Local News

The Kyushu Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry issued a preliminary report on large retail store sales for 2011 that showed a year-on-year increase of 15 to 1.5611 trillion yen. This was the first yearly increase in 12 years. One factor attributed to the increase was the opening last spring of the Hakata Hankyu Department Store. Same-store sales fell by 2.0%. The special demand resulting from the conversion to terrestrial digital broadcasting and energy-saving equipment limited the decline.