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BUSINESS A25
Monday 28 December 2015
Japan inflation edges up in Nov, but spending, wages fall
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s in- percent from October, the oil prices. Figures released year before, suggesting growing markets overseas.
flation rate rose slightly in government reported this Friday showed that core companies are not heed- Friday’s data also showed
November, though lower weekend. The government inflation excluding food ing appeals by Prime Min- that Japan’s jobless rate
household spending and has made scant progress prices was 0.1 percent, ister Shinzo Abe and other edged higher in Novem-
incomes slowed progress toward its goal of a 2 per- while household spending leaders to raise wages and ber, to 3.3 percent from
toward a sustained recov- cent inflation rate it has in November fell 2.9 per- increase investment inside 3.1 percent in October. But
ery for the world’s third- said is needed to ensure cent from a year earlier. Ex- Japan. Japanese com- companies have tended
largest economy. The con- a “virtuous cycle” of rising cluding food and energy, panies have tended in- to add overtime or hire
sumer price index was up demand and rising pro- the consumer price index stead to invest their surging temporary help instead of
0.3 percent from a year duction, partly due to the rose 0.9 percent. Incomes profits, thanks to massive raising wages to attract
earlier, though down 0.3 sharp drop in global crude fell 1.4 percent from the monetary stimulus, in faster new staff.q
Chocolate maker: We were honest about remelted chocolate
CANDICE CHOI Brothers Rick and Michael Mast pose for a photo at their you did use remelted there that said “bean-to-
AP Food Industry chocolate factory in the Brooklyn borough of New York. chocolate in the past. bar,” and it wasn’t — that
NEW YORK (AP) — A scan- DallasFood.org published a series about Rick and Michael A: Right, absolutely. In the is 100 percent misleading.
dal is roiling the world of Mast, whose stylishly wrapped chocolate bars can cost $10 first year or so, we would But if you’re not doing that
fancy chocolate: Did two each. purchase couverture for all and you are telling people
brothers misleadingly sell sorts of experiments, which that this is not bean-to-bar,
remelted chocolate and (AP Photo/Candice Choi) is something we have al- I don’t know what else to
sprout beards to cultivate ways been honest and do.
a hipster appeal? remelted chocolate since to say at the brothers’ open about. That’s gotten Q: Another part of what fu-
The headlines began after 2009. Brooklyn factory: so out of proportion, that eled the story is the trans-
a site called DallasFood. The brothers say they al- Q: What is extent to which we were hiding it. formation of your image.
org published a series ways considered them- you used remelted choco- We told chefs, we told A: Before I had a beard,
about Rick and Michael selves “bean-to-bar” be- late, and when did that competitors, we told col- I didn’t have a beard. I
Mast, who have been cause they were making stop? leagues, we told the press know, it’s a big scandal.
toasted in food circles at least some chocolate A: First and foremost, we’re that we were using couver- I like to dress like I dress.
for their stylishly wrapped that way from the start. 100 percent a bean-to- ture for all sorts of different We grew beards because
chocolate bars that can Fueling the controversy bar chocolate company. stuff we were working on. my brother and I made
cost $10 a piece. The prob- are photographs showing That’s important because Q: Did that include using a bet that once we sold
lem is that the brothers de- the transformation of the the public has been dis- remelted chocolate in the X amount of bars, we
scribed their company as brothers’ appearance. The served by the media and bars you were selling? wouldn’t shave. And we
“bean-to-bar,” or choco- before shots show them sensationalist headlines A: We have never, ever stuck with it.
late made from scratch. clean shaven. In the after to promote this idea that remelted chocolate and Q: Have you thought of
In the “Mast Brothers: What photos, they’re bearded we’re not that. sold it as bean-to-bar changing your look as a re-
Lies Beneath the Beards,” with Amish overtones. Q: But you’ve said in re- chocolate. sult of all this?
DallasFood.org outlined Here’s what Rick Mast had sponse to the stories that Q: Were bars that were A: No. I think people might
how the pair initially used made bean-to-bar la- underestimate my ability
melted industrial choco- beled as “bean-to-bar”? to focus on just what we
late, referred to as couver- A: If people would ask, need to do, which is make
ture. The series concluded ‘Did you make these bars great chocolate and grow
by calling the brothers the bean-to-bar?’ We would a beautiful business.
“Milli Vanilli of chocolate,” say yes. Q: Looking back, is there
a reference the pop duo Q: But if it’s not labeled anything you would do dif-
who lip synced their way to which ones are bean-to- ferently in the early days?
fame. bar, how would people A: No. You’re talking about
In response, the Mast Broth- know which is which, unless a nearly decade ago.
ers acknowledged using you told them? You’re talking about some-
couverture in the past, but A: We weren’t even label- thing I was open about
said they were open about ing bean-to-bar as “bean- then, and I’m telling you
the practice at the time. to-bar.” I understand if we now. We never lied about
They say they haven’t used put a chocolate bar out using couverture.q
Mitsubishi pushes back delivery of Japan-made regional jet
E. KURTENBACH isfactory,” the company country suspended mak- The project by Mitsubishi Mitsubishi says it hopes to
AP Business Writer said in a statement. But it ing planes following its de- Aircraft Corp. and Mitsubi- win 20 percent of the glob-
TOKYO (AP) — Mitsubishi, said several issues need to feat in World War II. shi Heavy Industries is the al market for single-aisle,
a maker of the World War be addressed so the jet’s While it holds advanced successor to an unsuccess- regional passenger jets.
II-era Zero fighter, said late development schedule knowhow in avionics, ma- ful attempt in the 1960s by It had been scheduled
last week it plans to post- was revised. terials and other key air- Japan to break into the to make its first delivery to
pone by one year its deliv- The company did not pro- craft-related know-how international market with leading customer All Nip-
eries of its new regional jet, vide details about those and products, Japan has the 64-seat turboprop YS- pon Airways in the spring
to mid-2018. issues. Industrial conglom- yet to integrate them into 11. The aim this time is to of 2017. Earlier, the project
The jet recently made a erate Mitsubishi aims to its own 21st century pas- secure a foothold in the suffered delays in deliver-
successful maiden flight reclaim Japan’s one-time senger aircraft with mod- lucrative but highly com- ies of aircraft parts, about
that “confirmed the basic status as an aviation pow- ern electronics and lead- petitive commercial pas- 70 percent of which are
characteristics to be sat- er some 70 years after the ing-edge technology. senger jet market. sourced from overseas.q
