Tourism and Investment in Japan

Used smartphone market in Japan Used smartphone market is expected to grow further in 2019 because the law related to telecommunications has been revised on October 1, changing the used smartphone market in Japan. Japanese smartphone market is smaller than other countries although it is gradually expanding. Unit sales of used terminals have been in the upward trend. The smartphone sold annually is estimated to top 3 million units by 2020. However compared to new products sales, sales of second-hand smartphones are still small, and it is significantly lower than that of the United States, Germany and France. It is analyzed that Japanese consumer is not aware of the cost efficiency of the used smartphones that is the greatest attraction of used products. A majority of consumers of big Japanese telecommunication carriers, namely Softbank, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI pay the terminal charges in monthly installments. They pay the monthly payment for the terminals with communication c...

According to NGK's financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, net sales were expected to fall 3.7% year on year to 219,766 million yen and net income to decline 14.0% to 21,244 million yen.  Slowing demand of insulators for electric power businesses due to restrained capital investment by domestic power companies and intensified competition overseas in addition to decreasing shipments of NAS batteries pushed down its results.  On the other hand, in the ceramics business, one of the company's main businesses, sales of the GPF (Gasoline particulate filter) for gasoline passenger cars increased because of the stricter emission regulations in Europe and China although the shipment of ceramic catalyst carriers for automobile exhaust gas purification (HONEYCERAM) decreased due to the global decline in passenger car sales.  Sales of sensors also increased. Other elements having negative influence on the company’s resul...

October 30, Okuma Corporation announced the second quarter consolidated financial results. In the US market, demand for machine tools has been subdued due to growing uncertainty about the future of the US-China trade war. In the European market, demand also remained sluggish due to weak exports and the slowdown in the German economy. The Chinese market was expected to pick up for a while, but with no progress in US-China trade negotiations, demand for machine tools continued to be slow. In the domestic market, companies postponed capital investment worrying the decline in exports and the future of the US-China trade war. Under these circumstances consolidated net sales decreased 11.0% from previous year to 89,352 million yen and net profit decreased 23.1% to 6,141 million yen. The company expects that demand for machine tools will recover in the medium to long term thanks to demand push up by labor shortages, but in the short term it is expected that the company will keep s...

On November 8, Imasen Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. announced the financial results for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2020. In the second quarter, sales were down 5.6% from previous period to 56,387 million yen and ordinary profit decreased 18.3% to 1,390 million yen. The company's auto parts business slowed in North America and China, resulting in sales decline of 5.9% to 54,486 million yen. On the other hand, some improvements were found in this period. For example, sales in the wire harness-related business increased 3.4% year on year to 1,377 million yen due to an increase in aircraft-related orders, and sales in the welfare equipment-related business also increased thanks to growing sales of electric wheelchairs leading to sales increase of 3.0% to 523 million yen. As a result, in the full-year business forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, net sales will be 112,000 million yen, a decrease of 5.5% from the previous year, and net inc...

Toyota announces the record high income  for April-September period Toyota announced its financial results for the April-September period of 2019 on November 7. Net income increased by 3% year-on-year to 1,274.9 billion yen, a record high for the same period. Despite the decline in the global automobile market, sales volume increased driven by sales of new models. More frequent model changes than other companies have led to strong results. Even in the US, where sales were sluggish, the company posted very strong profits through cost reductions. As a result, sales in the April-September period increased 4% to ¥ 15,285.5 billion, and operating income increased 11% to ¥ 1,404.3 billion. As for competitors, sales volume in April-September period was down 1% for Volkswagen (VW) and down 6% for General Motors (GM). While many of the world's major automakers are struggling with declining profits, Toyota's business performance is supported by the launch of...

On October 31, IBIDEN announced its consolidated financial results for April-September 2019 period. Ordinary income was 8 billion yen, an increase of 8% year-on-year. Sales increased by 0.1% to 144.3 billion yen. Strong demand for IC package substrates for servers used in data centers has led to the sales increase compared to the same period of the previous year. The increasing data processing volume accompanying the advancement of ICT in addition to recovering personal computer market contributed to make this backdrop. As a result, operating profit of the electronic business division increased approximately 5.4 times. On the other hand, sales of Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF), one of the company's main products, decreased from the same period of the previous year due to the impact of a drop in the ratio of diesel passenger cars, mainly in the European market. For this reason, the company plans to increase its share in the DPF market for large vehicles in emerging...

DENSO, attractive investment destination On October 31, DENSO, one of the leading auto parts manufacturing companies in Japan, announced the consolidated financial results for the April-September period of 2019. DENSO has kept incredible performance in this decade with its high profitability and a stable financial base as the charts bellow show.   Sales have grown steadily over the last decade.                                        The company also has maintained high profitability.                             However recent business conditions seem to change a bit. Operating income of this period decreased 12.0% to 134.0 billion yen, a decrease for the second consecutive period due to the appreciation of the yen and weak economies in Asian countries. Although sale...