Results of complaint to Japan Fair Trade Commission against Human Global Communications, Inc. and Kyoto City

 I don't have time to blog much at present, so a brief update.

In response to the complaint and evidence I submitted, some of which is posted in previous entries on this blog, the FTC issues the two notices below.

In short, they found that Human Global Communications had engaged in problematic behavior with respect to the Anti-Monopoly Act, etc., but that it was difficult to implement measures against such companies, so they were not sanctioned.

Meanwhile, though the FTC acknowledged the problematic conduct in the form of the low bid, etc., they did not find that Kyoto City violated the law by accepting that low bid, which is somewhat less than satisfactory. I would have expected the FTC to also call out Kyoto City for accepting a bid that could reasonably be deemed to be too low (either below cost or selectively below market rate (Japanese legal term:差別的対価), but they simply stated that Kyoto City did not violate the law.

I have other issues to bring up with the FTC, so this theme will be continued.

 

The Disclosed English Translation of the Article Kyoto City is Currently Refraining from Publishing from "京都 Innovation Studio Session Vol. 7"

Since I am at the blog desk, let me post this article now.
This translation was also obtained through a request for disclosure of public documents, as it is one of three Japanese-to-English translations that Kyoto City paid Human Academy Inc. to produce, as per the documents pertaining to the tender I posted yesterday. The city government agreed to provide the documents voluntarily, via email.

Meanwhile, Kyoto City has published the other two pieces, but they have withheld this one, partly for reasons I touched on yesterday (Goldman Sachs et al. finance sector connections, etc.), and will refrain from going into further here. However, I will again post the URL to the original Japanese article, which is still active: 
https://kigyolog.com/interview.php?id=236

Suffice it to say, it is clear, even from the title, that they are making a belabored comparison of Kyoto to Silicon Valley, and trying to market Kyoto as a Silicon Valley competitor of sorts. It's pathetic, of course, but these people wield influence over the government. 

I will post the other two pieces in their pre-edited form eventually, but it remains unclear whether the city ever intends to publish its edited version of this, so I will publish the unedited, public domain document, here.

 

Who is Ron Read? Clue: formerly of Kurdyla and Associates, which was bought out by Human Academy, and currently heads their Osaka branch, with its "Government Contracts Division"

This is a brief follow up introducing the American running the actual company that placed the bid on the problematic tender at issue. https://hgckansai.com/contact/

I don't have time to go into the administrative proceedings that I have pursued thus far against the city and this company, but there will be a court action against Kyoto City.

Kurdyla & Associates is not only a company which I did a little work for more than 20 years ago when I was in Tokyo, but the name of the company that Joel Hastings ran in Seoul, which I worked for, was a branch of Kurdyla & Associates ("K & H" stood for Kurdyla and Hastings). 

See this blog post from 2015: https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1450811588230624925/813057494645258886

 

 

Documents on Human Academy' Inc.'s super-low bid on a somewhat dubious translation tender by Kyoto City

 As I don't have time to write a proper post describing this material and the context, I have decided to simply start putting some of the raw data up in advance. 

Theses are documents including the estimates from six companies that presented estimates in response to the small amount open-counter tender for Japanese to English translation (included a short  Japanese to Chinese PA policy statement as well). The bid was so low as to merit a complaint for suspected dumping.

I will post the source text and target text provided by Human Academy Inc. to Kyoto City, but it bears noting that the project is unusual in that it encompasses Kyoto City performing the final editing of the English text itself in consultation with its foreigner clients, including Nestle (owner of Blue Bottle). Kyoro City has refused to post the final of the three texts, and I assume that is because they don't want me to give it the thrashing it deserves as an ideological spiel by the Wall St. investors that have basically bought out the city office of the Kyoto government, and hired an assistant professor from Waseda University as a consultant.

Of course, that is just the kind of fare I prefer these days, so I will be sure to give Iriyama and the new mayor of Kyoto their just desserts. Here is the website were the translations are being posted: https://preservekyoto.city.kyoto.lg.jp/en/journal

And here is a link to the Japanese article for which they are currently withholding the publication of the finalized translation, more than 3 months after the completed translation was submitted on April 8, 2024: https://kigyolog.com/interview.php?id=236

Who is 川上輝之? What is Human Holdings Group? Human Academy Co., Ltd., Human Global Communications, Inc?

 No time for blog posts of late, but since this company has decided to take down the video of the "President's Message" after firing this guy, apparently in relation to a request for a citizen's audit I have filed with request to their bidding on public tenders here in Kyoto, where I do business. I will document that here for the time being.

This network of companies is related to Kurdyla & Associates, a company I was familiar with in the 1990s in Seoul, Korea, through Joel Hastings and Tim Atkinson (https://kyoto-inside-out.blogspot.com/2015/02/timothy-atkinson-and-joel-hastings-cia.html), and for whom I did a freelance job or two while I was in Tokyo.

It bears noting that Mr. Kawakami was publicly announced as the president/CEO after a merger took effect March 1, 2024. That notice is also posted below, and available online at their website or on the Wayback Machine.   

The video had been posted here, until a day or two ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6vkSQ3fcl8

Note that along with Mr. Kawakami, another guy was booted from the board of directors, and I am in the process of pulling the business licenses of all these companies, but let me post the one for Human Academy Co., Ltd below, as that is the only one I have thus far...

I will explain the significant content in due time. And I will post a transcript of the vacuous content of the video transcription that was posted on YouTube as well.

https://human-gc.jp/aboutus/announcements/20240117_090000.html