Time being, however, only a small proportion of the working population. Japan is one of only three OECD members, which has no official summer time. Although it was still in Parliament at the start thinking aloud about a possible introduction is unlikely that there will be a political decision at the national level is.

Several private companies have acted on his own and introduced an in-house summer time by the start of work and the closing time was brought forward by one hour. Among the first was also Morinaga Milk, one of Japan's leading dairy processors. At headquarters in Tokyo starting in early April for 500 employees of the new working clock in the morning and ends at 8 by 16 clock. Other big companies like Sony or the electronics company Ricoh have announced the introduction of summer time, others are likely to follow suit.

Happy Hour from 4

That this conversion leads to a new consumer behavior, we have recognized in the services sector adjusted quickly and offers many new needs. After 4, though the trend with the early evening beer. The Izakaya and restaurant operators Colowide has since the beginning of June in 40 venues open an hour earlier and attracts customers with a Summer Time Clock Happy Hour from 16-18.

“Many employees welcome but the early closing time, do not want but still so early to go home,” said the Yomiuri Shimbun Colowide towards the campaign. Other restaurant operators have suspended all normal operating periods and are now open all day to cope with the changing flow of customers optimally.

What

The beer in the evening for the one, the coffee in the morning for the other. Thus all the involuntary early risers not have to give up their morning stimulant, the Pronto coffee chain opens this month for their local at 80 locations in Tokyo for half an hour earlier. The target group are those employees who need to leave her home so early that they no longer come home for breakfast.

Adaptable Service Sector

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It was not long until the target group of 20 – and 30-year-olds, which the Japanese whiskey boom of the 1980s was completely overlooked, said the new trend highball drink. Suntorys Kakubin whiskey was suddenly on everyone's lips. Offered in 2008 only 15,000 restaurants and bars in highball, it was 2010, according to J-Cast News already 90,000.

100 million copies sold

In October 2009

Lit Suntory Whiskey the next stage of his campaign: With Kaku-highball drinks manufacturer which brought the rifle version of the long drinks on the market. Today we talk about one of the most successful product launches in history. After only 20 months, the alcoholic beverage sold gun-Kaku highball over 100 million times. Exactly on the 20th June has been broken through this barrier.

And before the competition wakes up, the Japanese beverage company has expanded its already long-drink business. Suntory last September brought his second highball drink rifle on the market, this time with the in-house Tory's whiskey.

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By 2020 China will have moved a total of 16,000 kilometers of track. According to World Bank figures, the government invested a total of 300 billion dollars for the most ambitious infrastructure project. China therefore has the largest high-speed network in the world. Beijing hopes that with this train an additional economic boost for the country, and it is Japan in the 1960s came with the construction of its Shinkansen network.

Expensive Prices

Yet but China has a problem. The tickets for these trains are modern for most people is simply too expensive. Many still prefer therefore the local train, car or airplane. To make the high-speed train people something more palatable, the operators have now announced a massive price reduction.

This should be the cheapest ticket between Beijing and Shanghai modest 400 yuan.

Competitive Prices

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For Suzuki, the restaurant project, but also a personal background. The ice factory his family has been washed away by tsunami. Although the business is carried on through the internet, he does not see a rosy future for the economy Fukushimas. The financial damage from the nuclear power plant disaster is immense. According to local shops and farmers suffer.

Tested to beam

In Japan there is also great concern because of potentially irradiated food from the crisis region. With a special relief effort to try the young members of the Liberal Democrats to be against tax. At 40 locations throughout Japan, they sell to station stands on radiation tested vegetables from Fukushima, such as the Asahi Shimbun reported. For 500 yen per bag.

“The food offered in Fukushima were all tested and declared safe,” is written on each of the stands. The sale proceeds of the education campaign is flowing over each Red Cross in the crisis region.

Sake and vegetables from Fukushima

The restaurant in Tokyo Kenji Suzuki also makes its own contribution to the reputation of his homeland. “The vegetables in our restaurant comes from the prefecture of Fukushima,” says the owner. The mackerel were all fished out of the area of ​​the Sanriku coast, which includes the northern prefectures of Iwate and Miyagi. The processing of mackerel can make Suzuki, however, in the factories of Fukushima Prefecture. The offer comes from Suzuki's Sake Heimatpräfekur.

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Alone in the first year of the opening expect the operator according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, meanwhile, over 5 million visitors. Even the run-down Tokyo's Sumida district hopes the new attraction, thanks to demand for an economic upturn.

Hardly anyone seems

Deterred, however, even in international comparison of the high prices leave. According to a survey by the Asahi Shimbun road many readers keep the price of 3000 yen, but for a bit overpriced, but at least once will not let you miss this spectacle, is the general tenor.

The alternative Tokyo Tower

The operators of the venerable Tokyo Tower will be pleased. To get to the highest lookout in the 333 meter high television tower, the guest needs only here to pay 820 yen. Tokyo Tower opened in 1958, is preparing for several years on the new competitive situation.

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This week, now the candidate cities for a maglev station announced. Between Tokyo and Nagoya, there are the cities of Sagamihara and an additional yet to be determined city in Nagano Prefecture. All prefectures, which lie along the planned route should therefore come into play.

Expensive Stations

The route to be determined, the possible connections to other trains, but also the willingness to pay will be decisive for the final decision. In fact, it's about money. The cities and prefecture authorities hope that a magnetic connection a significant economic effect. Even with the existing high-speed line to lobby the smaller towns in the 1980s successfully for a Shinkansen station.

The main condition for the construction of a local station, however, that the individual prefectures bear the financial burden themselves. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun does an above ground station 35 billion yen.

Underground route

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The heat of the generators is also used for the heating and cooling system. Only when the internal power supply gets out, falls back on the energy of the electricity producers Tepco. Tepco and should refuse his service, there is still an emergency generator that is powered by kerosene.

Not a single power failure

10 billion yen in late March to make no concessions. On the contrary, by Roppongi Hills slowed its energy needs with less light consumption, electricity could even be forwarded to Tepco.

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The largest theme park in Japan, the Tokyo Disney Resort, had to close its doors for 5 weeks. The quake had damaged parts of the plant and regular power outages made the systematic operation of the many attractions impossible. Although the park has been open since mid-April, but the foreign tourists staying away makes itself felt in the sharp drop in visitor numbers.

And the Japanese guests are currently mainly from residents of the metropolitan area of ​​Tokyo. The number of those visitors who come from farther away with express buses or other package deals, mid-May when there was only 50% of the previous year, as appears from a report in the Nikkei Shimbun.

Slump in the hotel industry

It is similar to the hotel sector, which got to feel the loss of domestic and foreign visitors the most. The accumulated occupancy rate of 19 leading hotels in Tokyo fell in April for the second consecutive month, reaching an all time low of 40.5 percent. Normally, occupancy rates move in April to a level of about 80 percent, mainly due to the influx of foreign business travelers.

In the days following the tsunami disaster but also said many Japanese planned their trips at home and abroad ado. The airlines JAL and ANA announced mid-April, a decline in bookings for domestic flights in the double digits.

Japan's leisure and entertainment industry is a major industry for the country. If you add theme parks, amusement arcades, the entire hotel industry, game consoles and software, as well as games and sports with one, generated by an estimate of the industry market research firm Datamonitor, sales of over 8 trillion yen.

A DVD for home

But what started all the

Remained at home with their time? After all, sports facilities and swimming pools were closed in many places, department stores have already made early in the evening to their doors, as well as public institutions. The general situation of insecurity and poor transport links were a lot depends on the evening to go still in the initial quarter of the city. The Japanese standards almost eerily empty streets of Shibuya and other districts of the capital have witnessed this situation. “The quake has turned people into couch potato” was the headline of a recent newspaper article.

From the reduced desire of the Japanese entertainment but could benefit some sectors of the entertainment industry, such as video rental. The national-scale music and film rental chain Tsutaya had to close but after the earthquake struck about 50 stores and reduce the opening times of some Filliale because of electricity shortages. Nevertheless, sales were up from the video rental business in the normal operating branches by 2% over the last year.

In March 2010, sales were compared to the previous year was 7 percent lower. Also the number of members rose from February to March 2011 around 200,000 people. Compared to Nikkei Weekly said a 34-year-old teacher from Chiba, he had stocked up after the earthquake of 12 DVDs and only his evenings spent watching television. Although he went back out several times since April, but avoid it go further afield. “I will borrow in the near future probably a whole lot more DVDs,” he thought.

Gaming as a pastime

Addition to films and video games were a popular pastime for the more time spent at home. Bic Camera and Yodobashi loud, two major outlets of electronic equipment, the sale of game software, unlike other products, stable compared to last year. This even though the launch has been canceled or postponed many unannounced titles.

A 35-year-old office worker in Tokyo told me he had gone in early April on the search for new video games, after he had already played through his own games. “I go shopping almost stopped the moment I stay mostly at home,” he said. An employee of Bic Camera confirmed the trend that many customers who increasingly ask for new games and older titles purchased.

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From June to August is Mos Burger at the Japanese airline JAL to offer his teriyaki menu, the Air Mos Burger. This is an alternative to the classic pasta menus are offered. The hamburger will be according to the Sankei Shimbun from 100-percent beef. In addition, only lettuce leaves are used in Japanese agriculture.

Expansion abroad

The special menu is on JAL international flights to New York, Los Angeles, offered in Chicago, London and Frankfurt. Mos Burger is served in the next 3 months up to 80,000 of these menus.

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In December

Be performed first environmental report for the route. Held meetings with relevant communities in which to come to stand between stations must be completed. Construction is to begin in April 2014. If things go the route of the railway operator Nagoya is built ready until 2027. The extension to Osaka is expected to last another 18 years.

Shinkansen should bear costs

The high cost of around 9 trillion yen, the project has been delayed in recent decades and over again. A new cost assessment that the Maglev line could be managed financially with the income of today's high-speed Shinkansen route between Tokyo and Osaka and a long-term debt, has finally persuaded the government to rethink.

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