| Sep 02 | Twitter Japan ad sales are over $3 million for the year (sfgate.com) |
 How well is Twitter's monetization going? Other than to say it's going "better than expected" COO Dick Costolo and company are fairly tight-lipped.
Luckily, Twitter Japan - run by Tokyo-based Digital Garage Inc.- is not so discrete.
Digital Garage predicts ad sales will generate around $20 million in 2011.
The Wall Street Journal reports that this year, 82 different companies have run ads on Twitter Japan, generating approximately $2.4 million sales.
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| Sep 02 | Lehman Japan gets court nod for liquidating (Reuters) |
| Lehman Brothers Holdings' Japanese subsidiary is one of the first major units to get going with its liquidation process, after it got court approval for its debt repayment plans, the Nikkei business daily reported. Lehman Brothers Japan Inc got approval for liquidation from the Tokyo district court and secured support for the plans from a majority of its creditors on Wednesday, and is expected to start repaying its debt by late November, the paper reported. |
| Sep 02 | Tesla gets sportscar subsidy in Japan (bizjournals.com) |
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| Sep 02 | A shift in strategy needed to revive Japanese industry (Japan Times) |
| Against the backdrop of intensifying Japan-U.S. trade frictions in the 1980s, it was considered for some time that Japan's economic power was a threat to the United States. This country's high rating has since declined, however, giving way to comments like "Japan has disappeared from the world's radar screen." Over time Japan had boasted of its excellent manufacturing skills. But in recent years, China has replaced Japan as the leader in the production of traditional industrial goods while South Korean and Taiwanese makers have overtaken Japanese counterparts in the output of LEDs, 3-D products and other high-tech items. In addition, Japan now lags behind the U.S. in the development of trendy products, such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad. |
| Sep 02 | Japanese cut BHP Billiton coal prices due to reduced steel Chinese demand (The Australian) |
| Several Japanese steelmakers have agreed a lower coking coal price with supplier BHP Billiton amid a slowdown in Chinese steel demand. The move could also flow over to iron ore prices. UBS analysts and Japan's Nikkei financial newspaper reported that the mining giant had reduced its coking coal price by 7 per cent for Japanese steel mills for the three months to the end of December. BHP, the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and Japanese steel mill Nippon Steel declined to comment on the reports. |
| Sep 01 | Coca-Cola's New Ingredient in Japan Is Kale (adage.com) |
 Coca-Cola Co. drinks made from kale -- a nutritious but not very tasty leafy green vegetable -- could soon turn up on store shelves. Coca-Cola West, the Atlanta-based beverage giant's largest bottler in Japan, said this week it will spend $425.6 million to buy Q'Sai Co., a major Japanese health-food producer whose main product is a green juice called "aojiru" made of kale. Q'sai, a Fukuoka-based company that also produces supplements, soap and cream made of collagen, was put up for sale earlier this year by owners Daiwa Corporate Investment.
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| Aug 31 | Japan Airlines to cut workforce in restructuring plan (CNN) |
Japan Airlines on Tuesday submitted its bankruptcy plans for approval, a proposal that includes slashing roughly one-third of its workforce.
The plan includes the loss of roughly 16,000 jobs; a 521.5 billion yen ($ 6.2 billion) debt waiver, mainly from financial institutions; and a 350 billion yen ($ 4.2 billion) investment in the airline by the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan.
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| Aug 31 | Japan's taxi firms introducing all-electric fleets (independent.co.uk) |
 Impressed by the success of the Better Place experiment with electric taxis in the city of Tokyo, an increasing number of Japan's taxi operators are adopting electric vehicles (EVs).
Nissan Motor Co. has received advance orders for around 6,000 orders for its Leaf electric car, which will go on sale in Japan in December, with several hundred of those orders from taxi companies. Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s i-MiEV is also proving popular with drivers.
Many of those firms are based in Yokohama, which is one of two local authorities in Japan to introduce subsidy programs for anyone who purchases an environmentally vehicle. Similar schemes are due to be introduced in other cities around Japan in the near future, including Tokyo.
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| Aug 31 | McDonald's Great Moon Burger Is Big In Japan (popfi.com) |
 The specialized foods available at the Japanese version of McDonald's are pretty incredible. The Japanese have strange tastes, and the things they associate with America are even stranger once filtered through the Japanese culture. However, it's still McDonald's. That's what makes it so fascinating. It's as familiar as the restaurant down the street and as weird as all get-out. Now, McDonald's Japan is back to celebrate the anniversary of a uniquely Japanese food item: the Moon Burger.
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| Aug 31 | Green investors in the red / Govt lumber scheme returns fall as prices hit record low (Yomiuri) |
| About 80 percent of the lumber generated by the Forestry Agency's green owners' system--a scheme to get people to invest in wood produced from state-owned forests--went unsold at auctions in fiscal 2009, causing many investors to lose their money, it was learned Monday. Under the government-run investment scheme, the agency invited investors to put money into lots of cedar and cypress lumber produced from state-owned forests in 4,700 locations across the nation. The unsold wood from the investments that matured last year came from 417 sites covering 2,200 hectares. |
| Aug 31 | Mitsui unit plans more China malls (Japan Times) |
| Mitsui Fudosan Co. plans to open more shopping centers in China as the company bets consumer spending will spur demand even as the government attempts to cool the housing market. Japan's largest property developer plans to build "several" shopping centers in cities including Beijing starting in 2014, after completing its first mall in Shanghai by 2013, said Takehito Fukui, a project manager of the retail properties division at Mitsui Fudosan. The plan will depend on the completion of the Shanghai project. |
| Aug 28 | Low-cost airlines fuel competition (Japan Times) |
 Japan's tightly regulated skies have been seeing some changes in recent years, with a wave of low-cost carriers from Asia entering the market and domestic budget airlines rising to intensify the competition.
Observers are looking carefully at the impact on the Japanese airline industry, especially what it means for All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Corp.
When JAL filed for protection from its creditors in January, transport minister Seiji Maehara said he would take a close look at whether Japan will need two megacarriers in the future, when competition will only grow more intense.
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| Aug 28 | Toyota recalls 1.1 million cars over 'any speed' stall (Japan Times) |
| Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will recall about 1.13 million Corolla and Matrix vehicles because of an engine defect that federal regulators said could cause cars to stall "at any speed without warning." Toyota said in a statement it will recall the vehicles for the model years 2005 to 2008 in the United States and Canada following at least three reported accidents due to the defect. The action adds to record recalls in the past year by Toyota, including more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for flaws tied to unintended acceleration. |
| Aug 28 | Kirin to take full control of Mercian (Japan Times) |
| Kirin Holdings Co. said Friday it will turn its winemaking subsidiary Mercian Corp. into a wholly owned unit on Dec. 1 by acquiring all shares through a stock swap. After receiving approval at a meeting of the winemaker's shareholders, Kirin plans to complete the swap at a ratio of 0.14 Kirin share for one Mercian share. Kirin plans to issue 9,336,502 new shares through the stock swap, the holding company said. |
| Aug 27 | Fujitsu, Sony stick to 'made in Japan' business model (Mainichi) |
 In spite of Japan's rising yen, computer manufacturers Fujitsu and Sony, which have a strong overseas presence, are strengthening their domestic production of high-performance computers.
The electronics giants have determined that the power of the "made in Japan" label remains strong for high-performance models competing in design, weight and processing power. They have also concluded that having domestic planning and design divisions will enable them to quickly respond to changes in consumers' preferences -- a key factor in maintaining a competitive edge.
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| Aug 27 | Surge in Chinese visitors boosts July tourist numbers to record high (Mainichi) |
| Japan attracted some 879,000 visitors to its shores in July, including about 165,000 from China, marking record highs for the month in both categories. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the figures broke previous July records for total visitors -- 825,000, set in 2008 -- and visitors from China -- 101,000, marked in 2007. |
| Aug 26 | All Nippon Airways is Japan's top carrier: Nikkei (AFP) |
 Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) became the nation's top air carrier in June, dethroning flagship carrier Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL) on passenger volume and cargo, the Nikkei reported Thursday.
ANA's passenger figures for both domestic and international flights in June reached 3.65 million, up 10 percent from a year ago, the business daily said.
JAL, going through a court-led restructuring process after filing for a bankruptcy protection, carried 3.55 million passengers in the month, marking a one-percent decline on-year, according to the Nikkei.
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| Aug 26 | Japan high-tech toilet makers flush with success (AFP) |
 In Japan, the global leader in high-tech toilet design, the latest restroom marvel should come with a health warning for hypochondriacs -- it doubles as a medical lab that can really spoil your day.
Japanese toilets have long and famously dominated the world of bathroom hygiene with their array of functions, from posterior shower jets to perfume bursts and noise-masking audio effects for the easily-embarrassed.
The latest "intelligent" model, manufactured by market leader Toto, goes a step further and isn't for the faint-hearted: it offers its users an instant health check-up every time they answer the call of nature.
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| Aug 26 | Double taxes 'to be settled by arbitration' (Yomiuri) |
| The government will introduce an arbitration committee system to settle disputes on corporate taxation where both Japan and a foreign country claim the right to tax, it has been learned. As the system's first case, the government plans to soon revise its tax treaty with the Netherlands and then lay out the structure for the committee. Problems with double taxation are common over transactions between domestic corporations and their overseas affiliates. If a Japanese company sells products to an overseas affiliate at unfairly low prices, Japan's tax authorities impose taxes on the Japanese firm, judging that income which should be taxed was transferred overseas. However, the country of the overseas affiliate also often imposes a tax. |
| Aug 26 | Offshore power plant blueprint unveiled (Yomiuri) |
| The government plans to build an offshore power-generation plant in fiscal 2012 to harness oceanic energy, with commercialization scheduled for as early as fiscal 2016, a government official said Wednesday. According to a plan laid out by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, the plant--a joint venture with the industrial and academic sectors--will use oceanic energy such as wave power and marine currents to generate electricity. Early testing for the envisioned plant is scheduled for fiscal 2011. |
| Aug 26 | Prada Japan hits back at ex-employee over harassment lawsuit (AFP) |
 The Japanese unit of Italian fashion house Prada has launched a countersuit claiming defamation against a former employee who is suing the company for alleged sexual harassment and unfair dismissal.
Prada Japan is suing former manager Rina Bovrisse at the Tokyo District Court, which held its first hearing Tuesday, demanding she pay 33 million yen (390,000 dollars) for harming its image, the Japan Times reported Wednesday.
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| Aug 25 | One-way trip between Shanghai, Ibaraki to cost 4,000 yen (AP) |
| Chinese discount carrier Spring Airlines will offer a 4,000 yen one-way ticket between Shanghai and Ibaraki Airport, about 80 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, from September 15 to 29 on a total of 14 flights, it said Wednesday. The discount fare will apply to around 10 percent of the total 180 seats per flight, while fares for other seats are set at between 8,000 yen and 26,000 yen. Spring Airlines launched chartered flights between the two destinations in July, and has recently received approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to offer the 4,000 yen ticket. |
| Aug 25 | Kagoshima bullet-train link near (Japan Times) |
| Kyushu Railway Co. is making final arrangements to start operations on the Kyushu Shinkansen Line between the cities of Fukuoka and Kagoshima next March 12, sources said Tuesday. JR Kyushu will make a formal decision by the end of September, pending consultations with local governments and West Japan Railway Co., the sources said. The launch date could be moved up or back by about a week because it plans to start the service on the day other JR group firms revise their spring timetables. |
| Aug 25 | Prius gets humming device to give pedestrians ears-up (Japan Times) |
 Toyota's Prius hybrid is becoming a little less quiet with a new electronic humming device the automaker hopes answers complaints from pedestrians who can't hear the top-selling car approaching.
The ¥12,600 speaker system, which will be installed under the hood of the third-generation Prius, sets off a whirring sound designed to be about the same noise level as a regular car engine so it isn't annoying, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday.
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| Aug 25 | Osaka's Shinsaibashi to host Uniqlo's first flagship store in Japan (Japan Times) |
 Fast Retailing Co., which runs the popular Uniqlo casual wear chain, will open its first domestic flagship Oct. 1 in Osaka's Shinsaibashi district. The four-story building with one basement floor will be its fifth flagship store, following those in New York, London, Paris and Shanghai.
The Shinsaibashi outlet, with 2,650 sq. meters of floor space, will sell the full line of Uniqlo products, ranging from clothes for men, women and babies as well as shoes and other fashion items, the company said Monday.
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| Aug 24 | Taxes used to save failing govt hotels / KKR bailout cost 18 bil. yen over a decade (Yomiuri) |
| Over the past 10 years, 17.7 billion yen in tax money has been used to cover losses incurred by hotels run by the central government workers' mutual aid organization, it has been learned. The Federation of National Public Service Personal Mutual Aid Associations, which runs the KKR Hotels across the nation, spent between 1.5 billion yen and 2.1 billion yen a year in public funds from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2009 to cover the hotels' debts, according to documents from the Finance Ministry, which has jurisdiction over the federation. There are 43 KKR Hotels in 29 prefectures, including Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. In the 1960s, there were about 80. Since then, the government has closed hotels that run in the red for two consecutive years and have negative prospects for the following year. |
| Aug 23 | Incheon Airport leads way / Narita, Haneda left on tarmac by South Korean hub (Yomiuri) |
| The government's civil aviation administration has been criticized for failing to make a clear-cut distinction between the roles of Narita and Haneda airports, while other airports are financially strapped due to cuts in flights and deteriorating government finances. This is the first installment of a three-part series on ways to reinvigorate the nation's airports. Incheon Airport has strengthened its position as an Asian hub to such a degree that travelers flying from local Japanese airports often prefer to use the South Korean airport to transit to other cities rather than use Narita and Haneda airports. As part of its business offensive, the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) held an explanatory meeting at a hotel in Nagoya early last month for Japanese travel agencies. |
| Aug 23 | Hyogo gardening company offers 'Koshien dirt' (Yomiuri) |
| Thanks to a gardening company in Hyogo Prefecture, high school baseball teams can now purchase a new source of inspiration for their players: Koshien-style dirt. The Hanshin Engei company maintains the field at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya in the prefecture, the site of the annual national high school baseball championship. On Aug. 1, the firm began selling Hanshin Engei Guraundo Kiipaa no Tsuchi (Hanshin Engei groundskeeper's dirt), a product with exactly the same composition as the dirt on the stadium field. The firm has since received about 50 inquiries, and orders for 70 bags of 15 liters each. One person asked how many bags would be needed to cover an entire baseball field with the dirt. |
| Aug 23 | Tourism chiefs want 26 million 'intervisitations' (Japan Times) |
| The tourism chiefs of Japan, China and South Korea agreed Sunday to get 26 million people to visit their three countries in 2015 - nearly double the total for 2009. The target, mentioned in a joint statement from their trilateral meeting in China, noted that the three countries' earlier goal of 17 million "intervisitations" in 2010 is expected to be achieved. A total of 13.5 million people traveled among the three East Asian countries in 2009. |
| Aug 23 | HMV Japan set to close flagship store in Tokyo (AP) |
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| Aug 22 | Top-quality hotels join Japan's cityscapes (independent.co.uk) |
 A slew of luxury hotels are nearing completion in a number of Japanese cities, with operators delighted at the state of the inbound tourism industry despite the strength of the yen against other currencies.
Figures released by the Japan National Tourism Organisation show that some 4.2 million foreign tourists visited Japan in the first six months of the calendar year, up a remarkable 35.8 percent from a year earlier and the second-highest figure ever recorded for the period.
To meet the surging demand for top-notch accommodation in Japan's second city, the first St. Regis hotel in the country will open in the heart of Osaka's bustling commercial and entertainment district on October 1.
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| Aug 22 | Wako's Ginza outlets to open all days (Japan Times) |
 Luxury specialty store Wako Co. will open two flagship outlets in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district on Sundays and holidays from October, effectively abolishing nonbusiness days, in an effort to win new customers and better cater to existing shoppers, Wako's parent firm, Seiko Holdings Corp., said Friday. One of the outlets is the flagship clock tower building located at Ginza's main Yonchome intersection, which has become a landmark of the shopping district. The outlet has been closed on Sundays and national holidays as nonbusiness days since it started operations in 1952.
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| Aug 22 | Rakuten's English-only policy endures close media scrutiny (Japan Times) |
| Learn to speak English, or else! That's the message for employees of Internet services company Rakuten, Inc. Back in May, the company announced plans to adopt English as the company's official language by 2012. That means all meetings and communications within the company would be conducted solely in English. Rakuten President Hiroshi Mikitani added more details in an online interview June 16 with business publisher Toyo Keizai. |
| Aug 21 | Honda's U.S. output protects profit (Japan Times) |
| Honda Motor Co. became the first Japanese automaker to build cars in the U.S. 28 years ago in part to fulfill a long-held goal of founder Soichiro Honda. The company's success in shifting production is shielding profits from the yen's advance to a 15-year high against the dollar. A record 89 percent of Honda and Acura-brand autos sold in the U.S. through July were built in Honda's plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, up from 82.2 percent a year earlier. Rivals Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. each made 68 percent of vehicles sold in the U.S. at North American plants, according to the carmakers. |
| Aug 21 | 7th suspect arrested over eel mislabeling scandal (AP) |
 Police arrested a seventh suspect Friday in connection with allegations that frozen broiled eels imported from China by major supermarket chain operator Ito-Yokado Co. were later resold by falsely changing the importer's name on their labels.
Kenichi Nishihara, 47, was arrested by the Kanagawa prefectural police upon his return to Japan from China on Friday night.
Nishihara is an acquaintance of Nobuyuki Koike, 47, a former employee of Tokyo fisheries importer Takayama Seafood Co., who is one of the six suspects arrested Wednesday, the police said.
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| Aug 20 | Japan to subsidize energy-efficient plants (Reuters) |
| Japan's government plans to subsidize domestic plants producing clean-energy and energy-efficient goods under steps to support the slowing economy, the Nikkei newspaper said, as the murky outlook keeps firms from boosting spending at home. A strong yen is putting additional pressure on Japan's fragile economy, which is already seeing slowing growth and mired in grinding deflation, forcing the government to consider drafting a package of stimulus measures. |
| Aug 20 | Banks bail on low-interest education loans (Japan Times) |
| In an unexpected side-effect of new regulations meant to deter aggressive sales practices, some banks, including Resona Bank, have stopped accepting applications for low-interest education loans designed for university and vocational school students. Three banks operated by Resona Holdings, Inc. and some regional banks have terminated the low-interest loans, designed to help pay admission, tuition and other fees. The loans are extended to students' parents in cooperation with the educational institutions, which sometimes act as guarantor or contribute to interest payments. It is the first time a major bank group has been known to withdraw from a cooperation loan program of this nature. |
| Aug 20 | Kirin trying to fend off Ito En / Giant beverage maker seen losing 3rd place in soft-drink market (Japan Times) |
| Kirin Beverage Co. is feeling a breeze down its neck as hard-charging Ito En Ltd. is almost certain to snatch third place in the soft-drink market. With the soft-drink industry suffering from sluggish sales, all eyes are on Kirin to see if it can stop its rival. According to Inryo Soken Inc., a beverage research institute, Kirin's soft-drink sales from January to June fell by 7 percent from the same period last year to 79.3 million cases, while those of Ito En increased by 5 percent to 79.2 million cases. |
| Aug 20 | Sony ordered to pay inventor ¥5 million (Japan Times) |
| The Intellectual Property High Court on Thursday ordered Sony Corp. to pay a former employee about ¥5.1 million for inventing a technology used in the PlayStation, reversing a lower court ruling that rejected his demand. Hidehiro Kume, 58, wanted ¥100 million for his invention of a small optical pickup used to play and record data on optical discs for the popular game consoles sold through 2003. |
| Aug 19 | Shoppers in the hole after counterfeit online auction deals (Asahi) |
| Internet shoppers seeking bargains on Yahoo Japan Corp.'s online auction site were taken for a ride by an individual offering brand-name golf products. The items turned out to be fake. More than 100 such items have been sold since July, officials said. The scam, apparently perpetrated by a single individual, and other online auction problems prompted the Consumer Affairs Agency to set up a special task force Wednesday. |
| Aug 19 | Lines are being redrawn for Japan's anime industry (Los Angeles Times) |
 As production houses cut costs by sending animation jobs to South Korea, India and Vietnam, the number of experienced workers in Japan is shrinking. Competitors in China are another threat to Japan's cultural icon. More recently, competitors in China are cranking out their own lines of films and anime shows, in an effort to draw business away from Japan. Piracy is also on the rise, as bootlegging flourishes on YouTube and other Internet sites. And the popularity of the art form is cooling at home in Japan, as video games and the Web compete for consumers' time and money.
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| Aug 19 | Aircraft fuel tax may be halved (Japan Times) |
| The transport ministry is planning to halve the aircraft fuel tax for domestic flights to ease the burden on airlines and help enhance their global competitiveness, sources said. The ministry plans to cut the fuel tax to ¥13,000 per kiloliter from the current ¥26,000, the sources said. The reduction would be included in its requests for tax revisions next fiscal year starting in March. It would be the first cut in the aircraft fuel tax since the levy was introduced in 1972. |
| Aug 19 | Nissan to give temps some stability (Japan Times) |
| Nissan Motor Co. will forgo using job-placement agencies and start directly hiring all temporary nonengineering staff in phases beginning in October in an apparent effort to provide employment stability to workers in line with a labor office request, company officials said Wednesday. Nissan's move may spur other companies to rethink their hiring practices, analysts say, although Toyota and Honda say they have no current plans to follow suit. |
| Aug 19 | Strikes at Japanese affiliates show lack of understanding the Chinese (Japan Times) |
| Japanese companies need to have a better understanding of the rapidly changing popular sentiments in China and improve communication with workers at their affiliated plants in the country, veteran journalists from local Chinese newspapers said at a recent seminar in Tokyo. The recent wave of strikes at foreign-affiliated businesses in China - and the way some of the firms tried to resolve the disputes through government intervention - suggests that the companies lack the understanding of what their workers want, they said. |
| Aug 19 | Plane fuel tax cut may close local airports (Yomiuri) |
| A transport ministry plan to halve the aircraft fuel tax could spell doom for some of Japan's regional airports. The ministry likely will be pressed during budget negotiations to drastically review the airport improvement account, with funds earmarked for regional airport upgrades likely to be targeted for deep cuts. The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry will soon start negotiations with the Finance Ministry on the fiscal 2011 budget. The talks are likely to be tense because the transport ministry may be urged to reduce the revenue transferred from the general account to the airport improvement account and rectify the nation's overabundance of airports. |
| Aug 19 | More firms opening doors to HIV positive (Yomiuri) |
| The number of corporations willing to place HIV carriers on their payrolls to fulfill quotas for disabled persons has gradually increased, part of a greater trend to employ more handicapped people after the revised Disabled Person Employment Promotion Law came into effect in July. Some observers believe if more HIV-positive people speak openly about their experiences, it could deepen understanding about what it means to live with the infectious disease. One Tokyo company hired an HIV-positive person for the first time last year, and now employs four people with the disease. |
| Aug 18 | More cheese makers to recall products due to metal-tainted ingredients (AP) |
| Cheese maker Union Cheese Co. and two other cheese distributors said Wednesday they will voluntarily recall some of their cheese products in the wake of Meiji Dairies Corp.'s recall on Monday after finding metallic pieces in cheese ingredients imported from Germany. Sharing the same German ingredients with Meiji Dairies, Union Cheese said it will withdraw some 380,000 cheese products from shops run by supermarket chains Seiyu GK, Seijo Ishii Co., and cheese provider Chesco Co. Cheese maker Tokyo Dairy Co. and cheese seller Hoko Co. also said they will voluntarily recall their products for possible metal mixtures. |
| Aug 18 | Bank of Japan's first female branch head says women denied work experience (Bloomberg) |
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| Aug 18 | 300,000 Mazda cars are recalled (UKPA) |
| Mazda is recalling more than 300,000 Mazda3 and Mazda5 vehicles in North America to fix problems with the power-steering system that could lead to a crash. The Japanese firm told the US Government the recall involved model year 2007-2009 Mazda3 and Mazda5 vehicles built from April 2007 through November 2008. The recall involves 215,000 vehicles in the United States and an additional 100,000 vehicles in Canada and Mexico. Mazda said the vehicles could have a sudden loss of power-steering assist, making it difficult for the driver to steer the vehicle and increase the risk of a crash. |
| Aug 17 | China's rich tourists bring a shopping revolution to Japan (guardian.co.uk) |
 The Japanese are feeling the impact of China's emergence as an economic superpower in many different ways. As their relative spending power declines, so that of their neighbour's rises and the relationship between the two countries changes.
Japanese businesses, for example, are switching from buyer to seller, with shoppers increasingly likely to be served by Chinese workers brought in to help deal with increasing numbers of cash-rich tourists from the middle kingdom.
Chinese visitors to Japan have jumped 80% over the last year, following a relaxation on visa requirements, providing a much wanted boost in business at Japan's department stores and luxury outlets, where sales to domestic customers have long stagnated.
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