The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released figures showing the first net influx of population into Kyushu in 15 years. Last year, there was a net outflow of 13,225 people from the seven prefectures, but this year a net influx of 9,719 people into Fukuoka Prefecture resulted in an overall net influx for the region of 843 people. The year-on-year increase for Fukuoka Prefecture was the highest in Japan.
Kyushu Electric Power has applied to the government to add a surcharge of 0.15 yen per kWh to all power users based on the new system that allows utilities to purchase excess power from those who generate it with solar panels. This will work out to roughly 45 yen per month for the average household. All the national power companies have announced they will do the same, but solar power generation is more widespread in Kyushu, so the expense to users will be greater.
Fukuoka City-based Jutaku Ryutsu Shimposha, which surveys the regional condominium market, reported that the market in the seven Kyushu prefectures in 2011 showed growth for the first time in three years. Specifically, the number of new units placed on the market rose to 6,122, a 25.4% year-on-year increase, and the number of units sold totaled 6,897, a 3.2% rise. The company says this demonstrates that consumption is starting to rebound from the 2008 economic crisis.
The National Police Agency revealed it will provide sophisticated automated DNA identification devices to Fukuoka Prefecture and three other prefectures at the end of March. The devices will be able to rapidly identify the DNA of fatalities in large disasters for whom no other means of identification is available. The equipment will also be provided to Hokkaido, Saitama, and Osaka prefectures.
The Kyushu District Transport Bureau reports that overseas cruise ships are scheduled to call on Kyushu ports 179 times in 2012. This is three times more than last year’s total, when there were many cancellations in the wake of the Tohoku disaster, and the highest number since statistics began being kept in 2008. The primary factor is the new entry of South Korean cruise ships.
The municipal government of Yakushima-cho on the island of Yakushima, part of Kagoshima Prefecture, will launch a special committee in April to consider the possibility of charging admission for outside visitors to the island as early as FY 2013. The island has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the fees would be used as funding for environmental protection measures. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, three small municipalities on islands in Okinawa Prefecture charge 100 yen per visit. If the system goes into effect, Yakushima would be the fourth local government to charge an island admission fee and the first in Kyushu.
Kitakyushu-based Yaskawa Electric announced it will expand a new plant at its main site manufacturing industrial robots for the semiconductor, food products, and medical equipment industries. The objective is to strengthen the company’s manufacturing presence in growth sectors other than its mainstay businesses. Plans call for the new plant to begin operations in the summer of 2013.
Kyushu Electric Power reported that it had recorded a loss of 90.5 billion yen on its consolidated account from April to December 2011. Major contributors to the loss were the long-term shutdown of the utility’s nuclear power plant and the increased purchases of fuel for thermal plants to offset their unavailability. The loss is likely to exceed 100 billion yen for the full fiscal year ending in March, the highest ever for Kyushu Electric. It will be the first loss suffered by the company in 32 years. They have decided to cut their dividend from 60 to 50 yen per share, the first reduction in nine years, and reduce corporate officer and director remuneration by 15% to 20% starting in February.
Toyota Kyushu expects to increase its vehicle production in FY 2012 to the 350,000 level, the company revealed. This is just under a 20% increase from the roughly 300,000 units the company produced in FY 2011, and will be the highest total in five years. The recovery from the impact of the Tohoku earthquake and the higher demand for the luxury Lexis model in North America are the factors behind the decision.
The boys’ rugby team from Higashi Fukuoka High School became the fifth in history to win three straight national championships when it defeated Tokai Gyosei High School from Osaka 36-24. The team also scored an aggregate of 292 points from the second match to the championship game, breaking their own tournament record of 272 set two years ago. They become the first team ever to win five straight national winter and spring tournaments.
The major airline companies announced their planned flights for the first half of FY 2012 (March 25 – October 27). ANA will resume a daily Fukuoka – Sendai round-trip flight for the Golden Week period. It will also increase flights from Fukuoka and Oita to Osaka’s Itami Airport, and from Fukuoka to Niigata, while reducing them from Fukuoka to the Kansai International, Chubu, and Okinawa airports. Meanwhile, JAL will resume its daily round-trip flight from Fukuoka to Iwate, and increase flights between Haneda and Kitakyushu and Kumamoto.
The four automakers producing cars in Kyushu revealed that regional production for 2011 totaled 1.1757 million units. This was 3.8% higher than the year-before total, and the highest production in Kyushu ever. The increase came despite a temporary shutdown of the production lines after problems with the supply chain emerged after the Tohoku earthquake.
Ohga Pharmacy, which operates drugstores and pharmacies in northern Kyushu, presented its new business plan that calls for expanding the number of outlets from 73 to 100 and reaching 30 billion yen in sales by 2015. They also will begin selling food products at their suburban stores this year. In contrast, they will try to change the image of their outlets near urban cores to appeal to upscale customers by forming ties with salons.
Kyushu Electric Power, Denso Corp., and Fukuoka City will join forces for a trial starting in March to offer information on local tourist spots and events at the recharging stands for electric vehicles. Users can access the information with their navigation systems and smartphones. Kyushu Electric has already developed recharging stands that can broadcast information, while Denso will be responsible for the broadcasting and receiving system.
Electrical construction company Kyudenko announced plans to open two business offices in Southeast Asia to extend their operations to that region. The offices will be located in Indonesia and Malaysia. The company has one overseas office at present in Taiwan, and hasn’t opened an office outside of Japan since it established a company in The Philippines in 2002 that was liquidated four years later.
The Nishinippon Shimbun is reporting that Fukuoka Prefecture paid 30.18 million yen for about four and a half years starting in 2007 to individual members of the prefectural assembly for personal requests related to the national government and Diet, including travel expenses, without confirmation of the objectives of the trip or the destination. In addition, 15.14 million yen was paid to members of the Saga Prefecture assembly for similar reasons without confirmation for more than five years. These two prefectures are the only ones in Japan with such payment systems, and they are now the focus of criticism for their lack of transparency.
Surveys by two Cabinet ministries revealed that the advance hiring of students who will be graduated from universities this spring in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture totaled 67.3% of the total as of December 1. This is the lowest of the six national blocs, though it is a 4.2 percentage-point increase from the previous year. The national average is 71.9%.
Chinese low-cost carrier Spring Airlines has begun a regularly scheduled charter service between Saga City and Shanghai. There will be two roundtrip flights a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is the first regularly scheduled international flight into Saga Airport since it opened in 1998.
Omuta-based Shingo Denzai, Kyushu’s only traffic signal manufacturer, will enter the outdoor illumination business and begin sales of products in May. They will use LEDs because they last longer than conventional lights and use less energy. The company hopes to achieve one billion yen in sales in this sector in three years.
Convenience stores and food products companies are increasingly developing products exclusively for the Kyushu market, the Nishinippon Shimbun reports. The Family Mart convenience store, which has about 1,030 outlets in Kyushu, has hired a well-known Miyazaki-born chef specializing in Italian food to create eight new products, which are now on sale. Lawson’s is selling confections created by four popular shops in the region in most of its Kyushu stores.
In an interview with the Nishinippon Shimbun, Fukuoka City-based Saibu Gas President Yuji Tanaka said the company was considering entering the electrical power generation business, to provide electricity to the existing utilities and corporations. It is part of their long-term vision for 2030, which will be the company’s 100th anniversary. At present, Kyushu Electric Power has a near monopoly on electric power generation in the region.
At a Board of Director’s meeting, Kyushu Electric Power formally approved the choice of Michiaki Uriu to replace current President Toshio Manabe, and Masayoshi Nuki to replace Shingo Matsuo as chairman. Both men will assume their new positions on April 1. It is unusual for a company to replace its president and chairman at the same time, but the utility thought it was a necessary step to regain the public’s trust after the bogus e-mail scandal six months ago involving the resumption of operations at the Genkai nuclear power plant.
South Korean low cost carrier Jeju Air informed officials in Kitakyushu that it would suspend regularly scheduled flights on its Seoul – Kitakyushu route and focus instead on a Seoul – Fukuoka route. The airline is waiting for the approval of both governments for the latter route, which it hopes to begin March 30. Airline officials denied their efforts for the Fukuoka route was a factor, but they also admitted the latter city had greater demand, as well as better access to the Shinkansen. Jeju Air began operating flights to Kitakyushu in March 2009.
The Fukuoka Chamber of Commerce and Industry released the results of its survey of member firms regarding the salaries they paid their employees in 2011. It revealed that 31.35% offered no wage increases to their employees during the year, a 1.0 percentage-point rise from the previous year. In contrast, 47.0% of the companies did boost employee salaries, but the average increase was 692 yen less than the year before.
Masayuki Naruse of Tamana, Kumamoto Prefecture, will present a paper on the safety of his single pedal automobile system to the Society of Automotive Engineers in the United States. The Naruse pedal has an attachment on the right hand side of the floor pedal for acceleration, so drivers hit that attachment with the right side of their foot to move forward, and step on the floor to brake. This prevents the accidents that occur when drivers mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake in an emergency. He has custom-fitted nearly 200 cars in Japan with the pedal, but the major automakers are not yet interested in the idea.
Nissan Motor Co. revealed that its vehicle production in Kyushu for FY 2011 would total roughly 580,000 to 590,000 units. This is more than 100,000 units above the previous year’s total, and the most Nissan has ever manufactured in the region. The two primary models produced in Kyushu are an SUV for import and a minivan for the domestic market.
Fukuoka City Mayor Soichiro Takashima announced a new service in which residents can take their basic citizens’ ledger card to 7-Eleven convenience stores and have residence certificates, seal certifications, and other official documents issued to them. The service, which will use touch-panel terminals in the stores, is scheduled to begin in August. Fukuoka City will become the first of the nation’s 19 specially designated cities to offer such a service, but the second in the prefecture after Omuta.
The Fukuoka Prefecture government established the Fukuoka Asia Medical Support Center in Fukuoka City on the 16th to offer consultation services to foreigners from Asia and elsewhere who wish to receive examinations or treatment at prefecture medical facilities. The support will include providing information on facilities and how to apply for visas for medical stays, and sending interpreters to accompany the foreigners to facilities. This is said to be the first service of its kind at the prefectural level in Japan.
The Fukuoka Branch of Tokyo Shokoh Research revealed that bankruptcies of companies in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture with at least 10 million yen in liabilities for 2011 rose for the first time in three years. A total of 892 firms closed their doors during the year, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. The aggregate amount of liabilities was 213.3 billion yen, a 24% increase. About 60% of the bankruptcies involved companies with liabilities of less than 100 million yen, and only four were for more than five billion yen.
Credit card company JCB has announced the start of a service for holders of South Korean credit cards with which they are affiliated that would provide bonus points equivalent to 5% of the purchase amount for purchases at commercial establishments in Fukuoka City. The objective is to boost consumption by South Korean visitors to the area. South Korean cards provide bonus points at a level of .01% to 0.3% of the purchase price. The service will continue until May 15.
At the national high school volleyball championships held in Tokyo, the girls’ team from Higashi Kyushu Ryukoku High School in Nakatsu, Oita Prefecture, defeated Hikami High School in Hyogo Prefecture 3-0 in the finals. It was the team’s fifth straight national championship. Meanwhile, Omura Technical High School of Omura, Nagasaki Prefecture, downed the team from Sozo Gakuen in Nagano Prefecture 3-2 for a Kyushu sweep. It was the Omura school’s second championship.
Public highway corporations in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures are facing a deadline of the end of FY 2012 for the repayment of 17.2 billion yen in operating expenses, but the Nishinippon Shimbun reports the Fukuoka Public Highway Corporation is unlikely to repay all its liability of 13.6 billion yen. That makes it probable there will be a total of 3 billion yen in unpaid funds. The primary reason is that the initial estimates of demand for the use of the toll road were unreasonably high. The expenses were incurred in 1983 and were supposed to be repaid in 20 years.
Former sumo grand champion and current stable master Takanohana announced he was starting a program of building sumo rings throughout the country to promote the appeal of sumo, and the first would be built in Shiiba-son, Miyazaki Prefecture. Takanohana’s wife, the former newscaster Keiko Hanada, is a Miyazaki native. Takanohana says that sumo helps build character, and he wants to see the sport restored at primary schools and other sites around the country. The Shiiba-son municipal government will contribute funds to the project and manage the ring once it is built. It will be constructed by a local Shinto shrine under the guidance of the Japan Sumo Association.
Toshiba Holdings of Kitakyushu announced plans to start construction in March of a mega-solar power plant in Nankan-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture. It will have an output of 3,759 kW from 11,000 solar panels, making it one of the largest facilities of its type in Kyushu. They hope to begin operation in July.
Nagasaki University, Kurume University, and Saga University will jointly open a “citizens’ university next April in Neshiko-cho, Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, a town known for its history as a haven for “closet Christians”. The intent is to turn the entire town into a university. The facility will be called Neshiko Hakubutsukan, and it will offer monthly lectures throughout the district on such topics as the area’s history, culture, agriculture-based economy, and regional economy.
Higashi Fukuoka High School defeated Gyosei Fuzuoku High School from Osaka 36-24 in the finals of the 91st national high school rugby championship to take their third consecutive title. They thus become only the fifth school in history to win three consecutive championships. The team also broke its own record for aggregate points in the tournament with 292.
Kyushu Electric Power subsidiary Kyuden Infocom (QIC) has created a Korean language website and will use it to sell Kyushu products to South Korea, starting on the 18th. The objective is to promote the appeal of Kyushu using products that are little known nationwide. The site is part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry’s Cool Japan project to disseminate Japanese culture overseas. It is unusual for a website in Japan to be devoted to selling regional products in foreign countries.
The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry and the Kyushu Regional Agricultural Administration Office announced they would form a new council in March to promote the export of Kyushu’s agricultural products. The public and private sector is teaming up to boost the growth of exports to Asia in particular, as domestic markets continue to shrink. The two organizations will call on other economic groups and prefectural governments to participate in the council.
With utilities requesting cutbacks in power consumption since last summer, a growing number of Kyushu companies are building new facilities for in-house power consumption, or expanding existing facilities. The objective is to protect themselves from a potential power shortage and to maintain their production and business activities. One example is Daihatsu Kyushu in Oita Prefecture. The automaker already has natural gas generators, but plans to add new generators starting this spring.
A group from the Department of Creative Informatics in the Kyushu Institute of Technology has developed new technology enabling reduced production costs through greater inspection program accuracy for low-power consumption semiconductors in smartphones. They have acquired a patent for the technology and plan to start up a venture capital-backed company to commercialize it. Sales to semiconductor manufacturers are expected to begin within the year.
