<<<< Japan High-Tech Update>>>>
A monthly review of the latest developments in Japan’s IT, telecom, and life sciences sectors

January 2006 - Volume IX, Issue I

Triangle Technologies is the leading Japan Israel business development and investment advisory firm
www.triangletech.com

Dan's Desk

From Triangle's CEO

Dear Friends:

Japan continues to push the innovation envelope in a number of different areas. I am continually struck by the innovation that is taking place there - recently we have seen advances in the use of electronic wallets, with keitai (mobile) users able to fill up their cell phones with credit via logging in online, and making payments by holding their phones near the ticket gate or other vending machines to pay. A sensor in the machine interrogates the chip. This is of course driving the need for security onboard cellphones. Music downloads are also becoming a big business in Japan - almost 100% of the music downloads in Japan are to cell phones, and phone makers are coming out with new models which can store large enough numbers of songs, and play them with fidelity.

Japan not creative?!? In 2005, Japan ranked number 2 after the US in numbers of patent applications, with close to 20% of all the applications (vs about 30% from the US), but the number 1 company in the world was Dutch - Philips, and number 2 was Japanese - Matsushita.

Keep your eye on Japan for innovations in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology!

Good luck

Dan

***TRIANGLE TECHNOLOGIES NEWS***

No official news this time.

ISRAEL-JAPAN NEWS

Mr. Koizumi to visit Israel was indeed scheduled for January 6th but was cancelled/postponed due to Mr. Sharon’s health.

+SAFEND JOINS FORCES WITH M FACTORY CORPORATION

(Israel Focus, Jan 16th) - Safend announced that it has joined forces with M Factory Corporation, introducing Safend solutions to the Japanese market. M Factory, a major distributor of complex network systems, has quickly brought Safend's product to market, signing a 1300-seat agreement with Credit Suisse Life Insurance. Safend develops security solutions for enterprise endpoints. Their most recent product, Safend Protector, secures networks from data theft and tampering via their peripheral connections including USB, FireWire, WiFi, Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA), and removable media such as CD/DVDs.

+WIPRO EYES DOUBLE DIGIT REVENUE GROWTH – COMPETITION TO ISRAELI SOFTWARE?

(UNI/www.hindustantimes.com, January 28) - Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter, listed in N.Y, expects to boost revenues in Japan by 40 per cent a year in the next 5 years. Wipro has been in Japan for more than 7 years with 850 engineers servicing 30 clients, including Toshiba, Fujitsu and NEC, posting revenues of just under $100 million a year. Wipro are expanding and will open a development centre outside Tokyo.

***BUSINESS NEWS***

+UPDATED NUMBERS OF CELLULAR SUBSCRIBERS

(Nikkei, Jan 6th) – Number of subscribers at Japan cellular networks is: NTT DoCoMo: 50.11 million, KDDI (au): 21.22 million, Vodafone: 15.05 million.

+INITIATIVE TO DRAMATICALLY INCREASE FOREIGN INVESTMENTS IN JAPAN

(nikkei.co.jp, Jan 15) - The Nikkei forecasts that Koizumi will announce a national target to increase foreign direct investment into Japan by 400% to JPY26.4trn by 2011. The method by which the FDI will be achieved is by the promotion of takeovers of Japanese firms by foreign corporations.

+MORGAN STANLEY BECOMES SANYO'S TOP SHAREHOLDER

(Kyodo News, January 13 - The Morgan Stanley group became the top shareholder of Sanyo Electric Co as of Dec 31 by acquiring an 8.83 percent stake, the U.S. securities group said in a report to the Finance Ministry's Kanto Local Finance Bureau. A Morgan Stanley spokesman in Tokyo said the stock purchase was requested by its clients and was not part of its proprietary trading.

+CHINA AND JAPAN EXCHANGE RESERVES ARE THE WORLD BIGGEST

(www.cnn.com, Jan 15) - China has announced that its foreign exchange reserves have now hit a record $818.9bn, making it second only to Japan's $846.9bn in reserves. The Chinese position increased by 34.3% or $209bn over the year before.

+ LIVEDOOR'S FRAUD HIT JAPANESE STOCK MARKETS

(Kyodo, Jan 19th) - Prosecutors are expected to soon question top executives of Livedoor Co, including President Takafumi Horie, over a series of alleged fraudulent practices apparently designed to expand its business. As Livedoor was the “jewel” of Japanese recent revival, it dominated headlines and sparked a massive sell-off on the Tokyo Stock Exchange that forced the bourse to close early.

+WOMEN CEO

(mainichi-msn.co.jp, Jan 27) - Teikoku Data Bank has said that the percentage of Japanese companies with female presidents rose from 5.67% to 5.71%, showing a slight improvement in the incidence of women entrepreneurs. The average age of female CEOs was 61 years and two months, compared to 58 years and nine months for men.

***TECHNOLOGY NEWS***

+MISSILE SYSTEMS TO BE CONNECTED TO THE AMERICAN SYSTEM

(yomiuri.co.jp, Jan 15, 2006) - Japanese and US military sources have announced that the missile defense systems of both countries would be linked, to share information and signaling. Both Japan’s radar network and command systems would be connected to the USA's by March 2007. The information sharing is expected to enhance the two nations' capacity to intercept enemy attacks. For example, Japan's advanced early warning radar system, FPS-XX, the FPS-3 fence protection system will be linked to U.S. early-warning satellites, the radar that the United States is expected to install at an Air Self-Defense Force base in Aomori Prefecture and U.S. Aegis destroyers. It is estimated that a North Korean Rodong missile could reach Japan in less than 10 minutes. As Japan and the United States' information networks are currently not linked, Japan's radars would not be able to detect such a ballistic missile for a few minutes until it reached a certain altitude. If the two nations' information networks are connected, they would be able to share information immediately after it was launched.

+WORLD'S FIRST 'MAGLEV' ELEVATOR READY BY 2008

(www.siliconvalley.com, A.P, January 18th) - The world's first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation will debut as early as 2008 by Toshiba Elevator and Building Systems Corp. Maglev is the capability of suspending objects in midair through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion -- to control the lifts. The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel 984 feet per minute -- not as fast as the company's conventional lifts that can move up to 3,314 feet a minute. Maglev technology has already been used to develop high-speed trains. The only passenger-carrying maglev train in the world links Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, to the city center at speeds of 267 miles per hour. A maglev shuttle in Birmingham, England, was abandoned in 1995 after 11 years in operation because of technical glitches.

***LIFE SCIENCES AND ENVIRONMENT NEWS***

+NIIGATA UNIV TEAM TO LEAD INT'L HUMAN KIDNEY PROTEIN PROJECT

(Kyodo News, January 13) - An international organization aiming to create a database of all human proteins has chosen a project submitted by a Niigata University team that is designed to map out all the proteins in the human kidney and urine as one of its scientific initiatives. The project is the second project from Japan to be adopted by the Human Proteome Organization based in Montreal after the "Human Disease Glycomics" project by an Osaka University team.

+MOBILE HEALTHCARE LAUNCHES LIFEWATCHER

(Kyodo, January 19th) - Mobile Healthcare Inc announced the commercial launch of Lifewatcher, which is a new innovative service that operates over mobile phones and the Internet, and is a comprehensive, patient-centric, mobile disease self-management system for diabetes, obesity, and other lifestyle-related disease sufferers.