Japan Tobacco — BrandWiki

Japan Tobacco

Overview

Japan Tobacco Inc.

native name	日本たばこ産業株式会社
native name lang	ja
romanized name	Nihon Tabako Sangyō kabushiki gaisha
predecessor	Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation
type	Public
traded as	tyo: 2914 Nikkei 225 component TOPIX Large70 component
industry	Food Tobacco
foundation	April 1, 1985 (privatized)
location	2-1, Toranomon
location city	Minato, Tokyo
location country	Japan
key people	Masamichi Terabatake (president and CEO) Hiroshi Kimura (chairman)
products	See below
revenue	¥2.033 trillion (2012)
operating income	¥459.18 billion (2012)
net income	¥328.55 billion (2012)
assets	¥3.667 trillion (2012)
equity	¥1.714 trillion (2012)
num employees	48,529 (2011)
owner	Ministry of Finance (37.57% by law)
subsid	Japan Tobacco International PT Karya Dibya Mahardhika (Indonesia) Mighty Corporation (Philippines) JTI Germany (with Russian daughter company) Gallaher Group
homepage	https://www.jti.co.jp

Japan Tobacco Inc. (日本たばこ産業株式会社) (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company and parent company to Japan Tobacco International, one of the three largest international Big Tobacco product manufacturers in the world. It was established in 1985 as a tokushu gaisha (特殊会社) that inherited the right to monopolize and manufacture cigarettes from the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation (日本専売公社) and required the government to hold at least 50% of its shares. In addition to tobacco, JT diversified its businesses, establishing the pharmaceutical research institute in 1993 and making a full-scale entry into the food and beverage industry in 1998. In 2008, it acquired the food manufacturer Katokichi, now TableMark, as a wholly owned subsidiary, integrating its food business.

It is part of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Large70 indices. In 2009, the company was listed at number 312 on the Fortune 500 list. The company is headquartered in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo,[1] and Japan Tobacco International's headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland,[2]

Lawsuits

There have been a number of Japanese court cases related to smoking, either directly or indirectly related to JT.

1980–1987 JNR Shinkansen lawsuit

A group of nonsmokers sued at the Tokyo District Court demanding that Japanese National Railways shinkansen (bullet trains) provide more non-smoking cars. The case was filed in 1980 and while the court recognized tobacco's health risks[33] the 27 March 1987 ruling rejected the lawsuit on the basis that the plaintiffs had failed to prove their harm to be "beyond the limits of toleration".[34]

1998–2005 Tokyo lawsuit

In 1998 seven plaintiffs represented by lawyer Yoshio Isayama sued JT at the Tokyo District Court for ¥70 million compensation (¥10 million per plaintiff) for health damage caused by smoking JT cigarettes. While similar cases had been filed in Nagoya, this was the first such case in Tokyo. In addition to financial compensation, the plaintiffs also demanded:

The plaintiffs' case was dismissed by the district court on 21 October 2003. The court agreed with the 1980s ruling that tobacco had health risks, but said that there was no causal link between the smoking habits and the specific diseases of plaintiffs. In addition, Judge Kikuo Asaka denied that nicotine was highly addictive. Isayama said that the group would appeal the decision to the Tokyo High Court.[36]

On 22 June 2005 the Tokyo High Court dismissed the case; by that time brought by only six plaintiffs. Three of the plaintiffs had died during the course of the case. Judge Toshinobu Akiyama said he agreed with the District Court decision. Jun Araki, the son of one of the deceased plaintiffs, said: "This ruling placed priority on the annual 2.3 trillion yen in [tobacco] tax revenue over the precious lives and health of the Japanese people". He also said the plaintiffs would appeal to the Supreme Court.[37]

That tobacco sales through vending machines be banned;
That advertising on television and radio be stopped;
That promotions at public and sports events be halted;
That a more stringent warning label be printed on cigarette boxes.[35]

2005–2010 Yokohama lawsuit

In January 2005 plaintiffs Kenichi Morishita, Koreyoshi Takahashi, and Masanobu Mizuno filed a case in the Yokohama District Court against JT seeking ¥30 million in damages for smoking related illness. Morishita died of pneumonia while the case was being fought, and JT used the same argument as in the 1998–2005 Tokyo case, that smokers were free to quit any time and that cancer and other illnesses had multiple causes.[38]

On 20 January 2010 the court clearly ruled that there was a link between smoking and lung cancer and respiratory illnesses, and said that smoking may be addictive. However, the court rejected the demand for damages, and said that the plaintiffs had smoked of their own free will and that there was no proof that smoking had directly caused their sicknesses.[39]

Anti-illicit trade compliance

Japan Tobacco Inc, through its international operating divisions JT International S.A. and JT International Holding BV, signed a Cooperation Agreement with the European Commission in 2007 to combat the illicit trade in cigarettes under Article 9 of which the company agreed to "pro-actively disclose" to the European Commission's Anti-Fraud Office (Office Europeen de Lutte Antifraude – OLAF) "...all material information coming into (its) possession after the Execution Date relating to potentially Illegal Product."[45] The Agreement defines "Illegal Product" as Contraband or Counterfeit Cigarettes. Both Japan Tobacco Inc and JT International S.A. claim to adhere to a "zero-tolerance approach" to illicit trade.[46][47]

JT International S.A. and several of its distributors, including Megapolis in Russia and IBCS Trading in Cyprus, however, have been implicated as recently as 2011 in widespread smuggling to include selling cigarettes to a buyer in Syria subject to EU, Swiss, and US Sanctions and diverting cigarettes from Russia into the European Union and smuggling Winston and other popular cigarette brands into Iran.[48][49][50] A JT International S.A. executive told the Wall Street Journal in August 2012 that the firm had continued to ship cigarettes to Syria until as recently as February 2012, almost a full year after the imposition of EU and US sanctions. The Journal cited Syrian dissident sources who claimed that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses cigarettes as payment for the irregular military forces and militias, known as the shabeeha, who have had a central role in its violent crackdown.[51]

Company documents show that in 2010 the head of the JT International SA security office – who performed a similar function at the former Gallaher Group PLC – sought to destroy evidence linking up to 13 company officers to smugglers in the Balkans region; a parallel effort was then being run by company management to hack into the emails of company anti-smuggling investigators, competitors, and law enforcement.[49]

The firm also announced in 2011 that it had purchased the largest cigarette producer in Sudan and South Sudan as part of an effort to expand sales in the war-torn region, which has emerged as an entrepot for cigarette smuggling.[52][53]