Jan 12th - Sega has started testing pressure-controlled toilet games/ads display consoles

Only in Japan? .........  In an effort to find new advertising display opportunities, Sega has started testing pressure-controlled toilet games/ads display consoles in mens' urinals at Metro stations around Tokyo, until January 31st. The games are designed to allow male patrons to have a bit of fun and distraction while taking a whizz. Amongst the four games, one measures the strength of urine flow, one allows you to clean a screen with a hose, one allows you to compete against another character trying to flush them away, and the last allows you to try to cause wind to blow up a girl's skirt.

Jan 12th - Mitsui Engineering and Tazari Company develop advanced garbage separator

Separating garbage is a big deal in Japan and neighbours keep an eagle eye out for people who can't tell plastic 
from paper (except in Shibuya-ku, where the two are now burned together). Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding and 
Taziri Company have come up with a machine that can separate raw waste from comustible garbage, which 
householders are allowed to throw out together. The device is a huge centrifugal drum coupled with a shredder and air pumps. The device uses centrifugal force to retain the raw garbage while blowing the combustibles into a separate chamber. Apparently the machine is so good that it can separate the tea leaves from a disposed tea bag.

Jan 12th - Nidec Corporation to expand foreign R&D inside Japan

Electric motor behemoth Nidec Corporation is setting the tone for future investment in Japan by announcing it will 
spend JPY15bn on a new Kawasaki-based R&D center, due for completion in 2012 through 2014 (two stages). Nothing unusual in that. But what made us pay attention is that Nidec will bring about 150 researchers from the USA, UK, and India and will make English the dominant language. This is one of the outcomes of Nidec's takeover of Emerson Electric in the USA and its desire to bring Emerson's rare earth-free motor technology to Japan.

Dec 24th - Fuji Electric and General Electric To Team Up On Smart Meters

Fuji Electric Holdings Co. said Friday it will set up a joint venture with General Electric Co. of the U.S. on Feb. 1 to make next-generation smart meters.

The date was officially set after a longer-than-expected antitrust screening process in China.

The venture for network-capable electricity meters had initially planned to get under way in October.

Dec 24th - Japanese Companies Expanding India Operations

Japanese system and software developers are expanding their operations in India in a growing shift from China to the South Asian country, which has many English-speaking engineers with ample experience catering to clients from Western nations.

Hitachi Ltd. recently set up Hitachi Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. with a capital of 40 million rupees (74 million yen) to develop systems for Western companies. The Indian unit has hired about 100 Indian IT engineers, and intends to expand its workforce to 400 people in 2012.

NEC Corp, for its part, plans to increase the number of its engineers in India to more than 1,000 in fiscal 2012 from about 300 at present, to strengthen its systems-development capability in areas such as fingerprint authentication systems aimed at public organizations worldwide.

23rd Dec - Sony To Buy Back Chip Plant From Toshiba In Y50bn Deal

Sony Corp. plans to purchase a Nagasaki Prefecture semiconductor plant from Toshiba Corp.  for an estimated 50 billion yen to double output capacity for image sensors used in smartphones and other devices, The Nikkei learned Wednesday.

Sony's CMOS sensor

This plant was initially owned by Sony and fabricated the Cell microprocessor for such products as the PlayStation 3 game console. Toshiba acquired the facility in 2008 to ramp up its chipmaking operations.

Toshiba modified lines at the plant so that it could churn out CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) sensors, which are widely used in digital cameras and mobile phones. Sony will now buy the facility back as a way of strengthening its CMOS sensor business.

Sony plans to take advantage of subsidies from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Buying an existing facility is much cheaper than constructing a new plant for some 100 billion yen and will also allow for production to be increased right away. The company may expand the plant's facilities after repurchasing it.

Sony was the sixth-largest manufacturer of CMOS chips last year in shipment volume terms. Plans call for increasing capacity at a Kumamoto Prefecture plant some 40% by the end of fiscal 2011. Acquiring the Nagasaki plant will double the firm's image sensor output capacity to the equivalent of about 40,000 silicon wafers a month.

In 2008, Sony developed a highly sensitive CMOS sensor that makes shooting clear photos in dark environments possible. In addition to using the chips in its own camcorders and other offerings, it has sold them to other companies. By boosting output of the chips and lowering production costs, it aims to catch up with such firms as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and U.S. players in the CMOS sensor market.

Toshiba will consolidate CMOS sensor production into its Oita Prefecture plant to improve efficiency and also plans to raise output.

22nd Dec - Toyota To 'Maintain Domestic Production': President Akiko Toyoda

Toyota Motor Corp.  President Akio Toyoda vowed not to let Japan's domestic manufacturing base wither Wednesday, despite handicaps such as the strong yen.

"In theory, it is beyond the limits of companies to keep manufacturing goods in Japan if they are to survive, given disadvantages such as the yen's strength," Toyoda told reporters at an event to mark the release of the automaker's Vitz compact.

But he added: "Toyota has a sense of mission as a leading Japanese company not to let manufacturing disappear from this country," reiterating his commitment to maintain production and employment in Japan.

The automaker estimates it will make 3.1 million cars in Japan next year, down 5% from its estimate for 2010, and sell 1.3 million cars domestically, down 17%.

Toyoda said the end of subsidies for environmentally-friendly cars was tough, but that Toyota is grateful for the incentives because they allowed the company to it to generate cash until the program ended in September.

22nd Dec - Toyota Eyes 3% Sales Jump In '11 On Strong Asian Growth

Toyota Motor Corp. is counting on strong sales in Asia to bring a second straight year of global sales growth in 2011.

The leading Japanese automaker on Tuesday set a global sales target of 7.7 million vehicles, up 3% from this year.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, center, introduces the Etios small sedan in India early this month.

It aims for Asian sales to climb 11% to 2.06 million units next year after leaping 21% to 1.86 million units for 2010. In the U.S., sales would rise 9% to 1.9 million units in 2011, turning around from a 1% drop to 1.75 million units this year.

2010 marks Toyota's first year in which Asian sales exceed U.S. sales.

Its worldwide sales declined in 2008 and 2009 on the impact of the financial crisis. And although they appear set to record their first rise in three years in 2010, the firm's recovery has been hampered by extensive vehicle recalls.

In addition, the 2011 sales target comes in about 10% lower than the record 8.42 million units of 2007, and a shrinking domestic market is a big reason why Toyota has been struggling to recover to pre-crisis sales levels.

The company's Japanese sales are set to fall 17% to 1.3 million units next year, largely on the demise of government subsidies for environmentally friendly vehicles. This would make domestic sales account for 17% of Toyota's targeted global sales for 2011 -- just half of the 34% in 2000.

Still, Toyota is planning domestic production of 3.1 million units in 2011, down just 5% from the 3.28 million units for the current year.

Following a roughly 30% drop in Japanese output from the peak of 4.22 million units in 2007, the company aims to hold its domestic capacity down to around 3.2 million units in order to preserve jobs and its production base. So exports from Japan are expected to reach 1.8 million units in 2011, up 5% from the 1.71 million units estimated for 2010.

This increases Toyota's exposure to foreign exchange risk. But by cutting costs and reviewing production operations, the company is expected to generate roughly 60 billion yen in operating profit in the current October-March half even at 82 yen to the dollar.

21st Dec - Public-Private Team To Develop Chips For New EVs, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nippon Steel

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will work with the private sector to develop a new power chip that could enable electric cars to run 10% farther on a single charge than those now on the road, aiming to bring the new vehicles to market in 2018, sources said Tuesday.

The ministry will work with Toyota Motor Corp, Mitsubishi Electric Co and Nippon Steel Corp. and others to develop a prototype by 2014. The public-private partnership aims to sharpen the competitive edge of Japan's auto industry by upgrading its environmental technology.

Under the plan, Nippon Steel and Denso Corp. will develop a silicon carbide material for use as a power chip substrate. Power chips are switches used to deliver power at uniform speeds.

Toshiba Corp, Fuji Electric Holdings Co. and Mitsubishi Electric will use the new power chip to make inverters -- which convert direct current to alternating current -- and install them in electric cars made by Toyota, Honda Motor Co, Nissan Motor Co. and others. Midrange models will be priced between 3 and 4 million yen.

An inverter equipped with a silicon carbide-based power chip could reduce power loss by two-thirds, allowing the cars to run further. Since such an inverter would be highly resistant to heat and high voltage, a small fan would be enough to cool them, helping reduce weight. Existing inverters require larger water-cooling devices.

Because developing a silicon carbide chip will require a huge investment, the risk is thought too great for companies to undertake on their own.

The Economy Ministry will provide financial assistance, having allocated 3.57 billion yen to develop the new power chip in its fiscal 2011 budget request. It has already earmarked 2.6 billion yen for the project in the fiscal 2010 supplementary budget approved during the recent Diet session.

Dec 20th - Itochu will construct a plant for thermoelectric power generation in Spain jointly with a major local company. The total cost of the project will exceed 55 billion yen. Itochu plans to invest 8 billion yen.

Dec 6th - Japan future electric cars store energy and feed it back to the home

Electric cars run soundlessly, get some of the best mileage, and don’t pollute the air. But if you ask officials in Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city, an electric car can do even more than that.

They can contribute to the electricity network.

Because electric vehicles, or EVs, run on batteries, they could theoretically store energy and feed it back into the home from the garage, for instance, or even provide electricity to the community if it was connected to a “smart grid.”

Yokohama is one of four cities selected by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to test that “Smart City” concept, bringing together power companies, electronics firms and others. Nissan Motor Co is providing the electric cars, as well as ideas for where best to place charging spots around town.

In the city’s vision, homes and businesses will be connected to a smart grid that combines electricity and telecommunications to make the most efficient use of energy across a community.

Solar panels will be installed on rooftops, and instead of having a separate storage unit, electric cars would capture that energy. By doing so, the car would not only run on clean energy, but could also feed electricity back to power household appliances when demand arises, the city says.

The electric car thus can be both a source of supply and demand on a smart grid.

Dec 4th - Cash in hand, Japanese companies head for growth

Japan's  technology leaders are mobilizing their substantial cash reserves for new charges at growth, with some setting their sights on mergers and technology acquisitions.

Their industry, like others, went into savings mode after the financial crisis erupted. The sector's top seven firms had about 2.2 trillion yen in cash tucked away at the end of September, 14% more than a year earlier and 17% more than at the end of March 2008. Cash on hand was above pre-crisis levels at all but Seiko Epson Corp.and their pockets will likely be even deeper at the end of this coming March.

Fujifilm chemists are working on ingredients for cosmetics, one of the areas that the company is branching out into.

Fujifilm Holdings Corp.'s cash has grown 26% from the close of March 2008 to 418.4 billion yen. The company plans to set aside an average of 50-100 billion yen a year for M&As over the three years starting fiscal 2011.

One possible target area is medical information technology. Fujifilm aims to double sales in its medical systems and life science businesses to around 500 billion yen in fiscal 2013.

Canon Inc. will have 810 billion yen in cash at month's end, up 15 billion yen from a year earlier. Free cash flow is projected to increase 20% from the forecast for this fiscal year ending this month to about 400 billion yen in fiscal 2012. The company will divert some of this toward emerging-market-related investments and acquisitions in the medical field, among other outlets.

Nikon Corp. had 40% more cash on hand at the end of September than before the crisis and expects to have 160 billion yen at fiscal year-end. It is aiming for fiscal 2012 sales to be up 40% over last fiscal year's on the back of its core businesses of digital cameras and photolithography steppers. Starting next fiscal year, Nikon will increase spending on next-generation, liquid-immersion LCD steppers and also look into M&As as a way into new lines of business.

Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. will direct cash toward investments in production of office equipment geared to emerging markets.

Fujifilm and Nikon have been operating essentially debt-free since the end of March, with cash in excess of interest-bearing debt. Although some precision equipment makers still want to save for a rainy day, many are looking "to get back on the offensive," in the words of Canon Executive Vice President Toshizo Tanaka.

Dec 3rd - Keihan Railway to invest in Vietnam Mall Project

Keihan Electric Railway Co. will enter the commercial complex business in Vietnam by teaming up with a local company, 

Keihan's amusement park Hirakata Park in Osaka.

Keihan is trying to diversify its earnings sources amid weak sales at its mainline domestic rail operations due to the economic downturn and declining population. The firm believes it can put the know-how it has built up from developing areas along its train lines to good use in Vietnam, where the railway business is fast expanding in major cities.

Subsidiary Keihan Ryutsu Systems Co. has signed an agreement with local property firm Van Phu-Invest to cooperate in building a shopping center in Hanoi that includes an amusement park. The partners will work out such details as the opening date and investment size later.

The Japanese company will be involved in the project from the design stage and is slated to run the complex.

Dec 2nd - Lawson to buy HMV Japan for 1.8 bn JPY

Lawson Inc. has said that it will buy music retailer HMV Japan's shares on December 1st for JPY1.8bn. HMV Japan is in all sorts of financial trouble, and lost JPY4.6bn in FY2009 ending April 30th this year. It still has 37 stores around the country and Lawson appears to be interested in continuing to operate these.

Dec 2nd - Softbank moving ahead of competitors

Thanks to its exclusive contract with Apple, Softbank is powering ahead of its rivals in the mobile phone market. 
The group's operating profits rose 37% to JPY315.5bn, marking its fifth straight half-year increase. As of September 30th, Softbank had sold 3.7m iPhones, of which 900,000 iPhone 4's were sold in just the previous three months. As a result of the iPhone, and users propensity to access the carrier's servers more often, Softbank's data revenues surpassed voice revenues in Q1 this year.

Dec 2nd - Evernote Save-and-search software co. has big hit in Japan

A Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company called Evernote has been having significant success with its notes and data 
storage software. The company has made Japan its second largest market, after the USA, with about 1m users and 
revenues of approximately JPY500/user/month. The firm just scored a deal with DoCoMo to supply Evernote bundled with DoCoMo's Android phones and tablet PCs. 

Dec 2nd - Walmart looking for Japan acquisitions

While industry watchers look at the disappointing results of Seiyu, Walmart's main presence in Japan, and many even actively speculate if the retailing giant will pull out of Japan, in fact Walmart is giving the exact opposite story 
to the press. The company's CEO and President of Walmart Asia said that he is looking for larger scale operations in Japan and is actively looking for acquisitions to bump the business upwards. Currently Walmart operates 414 stores in Japan.

Dec 1st - Mitsubishi Electric to buy German firm Vincotech to expand power device business

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. said Tuesday it will acquire German electronic component maker Vincotech Holdings SARL to enhance its energy-saving power semiconductor device business.
The Tokyo-based electronics firm agreed Monday with U.S. investment fund the Gores Group LLC, the shareholder of Vincotech, to purchase all shares in the German firm in late December, the company said.
The amount to be paid for the acquisition is likely to run into the billions of yen, though Mitsubishi Electric did not disclose the sum.
Vincotech specializes in the development, manufacturing and distribution of low power devices that are used as inverters for general industrial applications and power conditioners for solar power system applications, Mitsubishi Electric said.
Vincotech is expected to chalk up sales of 57.3 million euros in the year ending in December, according to Mitsubishi Electric.
With the acquisition, Mitsubishi Electric seeks to achieve sales of 190 billion yen in the power device business in fiscal 2015 from estimated sales of 117 billion yen in fiscal 2010 ending next March, the company said.
''We aim to further enhance our power device business by taking advantage of Mitsubishi's strengths in medium and high power device technology and of the low power device technology at which Vincotech excels,'' said its Senior Vice President Kazuo Kyuma.

Nov 30th - Sumitomo To Invest In French Solar Power Project

Sumitomo Corp. plans to take a stake in photovoltaic facilities now under construction in southern France and slated to come onstream next spring.

This is the first time that a Japanese company participates in a French solar power project.

Eco Delta Developpement, a French energy resources firm based in Marseilles, is building 30,000kw of solar plant facilities for roughly 14 billion yen in Les Mees, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.

Sumitomo will obtain a 49.9% stake in the management company already established to oversee the plant operations. The Japanese trading house will also shoulder half of the project's costs. The facilities will supply power to a French power utility for 20 years, ensuring stable earnings, according to Sumitomo.

The French government plans to increase its domestic solar power generation capacity from roughly 130,000kw to 5.4 million kilowatts in 2020. With France and other European countries expected to pursue solar power projects, Sumitomo aims to accelerate its investment in the region.

Nov 30th - Sumitomo Chemical Co. to build a Singaporean factory to produce synthetic rubber for fuel-saving tires.

Sumitomo Chem Picks Singapore For New Tire Rubber Plant

The investment will come to about 10 billion yen. The facility is expected to go onstream in the October-December quarter of 2013 and have an annual output capacity of 40,000 tons.

With stricter fuel economy standards in the U.S. and Europe driving growth in demand for fuel-saving tires, Sumitomo Chemical initially considered boosting production capacity for styrene-butadiene rubber at a Chiba Prefecture plant. But butadiene -- a raw material -- can be procured more steadily in Singapore and preferential tax treatment there will likely make the rubber more cost-competitive.

Sumitomo Chemical's output capacity for the high-performance rubber now stands at 10,000 tons in Japan -- a figure that will quintuple when the Singaporean plant begins operation.