Japanese

Chinese fighters have targeted Japanese fighters over Okinawa. Japan’s response has been forceful: an archipelago of missiles

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The tension between China and Japan has entered a cycle of accelerated deterioration that is no longer limited to diplomatic exchanges or formal protests. In recent weeks, the western Pacific has been the scene of maneuvers increasingly aggressive in which the lines between deterrence, warning and provocation become dangerously blurred. In the last few hours the most serious episode to date has taken place. A strategic rivalry. It all started on the weekend, with the lighting with fire control radar of Japanese fighters by J-15 aircraft from the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning near Okinawa, a situation that has set off all the alarms in Tokyo. The gesture (an act iunequivocally hostile in military parlance) comes at a time when Japan has committed to reinforce its presence in the area around Taiwan and the Ryukyu island chain, a decision that Beijing perceives as a frontal challenge to its regional ambitions. The spiral is worsened by the statements of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, pointing out that an attack on the strait could activate collective defense Japanese, a phrase that China has elevated to the rank of strategic provocation. Radar, aircraft carriers and a risk. Aerial interaction near Okinawa fu much more an isolated incident: it marked the first time that Japan officially disclosed a radar lock Chinese about their fighters. The Japanese Ministry of Defense registered about a hundred of takeoff and landing operations of Liaoning aircraft, in parallel to two episodes in which the J-15 fixed their firing sensors on Japanese F-15s, forcing the latter country to immediately deploy its own combat air patrols. China responded accusing Japan of interfering in their exercises, alleging that it had previously delimited the maneuver area. Chinese aircraft carriers and destroyers moved through the Miyako Strait, one of the sea corridors connecting the Pacific to the East China Sea, while official Chinese media they ridiculed Japanese defensive capabilities and warned that any move toward a more active military role “would lead to its own destruction.” The language, accompanied by real maneuvers which combine naval presence, air patrols and psychological pressure, defines an environment where any tactical error could lead to a crisis. Liaoning Ryukyu as an advanced shield. Faced with this escalation, Bloomberg told that Japan has undertaken the largest military reconfiguration since the Cold War, articulated around a concept that analysts have called the “missile archipelago”. Yonaguni, the country’s westernmost island, has become a surveillance and electronic warfare outpost just a stone’s throw away. 110 kilometers from Taiwan. From 2022, after the salvo of Chinese missiles that fell near its coasts, Tokyo has multiplied the installation of anti-aircraft batteries, long-range radars and response units amphibian distributed throughout the Ryukyu chain. The military presence in Kyushu is also increasing, with deployments of F-35s and long-range missiles. At the same time, the government has started to prepare to the local population with briefings that reveal both the magnitude of the challenge and the growing concern among citizens who vividly remember the trauma of the battle of okinawa. The militarization of the region, although supported by a majority of young Japanese, continues awakening misgivings between sectors that fear that a conflict in the strait will turn their islands into the first line of fire. Japanese military in Okinawa Fight for historical legitimacy. we have been counting. The operational tension is added to an equally volatile front: the historical dispute. Chinese state media has reactivated narratives that question Japanese sovereignty over the Ryukyu, reinterpreting the postwar period and selectively citing statements of 1945 to present Japan as a nation whose sovereignty “is to be determined.” Beijing takes advantage of these references to reinforce its claim about the Senkaku and to argue that his view on Taiwan has a historical legitimacy that Japan cannot contradict. Tokyo responds by appealing to Treaty of San Francisco and to the existing international legal framework, but its effort to maintain stability collides with Chinese pressure, which combines repressive diplomacy with psychological operations aimed at local communities. In other words, the historical dispute is not rhetorical: it feeds the perception in Japan that the conflict with China is not temporary, but deeply structural. Taiwan in the shadows. The link between Japanese security and the fate of Taiwan is today explicit. The doctrine collective defense revised in 2015 allows the country to intervene if Japan’s survival could be compromised, and security analysts they point out that a hypothetical American operation to defend the island would require the use of Japanese bases. Tokyo’s refusal to cooperate with Washington, in such a scenario, would put the alliance itself at risk, making Japanese participation almost inevitable. China is fully aware of this and concentrates its efforts on fracturing the perception of inevitability, putting political, military and psychological pressure to erode the Japanese margin of decision. On that board, the new electronic warfare units in Yonaguni and the missile batteries distributed throughout the archipelago, they could become, if necessary, key nodes in an integrated attack chain between Japan and the United States, which would make them priority targets for a Chinese offensive in the initial phase. Uncertainty. The result of these dynamics is a western Pacific that advances towards an area permanent frictionwhere each movement is interpreted as a dress rehearsal and every political statement is magnified as a strategic notice. The air raidsnaval exercises, the militarization of the islands and the historical dispute between great powers converge in a reduced geopolitical spacedensely populated and highly symbolic. For Japan, the crossroads It is complex: reinforce its defense without reigniting domestic fears about militarism, coordinate with the United States without becoming an automatic target, and respond to China without setting the region on fire. For Beijing, the key is in maintaining the pressureexpand its margin of future action in the Taiwan Strait and fragment the strategic unity of its adversaries. Image | US Indo-Pacific Command, GoodFon, rhk111, RawPixel In Xataka | China has just shown Japan a diplomatic dart that it had been keeping for decades: World War II … Read more

There’s a reason Vigo is advertising its Kawasaki Christmas. One that has nothing to do with Japanese tourists

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If you walk around Kawasaki these days (lucky you) you will probably come across an image that will catch your attention, one that has little to do with Japanese traditions and landscapes or with the avalanche of tourists that the country of the rising sun suffers. What will probably make you jump is finding a sign in the middle of Kanagawa announcing Christmas in Vigo, a mupi with a photo of XXL luminous tree of the Galician city and a message that invites you to travel the 11,000 kilometers that separate both towns. It could be an anecdote (one more related to the Vigo festivals), but that image tells us a lot about the fever for decoration Christmas that Spain experiences. Vigo Christmas in Japan? That’s how it is. It was the mayor of Vigo himself, Abel Caballero, who was in charge of showing it on networks. On Tuesday he hung up a photo in which a promotional poster for the Olympic Christmas is seen in what looks like the street of some Japanese city. The advertisement shows garlands, the XXL luminous tree erected in the heart of Vigo and a message in Japanese. “Christmas in Vigo is already in Japan,” Caballero wrote in his tweetwhich is already on its way to 220,000 views and 650 likes. Is it a surprise? Not really. In October Knight has already advanced that this year Christmas in Vigo would be announced with 820 posters distributed throughout (almost) the entire world. Most of those mupis (629) would be distributed across thirty Spanish cities, especially Madrid, Malaga, Bilbao and Seville, and another 142 were reserved for neighboring Portugal. The rest would travel the world. The Council boasted that it would take 15 to Paris, 10 to Rome, the same number to New York and 14 to Kawasaki. “This time Christmas will be in Japan for the first time.” Is it the first time? More or less. The jump to Asia is a novelty, but in 2024 Vigo already surprised to some tourists with promotional posters distributed in cities such as London, Paris, Rome or even the Big Apple. “I thought it was a mirage. I was seeing this in the distance and I couldn’t believe it,” joked in X Héctora reporter who encountered a mupi in the middle of Manhattan that read, in large golden letters, “The World’s best Christmas is in Vigo.” How much do these posters cost? In October, when he announced the new campaign, Caballero assured that at least this year’s is “free” and “costs nothing” to the City Council. Last year the Vigo newspaper Metropilitango.gal pointed that the mupis had been installed after reaching an agreement with JCDecaux. But… Who visits Vigo? If we base ourselves on studies on hotel occupancy by the INE, basically Spaniards and visitors from other areas of the EU, especially Portugal. Of the 537,500 travelers counted throughout 2024, 62.7% resided in Spain and 23.9% in one of the remaining EU countries. Of these, Portugal was the most popular market, with almost 77,000 tourists. Among the countries analyzed by the INE, the United States (14,800), Germany (11,800) and Italy (11,200) followed, far behind. From Japan, the market on which the City Council has now set its eyes, only 700 visitors who ended up staying in hotel establishments in the city. And at Christmas? The photo is not very different from the rest of the year. According to the data provided By the Vigo City Council, during Christmas 2022-2023 tourism was mostly national. That campaign was still marked by the shadow of the pandemic, but the data is conclusive: the City Council assures that some 5.3 million visitors arrived in Vigo and that the main foreign nationality was Portuguese, with 140,118 people, 2.6% of the total. French, British, Italians and Americans totaled 68,400. The hotel occupancy data from the INE show a somewhat different picture. In December the institute counted only 62,900 touristsof which 62% were Spanish and 30.5% Portuguese. The sum of French, Italians, British and Americans in fact barely exceeded 1,100. It is not surprising if one takes into account the limited supply of connections that Peinador, Vigo airport, has (right now Aena reports only five routes). Is there Japanese tourism? If we base ourselves on the INE, no. In December 2024, the INE did not count not a single Japanese visitor in the hotels of Vigo. In addition to how complicated and expensive it is to fly between Japan and the Galician city, this absence is largely explained by the behavior of Japanese tourists. Although the country is recording a record arrival of foreign tourists, the number of Japanese traveling abroad still quite below from pre-pandemic data. In fact in June Turespaña I trusted in which the influx of Japanese to Spain recovers its “pre-COVID” levels this year. Why advertise there then? In view of these data, why has Vigo distributed 14 mupis by Kawasaki and 10 in New York? Does Caballero aspire to attract tourists who live on other continents, thousands of kilometers away? The Consistory speaks to show Galician Christmas to potential tourists from other countries, but the measure is probably explained with another word: virality. Caballero’s tweet is a good example. In just a few days his photo of mupi has achieved several hundreds of thousands of views on X and has made headlines on media from Spain. Just as their estimates do about what Christmas means for Vigo: between 800 and 1 billion euros of economic return with a deployment of 6.3 million “visitors” in just two months, which is more than the total number of tourists who stay in hotels in Galicia in a year. The 14 mupis of Kawasaki may see them only a small portion of the 1.5 million people who reside in that Japanese city, but of course they have reached, via networks and media, thousands of people who live in the market that really interests Vigo: the rest of Spain and (especially) Galicia. Does virality … Read more

We have been searching for dark matter for 90 years. Now a Japanese man believes he has found his “fingerprint”

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Since Fritz Zwicky suggested the existence of dark matter in 1933, the reality is that it has been one of the great ghosts of modern physics, generating many debates about its existence. The little we know indicates that this matter is there because we see how its gravity pushes galaxiesbut we have never been able to see it or touch it. It is invisible. Or at least, that’s what we believed until now. And to ‘see’ this matter you have to be a true superhero, since it does not emit, absorb or reflect light. Something that makes it completely invisible to telescopes around the world. But it is not something that is a small part of what surrounds us, but which makes up 85% of the total matter in the universe. But now there is hope to have more information about this great mystery of physics thanks to a study Professor Tomonori Totani of the University of Tokyo claims to have found the first direct evidence of this elusive substance. He has not seen it directly with his own eyes, but he has detected the “smoke” of his gun: a very specific gamma ray signal emanating from the halo of our own Milky Way and that eerily coincides with theoretical predictions of how dark matter behaves. A large amount of data. To understand the discovery, you have to look at the sky with gamma ray eyes. Totani has used a total of 15 years of data accumulated by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (LAT). But the important thing was undoubtedly knowing where to look: in the galactic halo. That is, the ‘quiet’ outskirts of the Milky Way, excluding the galactic disk to avoid interference. What he found when cleaning the background noise was surprising: an excess of gamma rays with a very specific energy peak, located at 20 billion electron volts (20 GeV). The importance. So far so good, but… Why is it important? Basically, because it doesn’t fit what we would expect from normal astrophysical sources, like pulsars or supernova remnants. However, it fits like a glove for the WIMP theory. This is a theory that basically suggests that dark matter It is made up of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). According to physical models, when two of these particles collide, they annihilate each other, releasing a cascade of energy in the form of gamma rays that would be detected in the universe now. And that is their conclusion: the detected signal is compatible with WIMP particles that have a mass of 500 times that of a proton. This would, therefore, be the fingerprint that gives the most information about dark matter, although it does not stop there. The shape is not a point on the map, but a soft, spherical halo that surrounds the galaxy, just as dark matter is distributed in the cosmological simulations that physics has made. The same goes for consistency, since the signal persists even when different background models are used and other known sources of noise in the universe are removed. There are precedents. This isn’t the first time someone has yelled “Eureka!” In the past, excess gamma rays have been detected at the Galactic Center (known as GCE), but the scientific community has tended to think that this signal comes from undetected millisecond pulsars, rather than dark matter. The key to Totani’s study is that he has looked where no one was looking in such detail. By moving away from the center and analyzing the diffuse halo, it is where he has found a much cleaner signal that does not invite so many doubts about its origin. There are still doubts. The study itself admits that the calculated cross section (the probability of interaction) is higher than the upper levels established by the observation of dwarf galaxies, which are often used as scale for dark matter. This means two things: either our models of the density of dark matter in the Milky Way are incorrect (which is possible, since there is a lot of uncertainty in the profile of the halo), or we are looking at a new and unknown astrophysical phenomenon that mimics dark matter. A great mystery. If this finding is confirmed, we would be facing one of the greatest discoveries in physics of the 21st century. It would confirm that dark matter is composed of particles that we can detect (and not primordial black holes) and open a new door for physics. go beyond the standard model. But as we say, this still needs to be verified by a second laboratory such as the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) that may have the ability to detect these gamma ray spectral lines. Image | A. Schaller (STScI) In Xataka | Exactly 100 years ago we began to understand how the world works. Quantum physics has radically changed our lives

Ghibli and more Japanese studios demand that OpenAI stop using their works. The reason: the Sora 2 videos

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In Japan they seem to be tired of images generated with artificial intelligence that resemble, perhaps too much, the mythical works of Japanese origin. We are referring, of course, to images and videos created with AI that seek to reimagine any photo, person or character with “Ghibli style” or similar. An anti-piracy organization in Japan has demanded that OpenAI cease what they claim is a copyright violation. Japan studies against AI. CODA is a Japanese anti-piracy organization that includes companies such as Studio GhibliToei Animation, Bandai, Toho and Square Enix. The organization has published a letter demanding OpenAI stop using its members’ original content to train Sora 2, the OpenAI tool responsible for generating realistic videos with artificial intelligence. Some of Studio Ghibli’s most legendary films. (Images: Studio Ghibli) In your letterCODA (whose acronym stands for Overseas Content Distribution Association) claims to have confirmed that “a large portion of the content produced by Sora closely resembles Japanese content or images.” This, according to the organization, would be the result of having used copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence. In Xataka OpenAI has just made a move after its separation of assets with Microsoft: it has signed an agreement with Amazon for $38 billion What Japanese studies ask for. CODA’s demands are clear: that OpenAI not use its members’ content to train its artificial intelligence model. And also, that OpenAI respond to the demands and complaints of the companies that are part of the Japanese organization about the Sora 2 videos. {“videoId”:”x9hhg44″,”autoplay”:true,”title”:”The TRUTH of AI – This is how ChatGPT 4, DALL-E or MIDJOURNEY works 🤖 🧠 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1173″} The government also pressures. In mid-October the Japanese government already had spoken against OpenAI’s use of copyrighted content to train its artificial intelligence. Minoru Kiuchi, Japanese minister responsible for intellectual property strategy in the country, asked OpenAI not to violate the copyrights of Japanese intellectual properties. According to Minister Kiuchi, manga and anime are “irreplaceable treasures” that Japan offers the world. 2025, the year of “Ghibli-style” images. Last March OpenAI enabled the image generation based on GPT-4oand quickly “Ghibli-style” or “anime-style” images became extremely popular. However, the claims of CODA and its members, in addition to the Japanese government’s request, are especially directed at Sora 2 and its video generation capabilities. In Xataka OpenAI has turned ChatGPT into mainstream AI. In the business world the game is being won by its great rival Although the results are far from perfect, social networks have been filled with these types of unofficial videos made with AI, which for companies such as Bandai Namco, NHK, Wowow, Aniplex and many others represents a violation of their copyright. At the time of publishing this article, OpenAI has not yet responded to the Japanese studios’ request. Cover image | OpenAI / Image created with artificial intelligence In Xataka | The “AI slop” turned into art. A Chinese creator is copying the absurd aesthetics of generative AI, and it’s hilarious In Xataka | OpenAI knows that ChatGPT is causing serious mental health problems for some users. And he is already “correcting” it (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Ghibli and more Japanese studios demand that OpenAI stop using their works. The reason: the Sora 2 videos was originally published in Xataka by Eduardo Marin .

The Japanese Shinkansen was the fastest train in the world until China defeated it. The reason: the “piston effect”

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In a very summary way, the piston in a four stroke engine It is responsible for moving the air inside to compress it and facilitate the burning or explosion of the fuel or to push it out of the combustion chamber. That is, it is dedicated to pushing the air up or down. Now imagine a train arriving in a tunnel at more than 300 km/h. Suddenly, the train goes from being outside to moving the air inside the tunnel. To push it to the bottom. Your movement It would be very similar to that of a piston. The train moves in a straight line and around it the tunnel would behave like a combustion chamber. That doesn’t seem like a problem. It doesn’t seem like it if we think that the air is simply pushed to the outlet where it is released without further problem. It’s also not a problem if your high-speed lines run over a bridge more than 100 kilometers long. But if you are a mountainous country and you have made the railway your star medium to move millions of people hundreds of kilometers an hour. Yes, you have a problem. Because the piston effect is pure physics and solving it to gain speed is not being easy. When they were the best In 1964, while Spain began to open up to the world, Abebe Bikila won his second Olympic Marathon in the streets of Tokyo. He did it wearing Puma Osaka shoes.nothing to do with the famous 42,195 meters that he covered barefoot in Rome to win four years before. We do not know if Bikila took that first Shinkansen that linked the cities Tokyo and, precisely, Osaka. The bullet train had begun to operate in Japan that same year, promoted by the Olympic Games in the Japanese capital. Then, the two cities were linked by a train that reached peaks of 210km/hbecoming the first high-speed line in the world. More than 60 years later, Japan is no longer the country with the highest number of high-speed kilometers of the world. Today it is China. It makes sense, taking into account that the country is huge, so if this means of transportation were promoted, sooner or later they would surpass their neighbors. Spain, by the way, also surpassed Japan in this area years ago. But it is very likely that something else has hurt Japan more. China is making the bullet train its flag. Its latest advances with the maglev, which levitates thanks to very powerful magnets to avoid friction with the track, has reached a combined speed of 896 km/h at the intersection of two CR450 trains. The problem for Japan is that China has a lot of money. And if it is necessary to build eight of the 10 longest bridges in the world to solve geographical accidents, they get to work. Japan has to deal with a lot of mountains and a more traditional system: tunnels. And that when you want to make a train pass at very high speed is quite a problem. When a train fully crosses the threshold of a tunnel, what is known as piston effecta problem that prevents increasing the walking speed further. The consequences are as simple as they are serious: loud explosions, breakage of equipment… and the eardrums of passengers. Upon entering the tunnel, the air is compressed and the movement of the train moves it towards the exit. However, some of that air rebounds and generates pressure changes that can be especially painful for passengers, even affecting their middle ear. When moving outside, a pressure wave is created that moves at the speed of sound and when the train leaves the tunnel, a shock wave and a sound explosion are created that, it is calculated, can be heard 400 meters away. It is known as tunnel boom. Japan is now experiencing a problem carried over from the past. Their trains are wider than the European ones but their tunnels are narrower. This was to reduce infrastructure costs but also to run less risk of landslides in the event of an earthquake. At first this was not a problem but when the speed of the trains increased they realized that they could not continue moving. In China, trains also use wide tracks like their neighbors but since they do not preserve inherited structuresthe new tunnels built are wider. This reduces the void effect produced with the entry of the train into the tunnel and, therefore, mitigates the problems for passengers. Furthermore, as less resistance is generated when the train passes, energy expenditure is also reduced. The solution for the Japanese is not simple. On the Tokaido Shinkansen, the first high-speed line (the one that connects Tokyo with Osaka), 13% of total kilometers They run inside tunnels. But the Sanyo Shinkansen line runs through tunnels half of the time. and he Hokkaido Shinkansen which is under construction (this line is only partially open) contemplates the roofing of 80% of the layout. The most effective solution that has been found to the problem is to produce trains with a very long and sharp nose. The aerodynamics tries to imitate the beak of the Kingfisher that can dive into the water generating minimal splashes. Following the same concept, the longer and sharper the nose of the train, the less resistance the train encounters at the entrance and the more gradually the pressure wave is generated. The other solution has been expand the section of the tunnel at its entrance. The “door” is wider and also has side openings that allow part of the air to escape. air moved by the train. This escape route generates a lower pressure wave, allowing the train not to cause unwanted discomfort to passengers and to travel faster. It has even been thought of hermetic trains with controlled pressure. During its tests, Japan continues to search for trains that can reach a top speed of 400 km/h. However, the structures inherited from … Read more

A Japanese city has had enough of its neighbors spending the day on their cell phones. So he has set a limit: two hours

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“When you get on a train in Japan, most passengers are looking at their phones. They don’t do anything else.” Speaks Masafumi Kouiki, mayor Toyoake (Japan) and probably the country’s most recognizable face in the fight against addiction to smartphonesthe sleep hygiene and life away from the screens. The reason is very simple: despite the suspicion on the part of his neighbors, Kouiki has promoted an ordinance that limits the use of cell phones and tablets to two hours a day. The measure was launched October 1 and for now it has served one of the objectives that Kouiki pursued: to move consciences and generate debate. What has happened? That October has arrived with a curious legislative novelty in Toyoakea city of almost 70,000 inhabitants in Aichi Prefecture that in practice functions as a dormitory city for Nagoya. On Wednesday the 1st, a new rule came into force that restricts the time that your neighbors can spend in front of a screen for recreational reasons: maximum two hours. 120 minutes. Not one more. The measure was announced months ago, in Augustwhen it was still a proposal, and despite the huge stir that it generated has managed to move forward: in September it received the endorsement of the municipal assembly with 12 votes in favor and seven against. What does the standard say exactly? Roughly speaking, the ordinance, 2,400 charactersestablishes a limit on the recreational use of smartphones, tablets, consoles and computers. The rule applies to Toyoake residents and sets that limit at two hours a day, not counting time spent studying or working. There is an important nuance, of course: although it is an ordinance endorsed by the municipal assembly, in reality what it offers is a guidelinenot a mandatory rule. No one will check whether the residents of Toyoake conform to that standard or not. No sanctions are foreseen either. This is just a recommendation. Is it wet paper then? At all. To begin with, because Japanese culture exerts strong social pressure to follow official guidelines. Beyond its real impact, the rule has also served to open the debate on the excessive use of screens and its influence on aspects such as sleep. In fact, the same ordinance advises that younger children stop using their devices at 9:00 p.m. and those in secondary school and those under 18 should not drive them after 10:00 p.m. The objective: guarantee your correct rest. That’s all? No. On October 1, coinciding with the entry into force of the rule, the Toyoake Government sent emails to young people and parents in the city to insist on the same message. Primary and secondary school students were in fact urged to “take care of their rest and health hours” and agree with their families how much time they would dedicate to their devices. “The main objective of the ordinance is to guarantee sufficient hours of sleep,” underlines the organism. The City Council has also carried out a survey among 250 residents registered in its monitoring system and wants to find out the real scope of the guideline: whether the use of smartphones during free time, the duration of sleep or the hours of family conversation changes. TO beginning of next yearIn fact, the authorities want to do a new survey among their students. Why have they done it? To change habits. “It’s very sad to end the day looking at your phone all the time at home,” explained a few days ago Kouki a The New York Times. “I hope citizens change their behavior.” Rather than strictly limiting the recreational use of screens to 120 minutes a day, its purpose is to invite “reflection and debate” and make people think about how much time they spend on screens and until what time they do it. In 2024, a state study revealed that, on average, younger Japanese (those in primary or secondary school) invest about five hours up to date on their mobile phones. And not only that. More than 80% of Japanese people between 15 and 24 years old consider themselves “dependent” on smartphones and 14% already show symptoms of addiction. How have people responded? Depends. Not everyone has reacted equally well to Kouki’s attempts to restrict screen use. Although it is not a mandatory rule nor are there fines for breaking it, there are those who believe that the mere existence of the ordinance means an intrusion in the lives of the people of Toyoake.”In one sentence: it’s none of your business”, claims Mariko Fujie, one of the local politicians who voted against. In his opinion, there is no “scientific evidence” to support a norm that, he warns, also does not take into account the perspective of young people. “Many of my supporters find it condescending. This ordinance is complete nonsense.” Is Toyoake a unique case? Yes. And no. The Town Hall assures that theirs is the first standard of its kind in Japan. This is also presented by media such as The Japan Times either The Mainichiwhich have highlighted its pioneering nature. Whether or not this is the case, the truth is that it is not the first attempt by a Japanese public institution to put limits on the use of screens among the population. Especially among young people. A few years ago Kagawa promoted another ordinance that aimed to restrict young people’s access to video games. Their objective: that minors do not dedicate themselves to them more than one hour daily during the week, a margin that the authorities were willing to extend to 90 minutes on holidays. In Yamato, another town, they also prohibited use mobile to pedestrians while they walk. Images | Yifei Wong (Unsplash) and Launde Morel (Unsplash) In Xataka | In Europe we have a problem: we are becoming the Japan of the 21st century

Bill Gates had a tendency to procrastination until he found an infallible remedy: Japanese companies

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Bill Gates is not only famous for his work at the head of Microsoft, but for its enormous commitment and Requirement in the workplace. This demand reached such extremes that he was even able to Memorize cars registration that they had parked in front of the Microsoft headquarters to know which employees were still in the office and those who had gone home. However, the founding millionaire was not always so diligent with his tasks and, as confessed in his latest autobiographical book ‘Code Source: My beginnings’I had the bad habit of hurry the time to study just before the exam. However, over time, and some help from the Japanese, he learned that postponing the tasks was not viable if he wanted to take Microsoft to fruition. Gates’s youth in Harvard Bill Gates reported in his book how his university years in Harvard were marked by the habit of skipping classes and postponing any academic responsibility. His strategy was to study thoroughly only a few hours before exams, a dynamic that he shared with Steve Ballmer, his partner in Harvard and Microsoft command successor years later. “Steve and I paid very little to our classes, and then” we “furiously” Magnate in his book. Both felt comfortable challenging the limits and seeking to approve with the lowest possible effort investment. Gates came to recognize that they faced each exam as an experiment to check how far the good results could go with the minimum effort. This habit of delaying the tasks did not stay at the university, and soon moved to its professional beginnings after the Microsoft foundation. In his 1996 book, “Way to the future“Gates publicly admitted that That bad habit to postpone the tasks until the last moment became a real problem when the company grows. With his attitude, the millionaire not only slowed his work, but also had an impact on Productivity and motivation of the rest of your team. Delaying decisions began to directly affect the morals, mood and results of those who worked with him. “After Paúl Allen and I founded Microsoft, I discovered that developing the habit of delaying things had not been the best preparation to direct a company,” Gates said in his book. Gates himself estimated that he needed “a couple of years” to overcome what he called an “insane cycle”, in which he was lagging behind and generated an unavailable environment for his collaborators. The impact of Japanese customers Although in those days Gates was already beginning to be aware of his problem with procrastination in his tasks, he finished convincing when Microsoft began working with Japanese clients. In his book he pointed out that the relationship with Japanese companies played a crucial role in the process of changing habits. These companies, known for their discipline and iron control of the deadlines, did not tolerate delays. “Among the first Microsoft clients were Japanese companies so methodical that, as soon as we delayed a minute with respect to programming, they sent someone by plane to watch us, as if we were children. They knew perfectly that their man could not help us at all, but remained in our office 18 hours a day to show us how much the subject cared,” the millionaire wrote. “ Gates remembered that delaying with Japanese companies was “somewhat painful” so that external rigor and the pressure of having a vigilante all day attached like a shadow, was the revulsive that Gates needed to modify your time management. The millionaire assured that the process to leave the procrastination behind required a deep Review of your personal routines and professionals. Gates demonstrated that, although the transformation was not immediate, the Derived learning of those demands and rigor of its Japanese customers It was decisive to redefine both its personal development and Microsoft’s work culture. In Xataka | Bill Gates was so obsessed with driving a Porsche 959 that he managed to change the laws that prevented him Image | Flickr (Statsministerens Kontor)

Honda appeared in a Japanese circuit with a Pokémon motorcycle. Actually hid an advance that goes far beyond the game

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A video game creature turned into a real motorcycle would not have to get too much attention. But when that creature moves alone on an official track, something changes. That was what happened on August 3 during the ceremony prior to 8 hours from Suzukaone of the most important events of Japanese motorcycling. Honda took a motorcycle designed as the circuit as the Pokémon Koraidon And he made it travel the exit line without driver, at low speed and for about ten minutes, in a showrun scheduled between 11:00 and 11:10. The motorcycle that Honda presented in Suzuka is not just a model based on the character that appears in the ‘scarlet’ delivery of the video game. To make it work, the company combined technologies that it had developed Years ago with your Asimo Robot and with the system Honda Riding Assistaimed at maintaining balance without human intervention and simulate organic movements. According to Nikkei Asiathe unit integrates sensors, cameras and communications to recognize the environment and adjust its movement. An experiment with more ambition than it appears. Honda did not design this motorcycle just to get attention during an event. The company presents it as An opportunity to improve equilibrium technologies and autonomous navigation, with an eye on the future of transport on two wheels. A Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association survey He points out that 26% of motorcycle buyers in Japan are under 40 years old. For Honda, advancing in autonomy and security can help reconnect with a generation that has moved away from motorcycles. The idea of converting a Pokémon into a real vehicle is not new, but until now it had stayed in static models or promotional elements. Toyota, for example, showed an almost real -size recreation of MiraidonKoraidon’s futuristic equivalent in video games. Honda was a step further. What Honda is played with a motorcycle that moves alone. The future of the motorcycle is to convince a new generation that does not end up. A safer and more assisted driving is one of the keys that manufacturers handle. Although this version of Koraidon is a punctual experiment, the technologies involved could move to commercial models, as happened with equilibrium assistance systems developed in the past. For now there is no clear road map to a product, but a declared intention: continue accumulating experience to apply autonomy to the two wheels. Although the show lasted only ten minutes, its message goes much further. Images | Suzuka Circuit (1, 2, 3) | Sling In Xataka | Lamborghini will only manufacture 29 units of its last supercar but you are not in a hurry: they were already sold before presenting

There are two suspicious companies of the theft of critical data of TSMC and none of them is China: the two are Japanese

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TSMC leadership has a price. This Taiwanese company is The largest semiconductor manufacturer on the planet and has built its success on the tuning of Extremely competitive integration technologies. Your most advanced photolithography is currently The 2 Nm; In fact, it is about to start the large -scale manufacture of chips of this class. All probability of their competitors, they could know their most sophisticated processes, especially those that are linked to their 2 nm node. And, apparently, some of them are trying to get this information. As We explain three days agothe Taiwanese authorities have arrested three TSMC employees because they have allegedly stole commercial secrets of this company. As we can expect, behind this detention is TSMC itself, as He has revealed The Taiwan Superior Prosecutor’s Office in a statement. According to Nikkei Asiathose responsible for this company have realized that two employees and a former employee have been made with critical information about their photolithography of 2 Nm. This information is very valuable. In fact, it could be used by a competitor to optimize its own semiconductor manufacturing processes. Two unexpected suspects: Tokyo electron and rapidus corporation The research has not yet determined if this stolen information has reached another company, but United Daily News ensures that researchers have registered the offices of the Japanese company Tokyo Electron. The latter is specialized in the design and manufacture of wafering processing equipment, and currently its most ambitious project is the tuning of wafering engraving machines by plasma. These equipment are involved in the definition of the pattern that will later be transferred to the wafer. Rapidus is making a chip manufacturing plant in northern Japan in which it plans to produce 2 Nm semiconductors According to SCMPTokyo Electron has confirmed that he has fired an employee of his Taipéi subsidiary (Taiwan) for being involved in the theft of TSMC’s critical information. This Japanese company also ensures that He is collaborating with the Taiwanese authorities They are carrying out the investigation. “That Tokyo Electron is located in the center of attention for this incident is an unfortunate accident,” has declared ASUSHI OSANAIProfessor at the University of Waseda (Japan). However, this company is not the only Japanese company that has been involved in this conflict. And is that Money.udn.com maintains that some of the TSMC employees who have been arrested have delivered to Rapidus corporation Hundreds of photographs and data linked to their most advanced process integration techniques. This company is intended to compete from you to you with TSMC, Intel or Samsung in the chip production market. Interestingly, it is very young: it was founded on August 10, 2022 by the Japanese government with an initial capital of 7,346 million yen (just under 46 million euros) contributed by, and here comes the interesting, Sony, Toyota, Nec, Softbank, Kioxia, Denso, Nippon Telegraph and Mufg Bank. Rapidus is currently putting a circuit manufacturing plant integrated in northern Japan, in the city of Chitose (Hokkaido), in which it plans to produce 2 Nm semiconductor. The first prototypes of these chips are already ready, but large -scale manufacturing It will not arrive at best until 2027. Anyway, as in relation to Tokyo Electron, the possible implication of Rapidus in the theft of data to TSMC has not been officially confirmed. In fact, it is possible that the authors of this crime have acted on their own and have offered the stolen information to Rapidus without this last company having requested or accepted. Those responsible for the investigation will have to settle. More information | Money.udn.com | SCMP In Xataka | South Korea fears US reprisals. To avoid their old lithography equipment, they take dust on a warehouse

Toyota already knows that the gap with Tesla and Byd has its origin in its Japanese company culture

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We are living the future. The transition to the electric car and how this is being carried out will define what we will see in the coming years. With a changing political environment, hard emission regulations for Europe And a Chinese market that seems to Just look at borders insidethe investments that are made and the focus of how the future is faced will be key. Right now, saying what will be the design of a traditional car brand to ten or fifteen views is little less than adventurous. There are those who assume that Tesla has reached her roofthat Chinese manufacturers have complicated to follow Breaking barriers (economic and psychological in consumers) and that Toyota, very conservative, is the one who is playing the smartest game. And there are those that defend with cape and sword that Tesla has created a new way of understanding the vehicle, based on software. Also that China carries the front and that it is only a matter of time that we embrace throughout Europe the Byd, Nio, Xpeng and, of course, Xiaomi proposals. They are usually the same as they point out that Toyota is only taking the first steps of their decline or, at least, a logical setback given its brand strategy. Be that as it may, decade and a half will have to know who is right. However, we must recognize the latter who, in part, Toyota is concerned about how things advance internally. Also that you are taking measures to solve it. And that your business culture is key. The software as an example of a major problem We counted a few weeks ago that in Toyota they were worried about the way of working in the company. In their collaboration with Byd in China they had discovered that the company of the neighboring country worked at a devilish pace implementing changes in record time. They explained then in Reuters that much of the secret were in the evidence that each new change passed before being approved. While European manufacturers made thousands of kilometers before giving green light to each small modification, Chinese brands preferred put it as soon as possible on the street And, if necessary, apply changes when the vehicle development phase was already very advanced. That cultural shock is even more pronounced with Chinese manufacturers. Consulting specialized in the automobile market have already advanced to Toyota and the rest of Japanese manufacturers that their business culture, in which it is about working on the same concept and repeatedly improve it in search of perfection, is outdated. Then the Caseoft company already encouraged them to expedite the deadlines and think about electric cars from scratch and not only as a purely electric alternative of their combustion cars. This would allow them to save on components (applying plastic instead of more noble materials) and directly eliminate some of them (such as reinforcements that make sense not to transmit vibrations inside the car but lack them when what moves the vehicle is a combustion engine). On that path to adapt to the new times, Bloomberg Explain that Toyota has hired Code Chrysalisa Start Up based in Tokyo specialized in software development. That consultant says that Toyota has already understood the importance that software will play in the future but “remains slow.” Code Chrysalis is organizing intensive camps in Silicon Valley to improve the programming knowledge of Toyota employees With the latest ads about its upcoming electric cars and plug -in hybrids, Toyota confirmed that had worked in software completely renewed and anticipated that they would show more details when these cars are launched to the street. In the presentation of the new TOYOTA RAV4 It was specified that we were facing “the first step towards vehicles fully defined by software.” Already in May, Financial Times He echoed that Toyota had put a greater effort to evolve his software, understanding that in the future it will be a purchase value (if it is not already). With them, we knew that Toyota looked at Chinawith the aim of evolving and learning from those who have revolutionized the interior of their vehicles. Now we also know that, by the hand of Code Crysalis, the company is organizing camps in Silicon Valley to learn coding intensively and then try to replicate what they learned in its future models. However, in Bloomberg They point out that part of these chosen employees are disappointed Because they understand that efforts are still insufficient. In fact, the media indicates that the division designed to develop software has not been directly integrated into the vehicle development chain and that, among hands, have digitalization projects that affect the entire company. For some of the workers, the strategy is still too conservative. In your information, Bloomberg He explains that the company follows a too conservative philosophy in which those who have a long curriculum within the company are greatly rewarded and the labor harmony over risks. They put as an example the case of a worker interested in autonomous driving who, however, when he entered the company, he was doing a quality control of low importance quality. It is just another example of what Toyota defends as Kaizen philosophy. A business culture directly linked to a philosophical posture in which it is preferred to improve until the exhaustion is known before taking a new product and starting from scratch, on a blank paper. It is not accidental, therefore, that the company’s strategy is (at least for the moment) strikingly conservative. Toyota does not stop repeating that they will sell the proper car (electric, plug -in hybrid or combustion vehicle) In the right market. At the same time, what is undeniable is that they have a five years being the company that sells the most cars. The big doubt is whether in decade and a half we will be talking about the first steps of its stagnation or the winning strategy in front of a competition that launched into the arms … Read more

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