People in focus Coming Soon. Japanese Electric Rice Cookers Are Not Just for Cooking Rice Induction heating rice cookers that can cook			Top News 5 | FEB. 1. 2005 | Sony under Close Scrutiny; Can the Company Regain Strength in its Technical Capabilities? Nobuyuki Idei, Chairman and Group CEO of the Sony Corporation is sometimes heard complaining that Sony shareholders are difficult and cannot be satisfied with operational performance that is at a level that is on par with those of other companies. | FEB. 1. 2005 | Japanese Manufacturing Bases for Digital Consumer Electronics, etc., Clearly Coming Back to Japan; a Move towards Strategies to Prevent Handing Everything Over to China A trend toward relocating overseas Japanese manufacturing bases for competitive cutting-edge products, particularly those in the field of digital consumer products, back to Japan is making itself apparent. | FEB. 1. 2005 | How Long Will the Boom in Steel Continue? According to the latest revised forecasts of consolidated operating performances for this fiscal year (FY2004) that were announced between late August and early September 2004 by Nippon Steel Corporation, JFE Holdings, Inc., Sumitomo Metal Industries, Ltd., and Kobe Steel, Ltd. the consolidated current incomes of these four blast furnace steel manufacturers combined is expected to become 910 billion yen, greatly exceeding the past high of 577.6 billion yen marked in FY1989 during the bubble economy, Some are seeing this as a restoration of the status of the steel industry, but it is still unclear how long this boom will continue. | FEB. 1. 2005 | With the Kyoto Protocol Entering into Force in Early 2005, Argument over the Introduction of an Environment Tax Is Reignited; While Industrial Circles Remain Opposed, the Introduction of this New Tax Seems More Likely Up to now, the industrial circle has been adamantly opposed to the introduction of an environment tax in Japan. However, now that it has been decided that the Kyoto Protocol will be entering into force, the establishment of this new tax in Japan seems more likely. | NOV. 1. 2004 | Facsimiles Doggedly Hanging On in this Age of Email: A Reflection of Japan's Rapidly Aging Society? Is the end to the age of facsimiles imminent now that we are in an age of email use? It does not look that way, at least not in Japan. Hot Topics 7 Distribution of Old-model Bills Ceased to Prevent the Use of Bogus Notes After a spate of discoveries of counterfeit notes modeled after the old 10,000 yen bills erupted across Japan, the Bank of Japan announced on January 14 that it would speed up its bill replacement program by ceasing to distribute old-model banknotes to commercial banks beginning January 17. Fake 10,000 yen bills had been used not only at Japanese temples and shrines, busy over the New Year holidays with worshippers, but were also discovered at a casino in South Korea. Behind the forgeries is the proliferation of sophisticated printers that has made the counterfeiting of old-model notes easy.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | Record Amount of Foreign Securities Investment in Japan The Japanese Ministry of Finance announced on January 13 that the buying of Japanese securities by foreign investors in 2004 exceeded selling by 15.26 trillion yen, a record figure since this kind of a survey was begun. Of such buying, 70 percent were for equities, proof that Japan's stock market is being sustained by the purchase of stocks by foreign investors.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | Blue LED Patent Dispute Settled at 600 Million Yen The lawsuit by Shuji Nakamura against his former employer Nichia Corporation, in which Nakamura had been seeking the payment of 20 billion yen as compensation for the transfer of the patent for his invention of the blue light-emitting diode (LED), reached a court-mediated settlement by the Tokyo High Court on January 11. In a lower court ruling, the Tokyo District Court judged that the invention had generated roughly 60.4 billion yen worth of business for Nichia and had ordered Nichia to pay Nakamura, currently a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara the full 20 billion yen demanded. The dispute was settled by the recommendation of the appeal court for an amicable settlement of 600 million yen (plus compensation for delayed payment), resulting in a payment that is one one-hundredth of the worth assessed by the lower court.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | China Unseats the United States as Japan's Biggest Trading Partner According to trade-related statistics announced by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on January 26, Japan's trade value with China (including Hong Kong) reached 22.2005 trillion yen in 2004. This was the first time since the end of World War II that the value of Japan's trade with the United States was surpassed by that with another country. While Japan is exporting items, with a focus on electronics, to China, there has been an increase in imports from China due to the fact that many Japanese companies have shifted their manufacturing bases to the country. Both exports and imports to and from China increased on a major scale.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | The Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors Resigns to Take the Blame Taking the blame for the lack in progress of the revitalization of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), Yoichiro Okazaki resigned as Chairman of MMC in late January after less than one year in the post. The president of MMC was also replaced at that time. Despite the establishment of an aid package by the Mitsubishi group, such as the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd., and others, there have been no signs seen of MMC's emergence from the doldrums since its sales fell into serious a serious slump after a spate of discoveries regarding the company's hiding of defective parts.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | Yahoo Enters the Online Banking Business Yahoo Japan Corporation and Aozora Bank, Ltd. announced on January 20 that they will be joining forces to provide Internet-based banking services. Yahoo Japan will enter the banking business by taking a stake in Aozora Bank's subsidiary Aozora Trust Bank, Ltd. bringing it under the Yahoo Japan umbrella. The aim is to secure a piece of the Internet-based settlement and other financial services business. Meanwhile, Livedoor Co., Ltd., a provider of Internet and other related services, announced on January 24 that it would also be establishing an Internet-based bank before the end of 2005.    | FEB. 1. 2005 | Haneda Airport Begins Moving toward a Major Expansion with an Eye on Globalization A second passenger terminal was completed at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and opened on December 1. The construction of Terminal 2 was only the first phase of the airport's expansion plan. A fourth runway is scheduled to be completed in 2009. The additional runway will expand the number of available landing slots and enable Haneda, which is currently mainly serving domestic flights, to take on a stronger role as an international airport for short-haul flights between Japan and various Asian cities. A new international passenger terminal is expected to be opened at that time.    | FEB. 1. 2005 |