Who profits really from a ban?

Last year I have observed that more and more Japanese chemical or biotech related companies started to move into the local health ingredients market. One example is the picture on the side: Glucosamine from Suntory. I believe the market for health ingredients was successfully started off with Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. Vitamins and supplements are only recently becoming widely available in Japan. One of the most successful promoted brands was Nature Made, which offered a high priced product with rather low actual vitamin content, which is produced and marketed in Japan by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. While now more and more local companies are offering health food ingredients I was surprised to see the Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) intention to blacklist 125 nutrients including forms of glucosamine, aloe vera and krill, because it says they are not being used in products, according to the US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service. Others that appear on the list include isomaltodextranase, chitin, quercetin, mulberry bark extract, ginger extract and calcinated calcium and Eucalyptus leaf extract. If cuts are made Japan’s approved list will shrink from 418 to 293 approved substances. According to the USDA the MHLW was requesting additional information from the companies concerned that may wish to continue using the ingredients. “The stated reason for the deletions is that the ministry believes these additives are not currently being used in foods sold in Japan,” USDA said.
Honestly I am wondering what the actual reason for this step is. The products stated are not that unusual, plus at the same time offered by local companies. Potentially the difference of the end product lies solely in the place of manufacture. At the end, who is affected? All those local end users who buy only local products, paying more than double of the price for the same product containing a smaller amount of actual health ingredients. I am sure the local chemical or biotech industry does not mind this blacklist, which will stop certain foreign imports.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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What if going abroad is the only choice….

For a rather long period I am getting now my daily entertainment updates in regard to Japan from Japan probe. Yesterday’s daily email summary presented one documentary “Mothers’ Way, Daughters’ Choice” – actually the trailer for the documentary – which truly impressed me about the open expression of the reality many Japanese women are facing. This bilingual documentary does not judge, but simply show the reality professional Japanese women are facing, which forces them to rethink their place for living.
Personally I never experienced a situation when I had been given limited choices when making a decision for my life. My vocabulary and the environment I was living never contained any statements like “as a woman I have to…”. I was always able to create the life I wanted to have. Discriminations as a woman occurred, but so seldom that it did not affect my life. On the other hand, if I had been born in Japan, I guess I would not have been able to live here on a long-term basis. As a foreign woman I am able to create a life that does not have to apply to the general Japanese societal cultural rules. Compared to local women I have more freedom for the life style I am choosing, although I still have the professional hurdle of being a foreigner in a local talent pool. Have a look at the trailer below and see by yourself the reasons why professional women’s only choice might be to go abroad.

Although I hope to see the documentary one day, my bigger wish is that the economical pressure does not force even more women abroad. Further bilingual brain drain makes Japan even more vulnerable.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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Not necessary first hand experience…

If this picture of mine looks shaky to you, I can reassure you that your eyesight is perfectly right. There is a simple reason for this fuzzy picture: I came down with a stomach flu since last Friday evening. Until I am back on my feet, give me a few more days until I am truly well again to post new articles on this blog.
Moral of the story: It seems that I am sharing first hand what many other people in Tokyo are experiencing (Article in Japan Times).

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤) after having eaten the second solid meal since last Friday、yeah!

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What is the big deal about ordinance designated cities in Japan?

Most likely you have never heard of the Japanese word of Seireishiteitoshi and even less likely understand the big impact this ordinance-designated cities have on the local government budgets. Let me first explain the concept of an ordinance-designated city. According to Japanese law, since 1999 a Japanese city that has a population greater than 700,000 and has been designated as such by an order of the cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19 of the Local Autonomy Law, becomes a city within the regional prefecture that has the same rights and duty as the prefecture. More details about Seireishiteitoshi can be found in Japanese at 政令指定都市 (せいれいしていとし).
On a national stage a lot of news in regard to the problems concerning the ordinance-designed cities can be mainly heard from the city of Osaka and the region of Osaka. With the increasing financial burdens compared to the recent decreased tax income of local governments of larger cities, regional government and local cities need to find a way of decreasing not absolutely necessary expenses. A good example is that so far a prefecture had set up in their region local libraries, when at the same time the local city had set up their own library. As a consequence in some areas both libraries might be very close to each other, which creates not only unnecessary costs, but as well now the question, which library stays and which has to be closed down?
You can expect in the near future similar problems to pop up with the following 19 ordinance-designated cities and the respective prefecture:

1. Yokohama (population 3,681,000)
2. Osaka (2,668,000)
3. Nagoya (2,259,000)
4. Sapporo (1,910,000)
5. Kobe (1,539,000)
6. Kyoto (1,463,000)
7. Fukuoka (1,462,000)
8. Kawasaki (1,420,000)
9. Saitama City (1,221,000)
10. Hiroshima (1,174,000)
11. Sendai (1,037,000)
12. Kitakyushu (1,037,000)
13. Chiba (981,000)
14. Sakai (839,000)
15. Niigata (812,000)
16. Hamamatsu (808,000)
17. Shizuoka (716,000)
18. Sagamihara City (714,000)
19. Okayama (705,000)

I truly hope that the double functions of the city and the prefecture can be cut in a way that works best for the local residents. Looking at the total increasing dept that Japan is facing, I believe it is high time to review unnecessary spending. I really hope that Japan does not become the Italy of Asia (suggested naming by the Asia Wallstreet Journal).

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Japanese companies: Looking at the changes of the stock value over 60 years

The most recent article from Veritas Nikkei showed the most successful Japanese companies over the last 60 years, ranking done solely focused on the increase of their average stock value. Most surprising was for me to find that Toho (Japanese film, theater production and distribution company) is ranked as number one! Personally I would never expected that a Japanese entertainment related company has made such huge financial gain based on the stock value. How about you, would you have guessed the same companies in the top 20 based on the average stock value over past 60 years:

1. Toho (increased average stock by 1440 times)
2. Daikin (173)
3. Astellas (151)
4. Toyota (130)
5. Kao (110)
6. Takeda (103)
7. Canon (86)
8. Komatsu (85)
9. Shinetsu Kagaku (73)
10. Olympus (67)
11. Tokushuto (60)
12. Toyotasen (57), Yamato HD (57)
14. Shiseido (54)
15. Koito (50), Suzuki (50)
17. Panasonic (49), Nikon (49)
19. Ibiden (48), Fuji Film (48)

Personally I don’t see it as surprising that pharmaceutical companies rank that high, but at the same time I have to say I would have never guessed the top two companies right. Looking at the economical challenges Japan is facing, I am wondering how many of the companies listed above will be still existing in 10 or 20 years. Let’s hope there is a chance that I will be then still blogging about Japan related topics.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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How much are you willing to pay for a taxi?

The use of taxis is from my viewpoint rather common in everyday life in Japan, but how much are Japanese really willing to spend for a ride? This weekend Nikkei Shimbun had published the results from an internet questionnaire with 618 participants (about half male and half female respondents) about what their highest taxi charge was so far in their life. The focus was clearly not on company paid expenses, but how much the average Japanese is willing to pay from their own pocket.
According to the responses, most likely the high costs occurred when the taxi was the only available transportation. This could be due to bad weather circumstances or after a long night out, when the last train was already gone. Personally I had the biggest taxi charge from home to the Haneda airport – being too lazy to move with lots of baggage to the train or the bus – simply reflecting then the average Japanese bill of JPY 3001-5000 (highest overall percentage of 22% of the respondents). I guess the 18% of the asked Japanese were in real trouble, because they were willing to pay more than JPY 10,000 for a taxi ride.
For sure I am looking forward to gain access to data about the highest accepted taxi charge in case of business expense in Japan. If you have any information on this, do not hesitate to get back to me.

Brought to you by Sibylle Ito (シビル伊藤)

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One in every four emergency calls is not an emergency!

Today with the newspaper I have received a flyer from the local police. Apart from the typical cautions about scamming tricks and how to increase local safety, an educational article was added to point out the existence of the #9110 number to be used for police related concerns, but not actually related to an emergency. Along the same lines last week according to Nippon Television (TV channel 4 in Tokyo) morning program, they pointed out that one in every four calls to the emergency number is unrelated to an actual emergency. Honestly while I was first shocked about the misuse of the emergency number first, I was blown away by the selfishness and stupidity of some callers. For example the following calls were actually made to the Japanese emergency number (number 110):

- “My washing machine does not work. Can you send someone to fix it?
- “I have a cockroach in my kitchen. Come and take it away!”
- “Can you come to pick me up? I am tired, but have no money to pay for the taxi. Bring me home by a police car!”

In case if you ever are in an actual emergency, do understand that I strongly support the use of the police emergence number 110, but otherwise don’t forget to use the number #9110. The focus should be on allowing prompt support for every emergency and not jamming up the phone line with selfish childlike behavior.

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