Japan related article excerpts
mark edwards
Vol 1 Number 2 September 1989
Article excerpts from various news media relating to Japan
Sources:
September issues of Business Week, Insight, U.S. News and World Report
One issue of Newsweek.
Commentary
Normally I will not draw your attention to any particular item. However,
in the Sept. 25 (item 28) issue of U.S. News and World Report I noticed
a great many advertisements from Japanese companies. That month about
1/3 of the ads were from Japanese companies, 20 full pagers of 57 pages
of ads. In the Sept. 18 issue (item 26) half of the 32 ads were from Japanese
companies. Being curious I went back to the August 28 -- September 4 issue,
an issue that had no related japanese articles. I could find no, zero, none,
not a one, ads from Japanese companies. I searched the magazine twice, page by
page. None. There was an ad from United Airlines with a picture of a ball
game being played in Osaka Japan, but that was it. The cover story of this
issue is World War II: 50 years later. Just to make sure that this was the
oddity I thought it was I checked issues after and before to see if this
issue had a twin brother. I could not find any other issues without ads
from Japanese companies.
I guess you can imagine that I am now curious what the reason or reasons
were behind the absence. Were the Japanese companies playing it save?,
making a statement? (when I read the magazine I had not noticed that ads
from Japanese companies were surprisingly missing), did the managing staff
decide to omit Japanese company ads that week to play it save?, or what.
What I do know is that the bottom line of U.S. News and World Report must
have hurt from the fall in advertising revenues. Does anyone have any other
explanation?
mark
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Volunteers are actively being sought to provide excerpts from other
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Email contributions to:
Mark Edwards
Internet: edw...@vms.macc.wics.edu
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Business Week, September 4, 1989
1. Who Has The Attitude Problem, Japan or America, Readers Report
"The U.S. and other Western countries are attempting to deal with Japan
in terms of Western culture and philosophy. It will not work. The Japanese
are neither bad nor good: They are different. Until the rest of the world
realizes this, history will repeat itself."
Robert M. Knox
Houston
2. Will Detroit Cut Itself Loose From 'Captive' imports?, James B. Treece
"Using foreign-made cars to fill market niches isn't paying off"
3. Is This The Moment Washington Has Been Waiting For?, Amy Borrus
and Paul Magnusson
"The Adminstration thinks Japan's internal discontent could help break the
deadlock on trade"
4. Amway's Big, Happy Family is All Smiles-- In Japan, Ted Holden with
James Treece
"At-Home pitches allow Amway to get around a big barrier--Japan's middleman"
5. U.S. Law Firms Just Can't Win in Tokyo, Ted Holden with Paul Magnusson,
and Michele Galen
"Japanese rules lock out foreigners from much of the business"
"But U.S. law firms in Japan are discovering that the door is only halfway
open. Non-Japanese lawyers are denied rights that Japanese lawyers enjoy
in the U.S. The most crucial: the right to hire and form partnerships with
local lawyers, or bengoshi, the only ones who may handle cases involving
the application of Japanese law."
[...]
"Of more concern to critics is the double standard Japan seems to be
applying. While U.S. firms in Tokyo are barred from rounding out their
practices by hiring Japanese lawyers, bengoshi regularly hire young
American attorneys in Tokyo to help them with U.S. law and English."
[...]
"Proper Channels. Indeed, the American clients of some U.S. law firms
question whether they can get adequate counsel in Japan if they have to
rely only on bengoshi, whose legal training and, some argue, motivation,
differ from that of U.S. attorneys. 'The Japanese social ethic does not
condone aggressive representation of foreign interests,' says John P.
Stern, an executive at the American Electronics Assn.'s Japan office.
Adds John E. Perry Jr. legal affairs chairman at the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce in Japan: "U.S. companies want to hire someone who'll represent
their interests, not those of Japanese society.'"
6. Silicon Valley is Watching its Worst Nightmare Unfold, Commentary by Robert
Hof and Neil Gross
Reaction to the Sony buyout of Materials Research Corp a leading supplier
of chipmaking machines.
"Already Silcon Valley executives grumble that Japanese suppliers hold
back exports of new machinery, giving Japanese chip producers a 6- to
23-month head start. Japanese vendors say the equipment is back-ordered
or that bugs are still being ironed out,... But the upshot is that "over
the past couple of years, U.S. chipmakers haven't gotten the latest
Japanese equipment technology."
"[...] For America's electronics industry, the grains of sand are running
out"
7. Consider The Urushi Tree-- Is It Not Like a Luxury Car?, Barry Armstrong
"Hill Holiday's unconventional campaign for Nissan's Infiniti"
8. Two days in Boot Camp -- Learning to Love Lexus, Wendy Zellner
"How Toyota grooms true believers to sell its new luxury line"
9. A Rosy Future in Cheap color copies, Inside Wall Street by Gene G. Marcial
Business Week, September 11, 1989
10. The Birth of a Behemoth, Ted Holden
Japan's new Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank is hungry -- and on the prowl
The World's Biggest Banks
Assests, Mar. 31, 1989 in Billions
Dai-ich Kangyo $380
Mitsui Taiyo Kobe $371
Sumitomo $370
Fuji $358
Mitsubishi $347
Business Week, September 18, 1989
11. Why Sun is Losing Its Heat in the East, Neil Gross
"U.S. workstation makers are running into trouble in Japan"
The Japanese Workstation Market
Company 1988 Revenues Percent of market
in millions
Sony $142 19.6 %
Sun Microsystems 140 19.3
Hewlett-Packard 100 14.0
Hitachi 60 8.2
Apollo 59 8.1
NEC 46 6.3
DEC 39 5.3
other 137 19.0
Total $723 100.0%
Business Week, September 25, 1989 (60th Anniversary Issue)
12. How Bad will China's Debt Crunch Get?, Dinah Lee, Ted Holden,
and Mike McNamee
"Lenders, never happy with their profits, now are playing rough"
"American banks are much less exposed in China than the Japanese, who
account for at least 70% of China's $23 billion commercial bank borrowing."
13. Tokyo Want its Arsenal made in Japan, Robert Neff, Naoki Usui, and Dave
Griffiths
"From missiles to carriers, the miltary is eyeing homebuilt weaponry"
14. Can Caterpillar Inch its way back to Hefter Profits?, Brian Bremner
"Komatsu recently acquired a 25% stake in Hanomag, a West German Heavy-
equipment maker that has a 30% share of the European market. It's
planing to boost its stake to 64%."
15. Dai-ichi's move on CIT: It's Bold -- and about TIme, Ted Holden
"The world's biggest bank has been slow to expand overseas"
Move to buy about 60% of Maufacturers Hanover Corp.
(Manny Hanny) CIT group
16. Taiwan Isn't Just For Cloning Anymore, Doris Jones Young, with bureau
reports
"Even Japan is feeling the sting of Taipei. "Japanese may not like to admit
it, but there is a real threat from Taiwanese PCs in America--more at this
point than from Korea,' says a computer engineer at Toshiba Corp.
'Taiwanese companiese have a hungry spirit.'"
17. Betting on The Yen: A Way To Tilt The Odds, Suzanne Woolley, Ted Holden
"Some experts expect the dollar to lose 10% to 15% against the yen in the
coming months."P
Insight, September 11, 1989
18. Japan Offers a Hand to Flooded Bangladesh, World: Intelligence Briefing
19. Japan Expanding to Outer Markets, Jeff Shear
"Summary: A series of setbacks does not appear to have weakened Japan's
commitment to its space program. Although the Japanese trail the
Americans technologically, development of an advanced commercial rocket
and access to a U.S. space station will make them equal partners in space
someday."
20. Putting Mazda in the Driver's Seat, Stephen Brookes
Insight, September 18, 1989
21. Sellers Have to Scratch Backs to Seal Arms Deals Overseas, Christopher Elias
Insight on the how's and why's of technology transfer in the sales of
jet fighters to Japan and other countries.
Newsweek, September 4, 1989
22. Japan Faces a Brain Drain: Whiz kids yearn for yen, Yukikio Hoshiai,
John Schwartz
"Taizo Demura is a rebel of sorts. He works in front of a computer for
Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd., a think tank for Daiwa Securities in
Tokyo. By Japanese custom, he shouldn't be working for a brokerage
house. Before coming to Daiwa two and a half years ago, he studied
engineering at prestigious Tokyo University: his thesis was on
titanium alloys, not price/earnings ratios. But his defection from
engineering to Japan's equivalent of Wall Street would come as no
surprise to an American M.B.A.: 'The main reason for not wanting to
work in the manufacturing sector,' he says, 'was the pay.'
Last week kicked off the traditional interviewing season for college
grads in Japan, and many more companies are getting a shock. More and
more of the country's whiz kids are opting for banks and brokerages
instead of the prestigious manufacturing companies that gave Japan
its economic might. At Japan's top universities, the percentage of
engineering students going to the manufacturing sector plunged from
nearly half in 1987 to around 37 percent in 1988; finance and real
estate businesses grabbed 26 percent, up from 13 percent. The trend,
which the United States has experienced for years, has drawn the
worried attention of Japan's Ministry of International Trade and
Industry.
Why are students choosing the trading floor over the shop floor? As
Demura says, money talks: though new recruits in financial services
and manufacturing start out at about the same monthly salary (around
$1,100), gthe financial-services employees begin getting raises
earlier. Students also think manufacturing is dull. Demura says that
during his job hunt, 'the [manufacturing] interviewers themselves
looked depressing... My image of nonmanufacturers was more human and
livelier.' Manufacturers also tend to send their recruits to boondock
plants, while financial services cluster in urban centers. And it
doesn't hurt that the financial industry hires women--a practice more
rare in manufacturing. 'When students see employees [of a manufacturer]
doing mass excercise to music from the radio in a factory they think
they are frumpy middle-aged men,' says Hisao Oka, executive president
of Mitsubishi Electric Corp. 'They want to work in a sleek,
computerized, high-rise office.'
Hollowed out: As the service industries attract more top-notched
students, the old-line Japanese establishment is getting nervous.
It worries that Japan, which became the richest industrialized
country per capita by producing quality goods cheaply in the postwar
era, may be 'hollowed out' by a service-industry brain drain. A
concerned MITI has formed a committee called the 'feel-good
manufacturing committee' to cope with the problem. Its recently
issued report suggests ways to make manufacturing more attractive.
The most obvious recommendation--to raise manufacturing salaries--is
easier to prescribe than to do, thanks to foreign rivals and
fanatical price competition. Some manufacturers are experimenting with
innovative ways to attract recruits, such as improving the housing that
companies provide to employees and subsidizing the long commutes that
many Japanese have to put up with. Fujitsu has even invested in vacation
facilities in Hawaii to reward productive workers.
If this story sounds familiar, no wonder. American manufacturers have
long warned that the United States is losing its manufacturing edge
in part because the best young minds are being drawn to moneyed
professions. American firms and schools like the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology have tried to reglamorize manufacturing.
For the most part, the Japanese are hoping their new problem will
go away. 'This is a temporary phenomenon,' says Masakazu Yano,
associate professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. 'Those students
getting jobs at banks lack long-term perspective. Japan doesn't have
any other choice but to rely on manufacturing in the future.' Americans
were lulled by such arguments decades ago. Now it's time for MITI to
wrestle with these issues. Felas, welcome to the club.
U.S. News and World Report, Aug 28 - Sept 4, 1989
23. Cover story is World War II: 50 years later
No ads by Japanese companies. But there is an ad by United with a
picture of a Japanese professional baseball player playing hardball
in Osaka. Issues before and after this one have ads for Japanese
companies. I looked through this issue at least twice because
I couldn't believe it.
U.S. News and World Report, Sept 18, 1989
24. Is the Korean miracle running on empty?, Peter Maasas
comparing the Korean economy to Japans
25. Economic Outlook of Cultural Gaps and Trade Talks, Clemens P. Work
* Behavior Modification
"Enough with gripes about selling beef, oranges and cellular telephones
to the Japanese. The real culprits in Japan's $52 billion trade surplus
with the U.S. are the part-time rice farmer who helps drive up the savings
rate, the mom and pop grocery-store owner in Osaka who helps keep retail
prices high and the factory worker who labors six days a week and does not
shop enough. Change that economic culture, U.S. trade officials now are
arguing, and the doors will open.
[...]
[...] By the same token, Japanese argue, U.S. productivity growth would
take off if the U.S> spent less and saved more, setting the stage for a
real increase in the U.S. standard of living. Japanese auto and electronic
manufacturers, built on the backs of U.S. consumers, might have a few
problems with that message."
26. Ads -
NEC 1p, Honda 2p, Mitsubishi 1p, Canon 2p, Toyota Lexus 8p, Minolta 2p
16 of 32 total ads are Japanese companies
U.S. News and World Report, Sept 25, 1989
27. Philanthropy: A yen for the arts, Currents
"[...] The Japanese are fast emerging as bigtime patrons of the arts
in America. In 1989, Japanese companies will contribute an estimated
$200 million to good causes in the U.S., about 35% more than last year.
About one third of that total is going to the arts and culture. [...]"
28. Ads - It seem that there were more ads then usual that were Japanese
companies.
NEC 2p, Nissan 4p, Mitsubishi 2p, Yashica 1p, Sony 2p, Honda 2p, Mita 1p,
Toshiba 2p, Nikko Hotels international 1p, Isuzu 1p, Ricoh 2p
20 of 57 total were Japanese companies
Wall Street Journal, Friday, Sept 29, 1989
29. Sony Agrees to Purchase Guber-Peters In Bid to Get New Team for
Columbia, Laura Landro and Kathleen A. Hughes
Sony agreed to acquire Guber-Peters Co. for $200 million in an
apparent bid to line up a new management team for Columbia Pictures,
which Sony plans to buy fro $3.4 billion.
30. Kyocera Corp. Agrees to Buy AVX of U.S., Paul B. Carroll
"Japanese Firms's Stock Offer Valued at $561 Million, Reflects Trade
Friction"
- First time a Japanese company has bought U.S. company entirely
for stock.
- AVX is a maker of electronic components
"When we buy with cash, there is a connotation- certainly in Japan
and maybe in the U.S., as well - that we bought th company, it is
ours and we can do anything with it," Mr. Kazuo Inamori said
through an interpreter.