JIN-268 -- Year-End Optimism and the Currency Leak

==============================================
J@pan Inc Magazine Presents:

T H E J @ P A N I N C N E W S L E T T E R

Commentary on the Week's Business, Technology and Cultural News
=============================================
Issue No. 268
Wednesday, March 31, 2004
TOKYO

Subscribe for FREE:
http://www.japaninc.com/newsletters/index.html?list=jin

CONTENTS

@@ VIEWPOINT: Year-End Optimism and the Currency Leak

============= FREE ME! =====================

The New APRIL issue of JI magazine boasts a makeover, award-winning
journalism -- and, for the first time, FREE online access!**

Check it out NOW:

http://www.japaninc.com/contents.php?issueID=59

(**For a limited time; thereafter all archived contents will be
subscriber-only.)

>> ANIME ATTACKS: Disney's divorce from digital animator Pixar
and the Michael Eisner debacle comes at an ideal time for Japan's
animation titans. Leo Lewis speaks to the president of TOEI, whose
forthcoming assault on the US and Europe speaks volumes.

>> Honda president Takeo Fukui tells us precisely what it means to be
named Nikkei's No. 1 company of the year. A JI exclusive interview!

>> TRUE LIES: A new book about the M-fund, a secret cache of cash
worth billions and overseen by the US and Japan, is stirring up
controversy and ... death-threats. David McNeill explains -- and we
speak to the authors, who are currently in hiding.

PLUS: Alejandro Lopez of Beacon Communications on how to reinvigorate
advertising in Japan's reviving brand market; a visit to Tokyo's oldest
slums; our expert analyses for investors looking to navigate Japan's
resurging booms; the very latest from the frontlines of technological
wizardry, consumer surveys and much, much more.
==============================================
========== DOMAIN NAMES REGISTRATION ============
Doing business online? Want to personalize your email address?
It does not cost a lot to get your own dot.com...

Domains-Japan.com offers very affordable web domain registration,
and a whole range of very competitive related services such as
hosting, webmail, email, URL forwarding, DNS, easy transfers etc.
.com/net/org .us .info .biz .uk .ca .cc .tv .ws .tm .de and more...
Registrations start at $12.95 per year.

http://www.domains-japan.com
=============================================
============================================
Stay Competitive -- RELOCATE

How does a company cut costs without slashing its workforce?
If it operates in Tokyo -- the world's MOST expensive city --
relocating parts of its operations can save money fast.

Wakayama offers a software development division, cheaper offices,
lower personnel costs and subsidies and support from the prefectural
government. To find out more, visit:

===============================================

@@ VIEWPOINT: Year-End Optimism and the Currency Leak

It's been a pretty frenetic end to the financial year, but with plenty
of good news to keep things buoyant. Taking aside the great currency
conspiracy for a second (in which the BOJ would reportedly cease its
yen interventions), corporate news has been very encouraging indeed.

The monthly tally of bankruptcies has started, at long last, to fall.
Toyota will this year become the first Japanese company in history to
post profits of 1 trillion yen. The Bank of Japan is talking confidently
about sustained recovery and the Financial Services Agency is finally
muttering about the end to the bad loan problems that have held the
banks -- and therefore the rest of the economy -- in this long and
frustrating limbo.

Now (we still aren't talking about currencies here), what makes the
end of this financial year more remarkable than any of the past
30 years is that the stock market seems to be perfectly happy on its
own. The Nikkei index is high and heading higher, and for once it
is because investors seem to like Japan. In years gone by, the end
of each fiscal year was marked by the most appaling manipulation
on the part of companies hoping to add some momentum to share
prices. That practice dates back to the very recent time when every
company had major cross-shareholdings with at least one other, and
the value of their assets was calculated at current market
values.

From the boardrooms of the mightiest car manufacturer to the lowliest
flower delivery firm, it was in everybody's interest to give the
market a little boost before the books were closed on the financial
year. And because investors knew that was coming, the buying started
some weeks before the end of March.

Prime Minister Koizumi has his fair share of critics, and sometimes it
does seem that his reform program is more impressive on paper than in
action. But here we are looking at serious long-term change to
corporate activity, and it would take a very po-faced, reactionary
LDP die-hard to declare that we were better off in the old days.
Companies are gradually becoming more transparent and the proof
is that US and European investors -- still smarting from Enron,
Ahold and Worldcom -- are prepared to accept the risk of Japanese
corporate norms.

The only sore spot in all this is the currency intervention issue.
We have our own view on this week's fuss.

When the London Times said that BOJ sources had declared an end to
the intervention spree, we believed it. Of course the BOJ does not
set forex policy (as the government first noted in its denials),
but we know perfectly well that no decisions are taken without close
collusion between the BOJ and MOF.

Who was the whistle-blower to the Times? We will never know. It is
important to remember, however, that the byline for the story
includes the name Robert Thomson -- the current Editor-in-Chief
of The Times and an old Asia hand.

In the course of his recent visit to Japan, Thomson met, among
other key figures, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. It
is a safe assumption that whoever he met at the BOJ was a level or
two above the press office.

-- The Editors

============== SEMINAR ================
Succeed in Business. Succeed in School. Succeed in Life.

Are you interested in learning:
- seminar debate skills used in Harvard and Stanford?
- how to quickly assess written and verbal arguments?
- how to persuade effectively, using reason and rhetoric?
- how to read faster with greater comprehension?
- more creative problem solving and case interview techniques?

If so, click www.nxt-stp.com/mailout.html for Robert Clyne's class!
Start with a Free trial lesson!
=======================================
=============== ADVERTISING ===============
PMP-Japan provides enterprise-wide program and project management
consulting and training services. Our core competencies are IT and
Business Process Improvement. We help our clients achieve quicker
time-to-market and increased shareholder value by creating project
success. We guarantee an increase in our client's project success rate.
Level 9, AIG Building, 1-1-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005,
Japan. Voice: 81-3-5288-5126, fax: 81-3-5288-5353
http://www.pmp-japan.com
=======================================
============ IT PROGRAM ==================
Temple University Japan presents "The Temple IT Program".
Certification in two key IT areas: Computer Programming and Software
Systems Development.
Study to get a great job in IT, retrain to improve your career in IT,
assess and raise IT staff technical skills.
Courses based on leading-edge course content from iCarnegie (Carnegie
Mellon University).

Come to our Information Session on April 12, from 7 p.m.
More info: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/itp/newsad.html
==========================================
======================================
SUBSCRIBERS: 14,753 as of March 31, 2004

EDITORS
Written and edited by Roland Kelts and
Leo Lewis (editors@japaninc.com)

CHECK OUT OUR OTHER JAPAN-SPECIFIC NEWSLETTERS:
http://www.japaninc.com/subscribe_news.html

UNSUBSCRIBE
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, click here:
http://www.japaninc.com/unsubscribe_news.html

ADVERTISING INFORMATION
To advertise in this newsletter, contact:
ads@japaninc.com

GET THE MAGAZINE
Subscribe at:
http://www.japaninc.net/mag/subs.html

FEEDBACK AND PROBLEMS
We welcome your viewpoint:
editors@japaninc.com
(NB Please do not reply to this newsletter -- it's outgoing only,
so we won't get it!)

TECHNICAL PROBLEMS:
webmaster@japaninc.com

(C) Copyright 2004 Japan Inc Communications KK. All Rights Reserved.