Nomura Securities to increase outlets to target baby boomers' assets
January 5, 2006Nomura Securities Co. will establish up to 100 new outlets in Japan by around 2008 to target baby boomers' assets as their mass retirement will begin in 2007, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday. The number of Nomura's nationwide outlets will increase from the current 133 to somewhere between 183 and 233, which will be the largest expansion of its sales network since the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, the sources told Kyodo News.
Survey finds new adults wishing to have babies after marrying late
January 5, 2006New adults want to have babies through late marriages, an Osaka-based marriage arrangement company said in a survey report Thursday ahead of Monday's nationwide Coming-of-Age Day. A survey of 516 young people who will celebrate becoming adults on Monday, conducted by OMMG Inc. at the end of December, found that 86.1 percent wish to have babies in the future, up 8.2 percent percentage points from the previous survey conduced two years earlier.
Japan carmakers mark record high sales in U.S. market in 2005
January 5, 2006U.S. sales at Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. rose to record highs for 2005 while their U.S. rivals continued to struggle due to poor performances of their sport utility vehicles, a research firm said Wednesday. The U.S. market share of all Japanese car manufacturers rose to 32.2 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from 2004, as consumers apparently chose fuel-efficient vehicles in the face of high gasoline prices, Autodata Corp. said.