The president of the Japanese unit of McDonald's resigned yesterday following recent moves by the US fast-food chain to reshape its leadership to turn around the struggling business here.
A replacement has not yet been chosen for Yasuyuki Yagi, a 30-year employee of McDonald's who stepped down as president and chief operating officer, the Tokyo-based company said.
"I am proud of my colleagues at McDonald's and I also believe they will achieve fantastic success in a new era of growth and development," Yagi said in a statement announcing his resignation.
McDonald's Holdings Co Japan, which is 50 percent owned by McDonald's Corp of the US, has been revamping its operations after suffering a group net loss of ?7 billion (US$62 million) for the year ended Dec. 31.
The losses came from expenses related to its exiting businesses unrelated to burgers. But the chain was also hurt by a mad cow scare two years ago that sent sales skidding as the nation's beef consumption plunged.
McDonald's in Japan uses Australian beef unaffected by the brain-wasting illness, but that didn't stop people from eating elsewhere, forcing McDonald's Japan to rack up its first loss in 29 years in 2002.
Under new management including officials sent by the US company as well as Eikoh Harada, a new chief executive appointed earlier this year who formerly headed Apple Japan Inc, the restaurant chain has been trying to rebuild its image and focusing on its core burger business.
Harada said he had been working with Yagi on a business plan.
"He holds a deep passion for and a thorough understanding of the burger business and McDonald's Japan. And he was generous in teaching me about both," he said.
There were signs of improvement in the latest quarter, when profits rose 13 percent as the revival program gradually began to beat fruit. Profits rose to ?560 million (US$4.9 million) for the January-March period from ?495 million the same period a year ago.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique