TT-392 -- Leukemia, ebiz news from Japan

General Edition Sunday, September 24, 2006 Issue No. 392

+++ INDEX
- What's new
- News
- Candidate roundup
- Upcoming events
- News credits

Start a Company in Japan

Entrepreneur's Handbook Seminar: 30th of September

If you have been considering setting up your own company, find out what it takes to make it successful.
Terrie Lloyd, founder of over 13 start-up companies in Japan, will be giving an English-language seminar and Q&A on starting up a company in Japan. This is an ideal opportunity to find out what is involved, and to ask specific questions that are not normally answered in business books. All materials are in English and are Japan-focused. Fully revised for new commercial code.

More details: http://www.japaninc.com/handbook_seminar3/

+++ WHAT'S NEW

Having cancer at any age is a shock, but it is never worse than when found in a child. Among Japan's roughly 20m kids under the age of 15, about 1,600 of them have the most common form of cancer in children -- Leukemia. Of the various types of this blood disease, approximately 80% have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and 20% Acute Myelocytic Leukemia (AML).

Leukemia is named after white blood cells (WBCs), also called Leukocytes, which under normal circumstances are supposed to fight infection in the body, but under certain circumstances can mutate and becoming cancerous. When this happens, the disease slows down the production of red blood cells (RBCs) that carry oxygen around the body and remove carbon dioxide, and platelets, which cause blood clotting and control bleeding. Thus Leukemia symptoms can include chronic fatigue, abnormal bruising, and excessive bleeding.
Leukemia can also quickly spread to other organs, causing cancers at each site.

No one really knows what causes Leukemia, but among the causes suspected over the last 10 years of research are the items in the following list. It's interesting to note that several of these suspected causes, and in particular the exposure to low-frequency electro-magnetic fields, have been the subject of major studies here in Japan.

Possible causes of Leukemia:

1. Population mixing -- being the influx of possibly infected migrant populations into more sparsely populated groups and thus stressing the immune systems of the existing inhabitants 2. Fetus-related blood defects (defects that manifest themselves after conception but before birth) 3. Environmental radiation 4. Viruses (one rare form of adult leukemia found in Japan is supposed to derive from HIV) 5. Low frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs), such as power pylons. (A major Japanese study found a possible correlation between low-frequency EMF and ALL Leukemia
cases.)
6. Toxic agricultural chemicals discharged into the air 7. Genetically caused chromosonal abnormalities 8. Environmental factors such as smoking, chemicals in the work place, etc.

[Continued below.]

Cheap Phone Calls

Save up to 80% of both international and domestic phone calls with World Link Discount Telecommunications!

The cheapest call rates in Japan, from both landline and mobile phones. Domestic calls from landline to landline only 7yen/minute, and to mobile only 17yen/minute!
Registration and use is simple! We are also seeking motivated independent sales representatives.

Visit: www.worldlinkjapan.com, or contact Alpha Rise Ltd at
03-5469-7374 or via email at info-rise@alpha-grp.co.jp

Worldwide, Leukemia newly affects about 2,500 children. It is the leading cause of cancer among children and accounts for about 1/3 of all childhood cancers. The study and treatment of leukemia is intensive in Japan, and as a result, the number of children whose cancer successfully goes into remission after treatment is quite high, being around 80% or better.

But one child who didn't make it was 2-year old Tyler Ferris, who was the loved son of Mark and Kim Ferris. Many of you may know Mark for his work at the American Chamber of Commerce or in his capacity as a founding director of
Building2 KK. Sadly, Tyler was diagnosed with infant ALL when he was less than one month old. His prognosis was very poor from the outset, and yet he managed to live a full and joyful life for 23 months before he finally succumbed to a fungal infection that spread from his lungs to his brain.

Clearly the loss of one's child is very painful, and most people grieve then try to forget. Kim and Mark on the other hand are products of their own lifestyles (living in a foreign country, Mark running his own business) and could well be classed as "fighters". As a result, they have decided to turn their loss into a living memorial for their child and have set up what is probably Japan's first ever non-religious NPO registered by non-Japanese.

Tyler's site is at www.tylershineon.org. It is very touching and worth visiting. It is also the focus for an intensive effort by the Ferris family to raise the awareness of child Leukemia and to raise money for Tyler's hospital, the National Center for Child Health and Development in Setagaya. The story of Tyler has touched many people and in particular a number of celebrity sportspeople that Kim and Mark have been able to coopt to appear for the Foundation's first major event -- the "Sports Extravaganza" scheduled this week at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Roppongi.

Go to the URL below if you would like to book a seat at the dinner. The deadline is tomorrow.

http://www.tylershineon.org/index.php/events/sports_extravaganza
http://www.nch.go.jp/policy/e/english.htm

Lastly, a quick reminder that this coming Saturday is our last entrepreneur seminar for 2006. If you think you might be forming a company sometime in the next 6 months, we suggest that you consider coming. We willingly take individual questions about any aspect of forming and running a company, and offer follow-up counselling to attendees.

http://www.japaninc.com/handbook_seminar3/

...The information janitors/

Corporate Translation

Does your translator have 15 years' experience?
Professional translator Michael House does. Michael House can take your Japanese documents and translate them into clear, concise and accurate English. With special expertise in the IT, business and insurance sectors, Michael's 15 years' translating means you get top quality.

Why go through an agent when you can go direct?

Email Michael now for competitive rates and dates.

Email: macross@gol.com

DENPHONE Full-featured Office PBX

Denphone PBXs are Asterisk based, offering a wide range of features (voicemail, conferencing, selective call blocking and VoIP low cost calling) at prices lower than other proprietary solutions.

Denphone also builds custom telephony & PBX solutions including CTI, IVR, call centers as well as CRM integrated telephony systems such as click-to-call, voicedrop, disaster recovery systems and voiceblast. If you have a telephony or VoIP requirement, Denphone has a solution.

Denphone K.K. -- http://www.denphone.com

+++ NEWS

- Bank may be punished by USA
- Blu-ray recorders in November
- Golden rocking horse
- Consumer trends emerge
- World's thinnest e-paper

-> Bank may be punished by USA

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ may find itself undergoing "administrative punishment" by US authorities for lax monitoring against money laundering. The authority in charge of the matter says its will visit the bank headquarters in Tokyo and after the visit decide what measures or punishment should be given. ***Ed: While the investigation is embarrassing, it is not a major threat to business since the bank only has 12 branches operating in the USA. However, it does come at a bad time, since the bank has been getting ready to set up a securities company in the States and any punishment could derail the plan.**
(Source: TT commentary from japantimes.co.jp, Sep 24, 2006)

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20060924a1.html

->Blu-ray recorders in November

Blu-ray disks, capable of holding about 10 times the amount of data of a regular DVD, will start appearing in the market November 15th. Matsushita will be the first to release products, with the debut of two Blu-ray/HDD television recorders. ***Ed: Blu-ray is the 50GB Sony standard for high density disk recording, competing with Toshiba's 30GB HD DVD format. Thanks to the Sony relationship, 75 different Blu-Ray movies will also be available on Blu-ray disks by November. (Source: TT commentary from cio.com, Sep 21, 2006)

http://www.cio.com/blog_view.html?CID=25025

->Golden rocking horse
Apparently the 110-year old jewelry design firm Ginza Tanaka has made a gift of a 24-carat golden rocking horse to the newly born son of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko.
Young Prince Hisahito may have to wait a while to use it, though, since the object weighs about 30kg! The horse consists of almost JPY100m worth of the precious metal.
(Source: TT commentary from allheadlinenews.com, Sep 22, 2006)

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004948092

->Consumer trends emerge

The Nikkei newspaper reckons that while salaried workers are starting to help the economy along, with consumer spending up 0.5% in the April-June quarter. But they are only doing so in certain sectors. For example, purchases of plasma and large-panel LCD displays have jumped 30% year-on-year, while PC sales have slumped 20% over the same period. Travel and health maintenance are also up. In the personal health and diet sector in particular, the sales of vegetables have been climbing. ***Ed:
Interestingly, when the unseasonably bad weather at the beginning of last August caused short supply and drove up produce prices, consumers starting switching to vegetable juices instead. In fact, Ito-Yokado reported that sales of vegetable juice soared 60%! People obviously want to stay healthy, but not if they have to pay through the nose.**
(Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Sep 22, 2006)

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20060922D22JFA15.htm

-> World's thinnest e-paper

There's not much of it around just yet, but e-paper portends the future of printed media. It will save a lot of trees and distribution costs as well! Now Seiko Epson has announced the development of the world's thinnest flexible e-paper, boasting a thickness of just 0.096mm, about the same thickness as standard copier machine paper. Not only is the new flexible e-paper thin and light, weighing just 440mg, it also has an effective "screen" or page size of 4cm, virtually the entire real estate of a single sheet.
Images are displayed at 192 dpi, the same as the VGA standard PC screen. Lastly, the Seiko Epson product is extremely flexible, to the point where it can be folded into a pocket or briefcase, then reused later. (Source: TT commentary from nikkei.co.jp, Sep 19, 2006)

http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/AC/TNKS/Nni20060919D19JFA02.htm

NOTE: Broken links
Many online news sources are now removing their articles after just a few days of posting them, thus breaking our links -- we apologize for the inconvenience.

Logistics: The So-Fast Corporation

Seeing is believing: see our company in action

So Fast Corporation, an innovative logistics company, is offering tours of its Heiwajima warehouse.
See why 8 of 10 foreign company presidents choose So Fast after a visit. Read in the autumn issue of J@pan Inc Magazine why SNOVA Corporation selected So Fast and are glad they did.

For details or appointment, contact Katsuhiko Kakuchiyama.
Phone: 03-5753-3101
Email: k.kakuchi@so-fast.co.jp

Logistics warehouse Dates:
Sep 1 - Oct 31
Time: 8:45a.m. - noon

http://www.so-fast.co.jp/en/index.html

+++ CANDIDATE ROUND UP

No listings this week.

ADAPT Expat Insurance

When was the last time your insurer gave back part of the money you paid?

Our healthy clients get cash back every year, averaging more than $800. We offer Medical, Dental, Travel, Critical Illness, & Computer insurance. Contact us for a free, no-obligation assessment.

email: support@expathealthassurance.com

Tel. 0120-63-4419,http://www.expathealthassurance.com

+++ UPCOMING EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Tyler Foundation

The Tyler Foundation for Childhood Cancer presents: Sports Extravaganza 2006, September 29 through October 1.

Cricket and rugby celebrities from the UK, South Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand will come to Tokyo for 3 days of sport, fun and fundraising! Sports Dinner at the Grand Hyatt, Golf Day and Celebrity Cricket match.
All proceeds benefit children with cancer in Japan.

Shine On! www.tylershineon.org
For more information on the Sports Extravaganza 2006, see:
http://www.tylershineon.org/index.php/events/sports_extravaganza

IT events announcements are priced at JPY50,000 per week.
For more information, contact sales@japaninc.com

------------------------------------------------

END

SUBSCRIBERS: 24,930 as of September 24, 2006
(We purge our list regularly.)

+++ ABOUT US
back
STAFF
Written by: Terrie Lloydterrie.lloyd@japaninc.com.

HELP: E-mail Terrie-request@mailman.lincmedia.co.jp
with the word 'help' in the subject or body (dont include the quotes), and you will get back a message with instructions.

FEEDBACK
Send letters (Feedback, Inquiries & Information) to the editor to editors@terrie.com.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION
For more information on advertising in this newsletter, contact ads@japaninc.com.

SUSCRIBE
Get Terrie's Take by giving your name and email address athttp://www.terrie.com/subscribe.html.
BACK ISSUES
http://mailman.lincmedia.co.jp/pipermail/terrie/.
BACK ISSUES
http://mailman.lincmedia.co.jp/pipermail/terrie/.

Copyright 2006 Japan Inc. Communications Inc.

_______________Japan Inc is worth every penny!_______________

Don't forget you can get deeper analysis on Japan's hottest new businesses and technology from the quarterly edition of J@pan Inc. 1-year subscription for JPY3,600(Japan). It's so cost effective you can even get your company to pay for it!
Go to: www.japaninc.net/mag/subs.html for details.