Japanese Market

TOKYO -- American car manufacturers unveiled their latest efforts to breach the Japanese market yesterday at the biannual Tokyo Market show, and their timing couldn't have been better.The sharp increase in the yen has lowered the dollar-based costs of U.S. manufacturers just as the companies themselves are getting a boost from American trade negotiators who spent the day in Tokyo hammering away at alleged unfairness in the Japanese market.All that is missing is the cars. A recent report by the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association criticized U.S. manufacturers for failing to produce high-quality, low-cost vehicles with the smaller engine size and right-hand drive that Japanese drivers prefer.

DETROIT -- The Big Three auto executives requested yesterday that Japanese automakers limit sales to an unspecified share of the U.S. market, said Takakazu Kuriyama, Japan's ambassador to the United States.Unlike previous attempts to limit Japanese imports, such an action would cap the number of cars their Japanese competitors sell in the United States regardless of whether the cars are made here or in Japan.Mr. Kuriyama said the request was made during a private, 30-minute meeting with Jack Smith and Harold (Red)

TOKYO -- Having failed to achieve any breakthrough in trade talks with Japanese leaders, Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher unveiled yet another tactic yesterday to open the Japanese market -- an appeal to guilt and honor.Mr. Christopher told reporters that he had told the Japanese they had to comply with a so-called framework commitment they made last summer to open their markets and reduce their $60 billion surplus with the United States."My presentation was straightforward and candid.

TOKYO -- Though Apple Computer Inc. owns less than 10 percent of the Japanese personal-computer market, the Macintosh seems to be everywhere here: a prop on a weekly television show and on quiz shows, on T-shirts and on the desks of yuppie business people.In fact, the Macintosh may have more cachet in Japan than in the United States because of the way it fits with how Japanese work and -- some say -- simply because it appeals to the California-loving Japanese.But in a country that is a tough sell for U.S. high-tech companies and is dominated by NEC Corp.

Washington -- How will Americans deal psychologically with the harsh economic events in Japan?In 1987, when the American stock market took a plunge of 22 percent, it was regarded as an apocalyptic event, marking the end of a decade (of greed), the end of an era (the ''American Century'') and the end of a way of life (upward mobility). That sort of stuff went on and on, even after the market went back up, and even when the market went up even further, to where it is now.The Japanese stock market did not go down 22 percent for just a few months.

With the psyche of American investors scarred by international trauma, it may come as a surprise that some of the best opportunities to make money in mutual funds this year have been abroad. Russia, for example, doesn't seem as risky as it once was. It's loaded with profitable nickel, natural gas and oil, and its citizens are becoming hooked on cell phones. As 10 Eastern European nations prepare to enter the European Union next month, the entire region is gaining economic clout. Japan, once left for the economic scrap heap, is gradually getting its act together.

TOKYO -- The Japanese stock market rebounded sharply yesterday for a second straight day, following the government's announcement earlier this week of emergency measures aimed at stabilizing the nation's battered financial system.Many economists and analysts continued to express skepticism about the government plan, which is intended to stop big financial institutions from selling shares and to make it easier for banks to shed their burden of bad loans.But the sudden jump in stock prices brought a sense of relief after weeks of severe declines.

President Bush's recent trip to Japan, dampened by his bout with the flu and tense discussions with big-business leaders, prompted many small-business owners to wonder whether he might have fared better if he'd taken a group of open-minded entrepreneurs along.Knowing how tough it is for big business to crack the Japanese market, is there any hope for a small business? The answer is yes -- if you are patient, flexible and willing to learn how business is really done in Japan."In the U.S., buyers and sellers are pretty much equal in social status, but in Japan, the customer is God," said Christopher Engholm, author of "When Business East Meets Business West," published by John Wiley & Sons.

Mutual fund investors are almost always told to invest for the long term, and be patient. Even so, when you're a portfolio manager and your fund is down more than 20 percent for the last 12 months, you have to make that point more often than usual.That's what's happening to Elizabeth Allan, who manages Scudder Stevens & Clark's Japan Fund. Her challenges are similar to those of people running the two or three other Japan-only funds, including the DFA Japanese Small Company fund and the G.T. Japan Growth fund.

WASHINGTON -- Any U.S. business pondering whether to take a crack at the bountiful market of Japan might first consider the pile of debt burying New Jersey inventor Sal Monte.A dozen years ago, Mr. Monte's small company, Kenrich Petrochemicals, set out to conquer Japan armed with 15 patented chemical additives that did such things as juice up the performance of audio recording tapes.One by one, the Japanese knocked his products off the market, citing environmental regulations and other fine print -- although those rules never affected the Japanese-made products that sprung up in their place.