Tokyo, Japan>, Sep 30, 2009
Haven’t slept in about 24 hours.
Navigating in Tokyo, not knowing the language, is a challenge. I’m at the subway about half way to the hostel, when I see two white girls who are staring at me. I didn’t really get it until I realized white girls are scarce in Tokyo, so I smiled back in white girl greeting.
Tokyo smells really good. It really does; I’m not joking.
Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
I really just had to share this one, mainly because I feel for the parents involved. When it’s time for Hari Raya Puasa, or Id al-Fitr, good Muslims all over…
Budget airline AirAsia have now launched direct flights from Bangkok to Taiwan’s capital Taipei. There’s currently one trip daily between the two cities, which takes around three hours. Current AirAsia prices are very cheap as the route has just launched – you can get a return fare for under 7000 Baht – around $US 210. You can compare AirAsia prices with other airlines flying Bangkok to Taipei on Skyscanner.
This article was originally posted at: Travel Happy
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Extreme sports is in vogue throughout Southeast Asia. Grab your parachute, your travel insurance, and your heart medication - these different adventure options are waiting for you to jump in.
VnnNews – Mi Liang Biang, a bird indigenous to Vietnam and considered extremely endangered, has been discovered in three sites in Lam Dong province.
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This species of bird (Crocias Langbianis) has been found in Da Nhim, D’Ran and Don Duong, all within Lam Dong province.
Previously, Mi Liang Biang birds had only been sighted in the Lam Vien nature reserve, Ta Nung valley and the Chu Yang Sin National Park in Lam Dong.
Experts from BirdLife, Lam Dong’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Gia Bi Doup – Nui Ba national park, said that they found Mi Lang Biang birds in an area of the Da Nhim forest scheduled to be felled to make way for a hydroelectric power plant.
Researchers witnessed how the Da Nhim forest is also being chopped down to grow coffee and Japanese mustard, threatening the life of these endangered birds.
They also discovered three pairs of birds in the D’Ran forest and seven pairs in a forest in Don Duong, also under threat by human use.
BirdLife is working with partners to define such forests as highly worthy of preservation as part of a project funded by the Tropical Forest Foundation, an initiative of the Vietnamese government.
VietNamNet/VNE
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VnnNews – More than 500 companies in HCM City have filled jobs in recent weeks, but businesses in Ha Noi continue to be short of manual workers, primarily due to low wages.
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Provinces around Ha Noi had set up many industrial parks and attracted workers, thereby reducing the number of migrants travelling to the city. |
Many companies were re-hiring their laid-off workers and recruiting new people to maintain production for new contracts, Nguyen Thanh Tung, director of the HCM City Export Processing Zone and Industrial Park Authority, said.
HCM City’s Employment Introduction Centre will hold two job fair events on October 10 and 17 and another in early November.
The events would be especially helpful for creating more job access for untrained workers, said Trinh Thi Quynh Chi, director of the centre.
This year, the centre has helped businesses re-hire their former workers, contributing to a balanced labour market.
In Ha Noi, many job fairs events have been organised, but few workers are showing up.
According to Ha Noi’s Employment Introduction Centre, it supplied only 1,902 manual workers for 37,048 openings in the last nine months, the Goshi-Thang Long Motorbike Spare Parts Co, during a job fair on September 20, recruited three people for 500 openings, although it offered subsidies for lunch regular attendance and bonuses.
At the job fair, the Ha Noi Automobile Motorbike Joint Stock Co could not fill its openings for untrained workers who had completed 12th grade. They received only two guests.
Vu Thi Thanh, deputy director of the centre, blamed the problem on the fact that most workers’ salaries had not kept up with the cost of living.
In addition, provinces around Ha Noi had set up many industrial parks and attracted workers, thereby reducing the number of migrants travelling to the city.
Thanh said businesses should consider higher wages and better benefits to attract workers.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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VnnNews – Agricultural export value is likely to meet Government targets for the year but will remain lower than last year,
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In the first nine months of this year, the total national export value for agricultural, forestry and seafood products reached $11 billion, 12 per cent lower than the same period last year. |
Enterprises were being urged to boost production and exports through the end of this year to ensure that targets would be met, he added.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that production capacity remained high and that demand in export markets was likely to increase between now and the end of the year due to the ongoing recovery of the global economy and increased consumption ahead of the holidays.
Likely to help spur exports to particular markets, the Viet Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement would take effect next month, bringing advantages in tax rates to 86 per cent of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and seafood products imported into Japan, the ministry said.
Spain also announced its determination that Vietnamese tra and basa fish products reached EU food safety and hygiene requirements, creating favourable conditions for increasing exports to the Spanish market. Spain was already the leading importer of Vietnamese catfish in EU countries, with a yearly average of 40,000 tonnes.
In the first nine months of this year, the total national export value for agricultural, forestry and seafood products reached $11 billion, 12 per cent lower than the same period last year, according to figures from MARD, attributing the decline to falling global prices, as well as demand depressed by the economic downturn.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
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Vietnam becomes top ASEAN tile producer; Airlines cut fares as booking sink; Nation pins hopes on farm, forestry, aquatic products
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Bill to ease way for consumer lawsuits
Vietnamese consumers will find it easier to sue producers of low-quality products under a new bill which the parliament will consider passing next year.
According to the bill, customers would not have to demonstrate losses caused by the products; the onus would be on producers to show that their products meet quality standards.
Le Danh Vinh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, said it was difficult sometimes for consumers to prove losses suffered, citing the example of gasoline.
Many citizens have complained that low-quality gasoline has caused their vehicles to break down. However, it was hard for them to prove their accusation since tests and assessments were time-consuming and costly, Vinh said at a recent conference in Hanoi.
Ho Tat Thang, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Standard and Consumers Association, said consumers are in a weak position since they usually lack information about products and are not involved in the negotiation of trade contracts.
“Consumers’ rights are being seriously violated, but it is still difficult to protect them,” he said.
“When the law comes into effect, consumers will have better opportunities to sue and win lawsuits,” Thang said.
The draft law reduces procedures for lawsuits with a trial opening within three weeks after consumers lodge a complaint within stipulated time limits. The time limit will also depend on the value of the trade.
According to Vinh, the bill also affirms consumers’ right to take class action against a producer or service provider if the complaint has more than 100 signatories.
VietNamNet/TN, VNA
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VnnNews – With prices of domestically made steel products overly high, Chinese, Thai and Indonesian steel are likely to take advantage.
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Domestically made steel products have been escalating for several months. A tonne of bar steel is now selling at 11.6 million dong, while a tonne of coil steel at 11.3 million dong (not including value added tax VAT). The retail price in HCM City market has reached 12.4 million dong and 12.1 million dong per tonne, respectively, which represents the 300,000 dong per tonne increase in comparison since the beginning of the month.
Meanwhile, the ingot steel price in the world’s market has dropped to $490 per tonne, a sharp decrease of $40-60 per tonne over the last month.
Despite the sharp fall of ingot steel prices in the world’s market, domestic producers still do not intend to slash sale prices.
Experts say steel production cost now in Vietnam is about $600 per tonne, which means that with the sale price of $630-640 per tonne, producers make profits of $30-40 per tonne, or 500,000-700,000 dong per tonne.
Meanwhile, experts, say,100,000 dong per tonne would be considered the ideal profit in steel production.
Analysts say the reason behind the refusal to drop prices is that steel producers only accept price cuts when they have big stocks and they cannot sell products due to low demand. However demand remains high.
Meanwhile, when asked why they do not slash sale prices, steel mills said that they need to maintain high prices in order to cover the losses they incurred in 2008.
In the meantime, however, foreign made steel products are flowing into Vietnam. Steel is being imported in large quantities from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China. According to the Vietnam Steel Association, the imports are about 40,000-50,000 tonnes a month.
According to Dao Dinh Dong, head of the market division under the Vietnam Steel Corporation (southern office), in general, Chinese steel mills put out 42-43 million tonnes a month. However, the output soared to 50.7 million tonnes in July and 53 million tonnes in August. This has resulted in large stocks in the context of decreasing demand and sharp falls in steel price.
Therefore, Chinese mills have targetted exports to neighbouring countries, including Vietnam, by offering very competitive prices.
Dong is worried that Chinese steel producers’ export may be boosted further by the decision by Vietnam’s government to allow the higher VAT tax fund of 12 percent instead of five percent, possibly to take effect in October 2009. If this happens, China made steel will become even more competitive.
Nguyen Tien Nghi, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, has warned that if domestic producers do not adjust the sale prices, they will not be able to sell products.
VietNamNet/VnMedia
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Toy buying for the mid autumn festival is seeing customers choosing Chinese gifts over Vietnamese.
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However, 80 percent of the toys available , according to Cenforchild under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Association (VUSTA), are made in China.
Vietnam made leather drums or iron ships can’t compete with the bright colours and wide ranging designs. Assorted plastic goods like made-in-China dolls, supermen, planes and tanks are winning the toy war.
If the bright colours attract the kids then it’s the prices that are a hit with adults - the products sourced from China are much cheaper. A whole family of dolls is now selling at 50,000-70,000 dong – very affordable for the majority of Vietnamese parents. Meanwhile, masks of famouse faces are selling dirt cheap at 5,000 dong each.
Also catching the eye this year are Chinese carnival masks and brightly coloured disguises.
“Wigs with different colours, which are selling at 60,000 dong, are very popular with young people,” said Hoa, a saleswoman on Hang Ma street.
Meanwhile, the Vietnam-made traditional mid-autumn festival toys are merely much simpler masks, drums and paper-made lion heads.
While Vietnamese goods aren’t competing on looks – they also aren’t competing on price. A simple paper mask is selling at 25-30,000 dong, while a lion head is priced at between 50,000 and 100,000 dong. Larger masks have higher price at 300,000-500,000 dong.
A leather “Made in Vietnam” drum has the sale price of 50,000-100,000 dong and they are proving to be less attractive to children than China’s plastic drums selling at only 12,000 dong.
“Children do not use toys for a long time. Therefore, I just need the products which have reasonable prices,” says Thanh, a customer.
Toy salesmen all say that the demand for traditional toys has been decreasing sharply in recent years. Minh, a seller of iron made ships, admitted her products are not catching the eyes of children.
It doesn’t help that the sale price of the ships is relatively high, at 50-70,000 dong.
“We cannot lower the sale prices. But we still want to produce toy ships, because this is our traditional profession which has been handed down from generation to generation, though we cannot live on the job,” she said
Luu Duy Dan, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Craft Village Association, has warned that the domestic toy market will be controlled by foreign products, if domestic producers cannot improve the situation.
VietNamNet/TBKTVN
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