Geneva Newsletter

Issue 12

March 2010 Geneva Newsletter

Special points of interest: Japan’s current economic situation • Japan’s exports jumped 45.3% in February 2010 from a year earlier. Unemployment rate The Cabinet improved in Source: Statistics Bureau, 1.7% in real terms from a • A Kimono with 111,160 natural col- March its assessment of Minister of Internal Affairs and year earlier. ored pearls was exhibited at Basel- the economic situation. Communications Whereas the unemploy- world (March 18 to 25). % According to the Monthly ment rate remains severe, • Japanese car manufacturers pre- Economic Report it decreased since the July sented environment-friendly cars, such as fuel cell, hybrid and electric “although the economy record high. As a result of ones, at Geneva Motor Show (March 4 has been picking up the economic recovery, it to 14) steadily, it is only weakly went down to 4.9% in • FUJISOFT INCORPORATED announced self-sustaining and re- January from 5.2% in De- the successful development of mains in a difficult situa- cember, falling below 5% “PALRO®”, “a humanoid robot with tion such as a high unem- for the first time since integrated intellectual systems”. ployment rate”. March 2009 (see graph). Exports from Japan The number of unem- Inside this issue: jumped 45.3% in February ployed persons was 3.23 2010 from a year earlier. index of business condi- mio. in January 2010 . The increase was led by tions, assessing the cur- Japan’s economy remains Japan’s current economic 1 exports to Asia (+55.7%), rent state of the economy, in a “mild deflationary situation North America (+50.2%) raised 14.0% to 99.9 in phase” (Monthly Eco- and to a lesser extent January 2010 from 87.6 nomic Report). The con- Japanese jewellery and pearls 1 & 2 Western Europe (+19.5%). year-on-year. Corporate sumer price index was at Baselworld Exports to Switzerland profits surged 102.2% in down 0.2% in January raised 7.9% year-on-year the fourth quarter of 2009 2010 from a month earlier The Diet approved FY2010 2 in February, whereas they from previous year. and down 1.3% over the budget soared 97.5% in January Domestic consumption year. However, the index from a year earlier. Indus- recovered. The consumer of domestic corporate Electric and hybrid cars at 3 confidence index jumped Geneva Show trial production index grew goods price grew 0.1 in January 2010 2.7% to 49.0% to 39.8 in February points to 102.4 in January 2010 from 27.7 a year World leading exhibitions on 3 92.1 month-on-month and from a month earlier. renewable energy 18.5% from a year earlier. earlier. Consumption ex- Business situation also penditures went up 0.2% PALRO®, your new robot 4 improved. The coincident in nominal terms and friend

Japanese jewellery and pearls at Baselworld A Japan Pavilion was held Universe”. All of them cuss with company’s man- from March 18 to 25 at were sponsored by JETRO. agers and product design- Baselworld, “the World Among the ten compa- ers. Watch and Jewellery nies, eight exhibited pearl Show”. It gathered ten products and two others, Baselworld, Japanese companies at fine jewellery. It was a (Continued on page 2) Hall 6, “Hall of Universe” hall 6, also called “Hall of unique opportunity to dis- Page 2 JETRO Geneva Newsletter

Japanese jewellery and pearls at Baselworld (Continued from page 1) Kimono. He exhibited were also exhibited. Aiko splendid strings of white, Yamazaki (picture), De- LA PERLE D’O RIENT exhib- gold and black pearls. signer of R ENAISSANCE GEM ited a Kimono with Yoshio Fujiyoshi, Akoya INC ., presented Mother of 111,160 natural colored Pearl Co., Ltd. (collana), a pearl products using the pearls. Achieved in 1989, company specialized in “pique process”, a rare the first year of the reign elegant black pearls com- method consisting in pre- of Emperor Heisei, it is bined with leather cords, cious metal inlaying. The valued at ¥ 100,000,000 is also pleased to attend designer also recently Nobu Kaneko, Corporate (about CHF 1.2 mio.). The this “prestigious exhibi- exhibited with a calligra- Officer, Tanaka Pearl Co. Ltd. company also exhibited tion”. pher at Kiyomizu temple strings of natural pearls. Japanese booths pre- (eastern Kyoto). Kazumi “We would like to remind sented pearls with won- Tashiro and Eriko Fujii, people that Japan is the derful colors. Yakushi Designers, exhibited fine country where the culture Pearl exhibited white, or- jewellery products made of pearls started”, said ange and purple pearls. with gold, diamonds, ru- Ketan Chaudhari, com- Tanaka Pearl Co., Ltd. bies and other precious pany’s representative. shown white, golden and materials. “The location is perfect”, black pearls, but also said Keiichi Inoue, Sanwa Akoya pink ones. Pearl Co., Ltd., a company The companies came to with a booth next to the Basel to find new partners in Europe. For example, Nishijin Pearl Co., Ltd. and Shimada Trading Co., Ltd., both present in Asian markets, wish to expend their business to Europe. PEARL INTERNATIONAL CO. LTD . sells in China and Europe; Raj Shah, company’s representative said he hopes the company “to develop partner- Toshiyuki Sugihara, Board ships with European cli- Director, and Aiko Yamazaki, Kimono exhibited by ents”. Designer, in Kimono, LA PERLE D’O RIENT Fine jewellery products RENAISSANCE GEM INC .

The Diet approved FY2010 budget On March 24, Japan’s 4.24% from FY2009 allowance per child (¥ House of Councilors budget. It is funded by a 13,000; CHF 151), the (Upper House) has ap- record bond issuance of effectively free public high proved the record ¥92.3 ¥44.3 trillion (CHF 516 school tuition and the in- trillion budget (CHF 1.1 billion, 48% of global dividual household in- trillion). The House of Rep- budget). Tax revenues come support for agricul- resentatives (Lower account for 40.5% of the ture. Social welfare expen- House) cleared it earlier in budget and other reve- ditures will also raise the month. nues for 11.5%. 9.8% from FY2009 The FY2010 budget The FY2010 will enact budget to ¥27.3 trillion shows an increase by new policies, such as (CHF 318 billion). Issue 12 Page 3

Electric and hybrid cars at Geneva Show Japanese car manufactur- urban transport vehicle for Suzuki exhibited the Swift ers exhibited many “eco- one person might look Plug-in Hybrid, a 54kW cars”, such as hybrid and like” (Honda’s press re- motor car powered by lith- electric ones, during the lease). ium-ion batteries and a 80 th International Motor Toyota presented the Auris gasoline engine. Show in Geneva held from with Hybrid Synergy Drive ®, Mazda shown the Mazda 5 March 4 to 14, 2010. The “a full hybrid capable of Hydrogen RE Hybrid MPV following cars are some operating in petrol and compact car combining examples. electric modes alone, as hydrogen engine with an Suzuki Swift Plug-in Hybrid Honda exhibited, the hy- well as a combination of electric motor. brid sport CRZ car, the both” (Toyota’s press kit). Nissan also presented the FCX fuel cell car and the The car, scheduled to be Leaf all electric car (see U3X concept electric sold on Swiss market dur- February issue). monocycle. It also pre- ing the summer 2010, has 692,000 people visited sented some concept ve- a CO2 emission of 89 g/ the 2010 Geneva Motor hicles. The EV-N is a retro- km and a fuel consump- Show, showing an increase design electric concept tion of 3.8 L/km only. of the number of visitors car previously shown at Lexus, the Toyota’s luxury by 7% from a year earlier. Tokyo Motor Show. The 3R division, exhibited hybrid The next Geneva Motor -C is a three-wheeled elec- cars only. With a 1.8L VVT-i Show will be held from tric vehicle concept show- petrol engine and a power- March 3 to 13, 2011. Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle) ing “what a future minimal ful electric motor, the Lexus CT 200h “combines 2.0 L performance with class leading CO2 emis- sions” (Lexus press kit). Mitsubishi previewed the hybrid PX MiEV car and the electric i-MiEC car. The i- MiEC has a range capacity of 160 km and a maximum Honda electric EV-N and 3R-C Lexus CT 200h hybrid car speed of 130km/h. concept cars

World leading exhibitions on renewable energy Organized by Reed Exhibi- zation. ogy Expo” is a show on all tions Japan Ltd., exhibi- Five exhibitions were held kinds of processing tech- tions on renewable energy at the same time. nologies. were held from March 3 to “PV E XPO 2010” is a photo- The Ministry of Economy, 5 at Tokyo Big Sight. voltaic exhibition. Trade and Industry The show was attended by “FC E XPO 2010” is the 6 th launched on November 1, 1,261 exhibitors from 61 international hydrogen and 2009, a new purchase countries or regions, in- fuel cell exhibition. system for solar power- cluding United States, 77 firms took part in “PV generated electricity to China and European coun- SYSTEM EXPO ”, the first promote the use of non- tries such as Switzerland, photovoltaic power genera- fossil energy sources and Japan’s primary energy supply France and Germany. tion system exhibition. the effective use of fossil (FY 2005) Around 80,000 industry 231 exhibitors participated energy materials. In 2005, Source: METI professionals visited the in “B ATTERY JAPAN ”, the first renewable energy ac- exhibitions. Many partici- international show on re- counted for 8.4% of Ja- pants emphasized the chargeable battery. pan’s final energy con- quality of the event organi- “1st Processing Technol- sumption (see graph). Issue 12 Page 4

PALRO ®, your new robot friend

On February 1, 2010, FU- “pal” and “ro”, the first equipped with various JISOFT INCORPORATED an- letters of “robot”. softwares and may then nounced the successful FUJISOFT first produced a serve, for example, as a development of “PALRO ®”, model for engineering home janitor. “a humanoid robot with research in educational Initial price of “PALRO ®” integrated intellectual sys- institutions. The company is ¥ 298,000 (about CHF tems”. plans to market “PALRO ®” 3,500). With 39.8 centimeters tall by March 2011. It will be Established in 1970, FU- and 1.6 kg, the robot has JISOFT is a Japanese IT a humanoid behavior. It is company located in Yoko- able to walk on two legs, hama, in Kanagawa Pref. watch, listen and talk with (in the neighborhood of humans. It can also visu- Tokyo Pref.). According to ally and orally recognize a Mr. Nozawa, Chairman, person and locate itself in and Mr. Shiraishi, Presi- the room. dent, the company is “an Connected on Internet, it IT solution vendor who is can collect information changing IT itself”. It cre- from Websites and its en- ates “answers to chal- vironment, and inform it of lenges and dreams for its owner, or send it on its the future”. owner’s computer or mo- bile phone. For further information, His name “PALRO ®” is please visit FUJISOFT ’s Website: http://www.fsi.co.jp/e/ drawn from the English ® PALRO solutions/robot_technologies/ familiar word for friend FUJISOFT ’s intelligent robot index.html.

JETRO is a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Originally established in 1958 to promote Japanese exports abroad, JETRO’s core focus in the 21st century has shifted toward promoting foreign direct investment into Japan and helping small to medium size Japanese firms maximize their global export potential. 80, Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva The JETRO Geneva Newsletter can also be viewed and/or Phone: 022/732 13 04 downloaded online: Fax: 022/732 07 72 http://www.jetro.go.jp/switzerland/newsletter E-mail: [email protected]