Archive for the ‘Japan’ Category
February 26, 2011
From AFP via PhysOrg
Robovie PC (right) beats his brother Robovie PC-Lite by one second
Robovie-PC, a toy-sized humanoid, won the world’s first full-length marathon for two-legged robots by a whisker Saturday, beating its closest rival by a single second after more than two days of racing.
Five bipedal machines began the non-stop 42.2-kilometre (26.2-mile) contest on a 100-metre indoor track in the western Japanese city of Osaka Thursday morning after doing knee bends or raising their hands to greet spectators.
One of the competitors retired after finishing only the first lap, but the others continued running day and night, getting up by themselves every time they fell to the floor or got into collisions with rivals.
Robovie-PC, 40 centimetres (16 inches) tall and weighing 2.4 kilograms (5.3 pounds), stormed into first place with only a few laps to go after Robovie-PC Lite, which had established a comfortable lead and appeared to have secured an easy victory, suddenly locked up.
Robovie-PC Lite managed to return to the track and fiercely chased the leader, but after 422 laps Robovie-PC crossed the line in 54 hours 57 minutes 50 seconds, organisers said, one second ahead of its rival.
Their average speed was 0.77 kilometres per hour.
After the dramatic finish the two robots — both made by Vstone Co., a robot technology firm based in the industrial city which also organised the “Robo Mara Full” race — waved their arms and bowed, to wild applause from the crowd.
According to the event’s regulations, competitors were allowed to change batteries and the servomotors which control the robots’ speed and other functions.
The other two robots still running had yet to complete the race Saturday evening.
Tags:Osaka, Robot marathon, robotics, Robovie-PC, Vstone
Posted in Engineering, Japan, Technology | Comments Off on Robovie-PC wins robot marathon by one second
February 24, 2011
The world’s first full-length marathon for two-legged robots kicked off in Japan on Thursday, with the toy-sized humanoids were due to run 42.195 kilometres (26 miles) over four days.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-robot-marathon.html
Five robots are competing. Results will be reported in 4 days.
A humanoid robot named "Robovie-PC" (R) leads in a race against other robots during the world's first full-length marathon for two-legged robots, in Osaka. image:physorg.com
Tags:Osaka, Robot, Robot marathon, robotics, Robovie-PC
Posted in Engineering, Japan, Technology | Comments Off on Robot Marathon underway
February 1, 2011
Asahi News reports:
Mount Shinmoedake. (Yusaku Kanagawa)
MIYAZAKI–Hundreds of residents have fled their homes as fears are growing that volcanic activity on Mount Shinmoedake will culminate in a huge eruption triggering destructive pyroclastic flows of searing gases and rocks.
The town of Takaharu in Miyazaki Prefecture advised 513 households of 1,158 residents to evacuate from late Sunday night. About 600 braved the frigid temperatures and arrived by Monday morning to take shelter at public facilities in the town. The 1,421-meter volcano, part of the Kirishima mountain range straddling Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, began erupting last week for the first time in 52 years, spewing rocks and ash that blanketed nearby areas.
The Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory said the diameter of the lava dome, which was found within the crater last Friday, had grown from dozens of meters to 500 meters. The crater is 700 meters in diameter.
Motoo Ukawa, director of the Volcano Research Department at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, said the lava dome may be preventing the magma from escaping, causing the pressure of the volcanic gas to build.
Such a situation could lead to an explosive eruption that destroys the dome and sends large-scale pyroclastic flows down the mountain slopes, Ukawa and officials warn. The eruptions at Shinmoedake are the first large-scale ones since 1716, when major eruptions continued for a year and a half.
Tags:Kirishima, lava dome, Miyazaki Prefecture, Mount Shinmoedake, Takaharu Miyazaki, Volcano
Posted in Japan, Volcanos | Comments Off on Lava dome has expanded within the crater of Mount Shinmoedake in the Kirishima range
January 28, 2011
The Japan Times:
Mount Kirishima's Shinmoedake peak, seen from Takaharu, Miyazaki Prefecture, spews ash Thursday morning. KYODO PHOTO
Mount Kirishima continued erupting Thursday on the border between Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures, spewing columns of smoke up to more than 2,500 meters, the weather agency said.
Rocks were blasted as far as 8 km from Kirishima’s Shinmoedake peak, according to the Meteorological Agency. Volcanic ash disrupted train and flight services in the area. The agency revised the scale of the eruption upward to “medium” from the initial “small,” after the smoke columns reached about 500 meters higher than Wednesday. …. Volcanic tremors indicating magma activities also continued Thursday.
The first in-depth eruption began Wednesday at around 7:30 p.m., when the 1,421-meter Shinmoedake peak began spewing debris in its second outburst since a small eruption Jan. 19, the agency said. According to the Miyazaki Observatory, ash is falling on a wide area that includes the cities of Miyazaki and Nichinan in Miyazaki Prefecture, and has partially closed expressways in Kyushu.
According to Bloomberg:
Japan’s government issued alerts after a volcano on the southern island of Kyushu erupted for the first time in 52 years, causing the evacuation of homes and cancellation of more than 60 flights.
Shinmoedake, in the Kirishima range, erupted yesterday, spewing ash as high as 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) into the air, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said in a statement on its website. A second eruption occurred today at about 1 p.m. local time, national broadcaster NHK reported. Ash from the volcano reached Miyazaki city, 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the east, according to the broadcaster.
Japan Airlines Corp. canceled 37 flights to or from nearby Miyazaki airport, according to its website today. Three additional flights will be scrapped tomorrow, it said. All Nippon Airways Co., Asia’s largest listed carrier, canceled 24 flights affecting 3,350 people, spokeswoman Nana Kon said by phone today.
Tags:ash cloud, Japan, Kyūshū, Mount Kirishima, Volcanic ash
Posted in Geosciences, Japan, Volcanos | 1 Comment »
January 4, 2011
Ageing Japan is becoming a lonely Japan.
By 2030 living in Japan will be a lonely experience according to the Asahi Shimbun:
- One in three men and one in 5 women would have never married by age 50
- 25% of men and over 40% of the total population between 50 and 70 will be living alone
- Single-member households will be especially pronounced among men who were the children of the baby-boomer generation and who will enter middle age in 2030.
- Single person households exceed multi-person households already and this trend will continue
- Among women born in 1990, it is estimated that more than one-third will not bear children and that half will not have grandchildren
- Fertility rate which was at the sustainable level of 2.1 in 1960 has been below this level since 1976 reaching a low of 1.26 in 2005
- There will be over 300,000 people aged 100 and over
- The ratio of just under 3 working age population for each retired person will decrease to less than 2
- Working age population will decline by about 14 million
Japanese population development: graphic marketoracle.co.uk
Japan has few options except to open up its borders to immigration but this seems to be a subject that no political party or politician is prepared to face squarely. Instead the discussion veers off into trade alliances instead or restricting immigration to just skilled workers and only very specialised skills at that. The European experiences are often quoted as examples of the dangers of allowing immigration from Muslim countries. The extremely difficult (but flexible) residency and naturalisation regulations continue to be used to prevent the millions of immigrants from the Philippines, S. Korea, China, Indonesia and Malaysia already in the country from ever really settling in Japan. This even though all are aware that the functioning of Japanese society is already critically dependent upon these “less-skilled” workers.
That Japan needs a real leader as Prime Minister who can get the majority to face up to the difficult choices and carry them with him is apparent. There was a hope that Koizumi Jun’ichirō might be such a person when he was PM (3 times between 2001 and 2006) but he too drowned in the political quicksand. Perhaps it is a task for the Emperor together with the right Prime Minister. But it would need an Emperor prepared to appeal directly to his people and not be stifled by those of his Court.
Tags:Aging Japan, demographics 2030, immigration, Japan, lonely Japan
Posted in Demographics, Japan | 1 Comment »
December 29, 2010
Japan joins the growing list of nations who have shelved, postponed or cancelled carbon trading schemes (and there is not a single carbon trading scheme anywhere which is not built on fraud).
Reuters reports:
Japan postponed plans for a national emissions trading scheme on Tuesday, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations.
The government has submitted a climate bill to parliament that includes a one-year deadline to design a national trading scheme. After Tuesday’s delay, that bill faces revisions in the next parliamentary session that begins in January.
The decision is a blow to the European Union’s hopes that other top greenhouse gas polluters will introduce emissions trading schemes and follows setbacks to similar efforts in the United States and Australia.
A U.N. meeting in Cancun, Mexico, this month failed to clear uncertainty over a global climate framework beyond 2012. This is likely to cause some big emitters to take their time in rolling out tougher greenhouse gas regulations, particularly for carbon dioxide (CO2) from burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
Neighboring South Korea has delayed the introduction of its emissions trading laws into parliament until February because of business concerns.
Tags:carbon trading scams, climate change, Emissions trading, Japan
Posted in Alarmism, Business, Fraud, Japan | 1 Comment »
December 28, 2010
An interesting defence by Japanese fishing firms that bribes paid to Russian officials and deposited in Cyprus bank accounts were properly booked as “expenditures” and therefore not to be taxed as profits!!
(And from my own experience I conclude that there is no Japanese businessman – or politician – who believes there is anything wrong or unethical in bribing officials – especially in other countries. The only wrong is in paying too much or being caught.)
The Japan Times has the story (but of course does not comment on the ethics involved):
KUSHIRO, Hokkaido (Kyodo) One of four fishery firms hit for back taxes for allegedly making illicit payments to Russian officials denied any impropriety Monday and said the payments were a necessary expense. “We booked the money in the expenditure category (in accounting). It was not illicit money,” said Munemoto Nakayama, who runs Kanai Gyoin Kushiro, Hokkaido. The president spoke with reporters following media reports Sunday that Kanai and three other fishery firms provided about ¥500 million to Russian officials in the three years to 2009 so they could fish in Russia’s exclusive economic zone beyond the limits set under a bilateral agreement with Japan.
Sources said the tax authorities discovered the firms made the payments using irregular accounting methods and concluded the act constituted income concealment, ordering them to pay about ¥200 million in back taxes and penalties. Nakayama confirmed, as claimed in fresh media reports Monday, that the four firms, in addition to having given the money to Russian officials aboard their ships, remitted part of the ¥500 million to bank accounts overseas, including in Cyprus. “We have been doing Russia-related business for over 10 years and have remitted money (overseas),” he said. He also revealed that his company had already filed a revised tax return in connection with the payments as demanded by tax authorities. The four firms admitted paying the Russians to look the other way when their fish catches exceeded the legal quota, the sources said.
Walleye pollock: image wikimedia
Kanai, along with three other firms — Wakkanai Kaiyo in Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Kaiyo Gyogyo in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and Sato Gyogyo in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture — sends boats to Russia’s EEZ to catch walleye pollock. The annual catch quotas in Russia’s EEZ were set in the Russo-Japanese fisheries talks, and this year’s quota for walleye pollock was 10,925 tons, the Fisheries Agency said. Russian border security officials are usually present on Japanese boats to monitor their operations, the sources said. Investigative sources said they often hear of fishing companies paying the Russians and they appear to be wining and dining them as well.
Tags:Bribery and corruption, Bribing Russian officials, Japan, Japanese fishing firms, Russia
Posted in Behaviour, Business, Corruption, Ethics, Japan, Russia | Comments Off on Japanese fishing firms fight back taxes: “necessary” bribes to Russian officials paid into Cyprus banks
December 24, 2010
From the WSJ:
Honda Motor Co. says the first FAA-conforming version of the small business jet it has been working on for years made its first flight. The plane, called the HondaJet, flew from the company’s Honda Aircraft Co. operation at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C.
HondaJet first flight:image Honda Motor Co.
While an earlier version called a proof-of-concept aircraft has logged more than 500 hours of flight testing, flying the version built to Federal Aviation Administration rules is what really counts toward bringing the plane to market. Honda’s project is part of a renewed and growing intersection between automobiles and aviation that is occurring around personal- and business-transport. Honda touts the same qualities for the plane, such as “dynamic performance” and efficiency, as it does for its cars. The company has said it is essentially applying lessons learned in auto manufacturing to the aircraft business
HondaJet First Conforming Flight: image Honda Motor Co.
Honda says it will build five FAA-conforming jets for testing before ramping up production in 2012. The company says it has more than 100 orders for the light business jets, which have a top speed around 483 mph and a ceiling of 43,000 feet. Honda plans to deliver the first one in the third quarter of 2012.
HondaJet interior
First flight video is at http://hondajet.honda.com/
Tags:First conforming flight, Honda HA-420 HondaJet, HondaJet
Posted in Aviation, Business, Japan, US | Comments Off on Honda takes to the air
November 16, 2010
The particles found in Hayabusa have now been confirmed to be extra-terrestrial from the asteroid 25143 Itokawa.
Nikkei News reports:
Capsule from the Hayabusa probe contained particles from the Itokawa asteroid (Kyodo)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said Tuesday it has confirmed that the particles retrieved from the Hayabusa unmanned space probe after its seven-year space trip are from the asteroid Itokawa.
JAXA says the roughly 1,500 particles it analyzed using electron microscopes are totally different from substances found on Earth. The particles measure only about 10 micrometers in diameter.
The Hayabusa probe is the first exploratory spacecraft to land on a celestial body other than the Moon and then return to Earth.
Tags:25143 Itokawa, extra-terrestrial particles, Hayabusa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Space probe
Posted in Astronomy, Japan, Science, Space | Comments Off on Hayabusa particles are extra-terrestrial
November 9, 2010
From Asahi News:
Japanese companies posted huge increases in sales and profits in the first half of fiscal 2010, but the “China risks” coupled with the strong yen threaten to pummel performances in the second half.
Toyota Motor Executive Vice President Satoshi Ozawa releases business results in Tokyo on Friday. (The Asahi Shimbun)
Aggregate sales rose 11.6 percent from a year ago, while pretax profits increased 131.7 percent and net profits soared 179.8 percent, according to Nikko Cordial Securities Inc.’s survey of 650 companies listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange that had released their half-year results by Thursday.
But the companies say the business turnaround could be short-lived depending on what happens in China. Chinese exports of rare earth minerals, vital ingredients in high-tech production, were stalled in September when Beijing demanded the release of a Chinese captain whose fishing boat rammed Japan Coast Guard vessels near the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The de facto ban on rare earth exports to Japan came on top of China’s increasingly tight export quotas on the materials.
Chinese imports account for more than 80 percent of clothes sold in supermarkets and other stores operated by Aeon.
Many manufacturers say they have secured rare earth supplies for the short term, but a prolonged delay in delivery would inevitably hit them hard.
Japan is pursuing alternative supply sources in India and elsewhere to reduce Japan’s reliance on China, which accounts for 97 percent of the world’s supply. But such development will take time.
While trading firm Toyota Tsusho Corp. is developing rare earth mines in Vietnam, Executive Vice President Kenji Takanashi said the work “will take at least two to three years.”
Meanwhile, export-oriented companies say their efforts to fend off the impact from the yen’s appreciation are reaching their limits. Toyota Motor Corp., for example, expects currency exchange losses to total 320 billion yen ($3.94 billion) for the year ending in March, which will more than offset its estimated profit rise from sales increases totaling 280 billion yen.
Tags:China risks, Chinese rare earth supply, half year results, Japan, strong yen, Tokyo Stock Exchange
Posted in Business, Economy, Japan, Management, Materials | Comments Off on In spite of strong yen, Japan Inc’s sales and profits soar
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