Business
Adam Westlake on Jun 19 2013
Japanese auto giant
Toyota Motor Corp. stated on Wednesday that its corporate website had been hacked sometime in early June. The company was quick to clarify that no sensitive customer information was accessed, and it was only their Japanese-language site that was affected, however those who accessed the homepage between June 5th and 14th may have been redirected to an unaffiliated website that automatically installed a virus program on users' computers.
Softbank's bid to acquire US wireless provider
Sprint was boosted even more as its rival Dish Network declined to match their revised offer. If the deal is finally sealed, this will be the biggest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company in history and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son's dream to finally break into the US market.
Business
Adam Westlake on Jun 19 2013
Government data released on Wednesday morning revealed that Japan's trade deficit increased to 993.9 billion yen (approx. 10.4 billion US dollars) in the month of May, rising just under 10% from the same month one year earlier. The Japanese
Finance Ministry confirmed that this was the 11th consecutive monthly deficit, the second-longest run of shortfalls since a 14-month period between 1979 and 1980.
2013 may just be the year that Japan will overtake the United States to become the world's biggest
music market. What's even more remarkable is that the growth in Japan's market has been driven by physical sales, an "anomaly" in this supposedly digital age.
Japanese electronics manufacturer
Kyocera has announced today that it will be backing an 8.5-billion-yen (89 million US dollars) project that will look to provide 30 megawatts of power generated from
solar energy to farming communities all across Japan. The project will be implemented by the National Federation of Agriculture Cooperative Associations (
Zen-Noh) with the cooperation of Mitsubishi Corporation, but Kyocera will supply, engineer, construct and maintain the solar power generators behind the project.
Japanese automobile giants
Mitsubishi Motors are set to recall over 9,000 cars in China due to a potential safety hazard in the model's sunroof assembly. The recall action was announced by Beijing’s consumer quality authority – the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), and will affect the Mitsubishi ASX, an imported SUV – specifically the GA2WXTHHL1C and GA2WXTHHZL1C models.
The American office of
Honda Motor Co. announced that they are recalling almost 18,000 Honda and Acura vehicles because some parts of the brake booster system were not manufactured according to the company's specifications. Some of the affected models were model-year 2006-2007 Honda S2000 and model-year 2006
Acura RSX.
South Korean chemicals and insurance conglomerate Hanwha Group said that it is doubling its efforts to be able to tap Japan's growing need for solar energy. The Japanese government is looking into diversifying its energy sources since only 2 of the 50 existing nuclear reactors are currently online. The 2011 Fukushima plant accident raised concerns over nuclear power, leading to exploration of
renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
Business
Faith Aquino on Jun 13 2013
UNIQLO, Japan’s leading retail brand, will soon open stores in Bangladesh, albeit its controversies with the country’s safety pact. Both stores will open in Dhaka through partnership with Grameen Healthcare. The Grameen UNIQLO stores partnership will be the first for
Bangladesh, the world’s second leading garment-making industry, to have ties with a leading global retail brand.
Business
Faith Aquino on Jun 12 2013
Vietnam will have its first urban railway in Ho Chi Minh City with Hitachi Ltd. to oversee the project. Hitachi is also set to bring
high-speed trains to Britain by 2017. The railway system, running 20 kilometres, will connect the northeastern and central part of the capital. The project will cost 37 billion yen ($370 million) and will be provided by Japan through yen-based loan as part of its development assistance to
Vietnam.
