News & Notes Vol.19 : Around the World

Vol. 19
Winter 2001

33rd Japan-U.S.Midwest Annual Joint Meeting

The 33rd Annual Joint Meeting of the Japan-Midwest U.S./Midwest U.S.-Japan Associations convened in Wichita, Kansas, from Sunday, September 9, through Tuesday, September 11, 2001, with 100 delegates from Japan and 160 delegates from the United States, for a total of 260 participants. The meeting was co-chaired by Kajima Chairman Rokuro Ishikawa and Senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker.

In line with the main theme of the meeting, "Creating a Global Advantage in the Information Age," participants discussed "Technology's Impact on Agribusiness, Manufacturing, and Distribution," "Technology's Impact on Trade and Investment in Global Markets," and "Strengthening U.S.-Japan Ties in the Information Age."

The meeting featured Kansas Governor Bill Graves, Japanese Ambassador to the United States Shunji Yanai, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Michael Armacost, and JETRO Chairman & CEO Noboru Hatakeyama.

The news on the morning of September 11 of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington shocked all the participants. After a one-hour suspension, the meeting resumed with a one-minute silent prayer for the victims of the tragic incidents. Shortened from the original scheduled agenda, the meeting ended successfully at noon thanks to everyone's great efforts and cooperation.

Delegates agreed to meet again in Tokyo, Japan, from Sunday, September 8, through Tuesday, September 10, 2002, at the 34th Annual Joint Meeting of the Associations.

Note: The Japan-Midwest U.S./Midwest U.S.-Japan Associations were established in 1967 with the aim of promoting Japan-U.S. Midwest trade and investment and strengthening economic ties of both countries through mutual exchange in the field of industry, technology and culture. The joint meeting is convened annually by business executives and opinion leaders from Japan and 10 U.S.-Midwest states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Groundbreaking Ceremony for the City of London Development

On September 7, 2001, Kajima Europe BV (KE) celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for a future landmark office building in the City of London. The 27,700- square-meter (298,000-square-foot) office project, One London Wall, is managed by a joint venture between KE and a leading U.K. property developer, Hammerson plc.

Among the many guests on hand for the festivities were Takayasu Mimura, a director of Kajima Corporation, and Fujio Suzuki, president and CEO of KE. Together with John Richards, chief executive of Hammerson plc and Sir William McAlpine, partner of Sir Robert McAlpine, they buried a 'time capsule' containing company brochures, the Times newspaper for that day, the groundbreaking certificate, and some British coins.

Designed by Foster and Partners, a world renowned architect, the upper floors of the 13-story, prestigious building will have magnificent views over St Paul's Cathedral and the City. The site features the original wall that protected the Roman garrison over 2,000 years ago. The Foster's design is a response to this juxtaposition of old and new. Typically, tenancy floor-areas will be 1,300 to 1,900 square meters (14,000 to 21,000 square feet). The project is due for completion in summer 2003.

Kajima:The First Choice by UMCi for 12-Inch Wafer Fab

UMCi Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based subsidiary of leading wafer foundry UMC (NYSE: UMC) established jointly with Germany's Infineon Technologies AG and the investment branch of Singapore's Economic Development Board (EDBI), awarded the construction contract for its 12-inch facility to Kajima Overseas Asia Pte. Ltd. The groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held on April 12, 2001.

Singapore's first 12-inch wafer fab, designed by JTC Consultants/RSP/SM, located on a 13-hectare site in the Pasir Ris Wafer Fab Park, will be built in two phases. The first phase, now under construction, will be delivered in the third quarter of 2002.

"We chose Kajima Overseas Asia to build the fab structure for UMCi due to their extensive fab construction experience and expertise. We engaged with them for the initial piling stage of this project, and were very satisfied by their performance," said Mr. Chris Chi, President of UMCi, at a press meeting in Taipei. The same message was delivered worldwide through various media and appeared on UMC's website (http://www.umc.com) as well.

Kajima USA Responds to WTC Attacks

More than a month later, the events of September 11, 2001 still weigh heavily on the minds of U.S. residents. Nobody will ever forget what they were doing and where they were on that date. The worst terrorist attack in U.S. history has had a deep impact on people's daily lives, affecting businesses as well as relations on a personal level. This was no different for Kajima USA, which as a U.S. contractor based in the New York City metropolitan area, has strong ties to Japanese companies in lower Manhattan.

Fortunately, no employees of Kajima were victimized by the attacks, although a few were either in one of the buildings or the immediate area at the time and escaped unharmed. However, some of our major clients, such as Fuji Bank and Industrial Bank of Japan among others, were not as lucky. These longstanding clients were tenants of the World Trade Center (WTC) Towers and lost employees as well as thousands of square feet of vital office space. The Kajima USA group had designed and built interior projects at the WTC for many years for these and other clients. But by the late morning of September 11 all of this office space was gone, the impact of which would have an obviously serious effect on the business of these clients. The Kajima USA group responded immediately by aiding both the relief effort and those clients in particular that were affected.

First, the company donated many pairs of gloves, hard hats, particulate respirators, goggles, and work clothes for the tremendous rescue and recovery effort that continued throughout the day and night. We have also been providing backhoes for debris removal, through our subcontractors.

Then we mobilized personnel as quickly as possible to reach out to the clients we knew occupied the WTC to offer our help in any way. Kajima was able to help these firms by doing what we do best-- building office space! In this situation, we were asked to find immediately available space and then build temporary yet efficient workplace environments as quickly as possible. We cooperated with real estate brokers and provided clients with information about potential office sites. As of this writing, we are in the process of constructing five temporary office projects. Most of these clients plan on occupying the space by next spring, and Kajima USA will be there to assist them in any way we can. We will also be there to offer our construction know-how in rebuilding part of New York City.

Vol. 19
Winter 2001

KAJIMA 'S NEW SCHOOL CONCEPT
KAJIMA Around the World