Japan

[Typhoon]

Ars Tech | Lots of radioactivity, but little risk in oceans, seafood near Fukushima

PNAS | Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean and biota off Japan

Abstract

The Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, resulted in unprecedented radioactivity releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants to the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Results are presented here from an international study of radionuclide contaminants in surface and subsurface waters, as well as in zooplankton and fish, off Japan in June 2011. A major finding is detection of Fukushima-derived 134Cs and 137Cs throughout waters 30–600 km offshore, with the highest activities associated with near-shore eddies and the Kuroshio Current acting as a southern boundary for transport. Fukushima-derived Cs isotopes were also detected in zooplankton and mesopelagic fish, and unique to this study we also find 110mAg in zooplankton. Vertical profiles are used to calculate a total inventory of ∼2 PBq 137Cs in an ocean area of 150,000 km2. Our results can only be understood in the context of our drifter data and an oceanographic model that shows rapid advection of contaminants further out in the Pacific. Importantly, our data are consistent with higher estimates of the magnitude of Fukushima fallout and direct releases [Stohl et al. (2011) Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 11:28319–28394; Bailly du Bois et al. (2011) J Environ Radioact, 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.11.015]. We address risks to public health and marine biota by showing that though Cs isotopes are elevated 10–1,000× over prior levels in waters off Japan, radiation risks due to these radionuclides are below those generally considered harmful to marine animals and human consumers, and even below those from naturally occurring radionuclides.

[monster_gardener]

Ars Tech | Lots of radioactivity, but little risk in oceans, seafood near Fukushima

PNAS | Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean and biota off Japan

Abstract

The Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, resulted in unprecedented radioactivity releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants to the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Results are presented here from an international study of radionuclide contaminants in surface and subsurface waters, as well as in zooplankton and fish, off Japan in June 2011. A major finding is detection of Fukushima-derived 134Cs and 137Cs throughout waters 30–600 km offshore, with the highest activities associated with near-shore eddies and the Kuroshio Current acting as a southern boundary for transport. Fukushima-derived Cs isotopes were also detected in zooplankton and mesopelagic fish, and unique to this study we also find 110mAg in zooplankton. Vertical profiles are used to calculate a total inventory of ∼2 PBq 137Cs in an ocean area of 150,000 km2. Our results can only be understood in the context of our drifter data and an oceanographic model that shows rapid advection of contaminants further out in the Pacific. Importantly, our data are consistent with higher estimates of the magnitude of Fukushima fallout and direct releases [Stohl et al. (2011) Atmos Chem Phys Discuss 11:28319–28394; Bailly du Bois et al. (2011) J Environ Radioact, 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.11.015]. We address risks to public health and marine biota by showing that though Cs isotopes are elevated 10–1,000× over prior levels in waters off Japan, radiation risks due to these radionuclides are below those generally considered harmful to marine animals and human consumers, and even below those from naturally occurring radionuclides.

Thank you Very Much for your post, Typhoon.

Humor Break......... I hope

Just hoping that with all that radiation, Godzilla/Gojira doesn't show up unless he is needed to fight something worse

[AzariLoveIran]

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Sony to Eliminate 10,000 Jobs, 6% of Workforce


Last time Sony introduced something everybody wanted to have, was, WALKMAN

Sony was leader in TV .. Trinitron

Sony was leader in consumer video Camera .. and and

AND ? ?

lost all those leaderships

AND

missed

all what followed

WHY ? ?

don't want to hurt Colonel's feelin

but

there is a reason why this happened



.

[monster_gardener]

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Sony to Eliminate 10,000 Jobs, 6% of Workforce


Last time Sony introduced something everybody wanted to have, was, WALKMAN

Sony was leader in TV .. Trinitron

Sony was leader in consumer video Camera .. and and

AND ? ?

lost all those leaderships

AND

missed

all what followed

WHY ? ?

don't want to hurt Colonel's feelin

but

there is a reason why this happened



.

Thank you Very Much for your post, Azari.

By all means, say on, Azari............

What is the reason.

FWIW IVMHO , in America, Japanese Companies and Bosses are among the best there are...... Toyota, Honda etc.........

I wish the Japanese well and IMVHO they have the ability to find fixes especially tech fixes for most or all of their problems....

Col. Sun/Typhoon as evidence....

[AzariLoveIran]

.


Sony to Eliminate 10,000 Jobs, 6% of Workforce


Last time Sony introduced something everybody wanted to have, was, WALKMAN

Sony was leader in TV .. Trinitron

Sony was leader in consumer video Camera .. and and

AND ? ?

lost all those leaderships

AND

missed

all what followed

WHY ? ?

don't want to hurt Colonel's feelin

but

there is a reason why this happened



.

Thank you Very Much for your post, Azari.

By all means, say on, Azari............

What is the reason.

FWIW IVMHO , in America, Japanese Companies and Bosses are among the best there are...... Toyota, Honda etc.........

I wish the Japanese well and IMVHO they have the ability to find fixes especially tech fixes for most or all of their problems....

Col. Sun/Typhoon as evidence ...

.

Competitive advantage Japan had in cold war period .. is gone

everything Japan was doing good .. now others do as good, some even better

Japan must reinvent itself

what is Japanese competitive advantage now ? ?

Colonel, you have the mike

.

FWIW IVMHO , in America, Japanese Companies and Bosses are among the best there are...... Toyota, Honda etc .........

I wish the Japanese well and IMVHO they have the ability to find fixes especially tech fixes for most or all of their problems....

.

Cars, soon, will be built in 3rd world countries, like India and America

no money anymore in building cars

and

Yes, we all wish Japan well, otherwise I would not care (I made my money with Japanese business)


and


Sony forecast a record $6.4 billion net loss for the business year just ended, double earlier forecasts and a fourth straight year of losses

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"To bring Sony back, Hirai needs to develop personnel and platforms that create competitive and innovative products, but that will be a formative task after a lot of talent left under early retirement plans,"
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innovative products is name of the game


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[AzariLoveIran]

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Declining as a Manufacturer, Japan Weighs Reinvention

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The reversals have gripped Japan with a sense of national angst over its future, though economists are divided over how much the nation will actually deindustrialize — and whether a shift away from factories is really such a bad thing. Most economists agree that Japan, which rose to economic superpower status in the 1980s by building compact sedans and color televisions, has outgrown the “Asian Miracle” template and needs a new economic strategy. What that approach should be, though, is the subject of intense and growing debate.

“It is time for Japan to find a new model for its economy,” said Masatomo Onishi, a professor of business at Kansai University. “We can follow the United States into a more postindustrial economy, or we can follow Germany into high-end manufacturing, but we shouldn’t be trying to compete with China in mass production.”

These are questions that go to the core of the identity of a nation that has long prided itself on its tradition of craftsmanship known as “monozukuri,” or “making things.” The debate is being watched closely by other Asian nations, which have pursued the same strategy of industrial catch-up that Japan pioneered.

One of the biggest questions, economists say, is whether Japan, and by extension Asia’s newer export-oriented economies, will learn how to foster innovation, nurturing the Apples, Googles, Facebooks and other technology start-ups that sustain growth in the United States.

much more @ NYT article, link

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look, Colonel

this not Iran versus Japan

so

let's debate what is wrong with the great Japan that we knew in the 70's

let's debate which direction Japan should take


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[AzariLoveIran]

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In fact, it is in a fight for its life — a development that exemplifies the stunning decline of Japan’s industrialized economy. Once upon a time, Japan Inc., not to mention Sony itself, seemed invulnerable. Today, Sony and many other Japanese manufacturers are pressed on all sides: by rising Asian rivals, a punishingly strong Japanese yen and, in Sony’s case, an astonishing lack of ideas.



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[noddy]

not related to sonys overall problems but the camera forums are alive with speculation they are going to claim canon and nikons crown as the worlds premier suppliers of consumer imaging.

they have created a new market, which is dslr size sensors in convenient snapshot bodies (nex) and they also make nikons sensors for them... canon has done most of its next round of upgrades and cant match them in dynamic range or megapixels (typically canon has more megapixels and nikon has more dynamic range)

just an anecdote.

[AzariLoveIran]

.

not related to sonys overall problems but the camera forums are alive with speculation they are going to claim canon and nikons crown as the worlds premier suppliers of consumer imaging.

they have created a new market, which is dslr size sensors in convenient snapshot bodies (nex) and they also make nikons sensors for them... canon has done most of its next round of upgrades and cant match them in dynamic range or megapixels (typically canon has more megapixels and nikon has more dynamic range)

just an anecdote.

.

there's no money in photo business .. everybody using the same chip

they have to invent a new business, something that for consumers is "must have"

a good sample is now the new Amazon "kindle" .. U$ 99 .. why SONY does not come with similar ideas

$99 kindle is a must have .. small, you can store so many books, email other kindles the ebooks and and and

imagine this, when one travels , each (paper) book weigh so much, meaning not possible have 50 books with you .. but you can have 200 books in kindle

SONY must come with new ideas

same with Japan

Colonel misunderstands the whole thing



.

[noddy]

imaging is huge, canon is one of the bigger tech companies on the planet, anyway that was a muse about japan tech, not doom n gloom related.

on the doom n gloom front their is..

a) a bunch of drama about an aging population and demographic collapse
b) a bunch of drama about the future for their big industries which have dominated the world market for a while now and the unemployment that will result.

one thing that occurs to me straight up is the reality of (a) isnt going to be total demographic collapse, just reduction and that (b) is obviously going to scale to suit anyway.

and IF japan with all its expertise cant compete on the world market for production then good effing luck to the rest of us, iran and australia are screwed when our primary resource booms fade away.....same problems but even more so.

[Typhoon]

.

not related to sonys overall problems but the camera forums are alive with speculation they are going to claim canon and nikons crown as the worlds premier suppliers of consumer imaging.

they have created a new market, which is dslr size sensors in convenient snapshot bodies (nex) and they also make nikons sensors for them... canon has done most of its next round of upgrades and cant match them in dynamic range or megapixels (typically canon has more megapixels and nikon has more dynamic range)

just an anecdote.

.

there's no money in photo business .. everybody using the same chip

they have to invent a new business, something that for consumers is "must have"

a good sample is now the new Amazon "kindle" .. U$ 99 .. why SONY does not come with similar ideas

$99 kindle is a must have .. small, you can store so many books, email other kindles the ebooks and and and

imagine this, when one travels , each (paper) book weigh so much, meaning not possible have 50 books with you .. but you can have 200 books in kindle

SONY must come with new ideas

same with Japan

Colonel misunderstands the whole thing

.

SONY is not Japan. And I'm not the new President of SONY.

Once innovative companies can become bureaucratic and suffer for it.

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

[Azrael]

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

"Historical" meaning no longer the case? And perhaps no longer the case for a while now. Ruby was created in Japan back in the mid-1990s.

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free. Hardware is becoming cheaper and commoditized.

Perhaps AAPL would not be a good long-term bet. IT services and consulting could still make money; but AAPL doesn't do that.

[Typhoon]

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

"Historical" meaning no longer the case? And perhaps no longer the case for a while now. Ruby was created in Japan back in the mid-1990s.

TRON was created in 1984.

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free.

If it's free, how are the developers going to afford to eat?

Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc are all made in the USA.

Hardware is becoming cheaper and commoditized.

This trend has been going one for decades.

Perhaps AAPL would not be a good long-term bet. IT services and consulting could still make money; but AAPL doesn't do that.

In the long term, we're all dead.

[monster_gardener]

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

"Historical" meaning no longer the case? And perhaps no longer the case for a while now. Ruby was created in Japan back in the mid-1990s.

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free. Hardware is becoming cheaper and commoditized.

Perhaps AAPL would not be a good long-term bet. IT services and consulting could still make money; but AAPL doesn't do that.

Thank you Very Much for your post, Azrael & Typhoon.......

You know more than me but FWIW per Kim Komando, the hot field in IT is now data mining..........

Or as A. Bertram Chandler put it:

"It's not what you know or who you know, it's what you know about whom

[AzariLoveIran]

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10,000 singing Beethoven - "Ode an die Freude"

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The performance of "Daiku", "The Ninth", Beethoven's 9th Symphony with 10000 (amateur) chorus singers is a Japanese highlight every year in the end of December. Here is the last movement, recorded at the 2011 concert in Osaka, this year dedicated especially to the memory of the victims of the desastrous tsunami in March.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
IV. Finale. Presto - Allegro assai - Allegro assai vivace (alla Marcia) - Andante maestoso - Adagio ma non troppo ma divoto - Allegro energico e sempre ben marcato - Allegro ma non tanto - Presto - Maestoso - Prestissimo
(with Chorus on Friedrich Schiller's "Ode an die Freude" / "Ode to Joy" / "歓喜に寄せて")



Keiko Yokoyama, soprano
Masako Teshima, mezzo-soprano
Satoshi Nishimura, tenor
Eijiro Kai, baritone
Choir of the 10000 from Osaka and Sendai
Suntory Orchestra of the 10000
Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra
Yutaka Sado, conductor

Recorded at Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka / Miyagi Gauin Joshi Daigaku Hall, Sendai, 2011

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.

[Zack Morris]

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free.

If it's free, how are the developers going to afford to eat?

Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc are all made in the USA.

If journals keep publishing results, how are scientists going to afford to eat?

Japan has never had a problem developing good software. It has no shortage of excellent coders. But the rigid management and tight secrecy that make Japanese firms successful in dominating highly technical niche markets become a huge liability when trying to develop software, which must integrate well with a very dynamic hardware and software eco-system.

[Azrael]

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TOKYO—Sharp Corp.'s decision to sell nearly a 10% stake to Taiwan's Hon Hai Group underscores just how far Japan's once-dominant electronic industry has fallen.

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WSJ

Sharp will get a lifeline of about $800 million in cash to help shore up its operations that make liquid-crystal display panels for televisions—a core business largely responsible for the multibillion-dollar losses Sharp expects to post this fiscal year.

In exchange, Hon Hai will become Sharp's largest shareholder and gain technical expertise to complement its business as the world's largest electronic contract manufacturer.
.

Japan in decline


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I'm sorry Azari, but you going to have to take a number and stand in line with the rest of the pundits predicting the imminent demise of Japan.

Oh, and the line is some 20 years long . . .

Japanese electronics companies should exit non-profitable consumer electronics markets.
The R&D required to stay leading-edge innovative is very expensive, yet the price of the goods falls rapidly - rapid obsolescence.

Companies such as Canon and Fuji Film are instead investing in sectors such as healthcare, in general, and medical imaging, in particular.

Sony will probably do the same.

But there's already a lot of competition in that area. New entrants would face competition from GE, Toshiba, Philips, Hitachi, etc. That would tend to drive up R&D costs and drive down prices, just like heavy competition in consumer electronics did.

[Azrael]

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

"Historical" meaning no longer the case? And perhaps no longer the case for a while now. Ruby was created in Japan back in the mid-1990s.

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free. Hardware is becoming cheaper and commoditized.

Perhaps AAPL would not be a good long-term bet. IT services and consulting could still make money; but AAPL doesn't do that.

Thank you Very Much for your post, Azrael & Typhoon.......

You know more than me but FWIW per Kim Komando, the hot field in IT is now data mining..........

Yes, it's definitely one of the hottest fields.

Or as A. Bertram Chandler put it:

"It's not what you know or who you know, it's what you know about whom

J. Edgar Hoover would agree.

[Azrael]

One point few Western pundits have noted is one key [historical] weakness of Japan Inc - software.

"Historical" meaning no longer the case? And perhaps no longer the case for a while now. Ruby was created in Japan back in the mid-1990s.

TRON was created in 1984.

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free.

If it's free, how are the developers going to afford to eat?

Advertising, value added services, system integration, etc. Oracle don't charge for Java, but Oracle is still very profitable.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc are all made in the USA.

And you can use them without charge. However, Google, Facebook and Twitter are still doing very well, mainly from ad revenue.

Hardware is becoming cheaper and commoditized.

This trend has been going one for decades.

Yes, for sure, but it has really sped up the last ten years.

Perhaps AAPL would not be a good long-term bet. IT services and consulting could still make money; but AAPL doesn't do that.

In the long term, we're all dead.

True. I guess the question is how long can AAPL stay ahead of the curve. Your guess is as good as mine.

[Typhoon]

It seems that more and more software is being created outside of the U.S. and more and more software is free.

If it's free, how are the developers going to afford to eat?

Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc are all made in the USA.

If journals keep publishing results, how are scientists going to afford to eat?

The same way that they do now? Govt grants.

Japan has never had a problem developing good software. It has no shortage of excellent coders. But the rigid management and tight secrecy that make Japanese firms successful in dominating highly technical niche markets become a huge liability when trying to develop software, which must integrate well with a very dynamic hardware and software eco-system.

I think it is more the low tolerance for mistakes. Bugs can be engineered out of hardware. More difficult, if not impossible, to do with software.

[Parodite]

Worst case scenario Fukushima?

0cIt0Qfc8UA

[Typhoon]

Worst case scenario Fukushima?

0cIt0Qfc8UA

And that is why diplomats should probably not design, build or regulate nuclear power stations.

[Apollonius]

Incredible shrinking country - Ross Douthat, New York Times, 28 April 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opini ... untry.html

“THE Children of Men,” P. D. James’s 1992 novel, is set in a future where the world’s male population has become infertile, and an aging Britain is adapting to the human race’s gradual extinction. Women push dolls in baby carriages. Families baptize kittens. There are state-run “national porn shops” to stimulate the flagging male libido. Suicide flourishes. Immigrants are welcomed as guest laborers but expelled once they become too old to work. The last children born on earth — the so-called “Omegas” — have grown up to be bored, arrogant, antisocial and destructive.

James’s book, like most effective dystopias, worked by exaggerating existing trends — the plunge in birthrates across the developed world, the spread of voluntary euthanasia in nations like the Netherlands and Switzerland, the European struggle to assimilate a growing immigrant population.

But one developed nation is making “Children of Men” look particularly prophetic. In Japan, birthrates are now so low and life expectancy so great that the nation will soon have a demographic profile that matches that of the American retirement community of Palm Springs. “Gradually but relentlessly,” the demographer Nick Eberstadt writes in the latest issue of The Wilson Quarterly, “Japan is evolving into a type of society whose contours and workings have only been contemplated in science fiction.”

Eberstadt has spent years writing about the challenges posed by declining fertility around the globe. But Japan, he notes, is a unique case. The Japanese birthrate hovers around just 1.3 children per woman, far below the level required to maintain a stable population. Thanks to increasing life expectancy, by 2040 “there could almost be one centenarian on hand to welcome each Japanese newborn.” Over the same period, the overall Japanese population is likely to decline by 20 percent, with grim consequences for an already-stagnant economy and an already-strained safety net. ...

[AzariLoveIran]

.

w-japanaging.jpg (31.4 KiB) Viewed 4028 times

Young Japanese — those entering the workforce amid two decades of stagnation — will face the greatest burden: They will earn less in real terms than their parents, pay higher pension premiums, receive fewer social services and, eventually, retire with a less-generous pension package .. And that’s the best-case scenario, experts say, possible only if a notoriously fractious government succeeds in pushing through a series of unpopular measures.




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[Ammianus]

Incredible shrinking country - Ross Douthat, New York Times, 28 April 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opini ... untry.html

“THE Children of Men,” P. D. James’s 1992 novel, is set in a future where the world’s male population has become infertile, and an aging Britain is adapting to the human race’s gradual extinction. Women push dolls in baby carriages. Families baptize kittens. There are state-run “national porn shops” to stimulate the flagging male libido. Suicide flourishes. Immigrants are welcomed as guest laborers but expelled once they become too old to work. The last children born on earth — the so-called “Omegas” — have grown up to be bored, arrogant, antisocial and destructive.

James’s book, like most effective dystopias, worked by exaggerating existing trends — the plunge in birthrates across the developed world, the spread of voluntary euthanasia in nations like the Netherlands and Switzerland, the European struggle to assimilate a growing immigrant population.

But one developed nation is making “Children of Men” look particularly prophetic. In Japan, birthrates are now so low and life expectancy so great that the nation will soon have a demographic profile that matches that of the American retirement community of Palm Springs. “Gradually but relentlessly,” the demographer Nick Eberstadt writes in the latest issue of The Wilson Quarterly, “Japan is evolving into a type of society whose contours and workings have only been contemplated in science fiction.”

Eberstadt has spent years writing about the challenges posed by declining fertility around the globe. But Japan, he notes, is a unique case. The Japanese birthrate hovers around just 1.3 children per woman, far below the level required to maintain a stable population. Thanks to increasing life expectancy, by 2040 “there could almost be one centenarian on hand to welcome each Japanese newborn.” Over the same period, the overall Japanese population is likely to decline by 20 percent, with grim consequences for an already-stagnant economy and an already-strained safety net. ...

I don't know what will happen to Japan compared to the US 15-20 years from now, but one thing's for sure. That nation will either prove to be incredibly, incredibly stupid and shortsighted or incredibly, incredibly brilliant and prescient in the policies they have chose to enact and not to enact. I'm not sure this duality of outcomes is available to America.