The growing economy and increasing middle-class population in Vietnam has opened new avenues for the retail sector.
AEON, a major player in retailing business, recently opened AEON MALL Binh Tan, the company's fourth shopping mall in the country.
Since its first expansion to Malaysia 30 years ago with its focus on development in the ASEAN countries and from its first branch opening in 2014, AEON has opened new branches at a fast pace in the populous cities such as Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi.
AEON MALL Binh Tan, the largest in southern Vietnam, is spread over 60,000 sq meters with 160 shops.
Offering from international menu items to local Vietnamese food, the dining zone is the largest in southern Vietnam.
Since many of the visitors are young, the mall offers a new concept for entertainment and amusement. It has latest equipment for cinema and Karaoke.
ECO STORE, a solar power generating system, is also installed to cover about 83 percent of LED lighting consumption of the common area in the building.
"On this occasion in Vietnam, within multi formats and with the collaboration among the group companies of AEON, we would like to increase the share at a fast speed. Other than this, we also consider to expand retailing business to countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia and Myanmar," said Yasuo Nishitohge, General Director, Aeon Vietnam Co. Ltd.
Advancement in education is another thrust for the Japanese companies.
There have been more and more classrooms in Japan utilizing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) machines.
The LED projectors are in use at Mitsukawa elementary school located in Fukuroi city in Shizuoka Prefecture.
"It's totally fun for the time using a computer. The class has become more interesting," said a student.
"The students can use it for making presentations with the contents being projected. It has been a benefit for the students in expressing themselves," said Kinya Ohta, Fukuroi-city, Board of Education.
CASIO projectors have some special features designed for schools.
Hiromi Akahori of Casio Shizuoka Sales department said one is the dust-proof design that makes the machine durable in the school environment with dust from chalk or students running around.
"Also since there is no mercury lamp used in the projector, there is no need to process the hazardous materials therefore it is good for the environment. Furthermore, since its power consumption is about the half of that of an ordinary projector, it plays an important role in energy saving and being environment friendly," he added.
To cater to the health sector, Kyocera Corporation, National Research and Development Agency RIKEN and ORGAN Technologies Inc. have executed a joint research contract in the field of regenerative medicine relating to treat alopecia (hair loss) through the regeneration of hair follicles and will develop technologies and products for that purpose.
Senior officials of these companies have announced that unlike the existing treatments of surgical auto-grafting of individual hair follicles, collecting stem cells from the patient's own hair follicles, followed by the processing of these follicles and auto-grafting on the same patient has demonstrated the feasibility of hair regeneration through the regeneration of hair follicles in mice.
"We look forward to seeing the development of the field of regenerative medicine and hoping it becomes a foothold for our business," said Masahiro Inagaki of Kyocera Corporation.
The Kyocera Group offers its products with a focus on four markets information and communications, automotive, environment and energy, and medical and healthcare.
It supplies components for medical equipment, and also develops, manufactures and markets medical components such as artificial joints.
