Nov 2010 Fukuoka Now by Fukuoka Now Ltd.

Fukuoka Now #143 November 2010

Kyushu Headline News

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English language summaries of last month's top Kyushu area news stories. 九州エリアの 1 ヵ月分の英文ニュースの中から選り抜きの話題をピックアップセブン・イレブン、鹿児島に初出店

First 7-Eleven to Open in Kagoshima 7-Eleven Japan announced it will open its first convenience store in Kagoshima Prefecture in March 2011. They also plan to open about 200 outlets in the prefecture over the following three years. The company already has 1,320 stores in the other six Kyushu prefectures. 北九州市、官民によりカンボジアで水事業

Water Purification Business in Cambodia The city of Kitakyushu announced it will team up with Metawater of Tokyo to conduct trials of a small water purification system in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 5.5 kilometers from Angkor Wat. The Tokyo company has developed a water purification system for use in small settlements. It is the first phase of a model research project conducted by public-private partnerships for water purification. Kitakyushu has sent Water Department personnel to the country since 1999 to provide water supply technology and to train personnel. 西日本シティ銀行、外国人留学生を初採用

Bank Hires First Foreigners Fukuoka City-based Nishi-Nippon City Bank announced it will hire foreign students as regular employees for the first time next April, when companies usually hire new employees. The bank has a two-fold objective—to strengthen its overseas business operations in Asia, and to create a more dynamic in-house work environment through greater diversity. The first employee will be a Chinese graduate school student at Kyushu University. The bank already has two foreign employees in their international division, but the new hire will be their first general employee. 九州初、長崎で電気自動車タクシー

Kyushu’s First Electric Taxicabs Nagasaki City’s Anzen Taxi has put two electric vehicles into service as taxicabs, and claims they are the first company in the industry in Kyushu to do so. The automobiles used are Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, which can travel for 160 kilometers on one charge. They also have a rapid charge function, in which the battery can be recharged to 80% capacity in 30 minutes. 第一交通産業が 7 社の株式取得

Dai-Ichi Kotsu Sangyo Acquires Companies Kitakyushu-based Dai-Ichi Kotsu Sangyo acquired all the stock in seven companies, including that of Kyoto Taxi. The amount of the purchases was not disclosed. Six of the companies operate taxis with an aggregate fleet of

656 cabs, bringing the group total to 7,251. The companies are based in Shiga and Fukui Prefectures and the Kyoto Metropolitan District, which brings to 33 the number of prefectures in which Dai-Ichi Kotsu Sangyo has a business presence. 九州 7 県の最低賃金、12 〜 13 円増

Lowest Kyushu Salaries Climb Prefectural government surveys in all seven of the Kyushu prefectures show that the lowest hourly wages in the region have risen to roughly 642-692 yen. This is a 12-13 yen year-on-year increase, previously seen only in 1998, when the economy was stronger. The upward pressure on wages has been causing distress among owners of microenterprises and small businesses. 佐賀県で「妻は家庭」、女性の 34%

Preference to Remain Housewives Rises Saga Prefecture recently conducted a survey among its residents about the ideal roles of men and women in society. Those who agreed with a clear division of roles, with the men working and the women remaining housewives, totaled 38% of the men and 34% of the women. This is an increase of two percentage points for men from the previous 2004 survey and nine percentage points for women. The highest aggregate score was for a lifestyle that balanced work and home, which was preferred by 36% of both the men and women. 環黄海経済・技術交流会議、環境問題を連携し解決

Regional Council for Environmental Issues Yellow Sea Rim Economic and Technology and Exchange Council, which works to create sustainable economic exchange between Kyushu, China, and South Korea, will meet next month for the 10th time in Kitakyushu. They plan on issuing a joint declaration pledging to work together to solve common environmental problems. Plans also call for discussions of the role of government, and how to promote technology exchange in the software industry. The joint declaration will be their first. 福岡の会社、汚泥や河川を高速浄化

Fukuoka Water Purification Method Fukuoka City-based First Solution has developed a technique for rapidly cleaning water of mud and debris. The compact device, which is easily transportable with a small truck, uses the mesh cut method. It is expected to be used not only for quick cleanup of the waste water generated by road construction, but also for river cleanups. 新博多駅ビル売り上げ高、年間 930 億円に修正

Hakata Station Building Annual Sales Revised

Fukuoka Now #143 November 2010

The Development Bank of Japan has revised downward its estimates for the annual sales of commercial establishments in JR Hakata City, the new building at JR Hakata Station due to open next spring. Their original estimate last November was 130 billion yen, but the new estimate is for 93 billion yen. The revisions were based on the most recent figures for the total sales floor area and other factors. They also revised downward their estimate of the sales revenue the building would capture from the Tenjin commercial district. The bank now expects that to total 18 billion yen, or 3.9% of aggregate sales. 北九州空港、大型貨物便到着、初助成へ

Government to Subsidize Kitakyushu Airport Fukuoka Prefecture and the city of Kitakyushu are working to promote the Kitakyushu airport as a hub for large freight shipments by utilizing its round-the-clock operations. They instituted a system this fiscal year of providing subsidies of 30 yen per kilogram of air freight shipped through the airport. The first beneficiary was a KAL charter flight shipping 100 head of horses to be used for food from Canada to a ranch in Kumamoto Prefecture. 九州新幹線、2011 年 3 月 12 日全通を決定

Kyushu Shinkansen to Begin on March 12 JR Kyushu announced that full service on the Kyushu Shinkansen would begin on March 12 next year. There will also be direct service on the line to Osaka. A Saturday was selected as the starting date because there will be fewer business passengers and any problems that arise will cause a minimum of disruption. 九州 4 県高校生求人倍率、下位 10 位内

Employment Bleak for High School Students The government revealed that as of the end of July, the national average for the ratio of employment opportunities for each high school senior who intends to enter the workforce is 0.67. Of the seven Kyushu prefectures, four are in the bottom 10 nationwide—Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Miyazaki, and Kagoshima. All seven are below the national average, with the highest ratio that of Fukuoka Prefecture at 0.51. This indicates that an economic recovery in the region has yet to arrive. 福岡県、アジア国際特区を申請

Special Asia-International District Fukuoka Prefecture has applied to the national government for designation as aspecial strategic Asia-international district. They hope to use this designation to improve business ties

九州ニュース

with the dynamic Asian region, particularly in the environmental sector. If approved, it could boost the prefecture’s gross domestic product to 15 trillion yen in 10 years. 対馬で省エネの電動船外機、実験開始

Electric Outboard Motor Trials Trials of small electric outboard boat motors using no liquid fuel have begun in Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture. They are part of a larger group of trials for energy saving equipment conducted by the Fisheries Agency. The trials are slated to run for two months. Information will be collected on their performance and capacity to be recharged. 福岡の来春新卒採用、50% 割れ

Fewer than 50% to Hire New Grads The Fukuoka Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed the results of their survey of local companies’ plans to hire new graduates next spring. Only 49.4% of the companies said they planned to hire, a 0.9 percentage-point drop from the previous year. This will be the third consecutive annual decline in the number of companies adding new employees, and it is the first three-year decline since 1998-2000. The total number of companies planning to hire hasn’t fallen below 50% since 2004.

大分パルコ、閉店を 1 か月前倒しへ

Oita Parco to Close Early Discussions are underway to advance by one month the date the Parco shopping facility in Oita City will close. Operations at the symbol of the city’s shopping district were originally scheduled to end at the end of February, but the owners are negotiating with tenants to move up the date. An official announcement is due at the end of the month. 西鉄「バスナビ」にグッドデサイン賞

Navigation System Wins Good Design Award The Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization has given a Good Design Award to the NishiNippon Railway Corp. (Nishitetsu) for Nishitetsu Bus Navi, a service that provides information on the location of its route buses. The system, which uses GPS, is provided on the roughly 2,500 buses of the company and its affiliates. The service was instituted in 2004, and it allows users to access the company website through a PC or cell phone to find the present location of a bus they wish to board, and the time it is scheduled to arrive at a designated bus stop.

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

Fukuoka Now #143 November 2010