McDonald’s Japan launched a home delivery service on a six-month trial basis from one of its outlet in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward. The outlet is the McDonald’s near the Tomei Expressway’s Yoga Exit.

 

The trial is mainly for elderly consumers and children and the company is considering expanding the trial service to 10 other branches through next May.

 

Consumers can ask for a home delivery as long as the minimum order is 1,500 yen and the place for delivery is within 10 minutes of the McDonald’s outlet by motorbike. Orders will be accepted from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and the company is considering keeping some stores open for 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

The Japanese government has decided to cut national pension benefits in the next fiscal year, which is the first reduction in five years and is related to the falling prices in the Japanese economy.

 

The decision was made despite calls by some ruling lawmakers for maintaining the current level, which will avoid any trouble with the aged who make up a significant portion of Japanese voters, before the nationwide regional government elections next year. Current law‘s require the government to review the amount of benefits every year to reflect domestic prices and cost of living adjustments.

 

 

 

 

Lawson Inc., the Japanese convenience store chain operator is planning to establish its second overseas business headquarters in Singapore as early as April next year.

 

The Singaporean headquarters will be in charge of Lawson’s operations in Asian countries other than China, and is based upon the company’s plans fact to set-up and manage operations in India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

 

Lawson also has plans to open its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai by around February next year with an eye to boosting the number of its outlets in China. It is expected in the future that China will be Lawson’s largest overseas market, but the company is planning an aggressive expansion into the rest of Asia.

 

 

 

 

KDDI Corp, the mobile phone operator will begin an electronic book distribution service to offer about 20,000 titles for its e-book reader handset named biblio Leaf SP02.

 

KDDI plans to increase the number of titles available under the LISMO Book Store service to about 100,000 by the end of March 2012. The release comes after Sony and Sharp launched e-book readers and related services, and KDDI’s move is expected to contribute to an expansion in Japan’s budding e-book market. KDDI plans to begin e-book distribution service for its multifunction smartphones from fiscal 2011 starting April.

 

The biblio Leaf SP02, has a monochrome screen and can store 3,000 e-books. KDDI will distribute e-book data for the handset with a basic monthly fee of 525 yen for a two-year contract.

 

 

 

 

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. is talking with Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile Co. to jointly set up a factory in Dalian as part of the Japanese company's efforts to tap the rapidly expanding Chinese market.

 

Fuji Heavy, the maker of Subaru brand cars, is expected to reach the agreement with Chery by March to begin production of medium-sized four-wheel-drive vehicles in 2013. Among Japan's eight major Japanese automakers, only Fuji Heavy and Daihatsu Motor Co. have yet to begin production in China.

 

The plant, to be equally owned by Fuji Heavy and the Chinese company, will mark Fuji Heavy's second overseas operation following one in the United States. It is expected to produce 50,000 units per year at first and then boost its production capacity to around 150,000 in the future.

 

 

 

 Maggie Zhang joined iTV-Asia in September 2010.  She is originally from Henan, China and is “Content Coordinator” for Japan.  She is focused on a number of industries including advertising, energy, entertainment, finance, food & beverage, media and real estate.  Maggie is new to Shanghai and is exploring and learning about this great city.  She can be reached at maggie.zhang@itv-asia.com.