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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

JAPAN AT THE OLYMPICS: Days 10 to 12

Japan in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, February 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

(AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

February 24, 8:30 PM

By Joshua Williams

Japan in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, February 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

The tenth to twelfth days of the Vancouver Winter Olympics (February 21st, 22nd, and 23rd) brought little for Japan to boast about up until the woman’s figure skating short program, but that has not kept the nation from cheering on its athletes.


Japan in the 2010 Olympics on February 21st


February 21st started off well when Japan’s women’s curling team edged past Russia in an exciting match that went into an extra end. Unfortunately, the team would then go on to lose later that night in a close match against Germany, and get swept away by Switzerland on the 22nd.


In Woman’s 1,500m Speed Skating, Nao Kodaira took 5th – she had also taken 5th place in the 1,000m three days earlier. Three other Japanese athletes place 19th, 23rd, and 26th.


Japan’s two-man bobsled team barely missed competing in all four heats, placing 21st overall. Japan also did not get past the 1/8th finals in Men’s Ski Cross.


The American-born ice dance brother and sister pair competing for Japan placed 16th after the original dance on February 21st, and went on to take 17th overall after the free dance on the 22nd. Despite their ranking, they scored a personal best.


Japan in the 2010 Olympics on February 22nd


On February 22nd, Japan had high hopes for the team ski jump. However, they fell short of the podium in 5th place overall, despite a massive 140m effort by 37-year old veteran jumper Noriaki Kansai.


Both Japanese men’s and women’s team sprint free cross country skiing did not advance past the semi-finals.

Japan in the 2010 Olympics on February 23rd


The 23rd started off slow for Japan. Japan’s women’s curling team lost against top medal contender Sweden in a morning match, losing out on their last chance to advance to the semi-finals. They went on to lose against Denmark in the evening as well. Japan finished the round robin tournament with a score of 3 wins and 6 losses overall.


Japan’s Nordic Combined 5km team was in fourth place after the ski jump, but slipped to sixth by the end of the cross country relay, finishing a little over a minute behind the gold.


Japan took 11th place in the men’s 10,000m speed skating race, and 22nd in women’s ski cross.


The true highlight over days ten to twelve was the short program of women’s figure skating. Mao Asada, the athlete with highest expectations from her nation, came in 2nd. Also, Miki Ando ranked 4th, Japanese-American Mirai Nagasu 6th, and Akiko Suzuki 11th. Japan is looking forward to the potential for multiple medals after the free program on the 25th.

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View Japan Headline Examiner Article

KYOTO & OSAKA, JAPAN: Top Rated Michelin Restaurants

Michelin recently released its inaugural guide to restaurants in Kyoto and Osaka.  Information on the top rated restaurants can be found below:

 

 

 

"Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."

Chihana

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 584, Gionmachi Minamigawa
  • Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 12:00-14:00, ¥ 10,000-36,750
  • dinner 17:00-22:00, ¥ 13,650-36,750
  • Service charge 10%
  • Closed early January and Tuesday
  • tel 075-561-2741
  • fax 075-541-6758
  • http://www.kyotochihana.com

Hyo-tei

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 35 Kusakawacho, Nanzenji
  • Sakyo-ku Kyoto
  • 11:00-19:30 (L.O.)
  • lunch ¥ 20,000-42,000
  • dinner ¥ 23,479-42,000
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December, 2nd and 4th Tuesday
  • tel 075-771-4116
  • fax 075-771-8262
  • http://www.hyotei.co.jp

 

Kikunoi Honten

kikunui honten

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 459 Shimokawaracho
  • Shimokawara-dori Yasakatoriimae
  • Sagaru, Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 12:00-14:00 (L.O.), ¥ 4,200-26,250
  • dinner 17:00-20:00 (L.O.), ¥ 15,750-26,250
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December-early January
  • tel 075-561-0015
  • fax 075-561-1013
  • http://www.kikunoi.jp/honten.htm

 

Kitcho Arashiyama Honten

Kitcho Arashiyama Honten

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 58 Susukinobabacho
  • Sagatenryuji, Ukyo-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 11:30-15:30 (L.O. 13:00), ¥ 30,917-53,000
  • dinner 16:30-22:00 (L.O. 19:00), ¥ 35,334-57,417
  • Service charge 20%
  • Closed December 26-31, January 4-9, Wednesday
  • tel 075-881-1101
  • fax 075-881-5298
  • http://www.kitcho.com/kyoto/tenpo/arasiyama.htm

 

Mizai

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Maruyama Koen
  • Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • dinner 17:30-22:00 (L.O. 18:00), ¥ 25,000
  • Closed early September, late December-early January, Wednesday, last day of month
  • tel 075-551-3310

 

Tsuruya

京都つる家:料理

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 30 Higashtennocho, Okazaki
  • Sakyo-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 11:30-15:00 (L.O. 13:00), ¥ 15,000-21,000
  • dinner 17:00-21:00 (L.O. 19:00), ¥ 31,150-52,500
  • Service charge 15% lunch; 20% dinner
  • Closed late December-early January
  • tel 075-761-0171
  • fax 075-752-0354
  •  http://www.kyoto-tsuruya.co.jp

 

"Excellent cuisine, worth a detour."

 

Gion Maruyama

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Gionmachi Minamigawa Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 11:00-14:00, ¥ 8,400-42,000
  • dinner 17:00-21:00, ¥ 15,750-42,000
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December-early January, Wednesday
  • tel 075-525-0009

 

Gion Sasaki

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Yamatooji Higashi iru
  • Yasaka-dori
  • Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 12:00-14:00, ¥ 5,500
  • dinner 18:30-22:00, ¥ 17,850-18,900
  • Service charge 10% dinner
  • Closed Sunday, 2nd Monday
  • tel 075-551-5000

 

Kanamean Nishitomiya (Ryokan)

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Tominokoji-dori Rokkaku Sagaru
  • Nakagyo-ku Kyoto
  • room + dinner per person ¥ 31,500-63,000 menu ¥ 10,000-20,000
  • Service charge 10%
  • 9 rooms
  • tel 075-211-2411
  • fax 075-211-2415
  • http://www.kanamean.co.jp

 

Kennenji Gion Maruyama

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Kenninji Minamigawa
  • Higashiyama-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 11:00-14:00, ¥ 8,400-42,000
  • dinner 17:00-21:00, ¥ 10,500-42,000
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December-early January
  • tel 075-561-9990

 

Kichisen

  • Japanese cuisine
  • 5 Morimotocho, Shimogamo
  • Sakyo-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 12:00-15:00 (L.O. 13:30), ¥ 8,400-23,100
  • dinner 16:30-22:00 (L.O. 19:30), ¥ 14,700-31,500
  • Service charge 15%
  • seat charge ¥ 1,000 per person
  • Closed late January, late August
  • tel 075-711-6121
  • fax 075-711-8993

http://www.kichisen-kyoto.com

 

Kikunoi Roan

  • Japanese cuisine
  • lunch 12:00-13:30 (L.O.), ¥ 4,200-18,900
  • dinner 17:00-20:00 (L.O.), ¥ 10,500-18,900
  • Private room fee 10% lunch, 15% dinner
  • Service charge 10% dinner
  • Closed late December-early January, Wednesday
  • tel 075-361-5580
  • fax 075-351-2431
  • 118 Saitomachi, Kiyamachi Shijo
  • Sagaru, Shimogyo-ku Kyoto
  • http://www.kikunoi.jp/kiyamachi.htm

 

Nakamura

  • Japanese cuisine
  • lunch 12:00-13:00 (L.O.), ¥ 15,750-21,000
  • dinner 17:00-19:30 (L.O.), ¥ 21,000-26,250
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December-early January, Sunday
  • tel 075-221-5511
  • fax 075-221-4411
  • Tominokoji Oike
  • Sagaru Nakagyo-ku Kyoto
  • http://www.kyoryori-nakamura.com

 

Ogata

  • Japanese cuisine
  • dinner 18:00-23:00 (L.O. 21:00), ¥ 20,000-25,000
  • Closed Monday
  • tel 075-344-8000
  • Ayanokoji-dori Nishinotoin Higashiru
  • Shimogyo-ku Kyoto

 

Ryozanpaku

  • Japanese cuisine
  • lunch 12:00-14:00 (L.O. 13:30), ¥ 5,250-13,650
  • dinner 17:00-22:00 (L.O. 21:00), ¥ 12,600-26,250 carte ¥ 10,000-20,000
  • Service charge 10%
  • Closed late December-early January, Sunday
  • tel 075-771-4447
  • fax 075-751-2933
  • 5 Izumidonocho, Yoshida
  • Sakyo-ku Kyoto
  • http://www.ryozanpaku.net

 

Sakurada

  • Japanese cuisine
  • lunch 11:30-14:30 (L.O. 13:30), ¥ 5,239-18,858
  • dinner 17:00-22:00 (L.O. 21:00), ¥ 10,477-18,858
  • private room fee ¥ 1,000 per person dinner
  • Service charge 5%
  • Closed January 1, mid-January, late August, late December, Tuesday
  • tel 075-371-2552
  • fax 075-371-4864
  • Nioitenjincho, Karasuma Bukkoji Higash iru
  • Hitosujime Sagaru
  • Shimogyo-ku Kyoto

 

Sushi Matsumoto

  • Japanese sushi
  • lunch 12:00-14:00 (L.O. 13:30), ¥ 5,000-8,000
  • dinner 17:30-22:30 (L.O. 21:00), ¥ 15,750-21,000
  • Closed mid-May, mid-August, late December-early January, Tuesday
  • tel 075-531-2031
  • fax 075-531-2031 570-123
  • Gionmachi Minamigawa
  • Higashiyama-ku Kyoto

 

Tankuma Honke

  • Japanese cuisine
  • lunch 11:30-15:00 (L.O. 13:30), ¥ 10,500-21,000
  • dinner 17:00-22:00 (L.O. 20:00), ¥ 15,750-42,000
  • private room fee ¥ 1,000 per person dinner
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed December 28, January 4
  • tel 075-351-1645
  • Kiyamachi-dori Bukkoji Sagaru
  • Shimogyo-ku Kyoto

 

Uosaburo

Uosaburo

  • Japanese cuisine
  • Kyomachi Fushimi-ku Kyoto
  • lunch 11:30-14:00 (L.O.), ¥ 3,150-26,250
  • dinner 17:00-22:00 (L.O. 19:30), ¥ 10,500-26,250
  • Service charge 15%
  • Closed late December-early January
  • tel 075-601-0061 3-187
  • http://www.uosaburo.com

 

To purchase a copy of the guide, click here.

RUSSIA AT THE OLYMPICS: Biathlon: Have babies to win gold, says Russians


Whistler (AFP) - Russia's biathlon relay team revealed the secret weapon behind Tuesday's gold medal success at the Olympic Winter Games and recommended their rivals do the same: have babies.

Olga Zaitseva, who anchored the Russian team and leaves Vancouver with a gold and silver medal from Sunday's mass start, said giving birth to her son Alexander in 2007 has helped her as an athlete.

After France took silver while Germany claimed bronze in the relay, the 31-year-old told her rivals to get themselves pregnant if they want to win gold at Sochi in four years time when Russia hosts the Games.

"My child is my greatest happiness and he is my best little gold medal," said Ziatseva. "It has made me calmer.

"I would recommend to the French and German team as well, don't be afraid, go ahead and have babies -- and get better in sports."

Three of the Russian team are mothers and Anna Boulygina put her gold medal into perspective.

"No medal compares to having a child," said the 30-year-old.

"I think children are the main thing women are designed to do.

"Having a family is an enormous help to me and it is due to their support that I am able to achieve this result, so the answer is yes, it helps."

And their teammate Olga Medvedtseva recommended aspiring medallists should not be afraid that having children may effect their performance.

"I would say it is a very stimulating experience and I would recommend having kids, don't be afraid of it, you will only get better as you are all so young," the 34-year-old told her rivals.

Russia shrugged off recent controversies to win the relay gold with compatriots Yekaterina Yurieva and Albina Akhatova serving two-year bans for doping offences.

The Russian team came home to a sea of their flags at Whistler Olympic Park.

"We were overwhelmed that the entire stadium was covered with Russian flags and that was definitely helpful for us," said Boulygina.

The Russian team's winning time was 1hr 9min 36.3sec as France's Sandrine Bailly produced a brilliant effort on the final leg to beat Germany to the silver.

View AFP Article on NBC Olympics

CHINA AT THE OLYMPICS: China scoops up women's relay gold

445420_m07 (2) Posted: Feb 25, 12:14a ET | Updated: Feb 25, 12:14a ET

South Korean disqualification allows China to take title

VANCOUVER (Reuters) -- Four-time champion South Korea learned it had been disqualified while skating a celebratory lap of honor on Wednesday to give China Olympic gold in the women's short track 3000m relay.

Canada took the silver, with the United States picking up the bronze.

South Korea's skaters had already started waving flags in joy after crossing the line ahead of the rest of the field but a lengthy referee review decided Kim Min-jung had impeded during an exchange push with just a few laps remaining.

Cheers turned to tears as the inconsolable South Koreans rushed past reporters without stopping to explain their mistake.

One of their coaches had banged a padded barrier in frustration when the referee told him of the decision.

"I was not surprised by the disqualification because collisions happen all the time in short track," Wang Meng, who cost China a medal in Turin four years ago when she was judged to have impeded, told reporters.

China stood on top of the podium with Zhang Hui sporting a big white plaster over a cut she picked up during the chaotic race where there were 16 skaters on the ice in one go.

Blood pouring


"I don't remember it, after the race I felt pain in my jaw but I don't know when it happened," Zhang, who had blood pouring from her face at the end of the race, told reporters.

Video replays and wire photos later showed that one of Zhang's teammates mistakenly kicked her in the face with her skate as she jumped over the padded wall to celebrate.

China have dominated the women's events in Vancouver, winning three out of three with individual golds for Wang in the 500m and Zhou Yang in the 1500m.

China's first Olympic relay gold came in a record time of four minutes 6.610 seconds thanks to a team featuring Sun Linlin, Wang, Zhang and Zhou.

With six laps remaining, Korea were trailing China and during an exchange thought they could overtake but Kim cut across China's path while trying to make the pass.

FUKUOKA, JAPAN: Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine

GATEWAY TO JAPAN:

This shrine is dedicated to Tenjin, the deified Sugawara no Michizane, kami of scholars.  The present head priest claims direct descent from Michizane.  The precincts are planted with numerous flowering plums.  The famous Flying Plum that followed Michizane into exile stands on the right before the shrine.  On the left is a plum given by the mother of the Taisho emperor as a prayer for his “recovery” (he was mentally frail).  The Momoyama-style Honden was rebuilt in 1583.  The unpainted inner sanctum housed Michizane’s tomb until the Meiji period, when it was forbidden for shrines to contain graves, and the tomb was replaced by a statue.  (At the same time, the Buddhist Nio in the gate were replaced by archers.)  To the right of the grounds is the Homotsukan (Treasure House) with a collection devoted to Michizane, including many personal relics, an Edo-period picture scroll of the shrine’s festival, and an unillustrated text of the Tenjin Engi, an account of Michizane’s life and deification.  Behind the hall is a museum of Hakata clay dolls depicting Michizane’s life.  At the rear right corner of the shrine is a stone tub full of umeboshi (pickled plum) pits donated by devotees; supposedly if you split a plum seed, you can see Tenjin.

RUSSIA: On this day: 25 February

On February 25, 1987, Gennady Varenik, a Soviet intelligence officer, was executed for being a double agent.

In 1981, Varenik arrived in Bonn, West Germany, in the guise of a correspondent of the main Soviet press agency, TASS. His real mission was to enlist agents for the KGB and to organize meetings of USSR agents at secret addresses, and he had been performing those tasks without any serious trouble until the spring of 1985.

In March 1985, the KGB gave Varenik $7000 for operating expenses, and he spent it to buy expensive furniture for his house. Some sources say that his wife was to blame for that embezzlement – she found the cash, thought that her husband had been paid for some job, and took the money without a second thought. Varenik understood that he was not able to pay that debt. Frightened and not knowing where to get the money, he made up his mind to enlist for the CIA.

In April that same year, Varenik got acquainted with CIA agent Charles Leven, also disguised as a journalist, and started to work as his informer under the alias “Fitness”. The CIA paid Fitness for any information that seemed to be reliable. Trying to gain favor with his new superiors, Varenik reported about not only the real actions and intentions of the USSR secret services, but also about rumors he heard from fellow agents, portraying those rumors as the solemn truth.

The amount of the useful data that Varenik brought to CIA was quite large. He named the aliases of about 170 Soviet agents who worked in Germany, described the techniques of Soviet secret service recruitment and told everything he knew about the KGB operation “Rian” – an operation to prevent the USA from using nuclear weapons.

Nevertheless, soon after the recruitment, Varenik warned Leven that the USSR was going to unsettle the relations between the USA and Germany by exploding several mini-bombs in German restaurants located near US military bases, and blaming German terrorists for the explosions. Varenik said that he himself was to be the co-ordinator and one of the executors of this operation, and was terrified by the necessity of murdering innocent people.

Leven believed Varenik and reported the upcoming terror act to CIA headquarters. Some of the CIA officers questioned the veracity of the data, but the majority of them were sure it was true, because such plans suited the KGB just fine. Leven’s report was passed to the White House, and when then-President Ronald Reagan read it, he called the USSR “an evil empire.”

CIA headquarters ordered its German branch to check the named restaurants, and soon received the message that Leven’s information had been confirmed. On November 4, Leven and Varenik met for the last time to discuss the upcoming terrorist acts, and Varenik said that he was going to East Germany for instructions. In fact, he was going to Moscow for a promotion.

When, on November 9, 1985, Varenik returned to the USSR, he was arrested right at the airport and charged with high treason. Two years later he was executed. Nowadays, his widow and relatives are trying to change the public’s opinion about him, but in all the history books, he is still labeled as a traitor.

View RT Article

CHINA: 15 places worth visiting in China: Qiandao Lake

Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang Province has a total area of 573 square kilometers. It is a manmade lake with 1,078 large islands and a few thousand smaller ones. The lake is so clear that Nongfu Spring mineral water company gets its water from this lake. Besides the clear water and the green trees, it is also famous for the unique islands, such as Bird Island, Monkey Island and Lock Island.

Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang Province has a total area of 573 square 
kilometers. It is a manmade lake with 1,078 large islands and a few 
thousand smaller ones. The lake is so clear that Nongfu Spring mineral
water company gets its water from this lake. Besides the clear water 
and the green trees, it is also famous for the unique islands, such 
as Bird Island, Monkey Island and Lock Island.

2009-12-01 17:02 BJT

Editor: Jin Lin | Source: China.org.cn

View Article on CCTV

BEIJING, CHINA: Beijing Seen Vacant for 50% Commercial as Chanos Predicts Crash

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Rodman, who has made a career of selling soured property loans from Los Angeles to Tokyo, sees a crash looming in China. He keeps a slide show on his computer of empty office buildings in Beijing, his home since 2002. The tally: 55, with another dozen candidates.

“I took these pictures to try to impress upon these people the massive amount of oversupply,” said Rodman, 63, president of Global Distressed Solutions LLC, which advises private equity and hedge funds on Chinese property and banking. Rodman figures about half of the city’s commercial space is vacant, more than was leased in Germany’s five biggest office markets in 2009.

Beijing’s office vacancy rate of 22.4 percent in the third quarter of last year was the ninth-highest of 103 markets tracked by CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., a real estate broker. Those figures don’t include many buildings about to open, such as the city’s tallest, the 6.6-billion yuan ($965 million) 74- story China World Tower 3.

Empty buildings are sprouting across China as companies with access to some of the $1.4 trillion in new loans last year build skyscrapers. Former Morgan Stanley chief Asia economist Andy Xie and hedge fund manager James Chanos say the country’s property market is in a bubble.

“There’s a monumental property bubble and fixed-asset investment bubble that China has underway right now,” Chanos said in a Jan. 25 Bloomberg Television interview. “And deflating that gently will be difficult at best.”

Third Costliest

Investor concerns have spread beyond real estate. Among 15 major Asian markets, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is valued third-highest relative to estimates for this year’s earnings, after Japan and India, even after falling 8.5 percent in the past six months.

A glut of factories in China is “wreaking far-reaching damage on the global economy,” stoking trade tensions and raising the risk of bad loans, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in November.

More than 60 percent of investors surveyed by Bloomberg on Jan. 19 said they viewed China as a bubble, and three in 10 said it posed the greatest downside risk. The quarterly poll interviewed a random sample of 873 Bloomberg subscribers and had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

Digesting the debt from a popped property bubble may slash bank lending and drag growth lower for years in an economy that Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s biggest brokerage, says will provide more than a third of world growth in 2010.

The risks are so great that a decade of little or no growth, as Japan experienced in the 1990s, can’t be dismissed, said Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor in the School of Economics and Management at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, ranked China’s top university by the Times newspaper in London.

‘Astronomical Rates’

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged sixfold and commercial property prices in metropolitan Tokyo rose fourfold before the bubble burst in 1990. The Nikkei trades at about a quarter of its December 1989 peak.

“You have state-owned enterprises using borrowed funds from the stimulus bidding up the price of land -- not even desirable plots of land -- in Beijing to astronomical rates,” Chovanec said. “At the same time you have 30 percent-plus vacancy rates and slumping rents in commercial property so it’s just a case of when you recognize the losses -- or don’t.”

China’s lending surged to 1.39 trillion yuan in January, more than in the previous three months combined. Property prices in 70 cities climbed 9.5 percent from a year earlier, the most in 21 months.

Reasonable Control

Policy makers are starting to rein in the loans that helped fuel the property boom. Banks should “strictly” follow real estate lending policies, the China Banking Regulatory Commission said on its Web site on Jan. 27. It called for banks to “reasonably control” lending growth.

“The liquidity bubble last year went to the property market,” said Taizo Ishida, San Francisco-based lead manager for the $212-million Matthews Asia Pacific Fund, in a phone interview. “I was in Shanghai and Shenzhen three weeks ago and the prices were just eye-popping, just really amazing. Generally I’m not buying Chinese stocks.”

Chanos, founder of New York-based Kynikos Associates Ltd., predicted that

China could be “Dubai times 100 or 1,000.”

Real estate prices there have fallen almost 50 percent from their 2008 peak as the emirate struggles under at least $80 billion of debt. The economy may shrink 0.4 percent this year, Shuaa Capital, the biggest U.A.E. investment bank, says.

The commercial property space under construction in China at the end of November was the equivalent of 6,800 Burj Khalifas -- the 160-story Dubai skyscraper that’s the world’s tallest.

Industrial Loans

It’s difficult to determine how exposed Chinese banks are to real estate debt because loans booked to some state-owned companies as industrial lending may have been used to invest in property, say Xie and Charlene Chu, who analyzes Chinese banks for London-based Fitch Ratings Ltd. in Beijing.

A downturn in the property market may be accompanied by a surge in nonperforming loans. The Shanghai office of the banking regulatory commission said on Feb. 4 that a 10 percent fall in property values would triple the ratio of delinquent mortgages there.

Shares of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest bank by market capitalization, are down 13 percent this year. China Construction Bank Corp., the second- largest, has fallen 10.2 percent. Both are based in Beijing. The Shanghai index is down 9 percent.

Fund manager Joseph Zeng says he has a contrarian view on China’s banks, on the grounds that rising interest rates this year will benefit their net interest margins.

Economic Cycle

“For us, non-performing loans are not expected to be a big issue until 2013, the peak of the current economic cycle,” said Zeng, head of Greenwoods Asset Management Ltd.’s Hong Kong office, in a phone interview.

He declined to say what he is buying. Greenwoods has more than $500 million under management.

China has firepower to deal with a crisis. The nation has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, at $2.4 trillion, and government debt of only about 20 percent of GDP last year, according to the International Monetary Fund. That compares with 85 percent in India and the U.S. and 219 percent in Japan.

CB Richard Ellis doesn’t count empty office buildings bought by banks and insurance companies when calculating vacancy rates, since some of the space is for the owners’ use. The Los Angeles-based company said in a report that vacancy rates are starting to fall and rents to rise for the best office buildings as China’s fast economic growth buoys demand.

Gross domestic product expanded 10.7 percent in the fourth quarter from a year before, a two-year-high, after the government introduced a $586-billion stimulus package.

Full Buildings

“In many cases when you look at these buildings and say, that’s never going to be fully occupied, somehow 12 to 18 months later the building is full,” said Chris Brooke, CB Richard Ellis’s Beijing-based president and chief executive officer for Asia.

Overcapacity may be looming in manufacturing as well. China’s investments in new factories and properties surged 67 percent last year to 15.2 trillion yuan, more than Russia’s gross domestic product. Excess steel capacity may have reached about 132 million tons in 2009, more than the 87.5 million tons from Japan, the world’s second-biggest producer. The Beijing- based EU Chamber of Commerce report said a “looming deluge” of extra cement capacity is being built.

While neither Xie nor Chu see nonperforming loan ratios reaching the level of a decade ago, when they made up 40 percent of total lending, they say banks will see deterioration in their balance sheets.

Losing Money?

“A lot of people will lose a lot of money, but the banks will probably not go down like in the 1990s,” Xie said in a phone interview. “Of course there will be a lot of bad debts. There will be a lot of mortgages gone bad I think.”

Rodman displays the slide show to private equity and hedge fund clients brought in by banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. at his office in eastern Beijing.

“China is the only place in the world that despite having more empty buildings than the rest of the world has yet to reflect those valuations on their balance sheet,” Rodman said.

Gazing south from the building that houses the Beijing headquarters of Goldman Sachs, UBS AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the first structures in the field of vision is a 17-story office tower at No. 9 Financial Street. Empty.

Farther along are the two 18-story towers of the Bank of Communications Co. complex. Dirt is gathering at the doors and the lobby is now a bicycle parking lot. A spokeswoman for the Shanghai-based lender didn’t return phone calls and emails.

More Offices

The supply of office buildings will continue to grow. Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., a Chicago-based real-estate company, estimates that about 1.2 million square meters (12.9 million square feet) of office space in Beijing will come on line this year, adding to the total stock of 9.2 million square meters.

The city government is driving growth regardless of the market. Financial Street Holding Co., whose biggest shareholder is the local municipal district, plans to build 1 million square meters of additional office space starting this year, and is talking to potential clients such as JPMorgan, said Lydia Wang, the company’s head of investor relations.

Across town, the district government is seeking to double the size of the city’s Central Business District, which already has the highest vacancy rate ever recorded in Beijing. It was 35 percent at the end of 2009, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

All Rented

For its part, Beijing-based Financial Street Holdings has “100 percent” of its properties, which include the Ritz Carlton hotel and a shopping mall, rented out, Wang said. The empty buildings along Finance Street don’t belong to the company, which is 26.6 percent owned by the district government.

Zhong Rongming, deputy general manager of the Beijing- based China World Trade Center Co., which built China World Tower 3, said the company is “optimistic about 2010 prospects” given China’s accelerating economic growth. He said the new tower will include tenants such as Mitsui & Co. and the Asian Development Bank.

One new addition to Finance Street may give real estate boosters cause for concern. No. 8 Finance Street will be the headquarters for China Huarong Asset Management Corp.

The company’s mission: selling bad debt from banks.

--Michael Forsythe, Kevin Hamlin. With assistance from Shelley Smith and Darren Boey in Hong Kong, Chris Bourke in London and Margaret Brennan in New York. Editors: Anne Swardson, Chris Anstey

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VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: Railway terminal

When construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was nearly complete, the railway managers decided that the end terminals should look alike. So the first Vladivostok railway station built in 1894 was pulled down hastily and a new one in XVII-century Russian style was erected. The building looked quite like Yaroslavsky railway terminal in Moscow. During the Soviet period some constructions of the railway station had been altered; however, in 1990s the building appearance of 1912 was restored.

Source:  Google and Russian Railways