Business / Corporate Aug 16, 2019
SoftBank's Fortress emerges as white knight for hotel chain Unizo with $1.3 billion bid
Hotel chain Unizo Holdings said Friday it has received a friendly buyout offer worth up to $1.3 billion from a SoftBank Group investment firm, in a deal that will help it fend off a rare hostile takeover bid from travel agency H.I.S. Co. U.S.-based Fortress ...
National Aug 13, 2019
Hong Kong Airport disruption bad news for Japanese travelers
by Masumi Koizumi
A protest at Hong Kong airport could not have come at a worse time for people who booked vacations to coincide with the Bon holiday this week.
Business / Corporate Sep 28, 2018
H.I.S. scraps Hawaii wedding ceremonies and tours for 260 couples
Major domestic travel agency H.I.S. Co. said Friday it has canceled wedding packages and tours for 260 couples who had booked to tie the knot at one of its venues in Hawaii from this month to September 2019, due to a construction delay. H.I.S. had ...
Business Feb 5, 2018
H.I.S. plans eight more robot-staffed Henn na Hotels across Japan
by Cory Baird
Travel agency H.I.S. Co. is eyeing an ambitious plan to build eight more android-staffed Henn na Hotels in addition to the one it opened in Tokyo's high-end Ginza shopping district on Thursday. Against the backdrop of a shrinking population and a growing number of foreign ...
Business Jan 30, 2018
Travel agency H.I.S. Co. said Tuesday that a robot will serve coffee to customers at a cafe it plans to open next month at its flagship branch in central Tokyo. The agency's new Henn Na Cafe (strange cafe) in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward will feature a ...
Business Mar 15, 2017
'Strange' hotel, run by robots, opens near Tokyo; more to come
by Daisuke Kikuchi
Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. on Wednesday celebrated the opening of its second robot-staffed Henn na Hotel. The new location is near the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture. The name is a play on a Japanese word meaning strange. It is the company's first ...
Business Dec 2, 2016
ANA joins space tourism push as possible rival to Virgin, Blue Origin
ANA Holdings Inc. has invested in PD Aerospace Ltd., a Japanese company developing a craft to take people into space as early as 2023 that aims to rival Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Ltd. The airline, Japan's largest by sales, invested ¥20.4 million ($179,000) into PD ...
National May 12, 2016
H.I.S. ‘fly with girls of Todai’ campaign crashes as travel agency assailed
Major travel agency H.I.S. Co. has been forced to cancel a sales campaign offering customers the chance to travel with "beautiful girls" from the University of Tokyo after an online backlash. Hours after announcing the campaign on Wednesday, the agency was hit with a wave ...
Business / Corporate Jun 10, 2015
Japan's budget king turns to robots to revive bubble-era theme park
by Yuko Takeo
Light shows and pirate rides helped Hideo Sawada pull a bankrupt theme park in Kyushu back to profitability. Now he wants robots to finish the turnaround. Five years after buying Huis Ten Bosch, a replica Dutch village that had bled money for more than a decade, ...
Business Aug 6, 2014
Japanese travel agency H.I.S. Co. reduced its stake in Skymark Airlines Inc. from 7.68 percent to 6.49 percent by the end of last month, according to a report filed Tuesday with a finance bureau of the Finance Ministry. H.I.S. sold shares in the Japanese airline, ...
Business Apr 22, 2014
H.I.S. eyes island off theme park for casino
by Yuki Yamaguchi
H.I.S. Co.'s Dutch-themed Huis Ten Bosch amusement park along the Nagasaki coast is considering buying a deserted offshore island in an expansion to boost its appeal as a possible site for a casino resort.