General Edition Sunday, April 24, 2005 Issue No. 324
+++ INDEX
- What's new
- Services lineup
- News
- Candidate roundup
- Upcoming events
- Property
- About us
============== Proprius Investments Ltd. Seminar =============
Presenting: How to Invest Profitably in U.S. Real Estate
Date: Tuesday, May 17th 2005
Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Mitsubishi Bldg, 10F, Marunouchi, Tokyo
(Site map: http://www.scs.mec.co.jp/access)
For reservations and more info, go to: http://www.propriusltd.com
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Walking to an evening appointment in Minami-Aoyama earlier this week, we passed an old lady lying on the side of the road, moaning in pain. Seeing us, she called out "Atsui, atsui!" (it's hot!). Drunk or crazy, we weren't sure and made to continue on. But something about her said we should go back and help. Returning and coming closer we saw that where she was holding her lower calves she had big burn blisters on her legs and heels. What on earth was going on?
Then suddenly from an open apartment door a few meters to one side, there was a loud BANG! and a whoosh as flames suddenly started licking out of the doorway. As luck would have it, we were the first passersby to witness a neighborhood fire. Immediately behind us, a young guy was quickly on the phone, calling the fire brigade and on our request, an ambulance for the old lady.
The sound of more explosions -- probably hairspray and other household cans -- brought some young salarymen out from the restaurant next door, and very quickly they had fire extinguishers out. One guy barreled up to the second floor of the ancient apartment building, banging on neighbors' doors, and alerting the other occupants to get out. Sure enough, one door opened and a sleepy-headed guy stumbled out. Quickly realizing the danger, he woke up and shinnied down a veranda support pole. By this time smoke was billowing out of the building, and we yelled at the good samaritan pounding away on the tenants' doors upstairs to get back down before the stairway collapsed. He made it and we all stood around waiting for the fire brigade to arrive.
Aparently Japan has about 30,000 building fires a year, of which about 60% are house fires. Until recently, most homes have not been fire resistant and thus there were more than 1,000 deaths from fires in 2003 -- more than 50% of the fatalities have been of old people aged 65 or more. As people age, they lose the acuteness of their senses and take longer to react to smoke, burning smells, and also become disoriented easily. Thus they die of smoke inhalation or burns.
In our fire, we waited quite a while for both the fire engines and ambulance to arrive. The fire engines, 5 of them, and about 30 firefighters, took about 15 minutes to show up, and the ambulance took a very long 25 minutes. According to the Tokyo Fire Department, ambulances are supposed to average just 6 minutes in inner Tokyo after being alerted to an address, so we're not sure what happened in this case.
In case you were wondering, there were 4.56m ambulance call-outs in Japan in 2003, about one call every 6.9 seconds. Over 4.33m people had to take the return trip back to hospital, meaning that 1 in 29 Japanese travelled by ambulance last year. Some wag we talked to later reckoned that since the ambulance service is free, some people use it as a taxi service. Going by the numbers, he could be right!
Do you know what to do in the event of a fire? To be honest, we momentarily forgot the emergency number, which is why the guy behind us beat us to call the fire in. For fires and accidents, the number is 119, not 110, which is for the police. If you don't speak Japanese, just memorize "Kaji-da!" (fire!) and the approximate address. If you're using a public phone, note that they come fitted with a emergency button, which you press after lifting the receiver off the hook.
Firefighting in Tokyo is a time honored (although not necessarily honorable) profession. Back 200 to 300 years ago, most of the houses were made of straw and paper and an official document from 1738 says that there were 11,000 registered Hikeshi (fire fighters). Increasing population meant even greater demand for their services, and by 1850 there were 24,000. The way they fought fires was to tear down nearby houses to isolate the blaze, then to douse the flames -- so these guys were pretty tough. Apparently they were pretty rough too, and often picked fights with the local Samurai...! You can read more about them at http://www.artelino.com/articles/edo_firemen.asp.
...Fascinating stuff.
Changing the topic completely, have you ever thought of investing in a locally run venture company? This coming week in our new PII newsletter, we introduce the first actual investment opportunity -- a local consumerproducts importer/retailer run by a highly experienced foreign CEO. We will have other live investment opportunities coming up in May -- so stay tuned. Don't forget also, that if you're thinking of buying a house in the US, this week's sponsor, Proprius, is holding a free seminar in Tokyo on May 17th If you're worried about the US housing bubble and how to play in the market without getting trapped in a down turn, then the Proprius CEO, James Robinson, is your man.
Lastly, a note that we will be taking a break next Sunday on May 1st. This is one of 4 weeks a year we take off, so we will be back on May 8th.
...The Information Janitors/
=============== AMT Group's Exclusive Seminar ==============
"Leadership Awareness Seminar" (in Japanese) at AMT Group's Development Den in Yotsuya. 10:00 - 15:00, May 17 & 19 In a small group (maximum 6 participants):
- Learn and apply new leadership & coaching tools
- Access 100+ ways to motivate yourself and others
- Practice presenting before a group of peers and professional coaches
Total investment: JPY97,000.
E-mail [email protected] for details and to register. And...for a FREE subscription to Andrew's Ax Leadership Development newsletter, e-mail [email protected]
http://www.amt-group.com
======================================================
Contact [email protected] if you want your company here.
- Personal International Investor -- a convenient source of ideas and information on how to invest profitably as an expat in Japan. Every Thursday, 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 yen per person to reach 50,000 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 has gone quarterly. Subscriptions now just JPY3,600 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
================ STAR Financial Management ===============
Providing retail and institutional investors with bespoke, non-commission driven investment advice and portfolio management services. STAR is totally focused on adding value for its clients through superior risk-adjusted rates of return whilst delivering the highest levels of professional excellence, integrity and service.
For more information, go to www.starfml.com or contact us at 03-3667-1671.
STAR Financial Management is licensed and regulated by the Ministry of Finance (Japan) - License no. 1237 Kanto region
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- Matsui profit way up
- Carbon fiber panels for cars
- Usen gets movie content
- DoCoMo temp worker steals data
- Australia-Japan FTA may take years
-> Matsui profit way up
If you needed any convincing of whether or not Japan has begun the age of online stock trading, then note that Matsui Securities reported a massive 47.5% increase in revenue, about JPY36.92bn, and a 73.7% increase in net profit, for a record total of JPY12.65bn. These numbers contrast markedly with FY2003, in which revenue was JPY25bn and profit of JPY7.28bn. Matsui says the increases were almost entirely due to the increase of both individuals trading and also the volume of trades being executed. (Source: TT commentary from Yahoo.com, Apr 22, 2005)
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/050422/kyodo/d89kd96g0.html
-> Carbon fiber panels for cars
Toray Industries says that it has developed a new process to mass produce an ultra-lightweight carbon fiber and resin compound, for use in making auto panels in place of sheet steel. The new material is 50% lighter than steel and yet five times stronger -- thus offering manufacturers the ability to both improve performance and fuel effiency. Toray will start supplying the material to carmakers for use in doors and car bodies, in 2008. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Apr 22, 2005)
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20050421D21JFA08.htm
-> Usen gets movie content
Continuing their recent acquisition binge, cable music broadcaster Usen has announced that it will buy a majority stake in movie studio Nikkatsu Corp. The acquisition will give Usen access to over 7,000 movies and programs, for distribution over their ShowTime pay service as well as the new GyoO broadcast service started earlier this month. Usen is connecting Nikkatsu in with its other recent stakes in music label Avex and film distributor Gaga Communications -- to create an end-to-end content channel for music and movies. ***Ed: Usen is making a run at becoming another LiveDoor or Softbank, and is taking on a lot of risk here. However, their FY2004 profit surged 210% to JPY4.5bn, largely due to a 100% increase in the customer sign-ups for its fiber-to-the-home Internet service -- so it appears they have a cushion while digesting the 3 new acquisitions. ** (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Apr 22, 2005) http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20050421D21JFF99.htm
-> DoCoMo temp worker steals data
The risks of temporary employees being given access to customer data were highlighted this week when the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department took into custody a DoCoMo temp staffer who made off with the personal information of about 24,600 clients. The suspect apparently had a grudge against over how he'd been treated, and threatened the company that he would reveal to the public the data unless DoCoMo apologized over its actions towards him. (Source: TT commentary from yomiuri.co.jp, Apr 22, 2005)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20050422wo21.htm
-> Australia-Japan FTA may take years
Although the Australian press initially got excited to hear of Fair Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between Japan and Australia, Australian PM John Howard soon lowered expectations by saying that concluding a free-trade agreement would be "very difficult" and may take years. The stumbling block is Japan's continuing protection of its farming industry. ***Ed: Perhaps Australia doesn't need an FTA, given that it did AUD6.9bn more in exports to Japan than imports, and also has 91% of Japan's imported beef market since the discovery of mad cow disease in the US in 2003. (Source: TT commentary from bloomberg.com, Apr 20, 2005)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000081&sid=aWA2sjXtHdQ0
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.
================ Email Marketing Works ===================
Study after study shows that email marketing ranks among the most effective, and cost-effective, methods of reaching your audience. However, constructing an effective email marketing campaign involves far more than simply stuffing your customer's inboxes. Follow up mailing, reporting, personalization, autoresponders and, of course, crafting of the appropriate message are all essential components of a successful campaign.
Ashley Associates Ltd. (http://www.ashleyassociates.co.jp) is a leading provider of email marketing solutions. For more information, or to request a free white paper please contact [email protected].
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DaiJob, Inc's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting
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DaiJob has great candidates. Contact Alex Burr at [email protected], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
-> Senior Manager, Banking, Industry
Male, late 30s, British, spoken & written business Japanese
Experience:
- 15 years in Operations / Finance, both industry and banking
- Product development and manufacturing both in Japan & Europe
- Biz dev & operational experience across SE Asia
- Financial reporting, audit and treasury experience in global blue chip corporates
- Banking operations experience
- Proactive, can-do approach, thrive on challenge & change
* Looking for JPY20M+. Available at one months notice
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-> Marketing/PR, Events & Exhibitions
Female, 30yrs old, Native English & Chinese, Fluent Japanese
Experience:
- 1.5 yrs Marketing/PR/Ad experience in entertainment sector
- Event management in pharmaceutical and IT firms, and government
- Marketing & project coordination of the largest medical congress in Asia (10K delegates)
- Sponsor coordination and sales support
* Looking for JPY6M. Available at 2-4 weeks notice
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-> Translation/ Localization Manager
Female, early 40s, Native Japanese, Fluent English
Experience:
- 3 yrs project management in translation industry
- Sales, marketing research, and project management
- Gaining clients' trust by providing service in line with their priorities & requirements
- Consistently meeting and exceeding sales goals
- Mentoring other staff, to improve customer satisfaction
- Perseverance and enthusiasm
- Willing to travel
* Looking for JPY7M. Available at 2-4 weeks notice
Contact Alex Burr at [email protected], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
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DaiJob's executive placement team, AMBITION Consulting!
+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
------------------- Information Management Network ---------------------------
Japan Cup of Investment Management - May, 2005 * Tokyo
The Japan Cup of Investment Management is an outstanding educational and networking program for institutional investors throughout Asia. This year's program will begin with an inside look at the investment practices of pension plans in Asia and around the world. The afternoon will focus on such timely topics as the move to free-float, portable alpha strategies and alternative investments, indexing for hedge funds, asset/liability management, global fixed income strategies and transitioning international portfolios. Join over 400 attendees to hear the industry's leading experts in investment management.
For additional information, go to www.imn.org/etm738/jie
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============== Proprius Investments Ltd. Seminar =============
Presenting: How to Invest Profitably in U.S. Real Estate
Date: Tuesday, May 17th 2005
Time: 6:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Mitsubishi Bldg, 10F, Marunouchi, Tokyo, (Site map: http://www.scs.mec.co.jp/access)
For reservations and more info, go to: http://www.propriusltd.com
======================================================
======= Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo - May Seminar ========
This coming May, Norio Murakami - President of Google Japan Inc. will be presenting, "The Past, Present and Future of Google."
Date/Time: Tuesday, May 10th 7:00 pm
Location: City Club of Tokyo - Maple Room (Canadian Embassy)
Language: English
Website: http://www.ea-tokyo.com
Email: [email protected]
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______________________________________________________
IT events announcements are priced at JPY50,000 per week.
For more information, contact [email protected]
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-> Numala -- Tamborine Mountain, land for sale
Numala is an ocean view estate, in Southern Queensland, Australia. Located on top of the glorious Tamborine Mountain, the 11 lots for sale, from 3-30 acres, are surrounded by a National Park. This is the last land of this type for sale in the area, simply because no other lots of similar size or condition with ocean views are left.
Each lot has magnificent views and most have private sections of old growth subtropical rainforest. The eleven properties are named Mayama, Nepelle, Yallambe, Nunkeri, Kyeema, Nurunderi, Alcheringa, Ouraka, Carrawatha, Nacooma, and Ilallangi. The eleven community title lots are accessed by security gate and all share equal ownership of Numala's 39-hectare Common Property Park.
Lot Area Price
(acres)
1 7 $1,250,000
2 5 Under Contract
3 3 $925,000
4 6 $950,000
5 7 $1,000,000
6 13 $950,000
7 4 $700,000
8 10 $900,000
9 30 $1,250,000
10 10 Under Contract
11 29 $1,350,000
* Photos at http://japaninc.typepad.com/australian_properties_e/
E-mail us at [email protected] for more details on any property listed here.
>>>>--------------------------------------------------<
END
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