CANNIBAL CORPSE Bassist Issues Japanese Tour Report

Bassist Alex Webster of Florida-based death metal veterans CANNIBAL CORPSE has penned the first entry of his new tour blog for the SWRsound.com web site. An excerpt follows below.

"For this first edition, I'm writing to you from Osaka, Japan holiday. We're currently on tour here; it's a three-show mini-tour consisting of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. We've already played the first two shows of the tour and are currently taking a breather in Osaka before the final show in Nagoya.

"It's been 13 years since CANNIBAL's last tour of Japan, so we're extremely excited to finally be back. The tour has been fantastic, and right now I'd like to give you a little recap of how things have been so far.

"The first show of the tour was in Tokyo, so that was the city we flew into.

"We arrived early in the afternoon on Sunday, the day before the first show.

"The concert was booked into Tokyo's Club Quattro in the Shibuya district of the city.

"Although we were exhausted from the long flight from the United States, we decided to stay up the whole day in order to get on a good schedule. Keeping moving is pretty essential to staying awake after a long flight like that, so my wife (who was along for the trip) and I set out to explore the area around the hotel.

"It would really be hard to exaggerate just how awesome and overwhelming the bustling city of Tokyo can be for visitors — we were just blown away by the sights and sounds of this amazing city. The atmosphere was incredibly exciting, and despite our fatigue, we had no problems staying up the whole day as planned."

Juicy Couture head sees holiday growth

Improved sales trends at the Juicy Couture unit of Liz Claiborne Inc (LIZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) over the last few weeks are boosting its president's confidence for the full year.

Speaking at the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in New York, Juicy Couture President Edgar Huber said he is expecting same-store sales in the year-end holiday season to rise at a high single-digit rate from the year earlier period, when the financial crisis led to retail's toughest season in decades.

"The last couple of weeks were better than the beginning of the year," Huber said on Monday. "Last weekend was great, probably because the weather was great. People were out, they were shopping and we saw it in our numbers. (We are) getting much more confident about the accuracy of our forecast for this year."

Juicy Couture's net sales were $132 million in the first quarter, down 5.4 percent. Excluding the impact of licensing its fragrance business last year, sales rose 6 percent, helped by the addition of 38 more stores.

At stores open at least a year, quarterly sales fell 22 percent. Yet as comparisons for the rest of the year get easier, sales trends should improve, Huber said.

At the end of the latest quarter, Juicy had 63 full-price stores and 33 outlet stores in the United States.

Huber said the Juicy expects to open 11 to 12 stores this year, with five of those in the United States.

Huber said the brand could ultimately have as many as 250 U.S. stores, noting that there are "tons of locations which we are still very interested in that you can get great deals in," such as Miami and Seattle.

As the U.S. market for commercial real estate has come down, the company -- like many other retailers -- has sought better deals from its landlords. It also has benefited as some outlet mall developers finance the building of new stores.

Huber said good deals on new stores may boost the bottom line by 2 to 3 percentage points this year.

Juicy also is working to expand its international presence in Latin America and China. Over the next 5 to 6 years, Huber said he hopes international sales will make up as much as 45 percent of the brand's total, up from about 16 percent now.

In China, where Huber said the brand's business is "very healthy," he thinks Juicy could have 25 to 30 stores by the end of next year.

In addition to new stores, the brand known for track suits with the word "Juicy" written on the behind, is also boosting its online presence.

Right now, Huber said sales from the company's own website make up about 8 percent of total sales.

"I hope we will go close to 10 percent this year and then from next year on, I really want to develop it to 20 to 25 percent, and make it a really strong distribution channel for us."

Mi?oza misses cut in Japan Tour return

Frankie Mi?oza’s return in the Japan Tour came to an abrupt end Friday when the former Philippine Open champion missed the cut of the Mitsubishi Diamond Golf Cup 2009 at the Oarai Golf Club in Ibaragi, Japan.

The Filipino golf legend, who is set to join the US Senior Tour later this year, shot a second round eight-over-par 80 to end up with a two-day total of 14-over-par 158 at 114th place.

He was seven shots over the cut score of 151 and 15-over of new leader Chawalit Plaphol of Thailand’s two-round tally of 143 after shooting a one-under 72 in the second day. He shot a 71 on opening day.

First round co-leaders Satoru Hirota of Japan and Korea’s Kyung Tae-kim slid to third and eight spots after each shooting a seven-over-par 79 and eight-over-par 80 in round two.

Mi?oza, 59, battled had a terrible opening round with a six-over-par 78 spiked by five bogeys and a double bogey. His only saving grace was a birdie on the par-five 15th hole for a 40-38 card.