Coins will depict Hello Kitty characters enjoying Paris, reports Kyodo News.

As part of their restructuring plan, according to Kyodo News.

Kyodo News reports on Frisk, a Belgian mint maker that has captured nearly 50% of the market in Japan, making for their biggest market. Though success is partially attributed to their pocketable packaging design, as this is true of many other breath mints, the bulk of the credit is probably rightfully attributed to their partnership with Kanebo Foods, which handles distribution and advertising.

Despite signs of economic recovery in recent months (foremost being the Nikkei’s strong performance), retail spending was down 0.3% from last year, with clothing one of the harder-hit retail sectors, reports the Financial Times. This is being blamed, curiously enough, on the failure of the government’s “Warm Biz” campaign — an effort to encourage warm clothing in lieu of turning up the heater at work — to create the same level of success so far as “Cool Biz” did this summer.

The National Post, hailing from Canada, has a piece taking a look at Toyota’s growth, and why they are likely to avoid the same pitfalls that have been plaguing General Motors.

An increase of 9.2% in October makes for the third straight monthly rise, reports Kyodo News.

Long-standing Japanese business practices such as lifetime employment and seniority-based promotion have been slowly changing to adopt more American-style practices in certain companies, according to a brief article in Asahi Shimbun. While largely a response to the rough economic times Japan entered in the ’90s, it is noted that changing traditional practices has often failed to produce success, and conversely, successful companies aren’t always adopting American practices.

On the tail of Sanyo’s huge losses and subsequent plans to deal with unprofitable elements of the company, Sanyo has announced a 5 percent salary cut for employees of the company and subsidiaries, according to Asahi Shimbun. About 40 executives will get hefty compensation cuts as well, and 10,000 jobs at Sanyo’s group companies will be cut by January.

The Nikkei has again risen to new heights since Koizumi took office with a close of 14,623.12 on Friday, the highest finish in nearly five years. Kyodo News has the full report. And in other news, the Koizumi administration is taking credit for it.

Also see the report from Mainichi News.

In response to huge estimated losses, Sanyo plans to greatly reduce the size of its television and appliance operations, reports Kyodo News and The Japan Times. The company may also spin off or sell its semiconductor division, the most unprofitable part of the company.