* * * * * * * * * T E R R I E 'S T A K E * * * * * * *<br>A weekly roundup of news & information from Terrie Lloyd.<br>(<a href="http://www.terrie.com">http://www.terrie.com</a>)<br><br>General Edition Sunday, March 28, 2010 Issue No. 559<br>
<br>+++ INDEX<br><br>- What's new<br>- News<br>- Candidate roundup/Vacancies<br>- Upcoming events<br>- Corrections/Feedback<br>- News credits<br><br>SUBSCRIBE to, UNSUBSCRIBE from Terrie's Take at:<br><a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie">http://mailman.japaninc.com/mailman/listinfo/terrie</a><br>
<br>BACK ISSUES<br><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take">http://www.japaninc.com/terries_take</a>, or,<br><a href="http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/">http://mailman.japaninc.com/pipermail/terrie/</a><br>
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<br>------------- PBXL is Business Communications -------------<br><br><br>+++ WHAT'S NEW<br><br>The week before last, Fast Retailing's Uniqlo brand said <br>that it is experiencing a big boom in women's fashion <br>
leggings, and will be expanding its line-up from less than <br>10 styles last year to 107 styles this year. Uniqlo makes <br>thin but collectively massive margins from knowing what <br>consumers want, and this year they want the thin look -- <br>
so you can be sure that leggings, most commonly worn with <br>miniskirts, are going to be big this season.<br><br>OK, so big deal, the streets are going to feature some more<br>eye candy, but how is this meaningful to the rest of us <br>
(i.e., women who don't wear leggings and almost all men)? <br>Well, we started thinking about those leggings and why they<br>are so popular. For sure the main attraction is that as a <br>young or young-at-heart female you get to show off your <br>
legs without feeling embarrassed. This is certainly the <br>marketing message, and anyone with a bit of fat on their <br>thighs needn't buy them.<br><br>The thing is that we started noticing just how many girls <br>wearing leggings seem to be thin as rakes -- starved in <br>
fact. And this made us wonder whether the advertising being<br>pumped out by the fashion and health industries isn't <br>actually causing consumers to have an increased rate of <br>eating disorders -- which are certainly are a problem <br>
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<br>Just look around you and you will realize that everywhere <br>in Japan the message to consumers is "skinny is in". <br>Skinny leggings, skinny fit jeans, even the government <br>wants us to be skinny with its anti-Metabo (Metabolic <br>
Syndrome) campaign introduced in April 2008. Yes, being <br>obese is not healthy, but are we going too far in the <br>opposite direction?<br><br>According to the Health Ministry, the average weight of <br>women in their 30's dropped 12% over the period 1986-2006, <br>
and now 20% of all women aged 20 through 40 are in fact <br>underweight. It's hard to believe, but the Ministry made <br>the point that at present Japanese women are now lighter <br>on average than they were after World War II when there <br>
was a shortage of food!<br><br>The two main eating disorders contributing to excessively <br>low weight are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. With <br>anorexia, sufferers are critical of their own body <br>appearance and continually want to lose weight. Methods of <br>
doing this include obsessive avoidance of fattening foods, <br>obsessive use of dieting aids, vomiting after a meal, <br>excessive use of laxatives, etc. Wikipedia says that <br>anorexics are the most likely out of people with <br>
psychological disturbances to commit suicide -- and we <br>don't doubt that this fact contributed to the 26 or so <br>kids (mainly girls) who apparently died from the <br>condition in Japan in 2003. <br><br>Actually 2003 was a year of awareness of anoxeria in Japan.<br>
Keio University did their first survey on the disease and <br>found that about 2% of all female high school seniors <br>suffered from the condition, although only 0.6% had <br>actually been diagnosed by doctors. Outside that 2%, <br>
apparently another 10% were considered close to developing <br>the disorder. The survey was accompanied by a report noting<br>that excessive dieting for teenagers is more harmful to <br>their health than smoking and drinking, and that between <br>
10%-20% of anorexics go on to early deaths because of <br>various bodily dysfunctions caused by semi-permanent <br>starvation.<br><br>While one normally thinks of anorexia as a teenager <br>disease, the problem appears to be spreading to women in <br>
their 40's and 50's as well. A 2008 Health Ministry survey <br>found that 12.6% of thin women with a BMI under 18.5 (only <br>20% of Japanese women are considered obese) are still <br>trying lose weight and that a full 52.6 percent of all <br>
women consider themselves fat. Perhaps this is to do with <br>the fact that more women are staying single later in life <br>and therefore are still very susceptible to advertising <br>messages.<br><br>Dieting is of course a big business worldwide, and no where<br>
more so than in Japan. Despite the recent economic downturn<br>the demand for diet aids and food supplements has continued<br>to grow. We don't have access to specific recent numbers <br>for the diet industry itself, but back in 2001 a Ministry <br>
of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) council reckoned that<br>the functional health food market would be worth around <br>JPY3.2trn by this year and in 2005 the Kenko Sangyo <br>Newspaper estimated the market at that time to be worth <br>
630bn. So it's probably a fair guess to say that functional<br>foods, much of which is taken up by the diet industry, is <br>probably worth at least JPY1trn to JPY1.5trn by now.<br><br>One sector of the dieting industry which certainly is doing<br>
well is that of health metering equipment. Panasonic has <br>just introduced a calorie calculator called the Day <br>Calorie, and while they were expecting a few hundred sales <br>on introducing the new product on their website, in fact <br>
they had requests for over 2,200 units. Needless to say, <br>Panasonic will be ramping up its manufacturing volumes. <br>Pedometers from Omron and other maker's exercise devices are<br>also selling well.<br><br>Weighing scales maker Tanita is already selling calorie <br>
counters and apparently has sold more than 70,000 units <br>since April 2009. This April, the company plans to <br>introduce a super duper new device called the InnerScan 50,<br>which will measure weight, body fat percentage, muscle <br>
mass, and the condition of your wallet... (ok, maybe not <br>the last bit). But the InnerScan WILL come with a memory <br>card that you can plug into your PC. Using the Tanita <br>application software, you can then obsessively monitor your<br>
weight/fitness progress before and after using laxatives<br>and dieting powders. We think it will be a big hit. <br>According to the Nikkei, currently Tanita, Panasonic, and <br>other makers sell about 2.5m home-use health monitoring <br>
devices a year.<br><br>So while we applaud the government's focus on trimming <br>waist lines so as to reduce (mainly men's) heart disease <br>and other later stage diseases, it is a fact that anorexia <br>can cause equally severe health problems, such as various <br>
heart, blood sugar, bone, mental, and other malnutrition-<br>related conditions that shorten life span and put a load on <br>the nation's health system. Thus we find it strange that the <br>Health Ministry doesn't run a similarly high-profile <br>
campaign to target women who are obsessed with keeping <br>their weight abnormally low. <br><br>And until that happens, we presume that Uniqlo is going to <br>be selling an awful lot of leggings.<br><br><br>...The information janitors/<br>
<br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>------- Call For Metropolis Investors Closes Soon ---------<br><br>Our offer to provide information to interested parties <br>wishing to look at investing in a new Metropolis venture <br>
will close this month (March, 2010). If you would like to <br>be part of an exciting web technology-based expansion of <br>the Metropolis publishing business, then please let us <br>know. We will send you a non-binding survey that will help<br>
you establish some of the requirements to become an <br>investor. This survey will be followed by an NDA, then the<br>actual business plan. <br><br>This is not solicitation to sell shares, however, if you <br>have an interest in private investments within Japan and <br>
wish to participate in this survey, please contact <br>Metropolis at <a href="mailto:isurvey@metropolis.co.jp">isurvey@metropolis.co.jp</a>.<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br><br>+++ NEWS<br>
<br>- Only 3 foreign nurses pass exam<br>- Chinese firm buys auto die factory<br>- Nikko Cordial to go on hiring binge<br>- Poll says economy expected to get worse<br>- More government money for SMEs<br><br><br><br>-> Only 3 foreign nurses pass exam<br>
<br>Two 26-year old nurses from Indonesia and one 34-year nurse<br>from the Philippines were the only foreign nurses to have <br>passed the national nursing exam in the last two years. <br>They received their pass notifications last week. The other<br>
254 foreign candidates for the exam all failed, and now, <br>after 3 years of intensive work and study, these people are<br>facing the prospect of having to leave Japan and return <br>home. This is the second year of exams for the foreign <br>
nurses, who are already fully qualified back home and who <br>have come to Japan under economic agreements with the two<br>source countries. Last year, none of the 82 candidates <br>passed -- sparking criticism of that the program does not <br>
offer sufficient support for language learning. ***Ed: Our <br>understanding is that the foreign nurses only get 6 months <br>of language training, and then are expected to work full <br>time while learning Japanese in their spare time. As one of<br>
the passing candidate nurses said, she studied until <br>01:00am every night to learn sufficient kanji to pass the <br>exam. It's ridiculous to expect someone in such a <br>physically demanding job to keep such hours.** (Source: TT <br>
commentary from <a href="http://mainichi.jp">mainichi.jp</a>, Mar 27, <br>2010)<br><br><a href="http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100327p2a00m0na027000c.html">http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100327p2a00m0na027000c.html</a><br>
<br>-> Chinese firm buys auto die factory<br><br>In what is going to be an ever-more frequent occurrence, <br>Chinese auto/battery manufacturer BYD has said it will buy <br>a factory from auto die maker Ogihara Corporation, for an <br>
undisclosed sum. BYD says it will use the factory to <br>produce high-precision metal dies for its Chinese plants. <br>The factory was one of Ogihara's four domestic die <br>manufacturing operations, accounting for 20% of the <br>
company's domestic production capacity. (Source: TT <br>commentary from <a href="http://reuters.com">reuters.com</a>, Mar 27, 2010)<br><br><a href="http://tinyurl.com/yagpxzcl">http://tinyurl.com/yagpxzcl</a><br><br>-> Nikko Cordial to go on hiring binge<br>
<br>Since buying Nikko Cordial from Citibank, the Sumitomo <br>Mitsui Financial Group has decided to invest considerable <br>resources into the brokerage so as to anticipate a jump in <br>M&A and underwriting business in Japan. As a result, it <br>
plans to increase its staffing by 14%, or 1,000 people, over<br>the next 3 years. Nikko Cordial is hoping that the staffing <br>investment will help it boost revenues from JPY14bn <br>currently to JPY100bn by 2013. (Source: TT commentary from <br>
<a href="http://businessweek.com">businessweek.com</a>, Mar 26, 2010)<br><br><a href="http://tinyurl.com/yjvfms7">http://tinyurl.com/yjvfms7</a><br><br>-> Poll says economy expected to get worse<br><br>Oh, we're a depressed bunch. A Cabinet Office poll has <br>
found that 63.1% of 6,210 adult respondees think that the <br>Japanese economy is going to get worse. Besides the <br>economy, 56.5% thought that employment and labor conditions<br>will also get worse, 47.6% said that government finances <br>
will get worse, and 39.2% said that Japan will lose its <br>global economic clout. The same survey found that 20.7% of<br>respondees felt that science and technology are the most <br>promising fields for development in Japan, followed by <br>
18.7% saying that medicine and welfare are promising. <br>***Ed: And you know what they say about the accuracy of <br>opinions of large groups... it's worth paying attention to <br>this survey.** (Source: TT commentary from <a href="http://e.nikkei.com">e.nikkei.com</a>, <br>
Mar 27, 2010)<br><br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20100327D27JF401.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20100327D27JF401.htm</a><br><br>-> More government money for SMEs<br><br>As part of the measures by the government to help get <br>
small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) back into <br>financial health, the Shoko Chukin Bank and <br>semi-governmental Nippon Export and Investment Insurance <br>(NEII) agency are going to start a program to help SMEs in <br>
their export efforts. The program will allow SMEs with <br>export contracts to first insure, then finance, those <br>shipments by using the receivables as collateral. Loans <br>will be made at an interest rate of less than 1.6% for <br>
one-year financing thanks to the fact that NEII will be <br>providing government guarantees on the exports. This <br>could be quite a broad-reaching effort, since NEII offers <br>about JPY130bn in trade insurance already to just 200 SMEs,<br>
but now with the tie-up, it will take on Shoko Chukin <br>Bank's 70,000 customers. ***Ed: That's a lot of potential <br>liabilities coming up for the government over the next few <br>years. Also lots of scope for fraud, as in an export loan <br>
situation it's hard to know what is going where and what<br>deals are real and which ones are not.** (Source: TT <br>commentary from <a href="http://e.nikkei.com">e.nikkei.com</a>, Mar 27, 2010)<br><br><a href="http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20100326D26JFA09.htm">http://e.nikkei.com/e/ac/tnks/Nni20100326D26JFA09.htm</a><br>
<br><br><br>NOTE: Broken links<br>Many online news sources remove their articles after just a<br>few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we<br>apologize for the inconvenience.<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br>
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***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP/VACANCIES<br><br>=> BiOS, a Division of the LINC Media group, is actively <br>marketing the following positions for customers setting up <br>
or expanding in Japan, as well as other employers of <br>bilinguals.<br><br>** HIGHLIGHTED POSITION(S)<br><br>BiOS is currently looking for skilled helpdesk staff to <br>work onsite in a number of exciting and growing operations <br>
amongst our various customers. We require both level 1 and <br>level 2 people, so if you are looking to use your <br>existing knowledge to get deeper experience on a helpdesk, <br>or rae looking to upgrade your helpdesk career with the <br>
next step up, we definitely want to talk to you. With <br>duties from standard helpdesk receipt of calls and incident<br>logging, to resolution of issues, remote laptop, and mobile<br>support and ad-hoc desk side services, we have varied and <br>
engaging roles to suit a variety of skill sets and <br>experience.<br><br>As these are predominantly customer-facing roles, you will <br>need to have excellent communication skills, unflagging <br>enthusiasm, and a go-getting, can-do attitude. You will be <br>
helping people out with each and every call you receive, <br>so as well as your excellent attitude, a few years' <br>experience in a similar operation would be advantageous. If<br>you can show certification such as MCP, A+ or something <br>
similar this will also be a great help to your application.<br><br>Remuneration is JPY3m – JPY7m, depending on your experience<br>and technical skill level.<br><br>** POSITIONS VACANT<br><br>- Network Architect (CCIE Holder), JPY9m – JPY11m<br>
- Equities PM, Global Bank, JPY10m – JPY14m<br>- Equities IT Biz Analyst, Japanese iBank, JPY7m – JPY10m<br>- Java Developer, iBank project work., JPY5m – JPY7m<br>- Unix Engineer, Okinawa I-Bank, JPY4m – JPY5m<br><br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br>
<a href="mailto:stuart.gibson@biosjp.com">stuart.gibson@biosjp.com</a><br><br>** BiOS Job Mail<br><br>Every 2 weeks BiOS sends out a regular communication to its<br>job seeking candidates, called BiOS Job Mail. Every edition<br>
carries a list of BiOS's current and most up-to-date<br>vacancies, with each entry featuring a short job<br>description and a direct link to the main entry on the BiOS<br>home page. Regardless of whether you are unemployed and<br>
searching, thinking about a career change, or just curious<br>to know if there is something out there that might suit you<br>better, the BiOS Job Mail newsletter is an easy and<br>convenient way for you to stay informed. If you would like<br>
to register for the BiOS Job Mail, or to find out more,<br>please email <a href="mailto:stuart.gibson@biosjp.com">stuart.gibson@biosjp.com</a>.<br><br>Interested individuals may e-mail resumes to:<br><a href="mailto:stuart.gibson@biosjp.com">stuart.gibson@biosjp.com</a><br>
<br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS<br><br>---- CCH Japan Seminar: Directorship Responsibilities -----<br>
<br>CCH is proud to present its latest seminar, entitled:<br>'What Non-Japanese Directors Should Know'<br><br>- Establishing Companies in Japan - Challenges & Solutions<br>- Managing a Company in Japan - Challenges & Solutions<br>
- What are the Pros and Cons of a Branch versus <br>establishing a Kabusiki Kaisha?<br>- What is the most efficient way to understand and handle<br>Japanese registration documents?<br>- How to manage HR issues as a director<br>
- Major differences between Japan and Western countries <br>when operating a company<br>- Case Studies from consulting experience<br><br>Date: Monday, April 19, 2010 1:30PM-5:00PM<br>Venue: Happo-en (5F, Linden) 1-1-1 Shirokanedai Minato-ku<br>
Fee: JPY 20,000+Tax<br>Register at: <a href="https://www.cch-japan.jp/contents/register/form">https://www.cch-japan.jp/contents/register/form</a><br>Number of seats: 50 seats, Language: English<br>Speakers: Terrie Lloyd, CEO, LINC Media Inc., Japan Inc <br>
Holdings, and, Steve Hoffman, Senior Consultant, Japan <br>Intercultural Consulting<br><br>For more details, please contact us at: <a href="mailto:support@cch.co.jp">support@cch.co.jp</a>,<br>or 03-6234-3980.<br><br><a href="http://www.cch-japan.jp">www.cch-japan.jp</a><br>
-----------------------------------------------------------<br><br>------------------ ICA Event - April 15 -------------------<br><br>Speaker:<br>Jean-Luc Creppy General Manager-Quint Wellington Redwood<br><br>Topic:<br>Reevaluating & Refocusing IT<br>
<br>Details: Complete event details at <a href="http://www.icajapan.jp/">http://www.icajapan.jp/</a><br>(RSVP Required)<br><br>Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010<br>Time: 6:30 Doors open, Buffet Dinner included and cash bar<br>
Cost: 4,000 yen (members), 6,000 yen (non-members)<br>Open to all, at The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan<br><br><a href="http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/map">http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/map</a><br>-----------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>***------------------------****-------------------------***<br><br>+++ CORRECTIONS/FEEDBACK<br><br>In this section we run comments and corrections submitted<br>by readers. We encourage you to spot our mistakes and<br>
amplify our points, by email, to <a href="mailto:editors@terrie.com">editors@terrie.com</a>.<br><br>No feedback this week.<br><br>***********************************************************<br>END<br><br>SUBSCRIBERS: 9,321 as of March 28, 2010<br>
(We purge our list regularly.<br><br>+++ ABOUT US<br><br>STAFF<br>Written by: Terrie Lloyd (<a href="mailto:terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com">terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com</a>)<br><br>HELP: E-mail <a href="mailto:Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com">Terrie-request@mailman.japaninc.com</a><br>
with the word 'help' in the subject or body (don't include<br>the quotes), and you will get back a message with<br>instructions.<br><br>FEEDBACK<br>Send letters (Feedback, Inquiries & Information) to the<br>
editor to <a href="mailto:terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com">terrie.lloyd@japaninc.com</a>.<br><br>ADVERTISING INFORMATION<br>For more information on advertising in this newsletter,<br>Contact <a href="mailto:ads@japaninc.com">ads@japaninc.com</a>.<br>
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<br>J@pan Inc is Japan's only independently published English-<br>language business website. Authoritatively chronicling <br>online the business trends in Japan, each posting brings <br>you in-depth analysis of business, people and technology in<br>
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