Tourism and Investment in Japan

Japan Material keeps extraordinary efficiency Japan Material Co., Ltd. provides special gas and chemicals used in the plants manufacturing semiconductor and liquid crystal.  In addition to the sales of special gas, it also provides integrated services ranging from manufacturing equipment for special gas supply, design and construction of supply piping, gas supply managements, and supply equipment maintenance.  It also engages in image processing related business such as sales and maintenance of personal computer parts for graphic boards and application systems in broadcastings.  Since its stock listing, the company has kept proving extraordinary efficiency with its incredible products and services.  In the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, maintenance businesses mainly for semiconductor manufacturing equipment grew steadily because brisk production activities at semiconductor plants.  However capital investment in flash memory s...

According to provisional trade statistics released by the Ministry of Finance on December 18, exports in November fell 7.9% year-on-year to 6,382 million yen for the 12th consecutive decline.  The continuing sluggishness in export of cars to the US and construction equipment to Europe has influenced.  Imports also decreased by 15.7% to 6,464.2 million yen, the seventh consecutive decline.  The weakening domestic demand dragged by the consumption tax hike in October also seems to be reflected in the statistics.  The trade balance, which is the difference between exports and imports, was minus 82.1 billion yen, the first deficit in two months.  There may be a silver lining in the information technologies as semiconductor manufacturing equipment seems to be bottoming out, but the Japanese economy is said likely to fall into negative growth due to a drop in personal consumption after the tax hike.  For the time being, Japan’s economy needs to cont...

TIA Co., Ltd. in the aging Japanese society TIA Co., Ltd. headquartered in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture provides funeral services mainly in the Chubu region taking advantage of aging Japanese demography.  Japan's elderly population over 65 reached 35.88 million, accounting for 28.4% of the total population. As society ages, the number of people died in 2017 is expected to have been 1.6 million, about 15% higher than 10 years ago.  TIA is expanding its business with 116 funeral halls under its management as of the end of October 2019 mainly in the Chubu region. Of these, 59 halls are directly managed by the companies and 48 are franchised halls.  TIA has kept expanding its sales and financial stability with funerals held annually increasing as Japanese society ages.  On the other hand, the average number of attendees to funerals held at Tia halls has dropped to 35, about a quarter compared to 10 years ago. In accordance with the decrease in atte...

Nagoya Railroad expects increasing income for FY 2019  Nagoya Railroad Co., Ltd. announced that consolidated operating income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020 is expected to increase 1% from previous year to 50 billion yen.  Previously, profits were expected to decline, but it was revised upwardly setting a new record high in this announcement.  Passengers of its railway business which is the company’s pillar exceeded expectations, and sales of condominiums in the real estate business were also strong.  Operating revenue is expected to increase by 3% to ¥ 639.0 billion, up 4 billion yen from the previous forecast although net income will decrease by 2% to ¥ 30.0 billion due to an increase in tax expenses. Growing demand for airport access that connects Chubu International Airport and Nagoya Station pushed up the company’s sales.  At Chubu Airport, the Aichi International Exhibition Center was opened in August and the second terminal fo...

Investors have got another sign that the Japanese economy starts stagnating again.  Machinery orders statistics released by the Cabinet Office, a survey of monthly orders for machinery equipment to machine manufacturers, has been watched closely by investors as a leading indicator of capital investment.  According to the statistics for the last October announced on December 12, seasonally adjusted orders from private sectors excluding ships and electricity, which are the indicators without the effect of volatile orders, decreased 6.0% from the previous month.  It was the fourth consecutive month of decline. Compared to the previous year, it was down 6.1%.   The result was also below the preliminary survey of market participants expecting to increase 0.9% month-on-month. The Cabinet Office revised down its assessment of the sector, saying machinery orders seem to be stalling. In the last month's assessment, it said the orders were s lowing.

Indexes of business conditions for October 2019 released by the Cabinet Office showed coincident index fell to 94.8, the lowest in 6 years and 8 months.  Indicators showing production and shipment were deteriorated caused by overlapped consumption tax hike and large typhoons.  In the household survey announced on the same day, consumer spending in October decreased 5.1% year-on-year.  The Japanese economy is expected not to pick up for the time being and it is concerned that the stagnation will be prolonged.  Indexes of business conditions fell 5.6 points month-on-month bases, the largest decline since March 2011 when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred.  This situation is more severe than April 2014 tax hike which induced the index to decrease by 4.8 points, indicating a high possibility of a recession.  Retail sales, durable goods shipments, and industrial production incurred the biggest decline. Fading last-minute demand after the...

On December 13, the Bank of Japan released Tankan report, a short-term economic observation survey of corporate sentiment.  In this survey, the index showing economic sentiment of large manufacturing companies fell to 0, 5 points lower than the previous survey, the fourth consecutive deterioration. It was the lowest for 6 years and 9 months since March 2013.  As this survey was the first after the consumption tax was hiked, the index of large non-manufacturing companies including retail also deteriorated. The index downed by 1 point to 20 for the second consecutive decline.  In the retail industry, sales have declined due to fading last-minute demand after the consumption tax hike and the severe damage brought by Typhoon No.19 in Kanto region, Tohoku region and others.  Production in the automobile industry also declined.  As for the economy three months ahead, the index of large manufacturing companies is expected to be flat and that of the non-manu...

Japanese swords as a symbol of Samurai   Seki city is famous for making a great number of Japanese swords that are regarded as a symbol of Samurai.  It is said that Seki smiths had started sword making during the Kamakura period and since then the tradition of cutlery, which has been handed down for over 700 years, prospered and still lives on.  Blessed with the good soil, charcoal and good water of the Nagara and Tsubo rivers running through the city needed to bake up the sword, this land has ideal geological conditions for sword smiths attracting many of them from around the country.  In the Muromachi period following the Kamakura period, more than 300 sword smiths are said to have produced Seki's swords which received high admiration for cutting well, not breaking and not bending.  Since then the name of Seki started to be known throughout the country. Thereafter, Seki City has prospered as a production center for Japan's best swords and this o...

Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc., established in 1951, is a power company whose main business area is the Chubu region. It is the third largest power company in Japan and used to almost monopolize the power supply in the Chubu region. However, the amount of power the company supplies has been decreasing due to intensifying competition among energy companies on the backdrop of the recent power liberalization. As for the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, electricity the company supplied decreased by 300 million kwh from the previous year to 59.1 billion kwh due to the switchover of customers to other operators under intensified competition, and the decline in operation of cooling facilities because of lower temperatures in this summer compared to the previous year. On the other hand, an increase of fuel cost adjustment charge pushed up its sales by 84.8 billion yen from the previous fiscal year to 1,572.3 billion yen, and net income increased 69.6 bil...