Barclay's yakuza connections

[Taro Toporific]

[Mulboyne]

[Captain Japan]

In Japan, they have lent their name to Barclay Vouchers, a Tokyo luncheon coupon business. The company claims to have a monopoly of the meal voucher business in Japan, and appears to be the only active company connected with the brothers that bears their name.

What is the meal voucher business?

[Taro Toporific]

In Japan, they have lent their name to Barclay Vouchers, a Tokyo luncheon coupon business. The company claims to have a monopoly of the meal voucher business in Japan....

What is the meal voucher business?

I tossed this over the transom hoping that Mulboyne would explicate the Barclay (non)connection ---thanx . Big companies in downtown settings have increasingly moved to the meal voucher system to outsource their bizarrely bad company cafeterias. Japanese labor law says that after you work overtime 3+ hours, the company owes you dinner hence the meal voucher business. I remember scratching my head to first time I got handed a Barclay Voucher and then discovering in the newspaper months later it was a name scam on Barclays Bank.

[Mulboyne]

In Japan, they have lent their name to Barclay Vouchers, a Tokyo luncheon coupon business. The company claims to have a monopoly of the meal voucher business in Japan....

What is the meal voucher business?

I remember scratching my head to first time I got handed a Barclay Voucher and then discovering in the newspaper months later it was a name scam on Barclays Bank.

That is precisely what it is. The Barclay twins (with the Tazaki connection) never use the Barclay name in the UK to avoid that confusion. They are real estate (Ritz Hotel) and newspaper moguls. They have remained intensely private although their purchase of the Daily Telegraph titles has put them in the limelight. Since it also puts them directly into competition with Rupert Murdoch (owner of The Times), it is no surprise to see that publication raising questions about their business relationships.
Barclay Vouchers are surprisingly widespread in Japan. Their website claims 6,000 major companies use them and they are accepted at 32,000 restaurants nationwide. You can use them in Samrat, Roys, Tony Romas, Art Coffee and even some convenience stores. Tazaki lifted the idea from Luncheon Vouchers in the UK where they have a more favourable tax treatment for both company and individual alike (meal vouchers don't attract UK National Insurance). I don't know if something similar applies in Japan.
Name confusion is always a good scam in Japan. Sotheby's Auction House sued Sazabys when they started business. Sothebys lost. Ironically, Sazabys, Starbucks' partner, sued Doutor Coffee when their Excelsior logo copied the Starbucks logo. Sazaby won.
I also remember when Rolls Royce listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company makes aircraft engines and has no connection with the car manufacturer but retail investors here were treated to images of the car purring up the Ginza.

[Captain Japan]

[Barclay Vouchers are surprisingly widespread in Japan. Their website claims 6,000 major companies use them and they are accepted at 32,000 restaurants nationwide. You can use them in Samrat, Roys, Tony Romas, Art Coffee and even some convenience stores.

Don't know that I've used one. Thanks for the info.

Name confusion is always a good scam in Japan. Sotheby's Auction House sued Sazabys when they started business.

I remember being in Guam on the main street and seeing a "Family Market," complete with blue lettering and the white and green colors. As well there was a knockoff for Lawson (I forget the name) just down the street. So I guess it all comes around.

[Captain Japan]

I remember being in Guam on the main street and seeing a "Family Market," complete with blue lettering and the white and green colors. As well there was a knockoff for Lawson (I forget the name) just down the street. So I guess it all comes around.

Pictures!

Family Market

Love that gun club sign!

Lowsun

Guam is such a bummer.

[Taro Toporific]

I remember scratching my head to first time I got handed a Barclay Voucher and then discovering in the newspaper months later it was a name scam on Barclays Bank.

That is precisely what it is. The Barclay twins (with the Tazaki connection) never use the Barclay name in the UK to avoid that confusion. They are real estate (Ritz Hotel) and newspaper moguls. They have remained intensely private although their purchase of the Daily Telegraph titles has put them in the limelight..

Ok, the following is the BEST DAMN REPORTING I've seen all week even though it is not really Japan related except by this "Barclay Voucher" thread.

Britain's Billionaire Barclay Twins Use Stealth to Amass Empire
bloomberg.net / November 30, 2004 19:44 EST-- In 1993, billionaire twins David and Frederick Barclay paid 2.33 million pounds ($4.3 million) for the English Channel island of Brecqhou, 80 miles off the U.K.'s southern coast, to build a compound for their families.
They erected a castle, complete with a helipad and gilded turrets, and sued to change the 1565 constitution, which required that the eldest son inherit the property. David Barclay, now 70, estimated that the legal effort alone cost 1.75 million pounds.
``One feels one's being bullied at times,'' says Michael Beaumont, 76, the feudal lord who oversees Brecqhou and neighboring Sark, which are dependencies of the British Crown, and who fought the Barclays' law-changing campaign.....more....(several pages long)