WIRE REPORTS

JAPAN STOCKS: Shipbuilders including Mitsubishi Ltd Automated Trader JAPAN STOCKS: Shipbuilders including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (7011) and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. (7003) will witness hefty increases ...

DAILY REPORTS

Aug 31 Japan's taxi firms introducing all-electric fleets Impressed by the success of the Better Place experiment with electric taxis in the city of Tokyo, an increasing number of Japan's taxi operators are adopting electric vehicles (EVs). Nissan Motor Co. has received advance orders for around 6,000 orders for its Leaf electric car, which will go on sale in Japan in December, with several hundred of those orders from taxi companies. Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s i-MiEV is also proving popular with drivers. Many of those firms are based in Yokohama, which is one of two local authorities in Japan to introduce subsidy programs for anyone who purchases an environmentally vehicle. Similar schemes are due to be introduced in other cities around Japan in the near future, including Tokyo. (independent.co.uk) Aug 29 Japan beyond the Ginza Nintendo, Sony, Sega, Canon, Nikon, Toshiba, Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan -- these are just some of the brands that helped build Japan's reputation as a leader in cutting-edge technology. But this ancient country is also home to centuries-old traditions, which endure despite the hi-tech revolution that has taken place around them. The contrast between old and new is what makes Japan a truly fascinating country to visit. (Toronto Sun) Aug 18 Rush for foreign currencies is on A growing number of Japanese, including those planning to travel overseas, are converting their yen into foreign currencies, taking advantage of its relative strength of less than 90 to the dollar since last month. For July, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group reported a 60 percent jump from a year ago in both the number of currency exchange transactions and their value at its foreign exchange shops across Japan. The trend is continuing in August. (Japan Times) Aug 3 3 major Japanese banks to boost workforces in Asia The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. plan to increase their workforces in Asia by a total of more than 500 employees by the end of March to handle growing business opportunities in the region, sources close to the matter said Monday. (Mainichi) Jul 31 Three trading houses log growth Major trading houses Mitsubishi Corp., Sumitomo Corp. and Marubeni Corp. on Friday reported growth in their April-June earnings from the same quarter of last year, when their earnings plunged amid the global recession. Mitsubishi said its group net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 more than doubled from a year earlier to ¥140.43 billion as sales grew 19.2 percent on hikes in resource prices and a recovery in demand for steel products. (Japan Times) Jul 26 They're Baaack: Japanese Banks Look to the U.S. for Growth In Japan, the heady days of the late 1980s are back-at least for the country's leading banks. Japan's lenders have finally crawled out from underneath their massive piles of nonperforming loans and are eyeing acquisition opportunities in the U.S. to offset anemic growth at home. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group-Japan's two leading banks, with more than $3.7 trillion of assets combined-are aggressively ramping up their expansion strategy outside the country. MUFG, which already has a foothold in the U.S. with California's Union Bank, aims to become one of the top 10 commercial banks in the U.S. via further acquisitions. (Wall Street Journal) Jul 4 Space center facilities decaying / Annual repairs outpaced by salt erosion due to proximity to ocean Facilities at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tanegashima Space Center, the base for launching this country's mainstay H-2A rockets, have seriously deteriorated due to age. Although repairs have been conducted at a cost of about 1 billion yen annually, the center's seaside location has led to rapid salt erosion, and countermeasures cannot keep up with the damage. Launches of H-2A rockets were transferred to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in April 2007, and liftoffs are scheduled for rockets carrying full-scale commercial satellites and information-collecting satellites. (Yomiuri) Jul 2 Mitsubishi Electric to Supply Ozone System for US Water Treatment Plants Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO: 6503) announced that it has received orders from three water plants in the United States for ozone systems to be used in water treatment plants, such as waterworks and sewage. The orders are comprised of ozone generators and their structures. (Asahi) Jul 2 3 Japanese banks may be hit Three Japanese mega banks may be banned from doing business in the United States under the new law imposing sanctions against Iran, according to a central governmental source. The banks at risk are Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., according to the source. The U.S. Treasury Department is working on details of the law, and the three banks may ultimately not be excluded from the U.S. market. (Yomiuri) Jul 2 Toshiba to develop batteries for electric vehicles Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said Friday it's jumping into the battery business for electric vehicles in a development deal with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. It's the first EV battery deal with a major automaker for Toshiba, which already makes batteries for laptops and cell phones, said company spokesman Ken Shinjo. Production will start sometime next year, in a new facility in Niigata, northern Japan, according to Toshiba. (Mainichi) Jun 30 Japan's big four car makers issue over 100,000 recalls Car makers Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will recall more than 100,000 vehicles in Japan due to defective air bags and seat belts, the transport ministry said Wednesday. The recalls trace back to a single supplier, Tokyo-based parts maker Takata, local media reported. The company also supplies Audi, Daimler, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. Toyota Motor will recall 50,738 vehicles, Honda 24,522, and Nissan 35,964 built in 2000-2001 due to problems with the airbag inflator in the passenger seat that causes shards to fly out when the airbag opens, the ministry said. (AFP) Jun 23 MHI, Hitachi team to rival rail triumvirate Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. have reached a basic agreement to work together in marketing, building and servicing urban railway systems overseas. The two firms will cooperate in securing train projects abroad, including light rail systems and subways, given the anticipated demand in countries such as Brazil to expand their rail networks and other social infrastructure. (Japan Times) Jun 14 EV models expanding rapidly / With demand picking up, commercial models are hitting the market Japanese automakers are actively expanding their lineups of electric vehicles (EVs), working to launch models for both personal and commercial use. At the same time, European and U.S. automakers that had lagged behind in the development of eco-friendly vehicles have entered the EV market in earnest. Toyota Motor Corp., which has been reluctant to develop EVs partly due to their limited range, has partnered with a U.S. firm. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which launched the world's first mass-produced electric car, the i-MiEV, will add two new models--a commercial van and a minicar--in fiscal 2012. (Yomiuri) Jun 10 MHI to hit the high seas again / Rejoining large cruise ship market, despite looming '2015 problem' After a 10-year hiatus, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. has decided to resume manufacturing large cruise ships. MHI's timing is curious. Although the market for passenger ships is growing, the global shipbuilding industry is facing "the 2015 problem"--in which the world's shipbuilding capacity will be three times higher than the demand five years from now. Nevertheless, the shipbuilder that made the iconic Diamond Princess still hopes to stand apart from Chinese and South Korean shipbuilders locked in a race to lower prices. (Yomiuri) May 31 Sharp and Mitsubishi Electric debut 3-D TVs Sharp Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. on Monday took the wraps off 3-D liquid crystal display televisions that will hit the market this summer. Sharp said its 3-D TVs, which use proprietary four-color LCD panel technology, will go on sale July 30. Mitsubishi Electric hasn't set a release date yet, saying its laser-based TVs equipped with 3-D viewing technology will be sold sometime in the summer. (AP) May 20 No love in an elevator when riding with 80 people If you sometimes feel like a lemming at work, at least you don't have to ride an elevator to the office with 79 other lemmings. That's the lot of those who toil at the new Umeda Hankyu Building in downtown Osaka, Japan. They get to work via five giant elevators, each with a capacity of 80 people. Mitsubishi Electric's people movers can carry up to 400 people altogether. With each bearing loads of nearly 6 tons, they're the largest-capacity elevators in Japan. They measure 11x9 feet, which is about the size of a lower-end apartment in Japan, and are 8.5 feet high. (CNET) May 17 Top 4 banks receive 72,000 applications under debt moratorium law The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ and three other leading Japanese banks have received a total of some 72,000 applications for the easing of loan repayment terms from small and midsize companies and homeowners under the so-called debt moratorium law that took effect in December last year, the banks said Monday. The law allows moratoriums on debt owed by smaller businesses and homeowners to support those hit by the global financial crisis. It is designed to encourage banks and other financial institutions to relax repayment terms, such as by extending repayment deadlines, for financially strapped smaller companies and individuals with home loans who apply to do so. (AP) May 10 India, Japan working on nuclear deal to boost 123 Agreement India and Japan are quietly working on an inter-governmental agreement on civilian nuclear energy so that the 123 Agreement between India and the US, currently in the last lap of political negotiation before the US Congress, can be fully implemented on the ground in India. According to the broad contours of this agreement, New Delhi will promise not to conduct any more nuclear tests in exchange for Japanese permission to its companies, Hitachi, Toshiba and Mitsubishi to go ahead and partner with US and French companies seeking to build civilian nuclear plants in India. (Business Standard) Apr 24 Tesla to sell electric sports car in Japan Tesla Motors Inc., a U.S. automaker specializing in electric vehicles, will launch its high-end Roadster electric sports car in Japan in early May. This is the first time a foreign automaker will release an electric vehicle in the Japanese market. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. began domestic sales of its i-MiEV electric vehicle last July, while Nissan Motor Co. will launch an electric vehicle in December. The move by the Silicon Valley-based automaker likely will intensify competition in Japan's electric vehicle market. (Yomiuri) Apr 19 MMC reduces profit forecast more than 50% Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Monday more than halved its operating profit forecast for the financial year that ended in March due to a decline in sales and slower than expected cost-cutting efforts. For fiscal 2009, the company said it now projects an operating profit of ¥13.8 billion from an earlier forecast of ¥30 billion. It reduced its sales forecast to ¥1.44 trillion from ¥1.5 trillion. (Japan Times) Apr 15 Building a new history in Tokyo The first thing that occurs to you as you survey the dark wooden floorboards, high skirting boards, deep-colored walls, fireplaces and - until July 25 - the selection of Eduoard Manet paintings at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum in Marunouchi, Tokyo, is that on entering this grand redbrick building you must have been transported, somehow, to Europe. The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum might be new, but it is also genuinely old - 116 years old, in fact. In a district that has seen several waves of redevelopment over the last century, that makes it one of the only buildings with any claim to historical significance (another is Tokyo Station, which is currently undergoing renovations). (Japan Times) Apr 4 E-tags eyed for car transport Three major domestic automakers and a leading shipping company will jointly develop a system to more efficiently transport cars by using electronic tags, it has been learned. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and NYK Line aim to cut costs by reducing inventory and streamlining logistical facilities with the introduction of electronic tags. (Yomiuri) Apr 2 Mitsubishi to refocus on energy, environment Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will increase its stake in environmental and energy fields, starting by doubling its investments in energy-efficient power semiconductors this fiscal year, according to Kenichiro Yamanishi, the new president and CEO. Yamanishi, 59, a former senior executive officer, took up the post Thursday, succeeding Setsuhiro Shimomura, who became chairman. (Asahi) Mar 31 Morgan Stanley, Mitsubishi UFJ to merge operations Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. says it has reached a final agreement with Morgan Stanley to merge brokerage operations in Japan. Japan's top bank and the U.S. financial giant said in a joint statement Tuesday that merged securities operations will begin in May. They will set up two joint ventures -- Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. Ltd. -- for brokerage operations. (Mainichi) Mar 31 Mitsubishi cuts price tag on electric car as EV price war with Nissan looms Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced Tuesday that it has slashed the price of its i-MiEV electric car to below 3 million yen in a bid to compete against rival Nissan Motor Co. The automaker has decided to cut the price of its i-MiEV rechargeable compact by 370,000 yen to 2.84 million yen ahead of its scheduled general release in April -- about 150,000 yen cheaper than Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf electric car. Nissan announced earlier the same day that it will start selling its new Leaf electric vehicle (EV) with a price tag of 2.99 million yen in December this year. (Mainichi) [ More... ]