Back and Forward is a new column that takes (a slightly irreverent)
look back at some of Japan's largest business stories while
thinking forward about what they may mean for the future.
YouTube and Japan
On August 3, YouTube officially rolled out a Japanese localization
of its massively popular Japanese Society for Rights of Authors,
Composers and Publishers that YouTube remove all copyrighted material
from its site, six Japanese firms have decided to enter business
partnerships with YouTube, which is owned by Google.
Mixi and Casio
Notable amongst those firms are social networking giant Mixi and
consumer electronics firm Casio. Casio intends to begin selling a
digital video camera that is able to upload videos directly to YouTube
by connecting to the user's home computer. The release of this
product will surely corner the market for amateur up-skirt video makers,
who must be thrilled about upgrading from the mirror-on-the-shoe
business model.
Internet Advertising
Some firms, however, many be hesitant to partner with Google, whose
online advertising services are reported to cause nervousness at
Japan's giant ad firms, including Dentsu and Hakuhodo. Dentsu
recently projected that revenue from Internet advertising in Japan,
which stood at [yen]363 billion in 2006, will more than double to
[yen]750 billion in value by 2011.
Tired of those late night calls?
Of course, all of those Internet ads must be pushing something on
the public. Now that the Financial Services Agency (FSA) has banned
marketers from hawking certain financial products over the phone during
weekends and evenings, we wouldn't be surprised to see more of
their advertising budgets move online. No word yet as to whether the FSA
intends to prevent your ex from phoning at inappropriate times.
Corporate profits up
According to a Nikkei survey, slightly increased household
spending, along with brisk exports and a weak yen, has helped Japanese
firms see a 19.5% increase in pretax profit for the April-June quarter
of 2007. We're watching to see if a revival of the much-dreaded
"company trip" materializes at firms now awash with cash that
needs to be wasted somehow, and fast.
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
Wages Down
In June, average wages fell 1.1% against last year, according to
the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare--the seventh consecutive month
for which the ministry has reported a decline. Including summer bonuses,
the average employee at a Japanese firm walked away with [yen]465,174 in
June, of which [yen]251,763 was listed as "scheduled cash
earnings."
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
In a separate report, MHLW recommended that companies begin sharing
more of their profits with employees in the form of pay rises. No
mention was made of raising dividends for the nation's
long-suffering shareholders.
Consumer can take solace in knowing that at least YouTube is free.
Then again, so is getting calls from marketers in the middle of the
night.
Ken Worsley runs JapanEconomyNews.com
He can be contacted at ken@japaneconomynews.com
COPYRIGHT 2007 Japan Inc.
Communications Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2007, Gale Group. All rights
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NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.