General Edition Sunday, March 27, 2005 Issue No. 320
+++ INDEX
- What's new
- Services lineup
- News
- Candidate roundup
- Upcoming events
- Property
- News credits
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+++ WHAT'S NEW
The foreign press missed an important event at the start of the month, when there was the barest of mention about JPY60bn ($570m) raised by Tokyo-based broadband company eAccess, with straight bonds. The funds raised are first deposit on a new venture eAccess is working on -- Japan's fifth cell phone company! While all eyes are focused on Softbank's Masayoshi Son and his push for mobile bandwidth, eAccess' CEO and Chairman, Dr. Sachio Semmoto, has been quietly putting together a counterbid for the new services due to be allocated along with mobile number portability, by the government late this year, or in early 2006.
Semmoto has an outstanding record of creating successful telco's. First, he established NCC operator DDI with Kyocera and Sony in 1985, took the company to the then fastest IPO for a startup, in 1993, and subsequently helped merge with KDD and IDO in 2000 to form KDDI. Then, more recently he brought his broadband business, eAccess to an IPO last year, even though many pundits said he was too late and would get flattened by the dotcom bust of 2001-2003. The eAccess float produced a market cap of $1.2bn -- not too bad for a company only 5 years old.
Semmoto, as his resume would suggest , is no dummy, however, and correctly realized that the way to success for eAccess was not to sink lots of funds into hardware and facilities, but instead to take up a wholesale brokerage and and marketing role, using existing NTT facilities under contract. This has been a highly successful approach for the firm and as a result, with only JPY19bn ($180m) of pre-IPO investment, the company had sales of JPY38.1bn ($360m), net profit of JPY2.3bn ($20m), and of course, that JPY129bn ($1.23bn) market cap.
The ambitions of Semmoto will inevitably pitch him against Son and Softbank, sometime at the end of this year or early next. That is when the Ministry of Telecommunications plans to conduct its "beauty contest" of eligible companies to receive reallocated 1.7 GHz bandwidth. While many in the foreign press are betting that Son will finally get the airwaves he has tried so hard to win, in fact, Semmoto may well be more acceptable to the authorities -- he will certainly be a lot easier to get along with. Unlike Son, he hasn't tried to sue the government for bandwidth in the last couple of years.
If Semmoto is successful at winning the bandwidth, his new mobile phone company, which was established in December 2004 and is called eMobile Ltd., will require a significant amount of new infrastructure for its proposed WCDMA broadband services -- rather different from the model he had for eAccess. The company will probably start up in the main centers of Kanto and Kansai first (our speculation), and even a modest network will cost JPY300-400bn. Thus, this initial raising of $600m was very important strategically, as it means the money men are saying that they believe Semmoto and eAccess can pull it off. We think with the distractions of the Hawks baseball team and jousting with Livedoor, Mr. Son needs to be watching his rear view mirror more carefully.
Next, the joint Ibaraki-Japan Inc. medical industry seminar last Friday was a big success. The audience was treated to a live demonstration of Dr. Sankai's HAL-3 exo-skeleton, followed by a revealing medical industry overview by John Wocher. A big thank you to all those people taking time out to attend. Thanks also, go to the Ibaraki Prefectural government for arranging the logistics.
Our next event is an Entrepreneur's Handbook seminar by Terrie Lloyd in Osaka, on April 8th. If you are based in the Kansai and planning to set up a company, get some tips before putting good money down. Email [email protected] and see in EVENTS below for more details.
...The Information Janitors/
================= AMT Group's Development =================
Clarity/Focus/Alignment
How well does your leadership team implement your strategy? Does everyone know where you are going and why? Perhaps they need a map! The April edition of Andrew’s Ax shows how Territory Mapping can help you & your staff gain clarity, focus and alignment.
For a free subscription, e-mail [email protected] before April 10. You can also click on the AMT Group website “Read Andrew’s Ax” back issues, in both English and Japanese.
http://www.amt-group.com
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+++ SERVICES LINE-UP
Contact [email protected] if you want your company advertised here.
- Personal International Investor -- a convenient source of ideas and information on how to invest profitably as an expat in Japan. Every Wednesday, 48 weeks of the year. Completely free. http://japaninc.typepad.com/personal_intl_investor/
- Advertise with Japan Inc newsletters. JIN and Terrie's Take cost just 2.3 yen per person to reach 45,000 people. Great for last minute offers and event advertising. [email protected].
- Get a low-cost office in Tokyo, at the Venture Gas Station incubator. Just JPY80,000/month, in
Minami-Aoyama. Spaces closing fast -- enquire now. [email protected] - J@pan Inc. magazine subscriptions now just JPY5,600 a year. Sign up at http://www.japaninc.com/mag/subs.html
- Find new bilingual sales staff -- a specialty for DaiJob.com, [email protected]
- Anyone can buy a .JP domain...online...real-time...in English! Register now at: http://www.JapanRegistry.com
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+++NEWS
- Fischer freed
- Misawa Homes last IRCJ deal
- Self-employed figures jump
- Livedoor takes majority in NBS
- Tokyo land prices up
-> Fischer freed
Well, we're surprised it happened, but Bobby Fischer has been freed by the immigration authorities and deported to Iceland, where Fischer has just become a citizen by special act of parliment there. The USA has been trying since Fischer's arrest in July last year, to extradite him to Washington on charges of violating a 1992 presidential order by playing his Soviet rival Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia. Fischer had been living on and off in Japan for about 4 years, when the US rescinded his passport, making him technically illegal here in Japan. He was arrested trying to board a plane for Manila. ***Ed: An interesting side issue to this case, not widely reported in Japan, is that Fischer's lawyer in the USA has filed a law suit against the State Department. According to the lawsuit, a senior official at the American embassy in Tokyo "directed the Japanese authorities to detain Fischer under harsh conditions, amounting to torture, until Fischer gave up his legal rights under international US law, and complied with US demands that Fischer agree to be deported." Hmmm, it will be interesting to see what comes of this.** (Source: TT commentary from Mar 25, 2005)
http://tinyurl.com/5td9v
http://tinyurl.com/4pun5
-> Misawa Homes last IRCJ deal
With the expectation that the IRCJ will tap Toyota Motor to restructure homebuilder Misawa Homes, the deal is likely to be the IRCJ's last buy-out, capping about JPY680bn of investments made over the last two years. Toyota plans to take a stake of about 20% in Misawa Homes and will probably have Misawa combine procurement and other operations with Toyota Home, a Toyota unit that is about 1/5 the size of Misawa and has struggled to grow much beyond 4,300 homes a year. From hereon out, the IRCJ will focus on operating its acquisitions and selling them off in 2006-2007 so as to return the initial investments back to the government before the organization itself is disbanded in mid-2007. (Source: TT commentary from iwon.com, Mar 24, 2005)
http://tinyurl.com/6saud
-> Self-employed figures jump
Whether it's good news, or a sign that older employees are still being laid off, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that the number of people newly starting their own businesses rose by 260,000 this last year, the biggest increase since 1979. The Ministry reckons that not only older people, but also young people encouraged by the business performances of LiveDoor and Rakuten, are the reason for the dramatic increase. The Ministry says that 110,000 businesses were started by people aged 55-64, and 80,000 by younger people aged 25-34. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Mar 25, 2005)
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20050325D25JF645.htm
-> Livedoor takes majority in NBS
Yes, you're probably sick of seeing the Livedoor-Fuji TV saga on TV every night, especially now that the swaggering Kitao of Softbank Investment has weighed in. Still, Horie forges ahead with his takeover and Livedoor announced this week that it now has control of 15.3m shares or about 50.21% of NBS. The question is now whether Horie's team when it takes control of NBS can void the loaning of NBS' Fuji TV shares to Softbank Investment, which happened late last week. With the locking up of control of the shares, Horie will no longer be able to go after control of Fuji TV, his real target. Legal experts are saying that a court challenge to negate the 5-year shares lease between NBS and Softbank Investment is not as clear cut as NBS management's earlier efforts at issuing a massive amount of convertible bonds to dilute out Horie. The likelihood is that if Horie wants to void the NBS-Softbank Investment shares lease, he will have to prove that the two companies directly colluded to deprive the other shareholders of economic benefit. What he needs is for someone inside NBS to become a whistleblower -- not likely to happen in the current environment. (Source: TT commentary from bloomberg.com, Mar 26, 2005)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aXRfxVUwG_j4
-> Tokyo land prices up
For the first time in 14 years, land prices in Tokyo rose by an average 0.5%. The price rise was recorded in statistics issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The Ministry says that it appears land prices in Tokyo in general have stopped falling -- a situation not seen since 1990 -- and that in 2004 there was considerable demand for office buildings and condominiums. The firming of prices appears to be starting in the center of Tokyo first, with a price gain of 1.4% in the five wards inside the Yamanote, even as land in other residential areas in the capital still dropped 3.2% -- albeit that drop was the smallest in 3 years. Land prices also rose in central Osaka and Nagoya. (Source: TT commentary from japantimes.co.jp, Mar 24, 2005)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nb20050324a1.htm
NOTE: Broken links
Many online news sources are now removing their articles after just a
few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we apologize for
the inconvenience.
======= CHIBA TODAY - Japan's New Biotech Newsletter ======
If you're involved in biotechnology or genome research, Chiba Prefecture wants your business. It is aggressively building its resume as Japan's leader in these 21st century industries. Japan is the world's 2nd largest biotech/genome market. Our newsletter will bring you information from Chiba Prefecture, as well as the Japan market at large.
Sign up here: http://www.businesssupport-chiba.jp/eng/newsletter/
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+++CANDIDATE ROUND-UP
DaiJob, Inc's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
DaiJob has great candidates. Contact Alex Burr at [email protected], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details. http://www.daijob.com.
-> Product Manager for consumer products, luxury brands
Male, 30s, Native French, Fluent Japanese, English, Spanish
Experience:
- Managed communication strategies
- Maintained relations with the press
- Created several strong consumer brands on PC, PS2 & Xbox gaming platforms
- Product forecast, P/L, manage-track budget & inventory
- Built successful partnerships with licensors
* Looking for JPY7M. Available in May
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-> Business Director, Project Manager - BPR/ERP/CRM
Male, late 40s, Japanese, conversational English
Experience:
- 10yrs BPR & CRM strategy, business consultation/delivery
- Strong PM exp on large-scale ERP & CRM implementations
- Extensive knowledge of CRM, including Siebel and Clarify
- Solid exp in data mining & cost analysis
- 15 yrs marketing & sales for all Oracle products.
* Looking for JPY12M. Available immediately.
--------------------------------------------
-> GM or Marketing & Sales Manager, Medical/Pharmaceutical
Male, 40yrs old, Fluent Japanese & English, German
Experience:
- 10+yrs Sales/Marketing/GM/Operation Mgr, medical industry
- Responsible for ISO 9001 & 13485 first Certification (2 factories, 3 biz units, 350 staff)
- Product portfolio management of medical consumables for hospital & OTC market
- Negotiations of distribution contracts
- Sales increased 60% in 3 consecutive yrs
- Entered 8 new markets in Asia
* Looking for JPY9M+. Available at 1 month notice.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact Alex Burr at [email protected], or
Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
DaiJob's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting!
============= New book: Saying Yes to Japan: ==============
Where can foreign entrepreneurs find opportunity in Japan? Which sectors are most promising for investors? Get the answers and the full story behind them, illustrated with true portraits of brilliant entrepreneurship in a hard-hitting new book -- Saying Yes to Japan: How Outsiders Are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market. See http://www.sayingyestojapan.com for details and free downloadable chapter.
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+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
=================< Setting up a Company >=====================
Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar in OSAKA!
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 12 start-up companies in Japan will be giving an English-language seminar and Q&A on starting up a company in Japan. This is an ideal opportunity to find out what is involved, and to ask specific questions that are not normally answered in business books. All material is Japan-focused.
- Date: 8 April, Friday, 9:30 a.m.
- Location: AA Hall, Kitahama, Osaka
- Cost: JPY15,000 paid in advance JPY20,000 at the door
Email [email protected] for details and to register.
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------------------------ Information Management Network --------------------------------
6th Annual Summit on Japanese Securitization, Real Estate & Finance - May 18-19, 2005, Tokyo
This event targets the industry's leading firms and senior level players, to provide an educational forum of the highest quality coupled with outstanding networking opportunities. This year the topics will cover SME CLOs, Credit Derivatives, J-REITs, and RMBS. In addition, the agenda will allow participants to hear the latest developments in legal and regulatory approaches, accounting, rating agency methodologies, as well as case studies about major deals in the market.
For more information, go to www.imn.org/esb739/jie
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========= Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo – April Seminar ==========
Official Book Launch Seminar - “Saying Yes to Japan – How Outsiders Are Reviving a Trillion Dollar Services Market.” This April 5th Carl Kay, Tokyo-based Entrepreneur & author will discuss the book he co-authored with Tim Clark. Books will be available for purchase at the seminar.
- Date/Time: Tuesday, April 5th 7:00 pm
- Location: City Club of Tokyo - Maple Room (Canadian Embassy
- Complex)
- Language: English
Website: http://www.ea-tokyo.com. Email: [email protected]
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ITand business events announcements are priced at JPY50,000 per week.
For more information, contact [email protected]
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+++ PROPERTY ROUND-UP
-> 138 Albert St, Brisbane
Part of the QANTM commercial building in Brisbane, Australia, is for sale. Four floors, comprising levels 9, 10, 12 and 13 are being offered as one parcel. Located in downtown Brisbane, within metres of the Queen St Mall, the retail heart of Brisbane city. The building has recently been refurbished in the ground floor foyer and current intended upgrade includes air-conditioning.
There are 3 passenger lifts. Amenities include Male & Female toilets and tea room on each floor. Each floor has ducted air-conditioning, and is currently serviced by 1unit existing on the rooftop. However in June 2005 funding has been allocated by the body corporate to complete an upgrade and install a 2 x 20 kilowatt split-ducted, reverse cycle unit on each floor.
Gross Floor Area: Level 9 - 467m2, Level 10 - 467m2, Level 12 - 467m2, Level 13 - 467m2. TOTAL 1,868 m2. Existing leases, most of which run through to the end of 2007. $476,000 pa rental income, $116,240 pa outgoings, estimated net income: $359,800.00 net. Selling price: AU$4.25m exclusive of GST, for an estimated Net Yield of 8.46%.
* Photos at: http://japaninc.typepad.com/australian_properties_e/
-> Totsuka Mansion
SOLD
Foreclosed property recently refurbished, now available for both
capital gains and monthly rental. Location: Shinjuku-Ku, RENTAL POWER: ¥145,000 monthly
* Photos at: http://japaninc.typepad.com/japan_properties/
E-mail us at [email protected] for contact informationfor the owner's representative.
============ JETRO Business Japanese Proficiency Test ==============
(The JETRO Test)
Seeking a job or hoping to advance your career in a Japanese company? Do you know how well you communicate in Japanese in a business setting? The JETRO Test is designed to objectively measure and evaluate your ability to communicate in a variety of business situations. Applications are now being accepted for the next JETRO Test this June 19th.
For more information, please visit: http://www.jetro.go.jp/jetrotest/
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+++END
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+++ ABOUT US
STAFF
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____________J@pan Inc is worth every penny!_______________
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