NIKKEI Inc. held the fourth NIKKEI.com Seminar on May 10th, at SPACE NIO, on the second floor of its Tokyo Head Office. Following up on the first seminar, Mr. Ryutaro Kono, Chief Economist of BNP Paribas Securities in Tokyo made a keynote speech on "Prospects for the World Economy? Japanese economy facing the world's biggest crisis." He covered the effects on the Japanese economy focusing on recent supply-side restrictions brought by a persistent electricity shortage more than two months after the Earthquake.

We also announced the new Chinese site "Nikkei Chinese language Web Site (tentative name)," which is schedule to open later this year, in addition to the explanation about our editorial policy for "NIKKEI.com." More than two months have passed since the Quake, About 40 people from over 30 companies attended the Seminar. Many attendees participated in the question and answer session after Mr. Kono's presentation.

Mr. Ryutaro Kono

Currently the Head of the Economic Research Department Chief Economist, at BNP Paribas Securities (Japan) Limited, Tokyo Branch since November 2000. He joined Sumitomo Bank (Currently Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in 1987. Having been at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, he joined BNP Paribas Securities.

Mr. Kono won the first prize in last year's NIKKEI Veritus Survey for the popularity of bond analysts and economists in Japan.

In celebration of the first anniversary of NIKKEI.com, Nikkei held the first NIKKEI.com Seminar in March 2010. The Seminar comprises of business lectures providing expertise and guidance of how to utilize NIKKEI.com for maximum effectiveness, and a social gathering for Seminar participants, we try to make NIKKEI.com known outside. NIKKEI.com seminars are planned to be held once every few months. In the fourth Seminar, we invited those who work in public relations sections of companies in Japan. We hope that foreign residents in Japan and individual users will participate in the NIKKEI.com Seminar in the future.

NIKKEI.com is a full-scale news service offering more coverage on Japan and Asia which shook up Nikkei Net Interactive to make a fresh start in March 2009. From the latest market-moving data to accurate and exhaustive corporate news coverage, NIKKEI.com gives you about 150 articles from The Nikkei, The Nikkei Business Daily, and The Nikkei MJ (Marketing Journal) every day, translated by specialized staff based in Japan and the U.S..