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Kyushu Headline News Get Kyushu News Now! !Mobile phone: http://www.fukuoka-now.com/mobileHP: www.fukuoka-now.com/news

English language summaries of last month's top Kyushu area news stories. 1

KAL KAL Cabin Crews Rank Fukuoka FourthA questionnaire survey of the cabin crews for KAL, South Koreas largest airline, ranked Fukuoka City fourth on the list of sites they like to visit. The airline flies to 104 destinations in 35 countries. They cited the hot springs, proximity to South Korea, and good prices as the reasons they like to visit. Sapporo topped the list.

JR JR Kyushu to Establish Presence in ChinaJR Kyushu is looking into establishing a presence in the food and drink industry in Shanghai, China. The company has already formulated an in-house overseas strategy project and assigned employees to work exclusively in that field. They plan to open an office for preparations in Shanghai by next spring, and if all goes well open their first branch before yearend.

- Miyazaki and Taipei Flights RestoredSince January 21st, Taiwans China Airlines has been operating a twice-weekly round-trip flight between Taipei and Miyazaki. EVA Airlines, also of Taiwan, started flying the same route in June, but was forced to withdraw the service on October 1 due to a lack of passengers. The newly restored route is currently the only regularly scheduled direct flight between southern Kyushu and Taiwan.

Nagasaki City Withdraws from 2020 OlympicsThe Japan Olympic Committee ruled that it will not recognize any bids for joint sponsorship of the 2020 Summer Olympics, which the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been planning. After the ruling, Nagasaki City Mayor Tomihisa Taue announced his city will not be involved in efforts to hold the games in their city. Hiroshima City Mayor Tadanori Akiba said on the same day that Hiroshima would continue to work alone to win sponsorship for the games, and that perhaps Nagasaki could cooperate. The cities had wanted to sponsor the games together to promote anti-nuclear activities.

Municipality Looking to Attract PrisonIn an effort to promote municipal development, Oto-machi, a former coal-producing district in Fukuoka Prefecture, is putting together plans to attract a prison to the area. The town was unable to attract any corporations to locate there, so they have turned their attention to bringing in a prison, which they hope will spur employment

and local consumption. They are planning to finance a facility through PFI (private finance initiative), which is a method for procuring funds from the private sector for public institutions in return for partial privatization of services. If they are successful, it would become the first PFI-funded prison in Kyushu.

Toyota Kyushu to Make Irregular Workers OfficialToyota Motors Kyushu will begin converting roughly 900 of their irregular workers to official employee status in stages starting in 2010. The company was criticized for their failure to renew the contracts of these workers when the economic downturn began in 2008. As a result, they have decided to increase the percentage of full-time employees in each division to 80% and give the workers additional training. With the growing intensity of price competition from India and China, the company will shift to a strategy of employing its technological superiority to manufacture higher value-added cars.

Arita Ware Shop to Open in MeissenFamed ceramics and porcelain production center Arita-cho in Saga Prefecture announced plans to open an antenna shop in Meissen, Germany, the most renowned ceramics and production city in Europe, in 2010. The objective is to promote sales of their product throughout Europe in the face of a slump in domestic demand. Arita-cho and Meissen are sister cities, and Meissen is already helping its counterpart in the search for a suitable shop location.

Miyazaki Has Never Used Expensive Dam WaterMiyazaki City contributed 5.2 billion yen (18%) to the construction costs of the Tashirobae Dam built in 2000 and operated by Miyazaki Prefecture. Yet, it has never withdrawn water from the dam, and it returned its water rights to the national government. The city is still liable for payment of the municipal bonds and funding costs, which amounts to 130 million yen per year. The cause of the problem was overestimating the number of people who would receive water from the dam in the city, and using that as the basis for the agreement on expenditures with the prefecture.

Airport Might Use American Military SpaceAmerican diplomatic sources confirmed that consideration is being given to an expansion plan for the airport to use the space currently reserved for the American military. It is possible

that the Americans would move to the area now occupied by Japans Air Self-Defense Forces and establish joint occupancy. That would free up the space they are currently using, which might be returned to the airport.

JP JP Morgan Chase to Establish Branch in FukuokaJP Morgan Asset Management, an affiliate of JP Morgan Chase of the United States, one of the worlds largest financial services companies, will open a branch in Fukuoka City, perhaps as early as this month, according to informed sources. It would be the first Kyushu branch of the JP Morgan Group, and their third in Japan. The move is seen as part of the companys strategy to rebound from the 2008 global financial crisis by expanding their assets in Asia.

Fukuoka Prefecture to Close Seoul OfficeFukuoka Prefecture Gov. Wataru Aso said at his regularly scheduled news conference that the prefecture would close its office in Seoul at the end of March. In giving the reason for the withdrawal, he said, There is no longer any need for the offices original function of gathering information to give advice to Japanese travelers. Private sector ties have strengthened, and the office has fulfilled its role. While the single prefectural employee will return to Japan, the prefecture plans to maintain its contract with local staffers to provide tourism information.

Prefecture Mulling Two Special DivisionsFukuoka Prefecture Gov. Wataru Aso said that the prefecture would ask the national government for financial assistance to establish two special divisions. One would be for promoting exchange with Asian countries through joint R&D projects, business ties, environmental cooperation, and personnel exchange. The other would be for increasing employment among elderly people aged up to 70 years by providing financial assistance and preferential tax treatment to corporate start-ups that hire people after retirement.

Milk Shochu Sales LaunchedFukuoka City dairy products company Itoshima Milk Plant has developed a shochu beverage called Ito Monogatari which has milk as its primary ingredient. The product was developed in conjunction with a Kumamoto shochu distiller as a strategy to boost declining milk sales. It is

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pasteurized at a low temperature of 63 degrees for 30 minutes to retain the fresh milk flavor.

Council to Attract Aircraft Companies to Kitakyushu AirportF u k u o k a P r e f e c t u r e G o v . W a t a r u A s o announced that he intends to establish early this year a council that will try to get companies in the aircraft industry to relocate on the artificial island that is the site of the Kitakyushu Airport. He said the prefecture intends to pursue this policy in tandem with efforts to make the airport a freight distribution center. In addition to representatives of the prefectural government, the council membership will include representatives from local government and companies in related industries.

Sharp Drop in Attendance at A-Bomb MuseumIn an effort to increase attendance at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, officials provided explanations of 270 items in Chinese and Korean in addition to the Japanese- and English-language explanations. The initiative

did result in an uptick in visits from Chinese and Koreans throughout 2007, but the global economic downturn that began in the fall of 2008 has resulted in a sharp drop in the number of South Korean visitors in particular. Visitor totals in 2008 were the lowest since the new facility opened in 1996, and that decline continued last year.

8 International Charters Hit All-Time Low at SagaThe number of international charter flights originating in Saga Airport in 2009 totaled just eight, the lowest number since the airport opened in 1998. This is a precipitous drop from the 77 charter flights from the airport in 2006. The prefectural government attributes this decline to the global economic downturn as well as the flu epidemic.

Higashi Fukuoka HS National Rugby ChampsHigashi Fukuoka High School trounced Toin Gakuen of Kanagawa 31-5 in the 89th National High School Boys Rugby Championship to claim their second national title, and their first News source: With permission from the morning editions of the Nishinippon Newspaper.

in two years. The team also won the national elimination tournament held in the spring, making them only the third school ever to hold both titles simultaneously. Higashi Fukuoka scored an aggregate total of 274 points during the tournament, breaking the previous record of 270 set in 1999.

152 152 Kyushu Companies are National LeadersThe Fukuoka branch of Tokyo Shoko Research revealed the results of its survey of companies in Kyushu and Okinawa Prefectures that have the highest market share in their business sectors in Japan. This year, 152 regional companies are national leaders, an increase of eight companies from the previous survey conducted in 2007. Of these, 34 have never appeared on the list and three returned to the list after falling off. Meanwhile, 29 companies from the previous survey failed to maintain their position. TSR said the new entry of companies engaged in mail order sales and food products was worthy of note.

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