... is a "Letter from Japan" about the men who use hammers to pound out the aluminum noses of shinkansen, the Japanese bullet trains. Lovely writing!
Headline: "A hammer -- yes, that low-tech tool -- helps mold noses of Japan's bullet trains"
Showing posts with label Japanese Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese Economy. Show all posts
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday, June 8, 2009
Blaine's latest...
... is about Toyota's new, 3rd generation Prius. He spent a few days last week at a Toyota mfg plant in Toyota City and said the new Prius gets 50 miles/gallon and has been adjusted to suit larger (some might say "fatter") American customers.
It's a little crazy to think about how much money the US Govt is pouring into General Motors and Chrysler, which are just starting to reinvent themselves to build cars w/ better gas mileage. Meanwhile Toyota and Honda are ready to crush them before they get out of the gate. US automakers have been so short-sighted.
In other "Blaine's latest" news, North Korea has sentenced 2 American women journalists to a dozen years of hard labor.
It's a little crazy to think about how much money the US Govt is pouring into General Motors and Chrysler, which are just starting to reinvent themselves to build cars w/ better gas mileage. Meanwhile Toyota and Honda are ready to crush them before they get out of the gate. US automakers have been so short-sighted.
In other "Blaine's latest" news, North Korea has sentenced 2 American women journalists to a dozen years of hard labor.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Signs of the apocalypse?
The Japanese economy is tanking, and we're seeing fresh signs of trouble in our banker- and expat-friendly neighborhood:
"For Rent" signs in clothing shops.
The pricey "Ice Bar," where customers drank vodka in a freezing room and at a bar made entirely of ice, has gone out of business.
A homeless person on the street.
And grafitti outside a local building.
"For Rent" signs in clothing shops.
The pricey "Ice Bar," where customers drank vodka in a freezing room and at a bar made entirely of ice, has gone out of business.
A homeless person on the street.
And grafitti outside a local building.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Blaine's latest...
are several cool feature stories. (I'm way behind in my Blaine publicity work.)
1. On the front page of today's paper (Fri 11/21), Blaine has a wonderfully written "Innovators" piece called "Kafka of the Cubicle,". It's a delightful story about a computer guy who has invented a best-selling comic-book character called "Otaryman." The best thing about the piece is the lede:
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 21, 2008; Page A01
TOKYO -- The American poet Theodore Roethke called it "the inexorable sadness of pencils." It's the desolation of time lost and dreams forsaken while sitting in an office.
Blaine says he read that poem in college! I'm impressed. Lucinda thinks "inexorable sadness of pencils" is very funny and, at dinner, offered "the inexorable sadness of" lots of other stuff, while Arno joked a dozen times about the "inexorable sadness of underpants."
2. Blaine wrote a neat story about incinerators in central Tokyo that burn trash at an extraordinarily high temperature (8500 degrees Centigrade) and use the heat to create electricity (via steam-driven turbines) for 20,000 households, to make sand for bricks and roads, and to heat water for a swimming pool at the "garbage factory," as it calls itself. And this incinerator is odor-free. Could that ever be built in NYC? (Here's the video.)
3. And he wrote a front-page story about this country's amazing "konbini" - convenience stores - that are ever more profitable even as grocery stores and dept stores have been losing money for decades.
He went to "Happy Lawson, a kid-friendly store that overlooks Yokohama Harbor, you can buy fresh sushi and carbon offsets, pay income tax and change diapers, book airplane tickets and sip vodka coolers. There's hot soup, cold beer, fresh bread, clean toilets, french fries, earwax remover, spotless floors, and a broadband-empowered machine that will order home appliances, book concert tickets and sign you up for driver's ed." And here's the video.
1. On the front page of today's paper (Fri 11/21), Blaine has a wonderfully written "Innovators" piece called "Kafka of the Cubicle,". It's a delightful story about a computer guy who has invented a best-selling comic-book character called "Otaryman." The best thing about the piece is the lede:
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, November 21, 2008; Page A01
TOKYO -- The American poet Theodore Roethke called it "the inexorable sadness of pencils." It's the desolation of time lost and dreams forsaken while sitting in an office.
Blaine says he read that poem in college! I'm impressed. Lucinda thinks "inexorable sadness of pencils" is very funny and, at dinner, offered "the inexorable sadness of" lots of other stuff, while Arno joked a dozen times about the "inexorable sadness of underpants."
2. Blaine wrote a neat story about incinerators in central Tokyo that burn trash at an extraordinarily high temperature (8500 degrees Centigrade) and use the heat to create electricity (via steam-driven turbines) for 20,000 households, to make sand for bricks and roads, and to heat water for a swimming pool at the "garbage factory," as it calls itself. And this incinerator is odor-free. Could that ever be built in NYC? (Here's the video.)
3. And he wrote a front-page story about this country's amazing "konbini" - convenience stores - that are ever more profitable even as grocery stores and dept stores have been losing money for decades.
He went to "Happy Lawson, a kid-friendly store that overlooks Yokohama Harbor, you can buy fresh sushi and carbon offsets, pay income tax and change diapers, book airplane tickets and sip vodka coolers. There's hot soup, cold beer, fresh bread, clean toilets, french fries, earwax remover, spotless floors, and a broadband-empowered machine that will order home appliances, book concert tickets and sign you up for driver's ed." And here's the video.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Blaine's latest...
... is a story about the Japanese newspaper industry, which is doing well for now but will struggle when its elderly Japanese readership dies off. I'm sure the story will get some decent play on the Romenesko media gossip website.
Blaine has also been writing heaps of stories about the global economic crisis. The latest is an A1 story about the "spiral" of recession.
Blaine has also been writing heaps of stories about the global economic crisis. The latest is an A1 story about the "spiral" of recession.
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