drive the ‘enjo kosai’ activities to rental rooms and Internet cafes,” sighed the operator of one Osaka love hotel.
In Shukan Post’s view, the notion that love hotels situated near schools create a “hotbed of crime” is absurd, since no high school girl would risk being spotted accompanying a john into a hotel close to her own school.
The underage females engaged in such activities are no doubt having a good chuckle at the expense of the “shallow-brained bureaucrats” who imposed the current crackdown, the magazine concludes.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/kuchikomi-shukan-post/view/shallow-brained-bureaucrats-crackdown-on-love-hotels-unlikely-to-thwart-teen-prostitution
2010 - Largest Population Decline ever - 4th year of decline
Japan's population fell by a record amount last year as the number of deaths climbed to an all-time high in the quickly aging country, the government said Saturday.
Japan faces a looming demographic squeeze. Baby boomers are moving toward retirement, with fewer workers and taxpayers to replace them. The Japanese boast among the highest life expectancies in the world but have extremely low birth rates.
Japan logged 1.19 million deaths in 2010 ― the biggest number since 1947 when the health ministry's annual records began. The number of births was nearly flat at 1.07 million.
As a result, Japan contracted by 123,000 people, which was the most ever and represents the fourth consecutive year of population decline. The top causes of death were cancer, heart disease and stroke, the ministry said.
Japanese aged 65 and older make up about a quarter of Japan's current population. The government projects that by 2050, that figure will climb to 40 percent.
Like in other advanced countries, young people are waiting to get married and choosing to have fewer children because of careers and lifestyle issues.
Saturday's report showed 706,000 marriages registered last year ― the fewest since 1954 and a sign that birth rates are unlikely to jump dramatically anytime soon.
Japan's total population stood at 125.77 million as of October, according to the ministry.
Japan faces a looming demographic squeeze. Baby boomers are moving toward retirement, with fewer workers and taxpayers to replace them. The Japanese boast among the highest life expectancies in the world but have extremely low birth rates.
Japan logged 1.19 million deaths in 2010 ― the biggest number since 1947 when the health ministry's annual records began. The number of births was nearly flat at 1.07 million.
As a result, Japan contracted by 123,000 people, which was the most ever and represents the fourth consecutive year of population decline. The top causes of death were cancer, heart disease and stroke, the ministry said.
Japanese aged 65 and older make up about a quarter of Japan's current population. The government projects that by 2050, that figure will climb to 40 percent.
Like in other advanced countries, young people are waiting to get married and choosing to have fewer children because of careers and lifestyle issues.
Saturday's report showed 706,000 marriages registered last year ― the fewest since 1954 and a sign that birth rates are unlikely to jump dramatically anytime soon.
Japan's total population stood at 125.77 million as of October, according to the ministry.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Digital Signage
Moving through a bustling JR East station, one can't help but notice the ubiquitous digital information swirling about.
Heading toward the Konan exit in Tokyo's Shinagawa Station, pedestrians can be overwhelmed by the 44 65-inch displays running digital ads. Even inside trains, small monitors above the doors stream digital content almost nonstop.
With flat-panel displays now affordable and communications infrastructure growing more advanced, digital signage — information displayed digitally in public spaces — is growing in both use and variety, like ads that change depending on the time of day or interactive guides in commercial buildings.
While the fledgling service will still take time before it becomes ubiquitous, some players predict digital signage has the potential to become a ¥1 trillion industry in a relatively short time.
In the rising digital signage market, JR East has been a leader, most notably with its Train Channel, broadcasting ads and news on monitors inside many of its trains.
"Overall ad sales have been down in the past two to three years due to the sluggish economy, but digital signage is growing," said Takashi Yamamoto, manager of transportation advertising at East Japan Marketing and Communications Inc., an ad agency owned by JR East.
When the company launched the Train Channel service in fiscal 2002, sales from digital ads came to a mere ¥82 million. They jumped to around ¥41.9 billion in the 2009 business year. The growth is obvious from the number of displays installed in stations and trains.
The firm now runs Train Channel on the Yamanote Line, Keihin Tohoku Line, Chuo Line and Narita Express, as well as the Keiyo Line starting last year. Combined, they have about 20,000 displays. It has also installed 210 displays 52 inches or bigger in 14 stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area and aims to increase that number to 300 by the spring.
Yamamoto said the growth in digital signs is backed by price reductions for flat displays and content distribution, as well as accelerated development of communications infrastructure.
For instance, the array of 44 displays in the Shinagawa Station concourse are connected to the WiMAX high-speed wireless network, making it easy to change content.
One big advantage for digital ads is efficiency and flexibility, Yamamoto said, noting that distributing digital content can be less costly because it doesn't require physical manpower like putting up paper posters.
If it's hanging "10, 20 or 50 posters, it's doable. But if it becomes 100 or 500 it takes a huge effort," Yamamoto said. "Train Channel on the Yamanote Line has 4,900 monitors. If you think about putting 5,000 posters, it is drastically cheaper."
Researchers say usage of digital signs, now being led by the transportation industry, is sure to grow in other sectors as well.
Nojima Corp. launched a paperless cell phone store in Tokyo's Roppongi district in November, with all information displayed digitally. Even the price tags for cell phones are displayed on iPads.
According to Yano Research Institute, a Tokyo-based market researcher, the digital signage market was worth about ¥55.2 billion in fiscal 2008 and is expected to increase to ¥128 billion in fiscal 2015.
Advertisers have increasingly shown interest in using digital signs, said Masayuki Nakano, senior manager of the business development department in the out of home media services division at advertising giant Dentsu Inc.
Nakano said digital signage has great potential for creative content, thereby generating even more interest among advertisers.
"I think the analog type (ads) will gradually shift to digital," he said, but not to the point where everything will be digital.
Meanwhile, Kojiro Masuko, supervisor of Nakano's division, said digital signage in terms of advertising still needs to clear some hurdles to become a more common option.
Although it's true that distribution of digital content can be cheaper than print ads, there are still not that many digital content creators, so that part of the process is still costly.
Also, content format, such as types of files, graphic resolution and the amount of data, have not been standardized, so work still needs to be done in this regard.
While challenges lie ahead, the Digital Signage Consortium, which consists of people in related fields, aims to make Japan the No. 1 country in the world for digital signs and expand the market to ¥1 trillion by the end of 2015.
Digital signage has several key players, such as flat- and thin-display makers, content providers and businesses in communications infrastructure.
"Japan is quite advanced in all these fields," so this business has vast potential, said Miwako Iyoku, managing director of the consortium and a senior manager in NTT's research and development planning department.
Iyoku said offices will get in the act because the technology will allow employees to share information simultaneously. Touch-panel displays in public places offering information like searchable maps will also be useful, she said.
In addition, it can potentially become a "superlocal" medium for people to share information about their neighbors and local areas, something not really obtainable at present.
"I'd like it to be something that facilitates people's communication and activities," Iyoku said.
Fujifilm Imagetec Co., which has been creating print ads, is turning to digital.
The firm provides a touch-panel display for a shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district that shows videos of shops with information in several languages, including English and Chinese.
The company has also introduced a digital display service connected to social media like Twitter and Facebook, in which messages sent through e-mail and social media appear on displays. This service is currently used at the Daimaru department store at Tokyo Station, where tenants can put out information for shoppers like recommended items and sales.
"We have knowhow from the print business, so digital signage is an extension of what we have been doing," said Takashi Sanse, general manager of new business development at Fujifilm Imagetec.
"We are bringing new technology and integrating it."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20101231a2.html
Heading toward the Konan exit in Tokyo's Shinagawa Station, pedestrians can be overwhelmed by the 44 65-inch displays running digital ads. Even inside trains, small monitors above the doors stream digital content almost nonstop.
With flat-panel displays now affordable and communications infrastructure growing more advanced, digital signage — information displayed digitally in public spaces — is growing in both use and variety, like ads that change depending on the time of day or interactive guides in commercial buildings.
While the fledgling service will still take time before it becomes ubiquitous, some players predict digital signage has the potential to become a ¥1 trillion industry in a relatively short time.
In the rising digital signage market, JR East has been a leader, most notably with its Train Channel, broadcasting ads and news on monitors inside many of its trains.
"Overall ad sales have been down in the past two to three years due to the sluggish economy, but digital signage is growing," said Takashi Yamamoto, manager of transportation advertising at East Japan Marketing and Communications Inc., an ad agency owned by JR East.
When the company launched the Train Channel service in fiscal 2002, sales from digital ads came to a mere ¥82 million. They jumped to around ¥41.9 billion in the 2009 business year. The growth is obvious from the number of displays installed in stations and trains.
The firm now runs Train Channel on the Yamanote Line, Keihin Tohoku Line, Chuo Line and Narita Express, as well as the Keiyo Line starting last year. Combined, they have about 20,000 displays. It has also installed 210 displays 52 inches or bigger in 14 stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area and aims to increase that number to 300 by the spring.
Yamamoto said the growth in digital signs is backed by price reductions for flat displays and content distribution, as well as accelerated development of communications infrastructure.
For instance, the array of 44 displays in the Shinagawa Station concourse are connected to the WiMAX high-speed wireless network, making it easy to change content.
One big advantage for digital ads is efficiency and flexibility, Yamamoto said, noting that distributing digital content can be less costly because it doesn't require physical manpower like putting up paper posters.
If it's hanging "10, 20 or 50 posters, it's doable. But if it becomes 100 or 500 it takes a huge effort," Yamamoto said. "Train Channel on the Yamanote Line has 4,900 monitors. If you think about putting 5,000 posters, it is drastically cheaper."
Researchers say usage of digital signs, now being led by the transportation industry, is sure to grow in other sectors as well.
Nojima Corp. launched a paperless cell phone store in Tokyo's Roppongi district in November, with all information displayed digitally. Even the price tags for cell phones are displayed on iPads.
According to Yano Research Institute, a Tokyo-based market researcher, the digital signage market was worth about ¥55.2 billion in fiscal 2008 and is expected to increase to ¥128 billion in fiscal 2015.
Advertisers have increasingly shown interest in using digital signs, said Masayuki Nakano, senior manager of the business development department in the out of home media services division at advertising giant Dentsu Inc.
Nakano said digital signage has great potential for creative content, thereby generating even more interest among advertisers.
"I think the analog type (ads) will gradually shift to digital," he said, but not to the point where everything will be digital.
Meanwhile, Kojiro Masuko, supervisor of Nakano's division, said digital signage in terms of advertising still needs to clear some hurdles to become a more common option.
Although it's true that distribution of digital content can be cheaper than print ads, there are still not that many digital content creators, so that part of the process is still costly.
Also, content format, such as types of files, graphic resolution and the amount of data, have not been standardized, so work still needs to be done in this regard.
While challenges lie ahead, the Digital Signage Consortium, which consists of people in related fields, aims to make Japan the No. 1 country in the world for digital signs and expand the market to ¥1 trillion by the end of 2015.
Digital signage has several key players, such as flat- and thin-display makers, content providers and businesses in communications infrastructure.
"Japan is quite advanced in all these fields," so this business has vast potential, said Miwako Iyoku, managing director of the consortium and a senior manager in NTT's research and development planning department.
Iyoku said offices will get in the act because the technology will allow employees to share information simultaneously. Touch-panel displays in public places offering information like searchable maps will also be useful, she said.
In addition, it can potentially become a "superlocal" medium for people to share information about their neighbors and local areas, something not really obtainable at present.
"I'd like it to be something that facilitates people's communication and activities," Iyoku said.
Fujifilm Imagetec Co., which has been creating print ads, is turning to digital.
The firm provides a touch-panel display for a shopping complex in Tokyo's Ginza district that shows videos of shops with information in several languages, including English and Chinese.
The company has also introduced a digital display service connected to social media like Twitter and Facebook, in which messages sent through e-mail and social media appear on displays. This service is currently used at the Daimaru department store at Tokyo Station, where tenants can put out information for shoppers like recommended items and sales.
"We have knowhow from the print business, so digital signage is an extension of what we have been doing," said Takashi Sanse, general manager of new business development at Fujifilm Imagetec.
"We are bringing new technology and integrating it."
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20101231a2.html
November - consumer prices fall 0.5% in Nov., 21st straight monthly drop
Japan's key consumer price index fell 0.5 percent in November from a year earlier for the 21st consecutive month of decline, the government said Tuesday, underscoring persistent deflationary pressure weighing on the nation's economy.
The pace of decline in the core nationwide CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, slowed slightly from a 0.6 percent drop the previous month. Economists had predicted a 0.6 percent fall, according to the median forecast in a Kyodo News survey.
The result reflects sluggish domestic demand and a persistently strong yen, indicating there is little chance the core CPI will turn positive in fiscal 2011 starting April, some economists said.
Sharp discounts on durable goods, such as flat-panel televisions, and the continuing effects of the government's high school tuition waiver program introduced in April contributed to the core CPI drop, a preliminary report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
Meanwhile, prices of cigarettes surged 38.6 percent due to a tax hike introduced Oct. 1. Cigarette prices jumped 100 yen or more per pack for many brands.
Prices of flat-panel televisions dropped 33.2 percent and those of refrigerators fell 19.9 percent. Tuition fees declined 17.4 percent and housing rents went down 0.4 percent.
The core nationwide CPI stood at 99.4 against the base of 100 for the ministry said.
"Although the pace of the decline slowed somewhat (from the previous month), the deflationary trend is continuing," said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
He said it would be difficult for the core nationwide CPI to come out of negative territory in the next fiscal year, unless oil and commodity prices rise sharply.
The Bank of Japan forecasts the core CPI will rise 0.1 percent in fiscal 2011. The central bank has vowed to retain its virtual zero- interest-rate policy until it judges that "price stability is in sight" to support the Japanese economy, overshadowed by a strong yen.
A higher yen undermines the overseas price competitiveness of Japanese exporters, a key driving force in the nation's economy, and erodes the value of their earnings when repatriated. It could also lead to lower import prices.
The core CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards, a leading indicator of national price trends, fell 0.4 percent in December from a year earlier to 98.9, the ministry said. The pace of decline matched the average projection. The Tokyo metropolitan area's reading declined 1.2 percent in 2010, after falling 1.0 percent in 2009.
Separate data released by the ministry showed that average monthly household spending in November fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 284,212 yen in real terms. The decline reflects reduced spending on vegetables and winter clothing.
The result compares with the average projection of a 0.3 percent rise in a Kyodo News survey.
The average monthly income of salaried households grew a real 0.5 percent to 431,281 yen.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCLRU01&show_article=1
The pace of decline in the core nationwide CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, slowed slightly from a 0.6 percent drop the previous month. Economists had predicted a 0.6 percent fall, according to the median forecast in a Kyodo News survey.
The result reflects sluggish domestic demand and a persistently strong yen, indicating there is little chance the core CPI will turn positive in fiscal 2011 starting April, some economists said.
Sharp discounts on durable goods, such as flat-panel televisions, and the continuing effects of the government's high school tuition waiver program introduced in April contributed to the core CPI drop, a preliminary report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
Meanwhile, prices of cigarettes surged 38.6 percent due to a tax hike introduced Oct. 1. Cigarette prices jumped 100 yen or more per pack for many brands.
Prices of flat-panel televisions dropped 33.2 percent and those of refrigerators fell 19.9 percent. Tuition fees declined 17.4 percent and housing rents went down 0.4 percent.
The core nationwide CPI stood at 99.4 against the base of 100 for the ministry said.
"Although the pace of the decline slowed somewhat (from the previous month), the deflationary trend is continuing," said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute.
He said it would be difficult for the core nationwide CPI to come out of negative territory in the next fiscal year, unless oil and commodity prices rise sharply.
The Bank of Japan forecasts the core CPI will rise 0.1 percent in fiscal 2011. The central bank has vowed to retain its virtual zero- interest-rate policy until it judges that "price stability is in sight" to support the Japanese economy, overshadowed by a strong yen.
A higher yen undermines the overseas price competitiveness of Japanese exporters, a key driving force in the nation's economy, and erodes the value of their earnings when repatriated. It could also lead to lower import prices.
The core CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards, a leading indicator of national price trends, fell 0.4 percent in December from a year earlier to 98.9, the ministry said. The pace of decline matched the average projection. The Tokyo metropolitan area's reading declined 1.2 percent in 2010, after falling 1.0 percent in 2009.
Separate data released by the ministry showed that average monthly household spending in November fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 284,212 yen in real terms. The decline reflects reduced spending on vegetables and winter clothing.
The result compares with the average projection of a 0.3 percent rise in a Kyodo News survey.
The average monthly income of salaried households grew a real 0.5 percent to 431,281 yen.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCLRU01&show_article=1
November - industrial output up 1.0%
Japan's industrial production in November grew a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent from the previous month, marking the first rise in six months, the government said Tuesday.
The figure compared with an average market forecast of a 0.9 percent rise in a Kyodo News survey.
Shipments rose 2.5 percent, while inventories were down 1.7 percent, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCIFKO1&show_article=1
The figure compared with an average market forecast of a 0.9 percent rise in a Kyodo News survey.
Shipments rose 2.5 percent, while inventories were down 1.7 percent, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCIFKO1&show_article=1
November - jobless rate stays at 5.1%
Japan's unemployment rate stayed at 5.1 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month, the government said Tuesday.
The seasonally adjusted data matched an average forecast of 5.1 percent among economists surveyed by Kyodo News. The number of jobless people stood at 3.18 million, down 130,000 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.
A separate data showed job availability improved. The ratio of job offers to job seekers came to 0.57 in November, up from 0.56 in October, which means 57 jobs were available for every 100 job seekers, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCI6980&show_article=1
The seasonally adjusted data matched an average forecast of 5.1 percent among economists surveyed by Kyodo News. The number of jobless people stood at 3.18 million, down 130,000 from a year earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.
A separate data showed job availability improved. The ratio of job offers to job seekers came to 0.57 in November, up from 0.56 in October, which means 57 jobs were available for every 100 job seekers, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KCI6980&show_article=1
Single-person Households to Hit 40% in Japan in 2030
The number of single-person households in Japan is reportedly expected to reach 40-percent in 20 years due to divorce, bereavement, or never getting married.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on Sunday that in the year 2030, one out of five men in their 50s and 60s would be single and one in three men in their 50s would remain unmarried.
Pointing out an average of ten people dying alone in Tokyo each day the paper argued that a family-based society seems to be over in Japan as more Japanese choose to live and die alone.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=110783&code=Ne2&category=2
Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported on Sunday that in the year 2030, one out of five men in their 50s and 60s would be single and one in three men in their 50s would remain unmarried.
Pointing out an average of ten people dying alone in Tokyo each day the paper argued that a family-based society seems to be over in Japan as more Japanese choose to live and die alone.
http://www.arirang.co.kr/News/News_View.asp?nseq=110783&code=Ne2&category=2
November - housing starts rise 6.8%
Japan's housing starts in November rose 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 72,838 units on the back of demand for condominiums and owner-occupied houses, marking the sixth straight month of growth, the government said Monday.
The figure marked the second-lowest level for the month, following 68,198 units last year, since 1965 when comparable data became available, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The ministry said while there are signs of recovery, housing starts remain at a low level and need "to be watched very carefully" amid the persistence of tough employment and income conditions.
In the January to November period, housing starts rose 2.7 percent from the year before to 738,609 units, meaning this year's total is certain to exceed last year's 775,277 units.
Starts on condominiums for sale surged 106.1 percent year on year to 8,922 units in November and those for single-family homes for sale rose 14.2 percent to 9,506 units.
Starts of owner-occupied houses increased 7.1 percent to 27,235 units during the same period, while those of rental houses dropped 9.5 percent to 26,703 units.
By region, housing starts increased 12.4 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan region, 8.6 percent in the Chubu region centering on Nagoya, 0.2 percent in the Kinki region including Osaka and 4.0 percent in the rest of the nation.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KC721O0&show_article=1
The figure marked the second-lowest level for the month, following 68,198 units last year, since 1965 when comparable data became available, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The ministry said while there are signs of recovery, housing starts remain at a low level and need "to be watched very carefully" amid the persistence of tough employment and income conditions.
In the January to November period, housing starts rose 2.7 percent from the year before to 738,609 units, meaning this year's total is certain to exceed last year's 775,277 units.
Starts on condominiums for sale surged 106.1 percent year on year to 8,922 units in November and those for single-family homes for sale rose 14.2 percent to 9,506 units.
Starts of owner-occupied houses increased 7.1 percent to 27,235 units during the same period, while those of rental houses dropped 9.5 percent to 26,703 units.
By region, housing starts increased 12.4 percent in the Tokyo metropolitan region, 8.6 percent in the Chubu region centering on Nagoya, 0.2 percent in the Kinki region including Osaka and 4.0 percent in the rest of the nation.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9KC721O0&show_article=1
November - Annual export growth accelerates
- Japan's export growth picked up in November for the first time in nine months due chiefly to the yen's pullback from 15-year highs, but analysts say signs of softening overseas demand cloud the outlook.
Uncertainties about overseas economies bode ill for the Japanese government, whose fiscal policy options are limited due to a self-imposed cap on new borrowing for the year starting next April. The government is set to compile the 2011/12 budget this week.
Economists expect export growth to resume slowing towards the first quarter of next year but to regain strength later on demand from emerging economies.
This outlook is not assured, however, given a weak U.S. job market, Europe's debt problems and China's policy tightening aimed at staving off potential asset price bubbles.
"As the global economy is clearly slowing, although it is not deteriorating, Japan's annual export growth may turn flat in January-March, which will weigh on the economy's growth," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
"But even if the Japanese economy's slowdown and downside risks become more evident early next year, the government could hardly do anything about it, with little room left to boost fiscal spending."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6BL00G20101222
Uncertainties about overseas economies bode ill for the Japanese government, whose fiscal policy options are limited due to a self-imposed cap on new borrowing for the year starting next April. The government is set to compile the 2011/12 budget this week.
Economists expect export growth to resume slowing towards the first quarter of next year but to regain strength later on demand from emerging economies.
This outlook is not assured, however, given a weak U.S. job market, Europe's debt problems and China's policy tightening aimed at staving off potential asset price bubbles.
"As the global economy is clearly slowing, although it is not deteriorating, Japan's annual export growth may turn flat in January-March, which will weigh on the economy's growth," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
"But even if the Japanese economy's slowdown and downside risks become more evident early next year, the government could hardly do anything about it, with little room left to boost fiscal spending."
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTOE6BL00G20101222
Economy expected to grow 1.5% in FY 2011
The Japanese economy is expected to grow a real, or price- adjusted, 1.5 percent year on year in fiscal 2011, supported by overseas economic recovery, with consumer prices remaining flat, government sources said Tuesday.
On a nominal basis, the economy could expand 1.0 percent in the year starting April, the sources said, with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan expected to approve the projections on Wednesday.
The Japanese economy, previously assessed by the government as "pausing," will likely start recording moderate growth in the new fiscal year, largely benefiting from economic recovery overseas especially in Asia, which would accelerate Japanese production and exports, they said.
But the level of growth in fiscal 2011 is expected to be lower than in the current year, in which the government boosted domestic consumption and industrial output with fiscal stimulus measures.
The government is also projecting that the nationwide consumer price index will remain flat, halting recent falls. However, the stabilization will fall short of suggesting that the Japanese economy will overcome chronic deflation in the upcoming business year.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K89A981&show_article=1
On a nominal basis, the economy could expand 1.0 percent in the year starting April, the sources said, with the Cabinet of Prime Minister Naoto Kan expected to approve the projections on Wednesday.
The Japanese economy, previously assessed by the government as "pausing," will likely start recording moderate growth in the new fiscal year, largely benefiting from economic recovery overseas especially in Asia, which would accelerate Japanese production and exports, they said.
But the level of growth in fiscal 2011 is expected to be lower than in the current year, in which the government boosted domestic consumption and industrial output with fiscal stimulus measures.
The government is also projecting that the nationwide consumer price index will remain flat, halting recent falls. However, the stabilization will fall short of suggesting that the Japanese economy will overcome chronic deflation in the upcoming business year.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9K89A981&show_article=1
Gender Gap
Japan is likely to sink deeper into stagnation unless society can change in a way that makes it easier for women to play a greater role by capitalizing on their abilities. This problem is highlighted every year by Japan's abysmal positions in the international rankings of gender equality.
This year, Japan was ranked 94th of 134 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), compiled by the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based nonprofit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that brings together business and political leaders from around the world. The index is based on such criteria as the ratios of men and women among members of parliament and corporate executives, and in wages.
Similarly last year, Japan ranked 57th among 109 countries in the United Nations' Gender Empowerment Measure, which measures women's standing in political and economic areas in a country.
However, Japan did take the 12th position among 138 nations in the rankings of the Gender Inequality Index, a measure of inequality in achievements between men and women introduced this year by the United Nations. The higher the ranking, the lower the inequality.
But Japan's relatively good performance was due to higher weight given to such criteria as maternal mortality.
This may make some Japanese breathe a sigh of relief. But the fact that the achievements of Japanese women in society are rated low despite their high marks for health and longevity underscores serious problems with Japanese society.
In the West, the hollowing-out of the manufacturing sector, which was supported mainly by male workers, took place in the 1980s as manufacturers shifted production to low-wage nations amid globalization.
This trend made it a crucial policy challenge in these countries to tap the abilities of women to nurture service industries.
In particular, improving the environment for women to work outside the home was regarded as the most pressing need. Consequently, efforts were made to increase the numbers of women in places like the corporate sections responsible for decision-making and in Congress.
In the Netherlands, where many male heads of households lost their jobs during this period, their wives entered the work force. For women who can't work full-time due to a shortage of child-care centers, the country enacted legislation to ensure that part-timers receive equal treatment at workplaces.
The introduction of the 35-hour workweek system in France was driven by calls for a system that makes it easier for women to work while raising children.
As international competition for the empowerment of women has spread, more countries have placed priority on promoting women's participation in politics. Now, more than 100 nations have adopted a quota system that assigns a certain percentage of elected seats to women.
This trend toward female empowerment was behind the decision to discuss how to expand the contribution of women to economic growth at this year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November.
It is time for Japan to launch a national drive to reform the systems to ensure more effective use of the power of women for its economic regeneration.
Japanese society is awash in systems, rules and practices that hamper expansion of the role of women: poor policy support for child care and nursing care; excessively long work hours; tax and pension systems that discourage women from working.
One good starting point for change would be the introduction of a quota system or some other measure to increase the ratio of women among Diet members for a wholesale review of all these systems, rules and practices.
Women in farming households played the central role in developing farm products that appeal to consumers through initiatives like the "michi no eki" (roadside station) market program.
Impressive performances of Japanese women in international sports events leave little doubt that the nation stands to gain a lot by making better use of their abilities.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201012300136.html
This year, Japan was ranked 94th of 134 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), compiled by the World Economic Forum, a Geneva-based nonprofit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that brings together business and political leaders from around the world. The index is based on such criteria as the ratios of men and women among members of parliament and corporate executives, and in wages.
Similarly last year, Japan ranked 57th among 109 countries in the United Nations' Gender Empowerment Measure, which measures women's standing in political and economic areas in a country.
However, Japan did take the 12th position among 138 nations in the rankings of the Gender Inequality Index, a measure of inequality in achievements between men and women introduced this year by the United Nations. The higher the ranking, the lower the inequality.
But Japan's relatively good performance was due to higher weight given to such criteria as maternal mortality.
This may make some Japanese breathe a sigh of relief. But the fact that the achievements of Japanese women in society are rated low despite their high marks for health and longevity underscores serious problems with Japanese society.
In the West, the hollowing-out of the manufacturing sector, which was supported mainly by male workers, took place in the 1980s as manufacturers shifted production to low-wage nations amid globalization.
This trend made it a crucial policy challenge in these countries to tap the abilities of women to nurture service industries.
In particular, improving the environment for women to work outside the home was regarded as the most pressing need. Consequently, efforts were made to increase the numbers of women in places like the corporate sections responsible for decision-making and in Congress.
In the Netherlands, where many male heads of households lost their jobs during this period, their wives entered the work force. For women who can't work full-time due to a shortage of child-care centers, the country enacted legislation to ensure that part-timers receive equal treatment at workplaces.
The introduction of the 35-hour workweek system in France was driven by calls for a system that makes it easier for women to work while raising children.
As international competition for the empowerment of women has spread, more countries have placed priority on promoting women's participation in politics. Now, more than 100 nations have adopted a quota system that assigns a certain percentage of elected seats to women.
This trend toward female empowerment was behind the decision to discuss how to expand the contribution of women to economic growth at this year's summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in November.
It is time for Japan to launch a national drive to reform the systems to ensure more effective use of the power of women for its economic regeneration.
Japanese society is awash in systems, rules and practices that hamper expansion of the role of women: poor policy support for child care and nursing care; excessively long work hours; tax and pension systems that discourage women from working.
One good starting point for change would be the introduction of a quota system or some other measure to increase the ratio of women among Diet members for a wholesale review of all these systems, rules and practices.
Women in farming households played the central role in developing farm products that appeal to consumers through initiatives like the "michi no eki" (roadside station) market program.
Impressive performances of Japanese women in international sports events leave little doubt that the nation stands to gain a lot by making better use of their abilities.
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201012300136.html
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