Unit of Taiwan's Innolux buys former Japanese TV maker Pioneer for $1.1bn
Pioneer's booth is seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2025.
TAIPEI (Reuters) -- CarUX, a smart cockpit solutions provider and a subsidiary of Taiwan's display maker Innolux said on Thursday it will acquire Japan's Pioneer Corporation in a deal valued at 163.6 billion yen (around $1.1 billion).
Pioneer was once a major Japanese player in consumer electronics, whose decline presaged the broader industry shake-up to come as Japanese manufacturers were unable to keep with larger, more efficient producers like South Korea's Samsung Electronics.
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- Nikkei Asia
Japan's construction bottleneck hits $100bn as labor crunch deepens
TOKYO -- Backlogs in factory and commercial building projects are piling up across Japan, with unfilled orders soaring to an all-time high of more than 15 trillion yen ($103 billion). The construction slowdown, fueled by a chronic labor shortage, has intensified since last year, when new overtime limits further strained the sector's already thin workforce. Long a pillar of domestic demand, the construction industry makes up about 5% of Japan's gross domestic product and roughly a third of total capital spending. Unless the sector accelerates its project delivery rate, private investment and public infrastructure spending could stall, threatening broader economic growth. One company facing project delays due to the labor crunch is Aeon Mall. The retail developer has postponed the planned opening of its shopping mall in Date, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, from the end of 2024 to the second half of 2026, citing an inability to secure enough workers to complete construction on schedule. "The challenge in the Tohoku region lies not only in the limited pool of construction workers, but also in their wide geographic dispersion," a company official said. Similar cases have cropped up across Japan. As of March, the backlog of orders at construction companies reached 15.3 trillion yen on a 12-month moving average basis, according to statistics from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Driven in part by rising prices, this is the highest level since April 2011, when comparable industrywide data first became available. The volume of order backlogs surged in the early 1990s, before the prolonged period of economic stagnation that hit like a delayed hangover years after the collapse of Japan's bubble economy. Today's delays are largely driven by labor shortages rather than swelling demand. As of 2024, the construction sector employed 4.77 million workers, down 6% from a decade earlier, according to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Of those, 800,000 were aged 65 or older, accounting for nearly 20% of the workforce, up 5 percentage points over the same period. The growing societal emphasis on work-life balance has made it more difficult for the construction industry to secure labor. Regulations that took effect in April 2024 generally limit construction workers' overtime to 45 hours per month and 360 hours per year. As a result, the industry's average working hours per person fell 32.3 hours in 2024 compared to the previous year, far exceeding the all-industry average decline of 14.3 hours. Competition for workers is intensifying. In Hokkaido, where Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Rapidus is building a mass-production plant for advanced chips, the number of construction workers employed by contractors with a workforce of 10 or more reached about 130,000 in 2023, up 23% from the previous year. Monthly basic salaries in the region averaged around 326,000 yen, an increase of more than 30,000 yen, compared with a national average rise of about 14,000 yen. Construction companies are tightening their criteria for new projects, with greater scrutiny of profit margins. In 2024, the average unit price of construction starts for private-sector industrial buildings climbed 18% from the previous year, reaching about 300,000 yen per square meter. "We carefully evaluate projects based on their profit potential and expected completion timelines," a top executive at a major construction company said. Unable to secure sufficient labor or win projects with healthy profit margins, many smaller companies have been forced out of business. The construction bottleneck has also been exacerbated by an industry-specific factor: the sector's continued reliance on a labor-intensive structure. "Japan's construction industry has been slow to adopt IT, largely because the sector is dominated by smaller companies," said Takayuki Sueyoshi, senior economist at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo. Japanese builders invest only about one-fifth as much per worker in labor-saving and efficiency-enhancing software as their British and French counterparts, according to an estimate by the institute. Given the construction sector's vital role in the Japanese economy, enhancing builders' capacity to manage workloads should be a top priority. If labor shortages continue, the industry will need to accelerate digitization and implement other productivity-enhancing measures.
Kyodo News
3 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Japan tariff negotiator in Washington holds talks twice with Lutnick
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The Mainichi
4 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Busting counterfeits: How customs experts in Tokyo spot fake imports
TOKYO -- Suspensions of imports of counterfeit brand-name goods and other such items surpassed 33,000 cases in Japan in 2024, a record high. The estimated combined price of these goods, if they were genuine, would reach approximately 28.2 billion yen (some $196 million). The Mainichi Shimbun examined frontline border control efforts aimed to detect counterfeit products, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Customs authorities are responsible for intercepting illegally imported goods at airports and ports. They target not only illegal drugs and hazardous materials but also keep a close eye on counterfeit items such as fake brand-name goods and character merchandise infringing on intellectual property rights such as trademarks and copyrights. According to the Ministry of Finance, the number of import suspensions for counterfeit goods in 2024 increased by 4.3% compared to the previous year, reaching 33,019 cases. Following amendments to the Customs Act in 2022, individual imports via online shopping sites have also become subject to regulation, contributing to the rising trend. By category, clothing topped the list of suspended imports, accounting for 31.1% of cases, followed by bags at 19.3% and footwear at 11.2%, indicating everyday items were common. Over 90% of these cases involved trademark infringements, such as with fake brand-name products. Importance of smell and appearance When importing goods as cargo from abroad, importers must declare them to customs. At the Tokyo Customs office in the coastal area of the capital's Koto Ward, dozens of suspected counterfeit items arrive daily from Tokyo Port as well as from Haneda and Narita airports. The customs office has a group of professionals who inspect these goods by hand to determine their authenticity. "Ugh, this has a strange smell," said Sakia Jitta, 31, who works in the Intellectual Property Division at Tokyo Customs, as she leaned in to sniff a tote bag featuring the logo of a famous brand. Indeed, when this reporter was allowed to sniff the bag, a sharp chemical odor hit my nose. Smell is a key method for identifying counterfeit goods. In the case of leather bags, genuine products have "a nice leather smell," according to Takuya Yoneda from the same division. Counterfeit products, on the other hand, often have unusual odors such as those reminiscent of chemicals or fish. Naturally, the appearance of the item is also an important factor. I was shown a pair of sneakers that were suspected to be counterfeits of a major sports brand. They looked ordinary at first glance, but upon removing the insoles, there were loose threads sticking out from the seams. The stitching was rough, and the shoebox had dents in it. Caution over awkward Japanese Another key clue is the sense of something being "off," developed through daily experience handling counterfeit goods. Not only the items themselves but other signs of shoddiness such as accompanying manuals with poor Japanese or incorrect characters can be red flags, officials say. Information provided by companies can often aid in identifying counterfeits. Businesses that own brands or characters and copyright holders can file a complaint in advance to request the suspension of imports if they suspect counterfeit goods may enter the country. The specific identification points that companies submit to customs to distinguish genuine products from counterfeits are also used for border control measures. Officials say some companies even visit customs to provide explanations directly. When in doubt, it's important not to shoulder the burden alone. Jitta points out that customs suspensions involve "halting someone's property rights," and come with a heavy responsibility. Next to the desk of Jitta and her colleagues is a dedicated team of about 40 people who provide consultation to customs officials nationwide. If these professionals determine that an item is likely counterfeit, customs notifies the importer and the company or other party holding intellectual property rights. If the goods are deemed to be counterfeit after considering both parties' opinions, customs will confiscate and dispose of them after a certain period. No refunds are issued for seized goods. While there are no penalties for individual importers, those importing counterfeit goods for business purposes can face penalties under the Customs Act including imprisonment of up to 10 years or a fine of up to 10 million yen (about $69,500). Advanced counterfeiting techniques Despite this robust framework, Kazunori Umekado, 58, who has been involved in such work for around 30 years, divulges, "The level of difficulty is gradually increasing as the production technology of counterfeit products are becoming more sophisticated, making it harder to distinguish them from genuine products." In terms of the number of cases where imports of items were suspended, about 80% had been exported from China. As authentic brand items are increasingly being manufactured in China, serving as the "world's factory," the technology for creating counterfeits is also said to have advanced, intensifying the cat-and-mouse game with customs at the border. The strain on customs inspection operations is also a challenge. The rise in online shopping has led to large numbers of fake products being imported in small lots via international mail and other means. Is the mindset 'copies are fine' OK? Counterfeit goods are often sold on online platforms at prices lower than genuine products. While some may think, "If it's cheaper and looks the same, a copy is fine, " this is premature. If counterfeit goods enter the market, it can undermine the business foundations of companies that manufacture and sell genuine products, leading to issues such as financial difficulties. Profits from counterfeit sales are also said to be a funding source for organized crime groups. Additionally, the safety of counterfeit products like cosmetics and water purifiers has not been confirmed, and they could pose unexpected health risks. Jitta commented, "Once counterfeits are sold domestically, it becomes difficult to recover them, and brand image can suffer. It is important to crack down on intellectual property violations to protect Japan's public interests."
