In the news

A couple of news articles from today...

Both the Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売  and the Japan Times ジャパンタイムズ are running stories concerning a business tie-up between Japanese and Taiwanese companies. Here is the JT article , courtesy of Kyōdō News 共同通信社:

"Hitachi Ltd. 日立製作所 is negotiating with Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, to pick up its controlling stake in a liquid crystal display unit, sources said Monday. The Taiwanese manufacturer, widely known as Foxconn 鴻海科技集團, will likely invest around ¥100 billion ($1.2 billion/NT36.7 billion) in Hitachi Displays Ltd., now owned 75.1 percent by Hitachi with the remainder held by Canon Inc. キャノン. Hon Hai is expected to take a majority stake in Hitachi Displays by acquiring new shares to be issued by the Hitachi subsidiary. Hitachi Displays is expected to use the proceeds to establish a new plant in Chiba Prefecture 千葉県. Hitachi apparently wants to rid itself of unprofitable operations to focus on its infrastructure business. Hon Hai will probably tap Hitachi's know-how in LCD panels to lower production costs for displays used in smart phones, the sources added. Hitachi Displays already contracts part of its LCD production out to Chimei Innolux Corp. 群創光電, a Hon Hai group firm. If they team up, Chimei and Hitachi Displays will probably command a combined share of the global LCD market comparable to that of industry leader Sharp Corp. シャープ. Hon Hai makes display panels for Apple Inc.'s iPhones and iPads and has been expanding production by buying Sony Corp.'s ソニー LCD television factories in Mexico and Slovakia. Canon sought to turn Hitachi Displays into a subsidiary before scrapping the plan in September."

In another Kyōdō News story being carried on the Times' website, it seems a traditional Japanese 旅館 has opened for business in Taiwan:

ISHIKAWA INN PLANS $76.9 MILLION LUXURY HOT SPRING RESORT IN TAIWAN

"A Japanese-style inn opened (in Taipei 台北) earlier this month, bringing the legendary service and attention of Japan's Kagaya Hotel 加賀屋 to Taiwan. In development since 2004, the Radium-Kagaya International Hotel is located in Beitou 北投, a famed if slightly faded resort area at the foot of a sulfur-scented group of mountains known as Yangmingshan 陽明山 that dominates Taipei's northern skyline. Gaining fame as a hot spring retreat during the Japanese colonial era 日本統治時代, Beitou gentrified over the decades and settled into a more mainstream destination for tourism. Now, the Kagaya Group and its Taiwanese partner, the Radium Group, are looking to a big-spending clientele to redeem their $2.3 billion New Taiwan dollar (about $76.9 million/$76 million) investment: a 14-story, 90-room resort with Japanese and local managers and local staff right on the main strip of hot spring hotels...Guests have access to private hot spring tubs, segregated hot spring and sauna areas, a spa, beauticians, three restaurants, conference facilities and other services and products. The restrained atmosphere and moderately subdued lighting aim for tranquility and serenity rather than excitement, unlike the increasingly perfunctory and sometimes run-down facilities offered by some of Kagaya's better-known, mid-range rivals...Central to the hotel's sales pitch...are the 70-strong personal attendant team, all young Taiwanese women dressed in kimono 和服 and flip-flops. As with Kagaya's Japanese resort in the Wakura hot spring 和倉温泉 area of Ishikawa Prefecture 石川県, the attendants will provide guests with a careful, constant and highly personalized level of service...These women are part of what Kagaya Executive Director Yutaka Kosaki calls a new form of Japanese soft power in foreign lands: know-how in the recreational industry. Hotel General Manager Tony Liu said that differences between local and Japanese building regulations prompted the company to consult academics and other design specialists over several years to harmonize legal obligations and traditional aesthetics. He added that 'marketing is restricted for the moment to Taiwanese customers,' but eventually to include Japanese expatriates. Although Taiwan has become a burgeoning market for Chinese tourists after the easing of travel restrictions by both sides — government figures last week showed Chinese arrivals eclipsed Japanese arrivals in 2010 — Liu said visiting Chinese are not a priority target. Of more concern to the two companies is acknowledging the historical context of their Peit'ou facility. The hotel is built almost on top of the site of Peit'ou's first hot spring hotel, while (Kagaya Group Chairman Sadahiko) Oda said it is meaningful that another famous colonial-era Japanese — the engineer Yoichi Hatta 八田與一, creator of Taiwan's Wushant'ou Reservoir — hailed from Ishikawa."

It sounds like a great place to stay, except for one thing - the cost:

"The seven classes of rooms at the hotel are in the traditional Japanese style and range from NT$24,000 ($800/¥65,370) to NT$120,000 ($4,000/¥327,000) per night, firmly placing the facility at the luxury end of the market."

Firm Japanese service and a firm Japanese experience at firm Japanese prices.