High Five!

Pasona Tech Inc., a staffing company specializing in the IT field, plans to step up recruitment in Vietnam of systems engineers through the company's local subsidiary, which will take on the new recruits as well as place them in other software companies both there and in Japan.

To get ahead in India's increasingly competitive auto market, Toyota Motor Corp. is building a new plant and freshening its lineup. It has also made an unusual investment: It opened a school.

Built on a rugged hillside in southern India that is populated by wildcats and monkeys, Toyota's sprawling technical training school, which opened last year, gives about 180 junior-high-school graduates an education in everything from dismantling transmissions to Japanese group exercises.

Toyota wants to turn students like Satish Lakshman, the son of a poor farmer, into a skilled employee who can boost the auto maker's fortunes in this key emerging market. "We are learning discipline, confidence and continuous improvement," says Mr. Lakshman, an energetic 18-year-old.

Competition for entrance to Toyota's school is tough. The institute received 5,000 applications for 64 slots when it opened last year. The draw for these young men, all from poor families, is a free education and a job if they do well. The first class will graduate from the three-year program in 2010, when Toyota plans to open the plant to make its new small car.

The school is part of Toyota's efforts to stage a comeback in India. During the last decade of rapid global expansion, Toyota poured its resources into expanding sales in the U.S., Europe and China, often at the expense of smaller markets like India.

Toyota ranks seventh in sales in India behind smaller Japanese rivals such as Suzuki Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., according to market researcher CSM Worldwide Inc.. Since Toyota entered the Indian market a decade ago, its market share has slipped to 3.5% from a high of 4.7% in 2003, in part because its lineup here lacked a small, low-priced car.

Now, as the U.S. market crumbles, Toyota is shifting its attention to India. The company is confident India's auto market will continue its strong growth over the longer term even though it is cooling this year in the face of a global economic slowdown.

In 2007, Toyota sold 54,000 vehicles in India and aims to boost its sales to 400,000 vehicles a year by 2015, or about 10% of the projected Indian passenger-car market of four million vehicles. Suzuki has about a 50% market share today.

"What we are trying to do is to increase sales eightfold in eight years. It's going to be a really big challenge," says Hiroshi Nakagawa, head of Toyota's operations in India.

To reach its goal, Toyota plans to add new models, including a compact, lower-cost car to compete in India's fast-growing small-car market. It plans to open a new plant with annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles.

At the foundation of its growth plan is the Toyota Technical Training Institute. India's auto market is growing at such a fast pace that skilled workers are in short supply. Toyota says the school will enable the company to develop the productive, skilled employees it needs.

Toyota has taken a similar approach in China, where it has helped the government run a technical training center since 1990.
In India, rival auto makers are following Toyota's lead. In September, Honda announced plans to open a technical college. Other car makers have formed partnerships with India's technical institutes to improve training.

The school teaches students practical skills such as welding, auto assembly and maintenance. It also gives the young recruits a smattering of classes in such subjects as math, English and Japanese as well as lessons in the company's cherished principles of consensus building, continuous improvement and eliminating waste.
"Small drops of water make a mighty ocean," reads one sign on campus.

"The industry is looking for a person who is flexible, focused and who can withstand a tough working environment," says T. Somanath, the school's principal.

All students live in a dormitory and wear uniforms of red caps, tan shirts and brown slacks. Instructors emphasize a military-like attention to detail, inspecting students for stray facial hair and loose shirttails.

When students go home for weekend visits they often bring these lessons with them. Mr. Lakshman says he told residents of his poor farming village how Toyota's principles might improve their time-tested ways of life. He encouraged them to find ways to save energy, including basics such as turning off a light when leaving a room.
Like most families in his village, Mr. Lakshman's uses a bicycle to get around. But as India's new prosperity slowly reaches his village his family might one day be able to afford a car, he says -- maybe even one that he helped build.

(Source: The Wall Street Journal, 2008-11-3)

Kose Corp. plans to expand its sales channel in China by distributing its upscale products at cosmetics retailers in regional cities, in a bid to increase its share of the high-growth Chinese market.

Kose's previous China strategy was to sell mainly at department stores in large cities. Now, in order to reach a wider range of customers, the firm plans to increase the number of cosmetics-only stores carrying its line, from about 60 locations in October to 1,000 in 2011.

The Japanese company will partner with small cosmetics retailers in such regional cities as Fuzhou in Fujian Province and Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, as well as in cities near Beijing and Shanghai.
Kose aims to grow its China sales to about 10 billion yen come fiscal 2010, up from approximately 5 billion yen in fiscal 2007.
At the new sales locations, the company will feature its Predia line of products, the same brand that is sold at Japanese cosmetics shops. A typical Predia item might sell for 500 yuan (about 7,000 yen) at the new locations, about the same price as other Kose items at the Chinese department stores.

At about 1.5 trillion yen, China's cosmetics market is almost as large as Japan's. It is estimated that the top player in China is Procter & Gamble Co., with L'Oreal and Shiseido Co. in second and third place, respectively.

Kose is the next-biggest Japanese cosmetics firm in the Chinese market, and might be looking to catch up to Shiseido with the expansion of its sales network.

(Source: Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 2008-11-1)

Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. has taken a stake of more than 5% in Hong Kong's Asia Financial Holdings Ltd. in order to accelerate its strategic shift to China, The Nikkei learned Monday.

Sompo Japan spent an estimated 3 billion yen to acquire the shares, emerging as Asia Financial's fourth-largest stockholder. Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, the financial holding company has the nation's sixth-largest nonlife insurer, an asset management firm and a life insurer under its umbrella.

Tapping Asia Financial's strong footholds in southern China and Southeast Asia, Sompo Japan intends to beef up its casualty insurance business, aiming to set up a sales base in the Chinese city of Guangzhou by year-end.

The insurer is looking to catch up with rivals Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group Holdings Inc. in overseas expansion.

Sompo Japan will move systems development operations to China, with an office opening in the Chinese city of Dalian on Wednesday. Under a tie-up with a local systems integrator, the insurer will take on about 30 engineers at the site. This will help the firm chop 20-30% off its roughly 30 billion yen annual systems development costs, beginning in fiscal 2010.

The Dalian base will devise systems for its Japanese operations. Sompo Japan will also consider using this location to develop systems for its Chinese operations.

Sompo Japan will be the first Japanese nonlife insurer to move core systems development operations overseas. Because this raises the risk of information leaks, the company will apply stricter safety control standards, such as setting up monitoring cameras and restricting baggage.

(Source: Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 2008-11-4)

What Web 2.0 bubble? Widget maker RockYou has landed an additional $17 million in funding, tapping Japan's SoftBank and South Korea's SK Telecom. The round, which builds on RockYou's $35 million Series C round in June, lifts the startup's total private funding to $67 million.

Apart from RockYou socking away more money for a rainy year, the important news here is the company's push into Asia. The startup, which is backed by venture capital heavyweights DCM, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Partech International, is teaming with SoftBank to form a joint venture that will make widget and application tools for Web users in the Asia-Pacific market. RockYou has been pushing hard in the region, including hooking up with social network Xianonei, otherwise known as China's Facebook Inc.

As always with Web 2.0 companies, the big question for RockYou is whether it's impressive growth will translate to major revenue. RockYou monetizes those PVs with ads for widgets produced by other companies. It earns 40 to 50 cents every time someone clicks on an ad served by RockYou and installs the advertiser's widget. That could add up to real dough given that RockYou today claims to reach 100 million monthly unique visitors and to generate over 8 billion page views. Rogelio Choy, senior vice president of business development at RockYou, told us last year that the company's best advertisers can attract 10,000 widget installs per day.

Great! So why does it need another $17 million? To go global, presumably. And perhaps to futher broaden its revenue stream? Certainly, Choy sounds bullish as ever in this recent post. "A lot of folks continue to heavily discount social platforms' potential for developers and their overall monetization," he says. "Let me be blunt. There's a massive opportunity in this space, and RockYou continues to see material, growing business from agencies, advertisers and virtual goods alike. Social networking/engagement is the fastest growing and now primary activity on the web (and soon the phone)."

(Source: The deal.com, 2008-11-3)

Sindh Minister for Commerce and Industries Rauf Siddiqui has said that the renowned Japanese IT firm DTS would invest 50 million dollar in the Information Technology (IT) Park project, besides providing 1,500 jobs.

"The government is committed to extend all out support to the foreign investors, especially Karachi is open to foreign investors in all sectors," he said while addressing a foundation stone laying ceremony of the firm at SITE Super highway.

He said the company would invest 50 million dollar in the IT sector of Pakistan in five years. The government is working on a road map of investment plan and with the implementation of the plan, more Japanese investors would attract towards Pakistan, he said.

The DTS has been provided with five acres of land in SITE Superhighway for the IT-Park project and it would start construction very soon.

He said the project would provide jobs to some 2,000 people, he added. Rauf said the two other Japanese companies would be allotted land at the site. He said President DTS Inc Japan Hironao Takahashi would urge the international Japanese cellular company Docomo to invest in Pakistan.

He said with this investment, the bond of ever lasting Japan-Pakistan friendship would strengthen through economic development of Pakistan. He said the government had assured the foreign investors of law and order situation and their lives and properties would be provided safety and security. The minister said, whenever an investor wants to invest in IT sector, he prefers Mumbai, India for the business, he said and claimed that they would invest in Pakistan especially in Karachi within two to three.

Highlighting the persisting crises in the country, the minister noted that these crises could only be overcome through foreign investment, adding that the government was providing immense opportunities to the foreign entrepreneurs, especially those who are establishing joint ventures. He called upon the business community to play vital role to bring investment of foreign firms in the country to explore opportunities. "Today, we have a sound architecture in place for developing and strengthening political, economic, commercial, scientific, technological and cultural relations with Japan," he argued.

He warned the land Mafia of encroaching government property, saying that the government would take action against such elements. He announced that President DTS Hironao Kakahashi and Director DTS Irfan Siddiqui would be the official focal persons of Sindh government in Japan.

(Source: Pakistan Daily, 2008-11-3)

Gwen Stefani got here first.

I hate to admit that. The singer, after all, co-opted Tokyo street style for banal girlie pop, then hired four Japanese girls as her own entourage-slash-accessories — and last month launched a line of perfume inspired by their edgy subculture.

Doesn't turning rebel teenagers into brands sound just a bit like exploitation?

Except that Harajuku Girls like these love the attention. Come to their catwalk — centred on the bridge between a shrine and a high-end shopping area in Tokyo — and you'll see them preening and posing for tourists.

Many are tweens from the suburbs, and their looks change as fast as their moods. But there are a few constants: Bows are big. So are knee-highs and Little Bo Peeps with lacy bonnets. And some girls, so-called Goth-Lolis, mix up their Lolita looks with dog collars.

This is the strange reality of kawaii — the Japanese culture of cute. Because these girls aren't mere curiosities or fashion victims. Kawaii (pronounced ka-why-ee) is not just for kids. Nor is it a passing fad in this fad-obsessed country.

Kawaii is a larger sensibility that stands for youth and style, but also all that is sweet, harmonious and wholesome. And it permeates every aspect of Japanese life — from entertainment to design to sexuality.

As David Wagner, a culture and communications expert in Tokyo tells me, cute is "ingrained in the Japanese psyche."

This could explain why the army and the Tokyo police force have cartoon mascots. And why earlier this year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed the character Doraemon — an animated cat — as its cultural ambassador.

In other words, Gwen got it right. For a glimpse of the real Japan, you have to see this country's "fatal attraction to cuteness," as the song goes, for yourself.

THE MUSEUM OF CUTE

That means taking an ad-hoc tour of Tokyo, because what has been described as the "hegemony of cute" here isn't always easy to pin down. Kawaii is everywhere and nowhere all at once.

There is certainly nothing overtly adorable about a city dominated by concrete, glass and neon. When I first arrive, in fact, I feel like one of the characters in Lost in Translation, alienated and slightly paralyzed by the city's immensity.

But eventually I shake off my jet lag and make out finer details. That salaryman on the subway has a tiny Snoopy charm hanging from his cellphone. Magazines such as Cutie pop from newsstands. Then there are those cartoons. Everywhere.

"Japan is anime culture," says my friend Misako Iizumi, a 33-year-old sales assistant at Tokyo Visa.

So I start with Ghibli Museum, run by Hayao Miyazaki, the granddaddy of Japanese animation. It's not quite what I expect. I don't see hordes of hipsters paying homage to the man behind films such as My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away. The exhibits — a super-kawaii "cat bus," a "boy's workshop" with the filmmaker's sketches and paintings, and a maze of child-sized corridors and stairwells — are mainly aimed at visitors under 10.

But coming here does remind me why being cute can be so appealing: The wide-eyed characters in anime films demand to be taken care of, to be protected. They can be plucky and adventurous, but when things get rough, they moue a bit and … everything turns out okay.

Another plus to Ghibli: It's smack in the middle of a residential area about 30 minutes from Tokyo, where you can see kawaii's effect in context. Because when Miyazaki's fans grow up, there's a lot of pressure to conform, to make everything okay. The streets are immaculate. The homes are tiny and uniform. Even the joggers look cool and pressed, as if they're holding back from sweating. And this is where you come home to unwind from the brutal work world.

Enter kawaii, a kind of cultural Prozac. As Iizumi tells me: "When I look at cute things, lovely things, that makes me feel relieved. It's like a pet. They cure our wounded soul."

Best of all, while looking and acting cute offers escape from the rigidity of adult life, it doesn't upset the larger social order. Kawaii icons don't rebel — Hello Kitty doesn't even have a mouth. They just paint the world a happy shade of pink.

To explain this, Wagner says, it helps to consider one of the basic values of Japanese culture: harmony. "Japanese don't like conflict," he says. "They avoid it and prefer to just look at the beauty of things, instead of, sometimes, the reality."

BUYING KAWAII

At the very least, theories like these make sense of Ghibli's mission to be "a museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul." And of grown women posing for photos at Sanrio Puroland — a Hello Kitty theme park on the edge of town.

Or why not indulge your inner Harajuku Girl with a little kawaii-themed retail therapy?

For that, you can head to Takeshita-dori, the pedestrian street near the bridge where the girls pout for pictures. This is where you'll find staples for looks such as ero-kawaii (erotic cute) and kimo-kawaii (creepy cute). Nearby is the five-storey kawaii emporium Kiddyland, where plenty of adults jostle for dolls and toys and stuffed bears in little sleeping bags.

Or concentrate on the "109" building in Shibuya. A landmark in this neon-washed downtown hub — known for the highest concentration of love hotels in the city as well its youth-culture scene — this tower of boutiques caters mainly to gyaru, or gals.

From what I can tell, these are Harajuku Girls minus the angst (average age: 16; average skirt length: 16 inches) and they come here to rifle through Cute & Street brand knee socks and T-shirts with smiley faces at shops such as Tralala and Pinky Girls.

As for those of us past our "pinky girl" prime, there are lots of kawaii finds at traditional department stores in the Ginza district.

At Mitsukoshi, for instance, the housewares department stocks designer towelettes with little cat ears. Downstairs, sleek OLs — or Office Ladies — line up for expensive French pastries shaped like piglets and bunnies.

And there is kawaii fashion for men. Hello Kitty makes cheeky men's briefs with "Caress me deadly" written on the butt. Hipsters often wear their anime passions on their sleeves and shoes and jackets.

A better bet to see the male take on cute, though, is at a maid café.

According to my translator, James Yellowlees, an expatriate who runs an HR consulting firm in Tokyo, there's a large spectrum of coddling in Japan: a tradition of fawning servant-escorts that extends from refined geishas to hostesses to fake maids.

And in Tokyo, Akihabara is the district where computer geeks in their 20s and 30s come for the latest tech goodies, manga — and some pampering from a maid.

MAID SERVICE

This doesn't mean prostitution. Yet there's clearly something sexual about the girls outside Akihabara Station, promoting cafés in their skimpy French maid uniforms. As we head down a side street to a curtained second-storey joint called Royal Milk, I feel a bit apprehensive.

But the inside is charmless more than seedy. The tabletops are plastic. Fluorescent lights buzz from a particle board ceiling. The only frills are a TV showing anime and photos of the house maids.

Plus, of course, the maids themselves. Usually they wear ruffled headbands, high-heeled Mary Janes and the requisite knee-highs — but customers can pay maids to put on schoolgirl outfits, or to dress up like their favourite anime characters.

"Cuteness is the most important thing," the manager says.

And the cutie-pie treatment. Just ring the tiny white bell at your table. One of the maids will come over, crouching down in deference, to take your order. On the menu are dishes like the Royal Milk Omelet — which your maid will top with a happy face in ketchup if you desire.

It's hard not to chalk one up for critics of kawaii, who say the Japanese obsession with cute isn't therapeutic, it's infantilizing. Being a male burikko (or fake child) doesn't seem to promote harmony so much as narcissism.

Or maybe some kink. Pay extra and you can get a massage or a facial in a back room, which I'm not invited to see. Shell out $75 and you can also hang out with the maids (but nothing more) for half an hour. Mostly, the manager tells me, his clients are "maniacs" for anime: "They want to talk to women who share that obsession."

The maids claim they do. For instance, Matsumi Ashkawa, who has worked here full-time for the past two years, says she loves a game about a former ruler trying to recover his kingdom.

And Matsumi gets kawaii. When I ask her how old she is, she says 17.

"They're all 17," she says, pointing to her colleagues. "They all have a young heart."

Kawaii glossary

Kawaii Cute. And youthful. And sweet. Pronounced like Hawaii.

Kimo-kawaii Creepy cute.

Ero-Kawaii Erotic cute. As if the usual knee-high socks with bows at the thighs aren't erotic enough.

Goth Lolis "Loli" for Lolita, mixed up with a Goth aesthetic.

Burikko The term for fake child, often aimed at women who talk in cutesy ways.

Iyashi Healing. Arguably a side effect of cute, cuddly things.

Mamasan A motherly hostess who fawns over customers at "snack bars." See also: Maid cafés and geisha.

Otaku An extreme geek (sometimes the word refers to a shut-in) who is obsessed with anime, gaming and technology in general.

PACK YOUR BAGS

GETTING THERE

Air Canada (aircanada.com) and All Nippon Airways (ana.co.up) fly direct to Tokyo from Toronto and Vancouver. Cathay Pacific (cathaypacific.com) generally routes through Hong Kong.

WHERE TO STAY

CERULEAN TOWER TOKYU HOTEL 26-1 Sakuragaoka-cho; 81 (3) 3476 3000 ; ceruleantowerhotel.com. Rooms aren't cheap (singles start at $560), but this hotel is located in the heart of Shibuya.

PARK HOTEL 1-7-1 Higashi Shimbashi; 81 (3) 6252 1111 ; parkhoteltokyo.com. A moderately priced option in the city's business centre with rooms from $220.

TOURSELITE ORIENT TOURS 800-668-8100 ; elitetours.com. This Toronto-based tour company offers a number of hotel/airfare packages to Tokyo, as well as larger tours of Japan. Prices for a flight and five-night stay in Tokyo start at $1,488 a person.

WHAT TO SEE

GHIBLI MUSEUM 1-1-83 Simorenjaku, Mitaka; ghibli-museum.jp. Hayao Miyazaki's curiosity cabinet-cum-museum. Big with kids and anime fanatics. But you must reserve in advance; Canadians can order tickets through JTB International (jtbi.ca) for $10 plus service fees.

SANRIO PUROLAND 1-3 Ochiai, Tama-city; 81 (42) 339 1111 ; puroland.co.jp. Run by Sanrio, the manufacturers of Hello Kitty and other ultra-cute characters, this theme park is a good 40-minute train ride from central Tokyo. It's worth it, though, if you're dying to see Kitty's Pepto Bismol boudoir or only-in-Japan products. Tickets are $38.

ROYAL MILK 81 (30 3253 7858; r-milk.com. This is just one of many maid cafés in Akihabara. Come here to chat with maids (for a fee) or just get them to "put sugar and milk in your tea for you" for $9.

HARAJUKU To see the Harajuku Girls, head to the bridge just outside Harajuku Station (between the Meiji Jingu shrine and Omotesando Street). Or go to Takeshita Street for your own kawaii outfits.

KIDDYLAND 6-1-9 Jingu-mae; 81 (3) 3409 3431 . This is the toy store for kids — and for adults in search of a little cute therapy.MITSUKOSHI 1-4-1 Nihombashi Muromachi; 81 (3) 3241 3311 . Japan's oldest department store carries kawaii towels and adorable edibles. Or come when the doors open to see utterly cute salesgirls perform their daily welcome ritual. MORE INFORMATION For more Tokyo attractions,visit jnto.go.jp.

(Source: The globe and mail.com, 2008-10-31)

Beijing Kylin Game has received second-round funding of $10 million from several investors including Softbank, reports DoNews citing sources. Kylin confirmed on Wednesday that it has received a new investment, but refused further comment.

The game company plans to release its history-themed MMORPG "Cheng Ji Si Han Online" this fall and is currently developing new games "Liao Zhai" and "Han Wu Da Di." Former Sohu (Nasdaq: SOHU) online game producer Shang Jin established Kylin Network with RMB 40 million in July, 2007.

(Source: JLM Pacific Epoch, 2008-10-30)

A Japanese man has enlisted hundreds of people in a campaign to allow marriages between humans and cartoon characters, saying he feels more at ease in the "two-dimensional world."

Comic books are immensely popular in Japan, with some fictional characters becoming celebrities or even sex symbols. Marriage is meanwhile on the decline as many young Japanese find it difficult to find life partners.

Taichi Takashita launched an online petition aiming for one million signatures to present to the government to establish a law on marriages with cartoon characters.

Within a week he has gathered more than 1,000 signatures through the Internet.

"I am no longer interested in three dimensions. I would even like to become a resident of the two-dimensional world," he wrote.

"However, that seems impossible with present-day technology. Therefore, at the very least, would it be possible to legally authorise marriage with a two-dimensional character?"

Befitting his desire to be two-dimensional, he listed no contact details, making it impossible to reach him for comment to explain if his campaign is serious or tongue-in-cheek.

But some people signing the petition are true believers.

"For a long time I have only been able to fall in love with two-dimensional people and currently I have someone I really love," one person wrote.

"Even if she is fictional, it is still loving someone. I would like to have legal approval for this system at any cost," the person wrote.

Japan only permits marriage between human men and women and gives no legal recognition to same-sex relationships.

Japan's fans of comic books, or "manga," sometimes go to extremes.

Earlier this month, a woman addicted to manga put out an online message seeking to kill her parents for asking her to throw away comic books that filled up three rooms.

Prime Minister Taro Aso is an avid fan of manga and recently complained that he has been too busy to read comic books since taking office.

(Source: AFP, 2008-10-30)

EastEdge Partners, an innovative Tokyo-based real estate advisory firm, is seizing opportunities in Japan's dramatically changing property market.

"This is a strategic time to buy real estate in Japan, our clients are looking for stability in fundamentals and value," says Jason Holt, CEO of EastEdge Partners.

Despite turmoil in the global equity markets, October has been a month of growth for the new real estate firm. EastEdge's advisory division recently completed the sale of a two-acre prime view estate in Hakone, Japan for a foreign high wealth buyer. The company was appointed as exclusive Japanese broker for the Above + Beyond luxury hotel condominiums in Niseko, Japan. And in the Philippines, EastEdge signed a hotel management contract for a luxury resort property.

Holt views EastEdge's business mix as a unique model for Japan.

"We are succeeding in this market by focusing on opportunities that are not traditional. We attempt to be very progressive and build on an international perspective," says Holt. "For example, helping foreigners find Japanese vacation properties and get a mortgage to buy it, or helping a ryokan owner to improve his marketing and bottom line, or simply sourcing good offmarket deals for institutional size investors and then providing what other advisers can't: a hands-on solution adding value applying hospitality, such as branding or services."

EastEdge was founded last year by Holt, who has significant experience on the forefront of the Japanese real estate and equities markets, participating in various capacities of public and private investment management and project management. The firm is licensed as a Japan real estate broker and investment advisory. The EastEdge team includes professionals formerly with multi-faceted real estate firm Prospect, the award-winning Oakwood serviced apartments and JAL-Nikko Hotels, and spanning a breadth of capabilities from asset management and sourcing through development, management and hotel operation, all on an international level.

AN EMPHASIS ON RESORT REAL ESTATE:
One of EastEdge's successes has been a focus on resort real estate, often an overlooked segment of the Japanese market. An avid outdoorsman, Holt forecasts opportunity in far fledged markets such as Hokkaido, Hakone, Hakuba, Kyoto and Okinawa as inbound tourism to Japan continues to increase.

He forecasts Japan as eventually growing to become the "France of Asia", a cultural tourism mecca increasingly attracting the growing purchasing power of Asia to a wealth of unique experiences.

EastEdge Partners has been granted rights for the exclusive Japan domestic sales for Above + Beyond Niseko, the first 5-star resort hotel-condominium to be offered in Japan. The development features Condominium Suites and Chalets at the world-class ski resort. Buyers will receive rental income while enjoying up to a month of personal use per year.

"This is a very unique, upscale real estate product, for Japan," says Holt. "It the finest quality in Niseko to date and gives individual buyers the previously unavailable opportunity to own a piece of a 5-star hotel."

EastEdge is engaged in property searches for both individual and institutional buyers.

"Some clients are seeking a revenue producing property in Okinawa, while others desire a vacation home in Izu or Hakuba," says Holt. "Of course, the focus for institutional investors has turned full swing to Tokyo and value assets or distressed assets and this is our core competency. But our shop is flexible to the needs of each client large or small, and we use our network to locate desirable properties that fit the investor`s profile... desirable as investments and also as lifestyle products for the retail buyer."

HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT:
EastEdge has also earned new business in hospitality management. For an entrepreneurial developer in the Philippines, EastEdge has created a new hotel brand that will be unveiled before year's end. The first property will be a 116-room hotel that is a total reconstruction of a once famous resort destination in the Philippines.

"The resort will be renowned for its unique design and integration with the stunning natural surroundings," says Holt, "and its international management systems." Multiple properties are forecast for the new brand.

EastEdge is also working on a new hospitality platform targeting the acquisition of quality residential assets and serviced apartments in central Tokyo, with the aim to add operational and branding value to properties bought at a discount.

A NEW VISION FOR JAPANESE REAL ESTATE:
How is EastEdge attracting business in this economic climate?

In addition to traditional marketing efforts made to EastEdge`s wide network of institutional investors, Holt has recently attracted clients from his English-language blog (http://eastedge.wordpress.com/), which provides instant and bold analysis of Japanese real estate market trends.

"We are putting out quick feedback and commentary in English, providing a tactical view of the Japanese market, a frank and hopefully insightful opinion for those interested in this sphere," says Holt, citing recent entries promoting the availability of mortgages for foreigners, or commenting on the problems that have led to undervalued J-REIT stocks.

"Our clients can rely on EastEdge for a knowledgeable and transparent voice," he says.

(Source: prweb.com, 2008-10-31)