General Edition Sunday, April 20, 2006 Issue No. 373
+++ INDEX
- What's new
- Services lineup
- News
- Candidate roundup
- Upcoming events
- News credits
Start a Company in Japan Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar 20th of May, 2006 If you have been considering setting up your own company, For more details: http://japaninc.com/handbook_seminar3/ |
| +++ WHAT'S NEW |
Well, former Livedoor Takafumi Horie is finally out on
bail, only 93 days and some bitter winter nights after
being arrested on suspicion of breaking the Japanese
securities law. His arrest sparked off a meltdown of his company stock price, and the dismantlement of the company's management and ownership structure while he was incapacitated behind bars. Basically if this had been a planned revenge attack against him, it was perfectly implemented.
Indeed, there has been rampant speculation about whether someone deliberately stitched up Horie. Did someone powerful have it in for him? Friends of Shizuka Kamei, for example, the politician Horie ran against in the elections last year. Being the ex-Commissioner of the Security Bureau at the National Police Agency makes Kamei someone you don't want to tangle with. Or, was it was Fuji TV's Hieda, who had sent in one of his top Senior Managing Directors (no
less) to serve as a director in Livedoor -- a business he obstensibly Hieda had no interest in... But once his man, Yoshiaki Yamada, was inside, we imagine that he was feeding plenty of juicy details back to his boss.
More likely, though, it was none of these things. Instead, Horie's saga has simply been a normal passage of events which would happen to any CEO in Japan caught out bending the rules... but certainly connecting the behind-the-scenes dots has provided entertainment for those of us with over-active imaginations.
Whatever the precipitating factors, we as the public have learned a lot more about the machinations of the law. For example, we (the editors) never knew that white collar suspects are kept in detention until they either confess or the case comes to court. This doesn't sound very democratic, and in fact smacks more of the Russian criminal justice system. Still, to their credit, the judges presiding over Horie's bail proceedings overrode the prosecutor's office and let him out on bail, having concluded that he is no longer likely to alter or influence evidence.
Horie's bail was JPY300m (US$2.62m), a curious amount, given that the most he will be fined if found guilty is JPY5m (US$42,700). More than the cash side of things though is the threat of doing prison time. As we remarked in an earlier Terrie's Take, in a similar white collar scandal several years back, Seibu's Tsutsumi got a 3-year suspended sentence. The difference this time around is that Horie is not going quietly and thus we wonder whether he will get the book thrown at him or whether the judiciary decide to act impartially. Theoretically he could get up to 5 years
-- which after summer will be increased by virtue of a new harsher law to 10 years. Still, Horie is lucky he doesn't live in the USA, where securities fraud can draw a sentence of up to 25 years jail!
Horie apparently plans to claim innocence of any knowledge about his subordinates breaking the securities exchange law re window dressing the company and moving cash around. On the surface one might ask why he would even bother. Surely the prosecutors have more than enough evidence?
Well, for some reason he wants his day in court. Either he
is sure that there is no directly incriminating evidence... OR he has something he wants to say. Our guess that IF it is the second option, he may have some very damaging things to say about why he has been made an example of, while there are other well-known business people doing substantially the same things. So, is Horie a man hope in his eyes or one with a "suicide mission" in his heart? We imagine there are a few worried players in Tokyo at the moment, wondering what he will come out with. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Lastly, many thanks to those people who pointed out that
in our last newsletter "Dankon no sedai" is definitely not
the same thing as "Dankai no sedai" (baby boomers).
Although, as a joke, you could imagine that the two have something to do with each other.
Next week is one of 4 weeks a year we take off -- to enjoy Renkyuu (Golden Week). We'll be back in two weeks time.
...The Information Janitors/
| +++ SERVICES LINE-UP |
Contact [email protected] if you want your company here.
- Advertise with Japan Inc newsletters. JIN and Terrie's Take cost just 2 yen per person to reach 54,000 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 is quarterly. Subscriptions are 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] Ph: 03-3499-3040
BiOS is Recruting Due to continuing expansion of our systems integration and outsourcing > businesses, BiOS is actively recruiting BILINGUAL engineers and IT > trainees. Wide range of positions open, with competitive salaries and > working conditions. Join our team of more than 50 engineers and get > the BiOS stamp of quality on your resume. |
| +++ NEWS |
- Recycling gold with persimmon skins
- Oil price has little impact
- Nomura profits up 500%
- Female and elderly entrepreneurs on the rise
- Matsushita to do JPY410bn overhaul
Researchers at the Saga University have discovered a way to recover gold from waste electronic circuit boards using the juices of persimmon skins. Apparently when mixed with sulfuric acid, specially processed persimmon skins have the ability to bind with gold in an acid solution of other metals. After the gold is extracted, the skins can then be burned off. ***Ed: Interestingly, the new technique offers a higher recovery rate of gold from a ton of disposed circuit boards then does a ton of ore from a gold mine.**
(Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Apr 28, 2006)
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20060427D27JSN05.htm
A Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry survey of 57
major companies relying heavily on crude oil and petroleum products found that while 80% of companies said that higher prices have affected their business to some extent, only 10% said that the impact was serious. The companies were taken from a cross-section of heavy industry, electronics, and auto makers. The biggest reason for lack of impact has been the ongoing diversification of energy supplies to natural gas and other substitute fuels. (Source: TT commentary from tmcnet.com, Apr 28, 2006)
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/04/28/1620841.htm
-> Oil price has little impact
Inner city realtors and luxury car makers are going to be
happy this quarter after bonus payouts to securities
industry workers. At the top of the pile, Nomura Holdings
has announced that its earnings for the first quarter of
2006 were up an amazing 500%, from JPY25.54bn last year to JPY128.63bn this year. The company said that its investment trusts, underwriting, and advisory fees were the main contributors to the flood of cash. (Source: TT commentary from marketwatch.com, Apr 28, 2006)
A recent white paper from the government's SME Enterprise Agency says that companies started up by females and the elderly are increasing at a rate of about 1% of the overall share of company start-ups every year. Although the data is a bit old itself, the white paper says that in 1997 15.6% of companies were founded by people aged 60 or over, and in 2002 that number rose to 19.9%. In the real estate industry, a massive 65.2% of start-ups are run by people aged 60 or older. There are no hard numbers in the report about how many women actually started companies during the same period, but interestingly, over 52% of female-owned start-ups were by women aged 40 or lower in 2002. Clearly, women like to go independent at a younger age. (Source: TT commentary from zeenews.com, Apr 28, 2006)
->Matsushita to do JPY410bn overhaul
In a sign of the times, rather than returning their recent windfall profits to employees, companies are saying "hands off" by pre-announcing large capital investment and M&A programs. Bedrock electronics manufacturer Matsushita is leading the way, announcing on Thursday that it will invest JPY410bn (US$3.5bn) over the next 4 years on facilities, IT, and M&A. In proportion, the investment amounts will be JPY300bn for capital investment, JPY60bn for IT, and JPY50bn for M&A. A further JPY75bn will go on R&D over the same period. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Apr 28, 2006)
http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20060428D28HH967.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.
| +++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP |
DaiJob, Inc's executive placement team, Daijob Consulting
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DaiJob has great candidates. Contact Andrew Peters at
[email protected], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
-> Helpdesk/Network Engineer
Male, early 30s, Japanese, business English
Experience:
- Level 1-2 Help-desk/end-user support for Japan/Korean offices of leading US information services company
- Support/Admin/Troubleshooting for Networks & Servers (Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, Cisco switches & routers, Windows NT/2000/2003 Servers)
- Network monitoring & configuration, connection diagnosis, vendor management for remote problem resolution
- Experience in project planning and execution of client PC relocation as part of office relocation project
*Looking for JPY5M+. Available 1 month's notice.
--------------------------------------------
->Sales Manager
Male, 38, fluent English and native Japanese
Experience:
- Managed, controlled 14-member business div. which sells & manufactures micro optics to foreign & domestic customers
- Achieved 500% total sales increase over 2 years
- Led development, production & sales of plastic optical products
- Gained #1 market share of mobile device category
- Excellent foreign & domestic optic device & semi-conductor industry contacts
- Strong Project Management exp. in high-tech manufacturing
* Looking for JPY8.5M. Available 1 month notice.
- 8yrs+ legal admin work, incl. 5yrs as Court Clerk
- Real Estate evaluations, mediation agreements, trial protocol & settlement agreement documentation
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Negotiation & mediation with lawyers, professionals & the general public
--------------------------------------------
-> Paralegal
Female, mid30s, native Japanese, fluent English
Experience:
* Looking for JPY6M. Available 1 month's notice.
DaiJob has great candidates. Contact Andrew Peters at
[email protected], or Ph: 03-3499-3040 for details.
ANZCCJ VACANCY Operations Manager Position at ANZCCJ |
| +++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS |
(No events to announce this week -- other than our entrepreneur class, of course!) |
IT events announcements are priced at JPY50,000 per week. |
>>>>--------------------------------------------------<
END
SUBSCRIBERS: 24,136 as of April 30, 2006
(We purge our list regularly.)
| +++ ABOUT US |
Written by: Terrie Lloyd[email protected].
with the word 'help' in the subject or body (dont include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions.
Send letters (Feedback, Inquiries & Information) to the editor to [email protected].
For more information on advertising in this newsletter, contact [email protected].
Get Terrie's Take by giving your name and email address athttp://www.terrie.com/subscribe.html.
Copyright 2006 Japan Inc. Communications Inc.
_______________Japan Inc is worth every penny!_______________
Don't forget you can get deeper analysis on Japan's hottest new businesses and technology from the quarterly edition of J@pan Inc. 1-year subscription for JPY3,600(Japan). It's so cost effective you can even get your company to pay for it!
Go to: www.japaninc.net/mag/subs.html for details.