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DC5m United States japan in english 26 articles, created at 2016-11-29 16:56 articles set mostly positive rate 5.8
1 2.6 Japan culling 330,000 birds to fight avian flu Japan has begun slaughtering more than 330,000 farm birds to contain its first
(3.12/4) outbreaks of a highly contagious strain of avian flu in nearly two years, the government said Tuesday. 2016-11-29 02:00 1KB www.digitaljournal.com
(2.10/4) 2 3.2 Nissan banks on after-sales 'hyper-personalization' revenue Nissan is going to offer internet access, safety technology and myriad accessory options the Japanese automaker calls "hyper-personalization," not only in new models but also for vehicles... 2016-11-29 01:36 1KB www.cbs46.com
3 0.0 As OPEC price hike looms, Asia's big oil buyers may shop elsewhere
(1.05/4) By Henning Gloystein and Yuka Obayashi SINGAPORE/TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - For the first time since 2008, OPEC is set to strike a deal to cut oil output that... 2016-11-29 02:54 6KB www.dailymail.co.uk
4 2.2 Tokyo pledges to keep 2020 Olympic rowing event in the capital (1.03/4) City governor’s commitment comes after she vowed to cut spiralling costs of hosting next summer Games 2016-11-29 06:59 5KB www.theguardian.com
5 1.3 Rowing, canoe sprint, swimming to remain at Tokyo venues
(1.03/4) Olympic organizers agreed Tuesday to keep the rowing, canoe sprint and swimming venues at their planned sites in Tokyo for the 2020 Games, while postponing a decision until Christmas on a possible switch for volleyball. 2016-11-29 06:27 3KB www.charlotteobserver.com
6 1.2 Coca-Cola No. 1 in Japan with drinks galore, but not Coke
(1.02/4) Coca-Cola has been the No. 1 beverage maker in Japan for half a century, but it's not thanks to the popularity of Coke. Instead, the American soft-drink brand has adapted to the quirky ways this society quenches its thirst. 2016-11-29 09:16 7KB www.heraldonline.com
7 1.1 Jeweler Tiffany posts first increase in sales in 8 quarters (1.02/4) Tiffany reported its first rise in sales in eight quarters as strong sales in China and Japan more than offset a decline in the U. S. 2016-11-29 08:36 1KB www.cnbc.com 8 2.8 Japan singer calls police to report spying, is arrested Fallen Japanese pop star Aska has been arrested on drugs charges after calling police
(1.02/4) to tell them he was being spied on at home by a hidden camera, police a... 2016-11-29 02:31 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
9 0.0 Japan's Idemitsu JV plans to expand LPG use at naphtha cracker
(1.01/4) TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Idemitsu Kosan said on Tuesday its joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals would conduct work to expand the processing of propa... 2016-11-29 03:42 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
10 3.3 Urawa Reds beat Kashima 1-0 in 1st leg of J-League final TOKYO (AP) — Urawa Reds took a big step toward winning their second title with a 1- 0 win away to Kashima Antlers in the first leg of the J-League Championshi... 2016-11-29 09:27 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk
11 1.9 Japan Tobacco shakes up management to spur global growth LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan Tobacco, the world's third-largest tobacco company, announced management changes on Tuesday designed to accelerate the growt... 2016-11-29 08:53 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk
12 2.6 Tokyo Savors Title of City With Most Michelin-Star Restaurants A total of 12 Tokyo restaurants gained the highest three-star rating and 227 restaurants in the city had at least one star, putting Japan’s capital far ahead of No. 2 Kyoto and No. 3 Paris. 2016-11-29 08:00 1KB www.wsj.com
13 3.0 Nissan to offer maintenance-alert service in foray into connected cars By Naomi Tajitsu YOKOHAMA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co will make its first major foray into internet-connected cars by offering an option in some new... 2016-11-29 07:00 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
14 6.7 Japan's Jobs Report May Be Good News for the Economy
"This is starting to lift consumer sentiment. " 2016-11-29 06:22 3KB fortune.com
15 0.7 Japan Box Office: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Bows at Number One TOKYO – Warner’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” bowed at number one in the Japanese box office for the Nov. 26-27 weekend. But its score was weaker than the last “Harry Potter” film. Deb… 2016-11-29 05:44 1KB variety.com 16 2.2 Olympics-IOC urges Tokyo to keep costs below $20 billion By Elaine Lies TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged Tokyo to keep costs for the 2020 Summer Games below $20 billion... 2016-11-29 05:17 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk
17 6.7 Morgan Stanley Thinks Japan Is 2017's 'Top Market' It features 'attractive long-run valuations' and 'some cyclical strength.' 2016-11-29 03:36 3KB fortune.com
18 4.5 Ex-Dodger Guerrero signs with Japan's Chunichi Dragons Cuban infielder Alex Guerrero has signed a one-year deal with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Central league. 2016-11-29 03:26 1KB www.charlotteobserver.com
19 3.8 Domino’s Japan trains reindeer to deliver pizza as winter approaches Domino’s continues to innovate its delivery method with a plan to use reindeers to deliver takeaways during the winter season 2016-11-29 02:00 2KB www.scmp.com
20 1.7 Olympics: Heaven and hull for Japan's kayaking monk Rising silently before dawn to slip on his monastic robes and begin the solemn duties of a Buddhist monk, Kazuki Yazawa is not your average Olympic athlete. ... 2016-11-29 01:46 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk
21 0.4 North Korea in 3 days of mourning for 'great comrade' Castro TOKYO (AP) — North Korea is observing a three-day period of mourning for Fidel Castro, who was seen by the North as a comrade-in-arms against the common enemy of the United States. ... 2016-11-29 01:39 686Bytes article.wn.com
22 2.3 WATCH: Japan to open hot-tub roller coasters in spa-themed park The seemingly bizarre combination of adrenaline and sanitation was first suggested through a promotional video on YouTube. 2016-11-29 00:00 2KB technology.inquirer.net
23 2.0 FOREX-Dollar claws back some losses as investors look to US data, OPEC TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The dollar clawed back some losses on Tuesday as Italian political woes weighed on the euro, though the greenback remained shy of r... 2016-11-29 01:09 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 24 1.1 Oxford Prep founder accused of 'laundering' charter school funds CHINO – A newly released audit of high-performing charter school Oxford Preparatory Academy, which has two campuses in Orange County, alleges the school’s founder set up education-related entities with the intent of “laundering” school funds for personal profit. 2016-11-29 01:07 9KB www.ocregister.com
25 2.3 Boys' basketball: Chino Hills begins with 101-82 victory over Rancho Verde Lonzo Ball drove in from UCLA to watch his brothers and former teammates make their season debut for Chino Hills. It's a different team without him but still entertaining and still capable of scoring points in bunches. 2016-11-29 00:54 2KB www.latimes.com
26 1.2 The Japanese take their Final Fantasy XV quite seriously TOKYO - The Japanese take their fantasies quite seriously. Video game giant Square Enix launched its Final Fantasy XV role-playing game with a lot of fanfare on the company's home turf in Tokyo today. The launch event happens in parallel with a global launch of... 2016-11-29 06:05 3KB feedproxy.google.com Articles
DC5m United States japan in english 26 articles, created at 2016-11-29 16:56
1 /26 (3.12/4) 2.6 Japan culling 330,000 birds to fight avian flu Japan has begun slaughtering more than 330,000 farm birds to contain its first outbreaks of a highly contagious strain of avian flu in nearly two years, the government said Tuesday.
The planned cull of some 16,500 ducks at a farm in the northern prefecture of Aomori and nearly 320,000 chickens at a farm in central Niigata prefecture, began Tuesday, said top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga.
Authorities also banned the transport of poultry and poultry products in areas close to the farms affected by the H5 strain, while sterilising main roads leading to them.
"There are fears that it could occur in other regions (in Japan)" considering infections had been found among wild birds and there have been outbreaks in neighbouring countries, Suga said.
Japan's last confirmed case of avian flu was at a farm in January 2015.
S.Korea to cull 3 percent of Japan begins massive cull Highly-contagious bird flu poultry to contain bird flu over bird flu found in Japan, culling start dailymail.co.uk rssfeeds.detroitnews.com heraldonline.com
2016-11-29 02:00 www.digitaljournal.com
2 /26 3.2 Nissan banks on after-sales 'hyper-personalization' revenue (2.10/4) YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) - Nissan is going to offer internet access, safety technology and myriad accessory options the Japanese automaker calls "hyper-personalization," not only in new models but also for vehicles people already own. Nissan Motor Co. Corporate Vice President Kent O'Hara, who oversees the after-sales business, said Tuesday that connectivity, accessories and personalization will deliver 25 percent of his division by 2022, when it's negligible now. Advances in such fields are accelerating in the industry, and Nissan hopes to be ahead of rivals. Making the drive personal will be about more than access to the music or seat colors of your choice. Advances in 3-D printing, for instance, will make possible all kinds of designs for your car, similar to how people customize their sneaker designs today, according to O'Hara. Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Nissan will let you 'hyper- Nissan Banks on After-Sales personalise' your new, old 'Hyper-Personalization' car Revenue article.wn.com abcnews.go.com
2016-11-29 01:36 www.cbs46.com
3 /26 0.0 As OPEC price hike looms, Asia's big oil buyers may shop elsewhere (1.05/4) By Henning Gloystein and Yuka Obayashi SINGAPORE/TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - For the first time since 2008, OPEC is set to strike a deal to cut oil output that may boost prices. It may also give itself a bloody nose in Asia, where big buyers are ramping up supplies from elsewhere and say they don't want to pay more for fuel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets on Wednesday to hammer out a deal to prop up prices that have halved since 2014. As they gather, tanker shipments to Asia from non-OPEC sources like Alaska, Azerbaijan, and the North Sea are growing, according to shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon. (http://tmsnrt.rs/2fvsKBo) Buyers in Asia, which alone uses a third of the world's oil supply, have watched with concern as OPEC suppliers - their biggest - openly discuss propping up prices. With non-OPEC supplies readily available, they say they'll consider exploring new sources if the cartel's price is no longer right. "For us, the current price levels look to be appropriate for both sides (buyers and producers)," said Eiichiro Kitahara, Executive Officer at major Japanese refinery TonenGeneral Sekiyu. "Our company aims to avoid depending highly on certain suppliers, and we may seek new (supply) opportunities," Kitahara said, though like other executives he cautioned against expectations of any sudden change in supply trends among buyers. Major importers in Japan, China and South Korea have long-standing relationships with OPEC suppliers, with just its Middle East members providing two-thirds of Asia's oil needs. Those ties could loosen, with refiners in countries like Japan - which gets around 90 percent of its oil from Middle East OPEC-members - keen to diversify sources to cut reliance on any single supplier. In China, now challenging the United States as the world's biggest oil importer, efforts to reduce dependence on Middle East supplies have already seen OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia lose its no.1 supplier rank to its rival Russia. Eikon data shows Middle East producers' share of China's supply market fell from 50 percent in January to 46 percent in November. PRICE - THE BOTTOM LINE Oil markets remained jittery ahead of the OPEC meeting. But refiners across Asia remain alive to the prospects of shifting market dynamics and how they could make other suppliers more attractive, even as OPEC seeks a price rise to boost the economies of countries that rely heavily on crude exports. "We are closely monitoring the OPEC meeting," said Kim Woo-Kyung, a spokeswoman at major South Korean refiner SK Innovation. "Even if OPEC cuts output, it won't have a big impact (on SK Innovation business) as there are a lot of supplies out there. " Despite Asia's openness to new suppliers, price remains the ultimate arbiter. Most Middle Eastern crudes cost between $45 and $48 per barrel - ahead of any production cut accord - a competitive price versus supplies from elsewhere when shipping fees are included. North Sea crudes like Britain's Brent and Forties, or Norway's Oseberg, cost between $46 and almost $47 a barrel, Azeri Light crude is currently priced at over $48, while Alaska North Slope crude is on the market for $46.30 per barrel. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which represents interests of oil consumers, told Reuters at a conference in Tokyo that an OPEC cut designed to raise prices could trigger an increase in output by other producers elsewhere - an increase in supply that could end up pegging prices back. "If prices are pushed up towards $60 we will see within nine months a strong response from U. S. shale production putting oil in the market," Birol said. OIL TO ASIA In the United States, suppliers are poised to take advantage of any shift in buying patterns. "Asian (oil) dependence on the Middle East is higher than they are comfortable with," said Bill Walker, Governor of Alaska, speaking during a recent visit to Japan. "They'd like to see something coming out of the U. S. We have seen some shipments come over (to Asia) and I think we are going to see more. " "Our location is an advantage. It's seven days of transit (to Japan)," he added, compared with around three weeks it takes to get Middle East oil to Japan. U. S. crude supplies to Asia from Alaska remain rare, but they have gradually picked up this year - after years of strict government restrictions on oil exports ended. Last month, BP sold its first shipment U. S. crude to Thailand and Australia. Another exporter seeking to place more oil into Asia is Azerbaijan. The mid-sized producer pumps under 900,000 barrels of crude per day - and isn't a member of OPEC. Eikon trade flows show almost 7 million barrels of Azeri Light crude were loaded for Asia in October, bound for mainland China, Taiwan and India - the highest volume since records began in January 2015. Shipping data also shows large amounts of North Sea oil - especially British Forties grade crude - currently aboard supertankers heading for northeast Asia. North Sea crude oil flows to the region as a whole have jumped, with 10.7 million barrels arriving in November, their highest level since December last year, Eikon data shows. (Reporting by Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE and Yuka Obayashi in TOKYO; Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in TOKYO, Florence Tan in SINGAPORE and Jane Chung in SEOUL; Writing by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
Oil prices fall on doubts over OPEC production cut cnbc.com
2016-11-29 02:54 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
4 /26 2.2 Tokyo pledges to keep 2020 Olympic rowing event in the capital (1.03/4) Tokyo will not relocate the 2020 Olympic rowing and canoe sprint competitions outside the capital to save money, the city’s governor, Yuriko Koike, has said, but volleyball could be moved to neighbouring Yokohama.
Koike has vowed to cut the cost of next summer’s Games amid warnings that the bill could rise to $30bn (£24bn) – four times the initial estimate. But on Tuesday she ruled out an earlier suggestion by her review panel to move the rowing and canoe sprints hundreds of miles north of Tokyo.
The Games’ organising committee, however, faced criticism after telling International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials it would keep costs below $20bn.
“I think we’re on the same page but let’s get this thing done,” the IOC vice-president, John Coates, told reporters after the meeting in Tokyo. “You have heard that Tokyo 2020 are putting a ceiling on the budget at this stage of $20bn. The IOC has not agreed to that amount of money. We think the Games can be delivered for significantly less than that.
“We think we’re in a good stage here, but I don’t want to let the international media have the impression that the costs of running the Games in a city like Tokyo, where you have so many existing venues, is $20bn. It is not, and there will be significant savings to be found.”
Koike, whose consideration of venue changes was criticised by the Tokyo 2020 organising committee’s president, Yoshiro Mori, confirmed that a new aquatics stadium would be built in Tokyo as planned, but with fewer seats. However, she angered organising committee members by delaying a decision on the volleyball venue until later this year.
The new aquatic centre will have 15,000 instead of 20,000seats to avoid the additional cost of reducing the venue’s capacity after the Games have ended, Koike said. The tweak will shave 17bn yen (£120m) off the venue’s original 58bn yen price tag, she added.
Speaking at a four-party meeting involving the Tokyo metropolitan government, the 2020 organising committee, the central government and the IOC, Koike said the economic environment had changed dramatically since Tokyo last hosted the summer Games in 1964.
“That was the age of the new bullet train, the metropolitan expressway and population growth,” she said. “But now, even Tokyo will suffer population decline by 2025, so we may not be able to repeat what we achieved in 1964.
“We have to bear those changes in mind when we organise the Olympics. Tokyo is undergoing reforms, and that philosophy will be our guide.”
Koike, however, finally backed the construction of a rowing and canoe sprint site, known as the Sea Forest, in Tokyo Bay after receiving assurances that building costs could be reduced and that the alternative would be too expensive.
But she urged the international rowing and canoeing federations to share the cost of building the Sea Forest with Japanese authorities.
Olympic organisers and international sports federations had made clear they opposed the proposed alternative venue of Naganuma, 250 miles (400km) north of the capital.
On the possibility of moving the volleyball tournament from Ariake in Tokyo to Yokohama, Koike said opinion polls had favoured the latter, adding, “I am aware that the clock is ticking, so I will make my final decision by Christmas.”
Coates, a former rower, said he was relieved the rowing and canoe sprint would be held in Tokyo Bay, which the sport’s officials have long insisted is the best option for athletes.
The Naganuma venue, located in a region that was badly affected by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami , will instead be used as a training camp for rowing teams.
“We would have preferred a decision on the Ariake [volleyball] venue today,” Coates told Koike at the meeting, which was open to the media. “But we understand.”
Koike, who became Tokyo’s first female governor this summer, ordered a review of ballooning Olympic expenses after new estimates put the overall cost at 3tn yen, four times the estimates given in 2013 when Tokyo beat Madrid and Istanbul for the right to host the 2020 Games .
Her panel’s recommendation that rowing and other sports be shifted outside the capital angered organisers, who had promised a compact Olympics in which most of the competitions would take place within 8km of the athletes’ village.
Koike said her cost-cutting was the best way to implement the IOC’s Agenda 2020, which is designed to make the Olympics more sustainable through the greater use of existing facilities, even if they are outside the host city.
The IOC’s president, Thomas Bach, said recently that the organisation was concerned about rising costs for 2020 but that the athletes’ needs had to be given priority.
Olympic officials say rowing, swim venues will stay in Tokyo article.wn.com
2016-11-29 06:59 Justin McCurry www.theguardian.com
5 /26 1.3 Rowing, canoe sprint, swimming to remain at Tokyo venues (1.03/4) Olympic organizers agreed Tuesday to keep the rowing, canoe sprint and swimming venues at their planned sites in Tokyo for the 2020 Games, while postponing a decision until Christmas on a possible switch for volleyball. Representatives of the International Olympic Committee, Tokyo organizers and Japan's central and city governments have been discussing ways of reducing costs, including possibly moving three sports from planned new venues to existing ones.
The group was established in October after a Tokyo government panel said the Olympics cost could exceed 3 trillion yen ($27 billion) unless drastic cuts were made.
The Tokyo panel had initially proposed moving the rowing and canoe sprint venue, currently planned at the Sea Forest in Tokyo, to Miyagi prefecture, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Tokyo, after its cost estimate soared to nearly 50 billion yen ($450 million). A new feasibility study shows the cost could come down to around 30 billion yen ($270 million).
"Considering the cost, location and various other factors, we have decided to hold (the rowing and canoeing) at the planned Sea Forest site," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said.
Koike proposed using the Naganuma boat facility, which she had considered as an option, as a training facility ahead of the Tokyo Games. Koike had pushed for the Naganuma facility, which is in the area still recovering from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, as a symbol of reconstruction, which she says gives significance to holding the Olympics in Japan in 2020.
A new swimming facility at its planned location, Tatsumi in eastern Tokyo, will have seating capacity reduced from 20,000 to 15,000, saving 14 billion yen ($125 million).
Koike, however, said she still needs time to decide whether to move indoor volleyball to Yokohama Arena instead of building a new arena in Tokyo's coastal Ariake district. She said the estimated 40 billion yen ($360 million) cost of the Tokyo venue is "still very high," promising a decision by Christmas — a delay the group accepted.
At Tuesday's four-party talks, Tokyo organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto proposed putting a 2 trillion yen ($18 billion) cap on the total Olympic cost, whose estimate has yet to be released.
IOC vice president John Coates, who heads the international body's coordination commission for Tokyo, said the ceiling was too high and he was still not satisfied with the number.
"The IOC has not agreed to that amount of money," Coates told reporters after the meeting.
"We believe the cost can be significantly lower than that," Coates said, citing "high figures" on the rent. "We can make some savings on those figures. "
Cost estimates at a number of venues have surged since Tokyo was awarded the games in 2013, in part due to rising construction costs related to disaster reconstruction.
Koike repeatedly cited the IOC's "Agenda 2020" reforms that seek sustainable Olympics and encourage the use of existing venues, not just in Japan but universally, saying her effort is fully in line with them. Concerns over costs have discouraged some cities from bidding.
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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Find her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi
Olympic officials say rowing, swim venues will stay in Tokyo article.wn.com
2016-11-29 06:27 By MARI www.charlotteobserver.com
6 /26 1.2 Coca-Cola No. 1 in Japan with drinks galore, but not Coke (1.02/4) Coca-Cola has been the No. 1 beverage maker in Japan for half a century, but it's not thanks to the popularity of Coke. Instead, the American soft-drink brand has adapted to the quirky ways this society quenches its thirst.
Coca-Cola's nearly 1 million vending machines account for about half of all the vending machines in Japan. Many of them do stock Coke and Coke Zero. But most of the beverages sold by those state-of-the art machines have nothing to do with the company's namesake soda.
Among the bigger favorites are "Georgia" brand canned coffee, orange-flavored water and of course, green tea, the traditional drink of choice.
Japan is The Coca-Cola Co.'s second-biggest market after the U. S., raking in more than 1 trillion yen ($10 billion) in annual sales. But consumers here aren't crazy about bubbly drinks like Fanta and Sprite, other perennial U. S. favorites.
Instead, the notoriously fad-loving Japanese flit from one trend to another across an array of weird product offerings, such as soda drinks with odd flavors like smelly durian fruit or garlicky kimchee that mostly are attention-getting products intended for fun.
Though its product offerings don't go quite that far, Coca-Cola has 850 different beverages in Japan alone, not counting discontinued brands. Among the most popular is Qoo, a water-drop- shaped forest creature designed to appeal to Japan's cult of the cute.
"It is so difficult to survive," Takashi Wasa, senior vice president at Coca-Cola Japan, told The Associated Press at the company's Tokyo headquarters.
The odds of having a hit are "Maybe just three out of a thousand," he said.
Among 20 Coca-Cola global brands that bring in $1 billion or more in annual sales, four came from Japan: the Georgia coffee lineup; Aquarius, a Gatorade-like drink; I Lohas bottled water and Ayataka green tea. Other global top-sellers are Coke drinks or were added through acquisitions, such as Minute Maid and Matte Leao.
Matte Leao, an herbal tea extremely popular in Brazil, is an example of adapting to local tastes.
But the company's Japan operations take that to an extreme, said Raymond Shelton, senior executive officer for Coca-Cola East Japan.
"I have traveled the world for Coca-Cola, and I have never seen such a variety of products, and such an intensive pace of new launches," he said.
"Japanese consumers drink across beverage categories each and every day so I would say they have a much broader set of demands," Shelton said.
Over the past decade or so, green tea has grown into a 777 billion yen ($7.5 billion) packaged beverage market in Japan; many Japanese now prefer tea conveniently packaged in plastic bottles, rather than steeped in teapots.
That makes Ayataka, which sells for 140 yen ($1.30) for a half liter (1 pint) bottle, an important brand for Coca-Cola. Developed in partnership with 1,600-year-old Kyoto-based tea grower Kanbayashi Shunsho, Ayataka also is sold in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Ads for Ayataka tea feature a taste test by Kyoto apprentice geishas and Japanese chefs vouching that its flavor is indistinguishable from tea from a teapot.
Unlike acidic bottled Coke, green tea requires special precautions during is bottling to prevent spoilage and preserve its flavor. Coca-Cola has invested about 40 billion yen ($360 million) since 2014 to double its assembly lines in Japan to nine and accommodate such aseptic production.
At Coca-Cola's plant in Ebina, southwest of Tokyo, bottles and caps are splashed with a decontaminating chemical, and then rinsed with blasts of water. Bottles filled with tea from giant vats flash by, 900 per minute. They're inspected, labeled and then boxed in robotic lines: a non- stop parade of bottled teas circling the plant round-the-clock.
Since retailers only stock in-demand products, pressure is high to keep coming up with new products, or at least new adaptations.
Coca-Cola's competitors in this tea growing nation, led by Ito En, a traditional tea maker that pioneered bottled green tea in Japan, were quick to imitate Coca-Cola's lead in adding powdered tea to its green tea drinks to make them cloudier and more evocative of richer-tasting teas out of a teapot. Some products are specifically developed as "kawaridane" or "weird items," just to attract attention, like cucumber-flavored Pepsi. Or Pepsi Strong 5.0 GV, for "gas volume," which has extra fizz.
"It's that extra burp factor," said Akira Kiga, a spokesman for Suntory Beverages & Food, which sells Pepsi in Japan and trails Coca-Cola with No. 2 market share. "We want people to notice and see that we're a fun brand. "
Still, when it comes to solid earnings, Suntory, like Coca-Cola, is counting on three segments — water, coffee and green tea.
"We do want to work on building strong brands that have staying power," Kiga said.
Yoshiyasu Okihira, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo, estimates that carbonated sodas like Coke and Fanta comprise a fifth of Coca-Cola's Japan sales, with coffee and tea accounting for 40 percent.
Coca-Cola's legions of vending machines, many offering piping hot drinks on chilly days, are a big asset. To capitalize on that advantage, the company is introducing smartphone applications that award one free drink for every 15 bought on Coca-Cola vending machines, or that send Spotify music playlists depending on the drink purchased.
The Japanese tea products are a strong asset in global markets as people become increasingly health conscious. Japan, with its faster aging, picky consumers, increasingly is leading such trends, Okihira says.
"Roasted barley tea, for example, has global potential, and Americans may really like it," Okihira said.
Like many Japanese, 50-year-old cab driver Masataka Sakabe drinks a variety of beverages every day, including canned coffee to keep awake on long shifts. But he also loves Coke, especially with greasy food like fried chicken or French fries.
"I love Coke, the red kind, not the diet kind, that original flavor. It makes you feel so refreshed," he said.
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YouTube link: https://youtu.be/hpr4rzL0d2M
Coca-Cola East: https://www.ccej.co.jp/en/
Coca-Cola West: http://www.ccwest.co.jp/english/corporate/
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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama
Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama Coca-Cola No. 1 in Japan With Drinks Galore, but Not Coke abcnews.go.com
2016-11-29 09:16 By YURI www.heraldonline.com
7 /26 1.1 Jeweler Tiffany posts first increase in sales in 8 quarters (1.02/4) Tiffany reported its first rise in sales in eight quarters as strong sales in Japan and China more than offset a decline in the United States, its biggest market.
Shares of the company, which makes the iconic "Tiffany Setting" diamond engagement ring, rose 3.7 percent to $81.00 in light premarket trading on Tuesday.
"Our business in Japan performed well, which we attribute to spending by domestic consumers," Chief Executive Frederic Cumenal said in a statement.
Sales in China rose by "double-digits," Tiffany said.
Sales at established stores fell 2 percent in the third quarter ended Oct. 31.
Analysts on average had expected a 2.8 percent drop, according to research firm Consensus Metrix.
Tiffany's net sales rose slightly to $949.3 million from $938.2 million a year earlier.
Net income rose 4.5 percent to $95.1 million or 76 cents per share.
Tiffany's 3Q profit rises on sales in Asia thenewstribune.com 2016-11-29 08:36 CNBC www.cnbc.com
8 /26 2.8 Japan singer calls police to report spying, is arrested
(1.02/4) Fallen Japanese pop star Aska has been arrested on drugs charges after calling police to tell them he was being spied on at home by a hidden camera, police and reports said Tuesday. The singer -- one half of folk rockers Chage and Aska -- was slurring on the call when he insisted he was being watched, Jiji Press and other media said. Police who visited his Tokyo home on Monday arrested the 58-year- old on suspicion of using stimulants and MDMA, a force spokesman told AFP. Aska was given a three-year prison term, suspended for four years, in December 2014 for possession and use of the same drugs. Narcotics are heavily regulated in Japan and the police make much of high- profile arrests. Writing on his blog, Aska denied reports that a police urine test had come up positive for drug use, saying the result was "not positive. It's 100 percent impossible. " Chage and Aska made their musical debut in 1979 and remain hugely popular in Japan and other parts of Asia including Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
A Customer Called Japan valuewalk.com
2016-11-29 02:31 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk
9 /26 0.0 Japan's Idemitsu JV plans to expand LPG use at naphtha cracker (1.01/4) TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan's Idemitsu Kosan said on Tuesday its joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals would conduct work to expand the processing of propane at Idemitsu's naphtha cracker to take advantage of cheap liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices. The work will be carried out next autumn, Idemitsu said in a statement. The upgrade will boost the cracker's capacity to process propane as feedstock by three or four times, said Hideki Gotoh, deputy general manager of Idemitsu's petrochemical business. He declined to give the current capacity. He added that Idemitsu would pay the costs for the upgrade, without giving a figure. The cracker will take advantage of its location next to the LPG import facility in Idemitsu's Chiba refinery. It will mainly rely on LPG imports for feedstock rather than a small quantity of LPG produced at the plant, officials said. The cracker, which company sources said would be shut for scheduled maintenance next spring, will be shut during the upgrade works in autumn 2017, the company said. It did not say how long the work would take. Idemitsu and Mitsui Chemicals set up the 50:50 venture in 2010 to jointly operate their naphtha crackers in Chiba, east of Tokyo, to save on costs. Idemitsu has a naphtha cracker adjacent to its Chiba refinery with capacity to produce 414,000 tonnes per year of ethylene, while Mitsui has one with a capacity of 612,000 tonnes per year. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Tom Hogue and Joseph Radford)
Nikkei falls hit by stronger Two-year JGBs firm after yen; insurers fall on profit- auction, longer maturities taking soft dailymail.co.uk dailymail.co.uk
2016-11-29 03:42 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
10 /26 3.3 Urawa Reds beat Kashima 1-0 in 1st leg of J-League final TOKYO (AP) — Urawa Reds took a big step toward winning their second title with a 1-0 win away to Kashima Antlers in the first leg of the J-League Championship Final on Tuesday. Yuki Abe scored a second-half penalty to put Reds firmly in control ahead of the second leg in Saitama on Saturday. Urawa is looking to secure its first league crown since 2006. First-stage winners Kashima lost their last four games of the regular season and finished in third place in the overall standings, 15 points behind Urawa, which advanced directly to the final after finishing top of the table. Kashima earned a spot in the final with a 1-0 win at second-placed Kawasaki Frontale in the semifinal playoff on Nov. 23.
2016-11-29 09:27 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk
11 /26 1.9 Japan Tobacco shakes up management to spur global growth LONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Japan Tobacco, the world's third-largest tobacco company, announced management changes on Tuesday designed to accelerate the growth of its international business, which is under pressure to join industry consolidation. The maker of Winston, Camel and Benson & Hedges cigarettes is set to be dwarfed by its next biggest rival, British American Tobacco, which is in talks to buy Reynolds American in the United States. Analysts say that takeover could spark further deals as Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco jostle for market share in an industry that is shrinking in Western markets as more people quit smoking. Japan Tobacco named Belgian national Eddy Pirard as new chief executive of its international business, replacing Thomas McCoy, who will retire on March 31. Pirard has led Japan Tobacco International's merger strategy worldwide, including the acquisition of Natural American Spirit outside the United States and also an investment in NTE in Ethiopia. It also announced the creation of a new "global tobacco strategic committee" to facilitate growth of the tobacco business and named a new president for Japan. It said that would free up the president of the overall tobacco business to focus on global strategy. Jefferies analysts have predicted that Japan Tobacco would make a takeover bid for Imperial Brands within the next 12 months, and said on Tuesday that the management changes made this more feasible. "This should lead to greater focus on global M&A opportunities," Jefferies said in a note. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Mark Potter and Jane Merriman)
2016-11-29 08:53 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
12 /26 2.6 Tokyo Savors Title of City With Most Michelin-Star Restaurants TOKYO—Japan’s capital remained the city with the most Michelin stars in the world for the 10th straight year, the tire maker said Tuesday.
A total of 12 restaurants gained the highest three-star rating, one fewer than last year, and 227 restaurants in the city had at least one star, up from 217 a year earlier.
That puts Tokyo far ahead of...
2016-11-29 08:00 Eleanor Warnock www.wsj.com
13 /26 3.0 Nissan to offer maintenance-alert service in foray into connected cars By Naomi Tajitsu YOKOHAMA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co will make its first major foray into internet-connected cars by offering an option in some new vehicles that will use big data technology to notify drivers when vehicle maintenance is required. As automakers compete fiercely to develop self-driving cars and improve the customer experience inside vehicles, Japan's second-largest car maker said on Tuesday it will begin rolling out the service in Japan and India in 2017, followed by other countries through 2020. With the availability of new mobility options including ride- hailing and car-sharing services threatening to cool demand for individual car ownership, automakers are looking for new ways to attract loyal drivers. Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's biggest car maker, announced earlier this month that it will have a similar alerting feature in the domestic version of the upcoming Prius plug-in model. And Ford Motor Co last month announced that by year's end, some of its models will be able to communicate with smart home devices using Amazon's Alexa voice service. Nissan said that it would also market the device required to access the service, which can be retrofitted into existing models. In the future, 30 percent of its existing vehicles would eventually be equipped with the hardware, it said. The new service will be enabled by a telematics control unit which will enable the automaker and its dealer network to access information about the car's diagnostics and location, alerting the driver to any required maintenance work. "With connectivity we can provide better information and better service offerings to our customers," Kent O'Hara, Nissan corporate vice president and head of its global aftersales division, told reporters at a briefing. "We'll know what's wrong with that vehicle, we'll know where the vehicle is, we'll know what parts are needed for the vehicle... and we can provide convenient service and alternative transportation options. " He added that connectivity services and other new technologies would contribute 25 percent of the automaker's aftersales revenues by 2022, from "low, single digits" at the moment. Aftersales generally account for around 14 percent of automaker revenues, according to industry experts. O'Hara said that connectivity services would enable Nissan to "enjoy some growth in our retention of customers over what we experience today". Nissan declined to offer pricing details on the device, but the company is focusing on marketing new technology in mass-market models. Many automakers often reserve sophisticated services and functions to higher-end models. Earlier this year, Nissan launched a minivan in Japan which can self-drive on single-lane motorways and navigate congestion, while this month it launched its new gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain in its Note subcompact car for the Japanese market. (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
2016-11-29 07:00 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
14 /26 6.7 Japan's Jobs Report May Be Good News for the Economy Japan ‘s unemployment rate held steady in October as the availability of jobs improved and household spending fell at a slower pace, a tentative sign that a robust labor market is lending support to domestic demand.
“The labor market has been improving for a while now, and this is starting to lift consumer sentiment,” said Hiroshi Miyazaki, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
“I expect consumer spending to pick up pace in the future. People are also buying more household goods because the Bank of Japan ‘s monetary easing has sparked an increase in real estate investment.”
Japan ‘s unemployment rate has been falling partly due to its shrinking labor force and a shortage of workers in construction, healthcare and hospitality. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in October was 3.0%, unchanged from the previous month and in line with economists’ median estimate.
The jobs-to-applicants ratio rose to 1.40 from 1.38 in the previous month to reach the highest level since August 1991, separate data showed on Tuesday. The median estimate was for the ratio to rise to 1.39.
But household spending has been falling since March as lackluster gains in real wages and worries about how the Bank of Japan ‘s negative interest rate policy would affect the pension system turned some consumers even more cautious, economists say.
Data on Tuesday showed consumers did increase spending on domestic travel and furniture in October, offering tentative signs that spending overall is bottoming out.
Household spending fell 0.4% in October from a year earlier, less than the median estimate for a 0.6% annual decline, as shoppers spent less on food and transport.
Separate data showed retail sales fell 0.1% in October from a year ago, less than the median estimate for a 1.2% annual decline and less than a 1.7% annual decline in the previous month.
Rising spending on clothes, food and transportation lead to the slower decline in overall retail sales, the data showed.
Signs that the pace of decline in household spending is easing would be welcome for Japan ‘s fragile economic outlook.
Japan ‘s economy expanded for a third straight quarter in July-September as exports recovered, but domestic activity remained weak. Other data has shown consistent declines in consumer prices, another warning sign that domestic demand lacks momentum.
2016-11-29 06:22 Reuters fortune.com
15 /26 0.7 Japan Box Office: ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Bows at Number One TOKYO – Warner’s “ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ” bowed at number one in the Japanese box office for the Nov. 26-27 weekend. But its score was weaker than the last “ Harry Potter ” film.
Debuting on Nov. 23, the film earned $7.3 million on 546,000 admissions in its opening frame and $15 million in its first five days on release.
This is nearly 40% less than the first weekend take of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which had a lifetime score of $86 million in Japan in 2011. Slipping to second place after 13 weeks on top of the rankings was the animation “Your Name.” The film recorded $1.9 million for the weekend, while driving its cumulative total to $173 million and overtaking Hayao Miyazaki animation “Princess Mononoke.”
Moving up the ranks from number ten to number six was the sleeper hit animation “In This Corner of the World.” Now in its third week on release, with Tokyo Theatre releasing, this drama made $578,000 on an expanded 82 screens. Strong word of mouth on social media and elsewhere filled seats. The film’s cumulative total to date is $2.7 million.
2016-11-29 05:44 Mark Schilling variety.com
16 /26 2.2 Olympics-IOC urges Tokyo to keep costs below $20 billion By Elaine Lies TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has urged Tokyo to keep costs for the 2020 Summer Games below $20 billion as the hosts continue to grapple with ballooning expenses for the multi-sports event. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike ordered a review of the budget that recommended revised plans for three venues to trim costs projected to hit 3 trillion yen ($26.75 billion), four times the initial estimates made when Tokyo won the rights for the Games. At an open meeting for a four- party working group that includes the IOC on Tuesday, Tokyo 2020 organisers vowed to keep costs below $20 billion but the Olympic authority felt even that ceiling was too high. "The IOC has not agreed to that amount of money," IOC Vice President Peter Coates told reporters after the meeting, the culmination of a month of technical talks and lower level working group gatherings. "We believe the Games can be delivered for significantly less than that," he said, noting that the IOC would sit down with Tokyo officials to discuss further cuts. Among proposals discussed were those made by the Tokyo government to move rowing and canoe/kayak sprint events to an existing course 400 km (250 miles) north of Tokyo, and using older facilities in the capital for volleyball and swimming. Koike, who became governor in August, told the meeting that due to the high cost of refurbishing the existing rowing venue, Tokyo had decided to stick with plans to build a new one in the capital. ATHLETES ARE PRIORITY Costs for a brand new aquatics centre will be pared by cutting the number of seats. As for volleyball, she proposed using an existing venue in the neighbouring city of Yokohama and asked to have until Christmas to make a final decision -- a request to which the group agreed. Last month, IOC President Thomas Bach said that while the Olympic authority was concerned about rising costs for the Tokyo Games, the experience of the athletes had to remain a priority for any planning. Costs for many venues have soared since Tokyo beat Madrid and Istanbul for the right to host the Games in 2013, which organisers blame on increased construction costs following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. IOC reforms known as "Agenda 2020," carried out with the aim of keeping the Olympics more sustainable, urge the use of existing facilities when possible -- even in other cities or countries -- if it makes financial and practical sense. Games organisers have run into a series of broken promises and problems in their preparations, including scrapping the original design for the centrepiece National Stadium as well as the first logo after allegations that it was plagiarised. ($1 = 112.1700 yen) (Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by John O'Brien)
2016-11-29 05:17 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
17 /26 6.7 Morgan Stanley Thinks Japan Is 2017's 'Top Market' As the end of 2016 is finally nigh, market predictions for the new year begin to roll in. The latest report from Morgan Stanley on where best to invest in 2017 is bullish on equities in one particular country — at the expense of the U. S.
“Japan becomes our top market,” analysts from the investment bank’s cross-assets strategy unit wrote in a report Sunday. According to Bloomberg , the report suggests that the Japanese market in 2017 would come “with attractive long-run valuations” and “some cyclical strength” as well as prospects for positive earnings growth.
The bank’s positive outlook for Japan comes in part from the country’s stronger-than-expected economic growth and the continued weakening of the Japanese yen. Bloomberg reports that this is as a result the strengthening of the U. S. dollar, following the perception of an increased likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate hike after the election of Donald Trump. The report added that earnings of Japanese companies — particularly those with significant overseas income — would be boosted as a result, according to CNBC.
The optimism for Japan in the new year comes at the expense of the U. S., though, as Morgan Stanley changed tack to recommend selling American equities and reducing exposure to emerging markets alongside the U. S.
Andrew Sheets, Morgan Stanley’s chief cross-asset analyst, told Bloomberg that “ next year is likely to see Japan and Europe lead the global earnings recovery,” as any potential corporate tax changes and government spending under a Trump administration are “ unlikely to come through meaningfully until 2018.”
For more on the global economy, see Fortune’s video
Japan’s economy grew year-on-year by 2.2% between July and September, according to Reuters , despite expectations otherwise. Following its third straight quarter of economic growth , analysts from other banks are also harboring their hopes on Japan for a profitable new year.
Meanwhile, a note from JPMorgan Cazenove, published Monday, suggested that Japanese corporate earnings would benefit from a weakening yen, reports CNBC. According to CNBC, the bank said that tech and energy would be among the sectors reaping the most windfall from the weak currency, while utilities and healthcare would lose out.
2016-11-29 03:36 Kevin Lui fortune.com
18 /26 4.5 Ex-Dodger Guerrero signs with Japan's Chunichi Dragons Cuban infielder Alex Guerrero has signed a one- year deal with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Central league.
The deal is worth $1.3 million plus incentives, the Central League club announced on its website.
The 30-year-old, who can also play outfield, played in 117 major league games for the Los Angeles Dodgers over the 2014 and '15 seasons batting .224 with 11 home runs.
He missed most of the 2016 season with a knee injury and was released during the summer.
Guerrero was used primarily in left field and at third base with the Dodgers.
2016-11-29 03:26 The Associated www.charlotteobserver.com
19 /26 3.8 Domino’s Japan trains reindeer to deliver pizza as winter approaches Domino’s Pizza in Japan is training reindeer to deliver takeaways during the country’s freezing weather over the winter season. The brand has released a video showing employees leading the reindeer around a parking lot, with delivery boxes attached to its back, and then on a red sleigh. Staff monitor the reindeer’s progress via smartphone, which shows a map and an image of the animal’s face as it moves around. Although at the moment, the takeaway may not necessarily reach any customers. The video shows pizza boxes falling off the animal’s back and employees running to keep up with the reindeer. In two press releases published on Domino’s Japan website, the company claims it is working on a variety of delivery methods around the world. It has published a “pizza delivery action plan” and is working with the Research Center of Hokkaido to make sure the animals are safe. Domino’s has also set up a “snowfall delivery measures room” to monitor conditions, with the expectation of “severe cold” caused by weather phenomenon La Nina following a record heat wave over the summer. The company is posting the information (in Japanese) via its snowfall delivery response office, with a view to rolling out the reindeer deliveries from December 1. Earlier this month, it delivered pizza via drone to a couple in New Zealand, with Domino’s Group CEO and Managing Director Don Meij claiming the unmanned aerial vehicles are “future” of deliveries because they are faster than other methods. The company has also sent food via canoe steered by a pizza “buoy” in Kent, UK, and customers can order via text and Twitter, using a pizza emoji. In Aruba, pizza pies have to be sent by truck because motorcycles can’t handle the Caribbean island’s high winds, while store locations in the Philippines are selected based on Feng-Shui principles. Domino’s – which claims to be the “world’s fastest pizza maker” – operates in more than 60 countries. It opened its first store in Japan in 1985, and squid is now the most popular topping in the country. Its shares rose 3.2 per cent Thursday and the company said it would push to expand, according to a Reuters report. Follow CNBC International on and.
2016-11-29 02:00 CNBC CNBC www.scmp.com
20 /26 1.7 Olympics: Heaven and hull for Japan's kayaking monk Rising silently before dawn to slip on his monastic robes and begin the solemn duties of a Buddhist monk, Kazuki Yazawa is not your average Olympic athlete. Bowing his shaved head in prayer five times a day as part at the ancient Zenkoji Daikanjin Temple, Yazawa is so committed to his faith very few people would recognise him as Japan's top canoeist. But Yazawa, who finished 11th in the men's kayak slalom at the Rio Olympics earlier this year, is contemplating the holy grail of the 2020 Tokyo Games. "Of course I want to compete in Tokyo," the 27-year-old told AFP in an interview as the early morning sun crept above the roof of his temple in Nagano prefecture. "It will be the only chance in my life to compete at an Olympics in Japan," added Yazawa, who also represented his country at the Beijing and London Games. "But it's pretty hard to win an Olympic medal if you also happen to be a monk. To set your heart on winning a medal, you have to be completely focused. Otherwise it's impossible. " Still getting to grips with the priesthood's austere way of life, Yazawa squeezes in kayak training each afternoon, pulling on a T-shirt and shorts before hurtling down a nearby river at breakneck speed. The fun-loving priest, who frequently posts grinning selfies on Instagram, flirted with retirement after a Japanese record ninth-place finish at the 2012 London Olympics as his thoughts turned to finding a steady job for the future. - Room with a pew - Instead he was persuaded to swap his life as an athlete on the professional circuit for a room with a pew. "I didn't have an epiphany -- I simply wasn't interested in becoming a priest," said Yazawa, who took the advice of the local canoe federation boss Kenei Koyama, himself a priest. "(But) I really looked up to my teacher (Koyama) and wanted to become like him, someone who will be there to help people. "Obviously now I don't have enough time for my kayak training but I get to enjoy the sport in its purest form," he added. "I still want to win though. That hasn't changed. " Yazawa, whose younger sister Aki also qualified for Rio, admits his second calling got off to a difficult start. "The first two months of monastic training were in the mountains," he said. "You wake up at 2:00 am and study until 10:00 am, sat with your legs crossed the whole time. The food is very basic and you have to do the cleaning. It's tough. " But while Yazawa can no longer spend as much time in the gym or on the water, he believes he does have divine support. "I don't feel that because I'm a priest my kayak goes any faster," he smiles. "But I do feel that the Buddha is protecting me. "You must have a goal and dedicate yourself to it. If you do that, then it's in the last split-second where Buddha will help you," added Yazawa, who last month captured the Japan Cup. - Holy water - Yazawa says his faith helps make him a better canoeist. "I don't do anything particularly religious before I get into the canoe," he said. "But I believe if I focus hard enough, the Buddha will give me a gentle push on the water. " His senior monks woke up in the middle of the night to watch live streaming of Yazawa's races in Rio, further supporting him with text messages and Skype calls. "We all want him to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics," said priest Shinjun Denda. "We will all be cajoling him and pushing him to compete. " For now religion comes first for Yazawa, who insists he wants to race on his own terms. "I don't want to have any regrets," he said, sitting in front of the temple's grand altar. "When you come to a place like this you feel your heart relax. It helps control your feelings when you're competing under pressure. But if you don't control your own thoughts, you won't get any help from above. "
2016-11-29 01:46 Afp www.dailymail.co.uk
21 /26 0.4 North Korea in 3 days of mourning for 'great comrade' Castro TOKYO (AP) — North Korea is observing a three-day period of mourning for Fidel Castro, who was seen by the North as a comrade-in-arms against the common enemy of the United States. ...
2016-11-29 01:39 system article.wn.com
22 /26 2.3 WATCH: Japan to open hot-tub roller coasters in spa- themed park Japan has been home to a lot of unconventional inventions through the years, and its latest attraction has padded up the list.
A spa resort located at the city of Beppu promises to boast the first ever hot-tub roller coaster inside the world’s only spa- themed amusement park.
The seemingly bizarre combination of adrenaline and sanitation was first suggested through a promotional video on YouTube. The city mayor, Yasuhiro Nagano, said they would build the “spamusement” park if the video receives a million views.
As seen in the two-and-a-half- minute clip filmed at Beppu Rakutenchi park, visitors clad in towels climb aboard typical rides like carousels, Ferris wheels and cable cars—with built-in bathtubs filled with hot-spring water, bathing pools and steam- room style gaming areas.
The video was such a hit among netizens that it exceeded the mayor’s quota, reaching over 2 million views as of this writing.
In a statement to the Japanese website Rocketnews24, the mayor thanked the public for its support and shared his intent to go through with the project.
He did not specify a projected time frame of completion, but promised that the “Yu-enchi” onsen (hot spring) would be a “setting that everyone from children to adults would enjoy.”
The Japanese politician also promised to open its doors for everyone and open an “exciting, thrilling tourist spot that could represent Beppu” and help “young residents to feel that Beppu is fun.”
The new park also aims to “verify the appeal of various hot springs and show the world new types of creative onsen in a city that boasts Japan’s largest number of source-fed onsen and largest yield of hot spring,” the statement continued.
It remains unclear if the city will build the plan as showcased in the video due to some safety concerns noticed by the city’s tourist department.
“It’s only an image. We are still discussing safety issues, for example, whether we could actually run hot water inside a roller coaster,” Michitaka Kubota, a spokesman for the department told the Japan Times.
“But the rides will be fun,” he added.
Beppu, which is located at the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, has been a growing tourist spot with 437,764 foreign visitors recorded last year. Khristian Ibarrola
2016-11-29 00:00 Khristian Ibarrola technology.inquirer.net
23 /26 23 /26 2.0 FOREX-Dollar claws back some losses as investors look to US data, OPEC TOKYO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The dollar clawed back some losses on Tuesday as Italian political woes weighed on the euro, though the greenback remained shy of recent highs after U. S. Treasury yields stepped back from multi-month highs. Volatile crude oil prices ahead of this week's oil producers' meeting kept investors' risk appetite in check. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will gather in Vienna on Wednesday to discuss a planned output cut in an effort to curb a supply glut. Political risks helped drag down the euro from its nearly two-week high of $1.0686 touched overnight. It last traded at $1.0599, down 0.2 percent from late Monday's North American levels. Worries about Italy's banking system have been mounting ahead of a Dec. 4 referendum on constitutional reform, which could unseat the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. "Renzi is not obligated to step down, but has said he intends to if he loses, which has weighed on the euro," said Ayako Sera, senior market economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust. Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena faces more than 8 billion euros of legal claims, and says its weakening liquidity and the potential for more bad loan writedowns are among risks to its 5-billion-euro rescue plan. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, scaled a nearly 14-year peak of 102.050 on Thursday before profit-taking and oil price jitters brought it back down to earth. It was last at 101.290, steady on the day. Since the victory of U. S. President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 8, the dollar has soared in line with yields on U. S. Treasury bonds, which have sold off on expectations that the Trump administration will embark on stimulus policies and boost inflation. These expectations helped push up the benchmark 10- year Treasury yield to a 16-month high of 2.417 percent last week, and the 2-year yield to a 6 1/2-year high. On Tuesday, the 10-year U. S. yield stood at 2.312 percent, down from its U. S. close on Monday of 2.320 percent. The dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 111.99 yen, off its overnight low of 111.35 but well below an 8-month high of 113.90 touched on Friday. "The dollar has been pulling back now in response to volatile oil prices, after rising on expectations of what Trump will do," said Mitsuo Imaizumi, chief currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo. "Against the yen, it could even fall back to the 110 level, depending on what oil does, and we also have U. S. data this week - although right now, the employment figures seem like a long time away," he said. Crude prices have been on a roller coaster ride as the market reacted to the developments on whether major producers would be able to reach an agreement on the contentious issue of trimming their production. Later on Tuesday, investors will look to U. S. third-quarter gross domestic product data as well as readings on consumer confidence and consumption for trading cues. They will be followed by the November employment report on Friday. Data released early on Tuesday showed that Japan's unemployment rate in October held steady as the availability of jobs improved and household spending fell at a slower pace, a tentative sign that a robust labour market is lending support to domestic demand. (Reporting by Tokyo markets team; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
2016-11-29 01:09 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk
24 /26 1.1 Oxford Prep founder accused of 'laundering' charter school funds CHINO – A newly released audit of high-performing charter school Oxford Preparatory Academy, which has two campuses in Orange County, alleges the school’s founder set up education-related entities with the intent of “laundering” school funds for personal profit.
The 45-page audit report, released last week, was prepared by the Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team, a collective that helps California school districts with financial and management advice and assistance. The audit concludes by suggesting San Bernardino County of Schools Superintendent Ted Alejandre get in touch with law enforcement.
“Notify the governing board of Oxford Preparatory Academy charter school, the governing board of the Chino Valley Unified School District, the State Controller, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the local district attorney that fraud, misappropriation of assets or other illegal activities may have occurred,” the report says.
In Orange County, Oxford has campuses in Mission Viejo, overseen by the Capistrano Unified School District, and in Lake Forest, overseen by the Orange County Department of Education. (The schools have no relation to Oxford Academy in the Anaheim Union High School District.)
Both agencies released statements Monday saying they take the audit results “very seriously” and are reviewing the report.
“We take reports from (the auditor) very seriously as it is their sole responsiblility to identify issues that could comprise the financial health of a school or district,” said Ian Hanigan, spokesman for the Orange County Department of Education.
The county board approved on appeal the Oxford Preparatory Academy-Saddleback Valley charter in Lake Forest in October 2015, after the Saddleback Valley Unified School District rejected a petition for the new K-8 school. Oxford Preparatory Academy-South Orange County in Mission Viejo, meanwhile, has been open since 2011.
In Chino Valley, the audit was initiated at Alejandre’s request this summer. The county school board had been considering Oxford Prep’s appeal after the Chino Valley Unified school board rejected a five-year charter extension for the school in March.
Charter schools are publicly funded and are overseen by a board of their own as well as the school districts that grant them their charter.
In rejecting Oxford Prep’s request for five more years, Chino Valley Unified staffers cited its entanglement with Oxford Prep founder Sue Roche’s private company, Edlighten Learning Solutions of Yorba Linda. Edlighten handles management services, such as human resources, for charter schools.
Founded by former Chino Valley Unified Principal Roche, Oxford Preparatory has been operating a K-8 school in Chino since 2010 and later spread to Orange County, with campuses in Mission Viejo and Lake Forest. The schools broke off relationships with Roche and Edlighten in May. In response to the audit, Oxford distributed a letter to parents Wednesday.
“We concur that the FCMAT findings are of great concern,” Oxford Preparatory’s board chairman, Michael Delgado, writes. “OPA has already implemented numerous changes to address many of the issues that have been raised.”
According to auditors, Roche intentionally created a system of loose oversight, a “daisy chain” of payments between for-profit companies staffed by family and friends, and obscured the financial operations from Chino Valley officials, auditors and Oxford Preparatory staff to divert public school funds to her and her associates’ bank accounts.
Oxford Preparatory, Edlighten and another spinoff, Nevada-based Educational Excellence, employed relatives and longtime friends of Roche, including two of her children and a cousin.
“Interviews indicate that following the petition renewal in 2012, the founder created a complex structure of charter management corporations that exercised significant influence over transactions and contracts between these entities, and secured considerable financial benefit through contracts that charged management service fees up to 10 percent, funneling charter school dollars from OPA schools … and charging for services that already existed,” the audit report reads in part.
To service all three campuses, Oxford Preparatory paid Edlighten $4.2 million in management fees from January 2013 to June 2016, according to the audit – $821,490 in 2013, $1.2 million in 2014, $1.3 million in 2015 and $834,522 in 2016.
They found “sufficient evidence that affiliated and/or related party organizations were intentionally created to divert and launder funds from Oxford Preparatory Academy,” the report reads.
“It’s disheartening for me and Sue to see the defamation by FCMAT of the founder of an incredible foundation and school,” Roche’s attorney, Marc Greenberg, said Friday. “They started with a conclusion and went out to prove it.”
Greenberg said the money given to Edlighten for management services wasn’t public funds because Edlighten was a vendor.
“If you hire someone to paint the school, once you pay them, what that company does with the money is up to them,” he said.
Greenberg said management companies charging Oxford Preparatory millions of dollars might look bad to a layperson and that the contracts could have been written more clearly.
“You’re always going to have people say you should have spent the money this way or that way,” Greenberg said. “It’s just the way it is.” He added that charter schools “eat a lot of funds” their first few years.
Oxford Preparatory distanced itself from Roche in the school’s response to the audit.
“The current OPA board and administration had no knowledge of Mrs. Roche’s inappropriate expenditures and had zero authority over the way in which Edlighten spent its funds,” wrote Oxford Preparatory’s board chairman, Michael Delgado. “News of this apparent mismanagement of funds – specifically FCMAT’s allegations of money laundering by (Edlighten Learning Services) – is shocking and disappointing to all of us. The current board and administration were kept in the dark about the activities during Mrs. Roche’s tenure and outraged by the revelations in the FCMAT report.”
After Oxford Prep cut its ties to Roche and Edlighten, it is prioritizing “accuracy, transparency and efficiency,” Delgado wrote. “
Oxford Prep has regularly been one of the top-scoring schools in San Bernardino and Orange counties.
“In the classroom, our results speak for themselves,” Delgado wrote. “We’ve twice been ranked the top-performing school in San Bernardino County, and we were named a California Distinguished School the very first year we were eligible. Our students consistently outperform their district peers in California state tests, and in July, we earned initial accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.”
Edlighten’s dealings with another Orange County charter school also are under scrutiny.
The Orange County Department of Education is looking into complaints by Anaheim educators against Epic Charter School, an online program based in Anaheim but affiliated with an Oklahoma school of the same name. Officials with two Anaheim school districts asked the county to rescind their approval of Epic, saying it provides an unsound educational program and raising concerns about predatory marketing practices, among other things.
Kelly Gaughran, the administrator for Orange County’s charter schools, asked Epic in a Sept. 26 letter to supply contracts, agreements and memorandum of understandings between Epic and various organizations and to identify the relationship they have to Epic’s cofounder, Ben Harris. Emails between Harris and Roche are quoted in the FCMAT audit, discussing moving personnel between Oxford Preparatory and the management companies to avoid legal trouble.
Harris denied the allegations in the audit in an email Monday.
“Nobody affiliated with Epic Charter School has been contacted or interviewed by FCMAT,” he wrote. “There is no relationship past or present between Oxford Preparatory Academy or Edlighten Learning Solutions and Epic Charter School. In the past, prior to starting the authorization process with the Orange County Department of Education, some individuals affiliated with Epic Charter School provided services that were mentioned in the report. Those services were discharged legally and ethically and ended more than a year ago.”
Barbara Black, executive director of Oxford, has asked to make a presentation to the Orange County board at its Dec. 14 meeting, Orange County Trustee David Boyd wrote in an email Monday.
“While the report raises very serious concerns, we should keep an open mind at this time,” Boyd wrote. “These types of reports often don’t include all relevant information.”
Alejandre has followed the FCMAT recommendation and forwarded the audit to the district attorney’s office, according to a spokesman for his office on Monday.
“Nothing they said showed ill-intent on the part of Sue,” Greenberg said. “She worked herself to death for those kids.” Contact the writer: [email protected] and [email protected]
2016-11-29 01:07 the Saddleback www.ocregister.com
25 /26 2.3 Boys' basketball: Chino Hills begins with 101-82 victory over Rancho Verde Lonzo Ball drove in from UCLA to watch his brothers and former teammates make their season debut for Chino Hills. It's a different team without him but still entertaining and still capable of scoring points in bunches.
LiAngelo Ball had 26 points, Eli Scott 25, LaMelo Ball 24 and Onyeka Okongwu 20 in Chino Hills' 101-82 victory over Rancho Verde in an opening game of the Corona Centennial tournament.
It was the first-ever coaching victory for new Coach Stephan Gilling, who takes over a team that went 35-0 last season and was everyone's pick for national champion last season.
"I'm looking forward to an extradordinary season," Gilling said.
LiAngelo, a 6-foot-6 senior headed to UCLA, had 20 points at halftime. But he picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, causing his 15-year-old sophomore brother LaMelo to become more aggressive.
Rancho Verde held a 24-21 first-quarter lead and trailed at halftime, 50-46. Ajani Kennedy had an impressive opener, scoring 32 points. Sophomore Jaxen Turner had 22 points.
But Chino Hills had too many weapons and kept attacking from start to finish.
"They're so athletic," Rancho Verde Coach Brandon Baker said. "It's tough to keep up an entire game. My guys gave it all they had. "
Chino Hills still can entertain with a flurry of dunks. Scott had the best one in the fourth quarter, and Lonzo stood up to applaud. Okongwu had four dunks on the night.
In another big opener, Chris Williams of Orange Lutheran set a school record with 42 points in a 71-62 win over Redlands East Valley.
Miles Oliver scored 27 points in Etiwanda's 81-35 win over Highland.
2016-11-29 00:54 Eric Sondheimer www.latimes.com
26 /26 26 /26 1.2 The Japanese take their Final Fantasy XV quite seriously TOKYO – The Japanese take their fantasies quite seriously. Video game giant Square Enix launched its Final Fantasy XV role-playing game with a lot of fanfare on the company’s home turf in Tokyo today. The launch event happens in parallel with a global launch of the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game consoles.
Final Fantasy is something like a Hollywood blockbuster in Japan. The series has sold more than 115 million copies worldwide, and this is the first major new version since Final Fantasy XIV in 2010. Yosuke Matsuda, chief executive of Square Enix, hosted the event and said it was a new flagship title that took a huge amount of effort and investment across a decade of development.
Final Fantasy XV is part of a series that is home-grown Japanese content, and its creators are revered in Japan like Hollywood directors are in the United States. The development on the title originally began in 2006, and the development team switched directors in midstream to Hajime Tabata. Tabata was on the scene at the event and spoke at length about the long development process.
I asked him why he put cars into the game, and he replied, via translator, “We wanted to put the real world into Final Fantasy” to make the game more accessible to fans. By doing that, it makes the game seem more real and approachable. That’s an issue for Square Enix, as Final Fantasy games are such long games that they can intimidate novice players. Tabata said the cars were a lot more familiar to most players than taking on a big fantasy creature at the outset.
Tabata said the team tried to make the game into something that was globally appealing, not just for a Japanese audience, and the touches like the cars are part of the attempt to make this kind of entertainment attractive to all audiences.
Square Enix held the launch event at the Yodobashi Camera Store in Akihabara, Tokyo’s celebrated electronics district. Square Enix has its own cafe attached to the store, which is a block long and goes up eight stories. Fans lined up around the block in the chilly November air. The fan who was first in line got to go up on stage and brag.
It was like a Hollywood premier, with dozens of press and broadcast cameras. The police were out in force with signs that said “move along,” and the company set up a stage next to a specially decorated Audi R8 Coupe car. The developers came out on stage along with comedians and actresses. The whole affair went on for more than an hour, and I was shivering most of the time.
They did a countdown to the global launch, and fired off cannon with silver confetti. They were met with cheers, and then the fans started spending their money.
I’ll be visiting Japan all week, and I’ll be posting about the experience periodically. 2016-11-29 06:05 Dean Takahashi feedproxy.google.com
Total 26 articles.
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Created at 2016-11-29 16:56