SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011
SUBSEQUENT EVENTS	15. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS In February 2012, the Parent Company issued two series of senior notes totaling $750 million through a U.S. public debt offering. The first series, which totaled $400 million, bears interest at a fixed rate of 2.65% per annum, payable semi-annually, and has a five-year maturity. The second series, which totaled $350 million, bears interest at a fixed rate of 4.00% per annum, payable semi-annually, and has a ten-year maturity. We have entered into cross-currency swaps to minimize the impact of foreign currency translation on shareholders’ equity and to reduce interest expense by converting the dollar-denominated principal and interest on the senior notes we issued into yen-denominated obligations. By entering into these cross-currency swaps, we converted our $400 million liability into a 30.9 billion yen liability and reduced the interest rate on this debt from 2.65% in dollars to 1.22% in yen, and we converted our $350 million liability into a 27.0 billion yen liability and reduced the interest rate on this debt from 4.00% in dollars to 2.07% in yen.

SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

15. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

In February 2012, the Parent Company issued two series of senior notes totaling $750 million through a U.S. public debt offering. The first series, which totaled $400 million, bears interest at a fixed rate of 2.65% per annum, payable semi-annually, and has a five-year maturity. The second series, which totaled $350 million, bears interest at a fixed rate of 4.00% per annum, payable semi-annually, and has a ten-year maturity. We have entered into cross-currency swaps to minimize the impact of foreign currency translation on shareholders’ equity and to reduce interest expense by converting the dollar-denominated principal and interest on the senior notes we issued into yen-denominated obligations. By entering into these cross-currency swaps, we converted our $400 million liability into a 30.9 billion yen liability and reduced the interest rate on this debt from 2.65% in dollars to 1.22% in yen, and we converted our $350 million liability into a 27.0 billion yen liability and reduced the interest rate on this debt from 4.00% in dollars to 2.07% in yen.