The service industry of the city had 24,616
business establishments and 230,249 persons engaged as of June
1. 2004. In terms of the number of persons engaged. the service
industry in the total of all industries accounts for 16.8%. following
the wholesale and retail industries (27.0%). Meanwhile. regarding
the gross product of the city. the percentage of the service industry
in all the industries has been increasing year by year since 1992.
and reached the 30% mark in 1999. Since 2001. the situation has
somewhat stabilized at about the same level on a year-on-year
basis. However. the service industry still accounts for a largeproportion
of the gross product of the city. because there have been no signs
of increases in the wholesale. retail and manufacturing industries.
The omposition of the service in dustry in
thecity by type of business shows that. in the number of business
establishments. ”life-related” services account for the largest
group (47.4%). However. the number of
establishments and the number of persons engaged in ” life-related”
services decreased from 2001 to 2004. Among the services classified
as“life-related”. the entertainment services showed a significant
decline both in the number of establishments and the number of
persons engaged.
In the ”company-related” services. the number
of establishments slightly decreased. while the number of persons
engaged slightly increased. Among the ”company-related” services.
”other services for
business” have increased both in the number of establishments
and the number of persons engaged. One of the reasons for this
is that temp agencies. which are classified in this category.
have greatly increased both in the number of establishments and
the number of persons engaged.
Information services in the city have decreased
since 2002 in the number of establishments. the number of persons
engaged and annual sales.Annual sales in 2004 were only about
80% of the peak in 2002.
The number of senior citizens needing careorsupport
under the long-term care insurance services of the city has been
on the increase in recent years. and stands at 67,420 as of the
end of June. 2006. The number of senior citizens needing care
or support per 100 insured persons has also been increasing year
by year.
Restaurants
in the city numbered 13,098 business establishments and 82,188
persons engaged in 2004. Both of the indexes have been decreasing
since 2001.
The number of inns and hotels in the city has been decreasing
recently.Meanwhile. the capacity and annual rate of operation
have shown a slight increase.
