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China Has Fastest Train in the World, Travels 245mph, 394Km!

“The train can go 394.2 kilometres per hour, it’s the fastest train in operation in the world,” Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau at the railways ministry, told Xinhua. By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link, according to Xinhua. Beijing has an ambitious rail development programme aimed at increasing the national network from the current 86,000 kilometres to 120,000 kilometres, making it the most extensive rail system outside the United States.”


 

Will Japan Be the Next Debt Crisis?

Japan may spark the next global debt crisis unless the nation’s new leader addresses its widening fiscal deficit, Kusano Global Frontier Co. said.

What is bothering foreign investors the most is Japan’s debt issue and the related risk of Japan triggering the next sovereign debt crisis,” Kusano said in an interview.

Japan’s 10-year yields have stayed mostly below 2 percent in the past decade partly because domestic investors hold over 90 percent of government debt, according to Kusano. Overseas investors will start avoiding Japanese bonds as the supply of the securities exceeds local demand, Kusano said.

Japan’s inability to finance its debt sales domestically is approaching,” Kusano said. “And when that time comes, you can’t expect foreign investors to accept Japanese debt with such a low coupon

The robot waiter will take your order now

Chinese-made androids arriving in Japan

Catering androids developed by China’s Kunshan Pangolin Robot.

 China’s Kunshan Pangolin Robot is bringing its android waiters to Japanese restaurants, with the assistance of an engineering university here.

Pangolin will set up a Japanese arm as soon as this month that will handle sales and maintenance. The company will then establish in April a research and development facility within the premises of the University of Electro-Communications. UEC’s Campus Create, which aims to transfer advanced technologies to companies for commercial use, will provide support for Pangolin’s Japanese venture.

 The Chinese robot firm also inked a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation with Japanese peer Kikuchi Seisakusho.
 Pangolin’s serverbots start at 500,000 yen ($4,380) apiece. Nagasaki’s Dutch-themed Huis Ten Bosch theme park is considering adopting the androids at its robot-staffed Henn-Na Restaurant.

Pangolin is headquartered in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, which is also home to the factory producing the robots. With a sales network stretching across the mainland, the company is seen holding 70% of the Chinese market in waiter robots.  

Marc Faber`s Picks For 2010

photo-marc-faberDr. Marc Faber shared with the Economic Times his investment themes for 2010. Japanese stocks and shorting US Treasuries are his top picks for 2010:

“I would avoid US government bonds and I think as a contrarian you really want the contrarian play. You should buy Japanese stocks and Japanese banks. This is the absolute contrarian play. Nobody is interested in Japan all the funds have withdrawn money from Japan they have given up on Japan I guarantee you the economy would not do well, forget about the economy the population is shrinking but you can have an economy that does not do well but the companies do well that is a big difference and I think the Japanese banks are very depressed. All the banks in Asia have actually recovered very strongly but not the Japanese banks so as a contrarian play I would look at that.” in Economic Times.

Japan to allow fingerprint authorization for visitors

Visitors to Japan will be able to use their fingerprints instead of passports to identify themselves at some hotels thanks to technology introduced by a Tokyo venture.

With financial help from the economy and industry ministry, Liquid will start offering a fingerprint-based authorization system by March in a bid to increase travel convenience. Some 80 hotels and Japanese-style inns in major tourist spots like Hakone and Atami, two hot spring resort areas not far from Tokyo, will be among the first to install the system. More inns and hotels will follow.

 The ministry will cover part of the installation costs.

Visitors to Japan can register their fingerprints along with their passport information in their home countries or at registration spots at airports or elsewhere in Japan. Foreign travelers can then identify themselves at a hotel’s front desk by waving their fingers over a contactless device.

Japanese law requires hotels to check and keep copies of foreigners’ passports. But the economy ministry and the ministry of labor have decided to treat “digital passports” as legitimate alternatives.

10 Things We Can Learn From Japan

1. THE CALM Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall

4. THE GRACE People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly.

Japans wants to beam solar from space

solarspaceBy 2030, Japan hopes to build a solar station in space, that beams the energy back to Earth via lasers and microwaves. One wonders why they couldn’t just do this on Earth like Sunpower. Perhaps it’s because they don’t have enough land, or sunshine, or both.
Skydivers better get out of the way! And the Japanese may see roasted ducks dropping from the sky on a daily basis.

Read more here:

Toyota unveils tiny, chatty robot

— Toyota Motor plans a rollout next year for a robot that sits in the palm of a hand and carries on simple conversations, the automaker said Monday.

The Japanese company will showcase the robot, dubbed “Kirobo Mini,” at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, or Ceatec, opening Tuesday in Chiba Prefecture. Many home-use robots are expected to be featured at the expo.

 The robot, which sits 10cm high, remembers previous conversations and places visited, giving it the ability to enhance the experience. Kirobo Mini reads the user’s facial expression when it talks. It also bases discussions on information about automobiles or the home acquired over a network.

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