unexpected

I thought I had a problem with the ABS of my car, but it caught me in surprise to see that it was something completely unexpected: rats

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The ABS light flashing on the dashboard is never a good sign. Almost none Witter of the dashboard It is, but when the engine witness also adds, you start imagining four -digit figures in the workshop budget. The funny thing is that when I took my car to fix it, I discovered something that I never imagined what would happen: The rats ended up biting several cables Internal of my car. The initial diagnosis. When I arrived at the workshop with the warning lights on, the mechanic, after an inspection of the car, assured me that I could change everything The ABS system. A new one for my Seat Ibiza TDI 1.9 of 2005 can be a rather important expense, one of those expenses that you think if you better pass it, since it is dangerously approaches the price through which I could sell the car today. The price of the second -hand and scrapping ABS system, the thing changes. One can lead normally if the ABS does not work, but it is a risk for security, since it compromises the emergency braking and we do not have that help that the car gives us at critical moments, allowing our brakes to end up blocking. The real problem. After almost a week in the workshop and a more detailed inspection, the mechanic discovered the authentic cause of the failure: the ABS system cables and some that communicate with the engine They had been bitten. It was not a normal wear or component failure, but the rats had been roying the car cables. For a rat, gnawing cables and objects that are in its path is their day to day, since their teeth do not stop growing throughout their lives and need some means to polish their teeth. What a pity they had to run into my car. Unexpected, but in a way, relieved. What seemed like a serious problem with the brake system and the emergency light of the engine was solved with a cable repair. The joke came out for about 120 euros. A considerable relief compared to the complete change of the ABS that initially the mechanic had raised. From the workshop they repaired the damaged cables and the dashboard warning indicators were turned off. The background problem. Now the real challenge is not in the car, but in the garage. It is a private garage under a floors building where several vehicles park. Days before I had already seen a rat that was shot from under my car to a hole that is right next to my parking space. From the workshop they recommended preventive measures such as spraying in the vain motor or placing camphor balls, especially useful when the car remains a long time stopped. Of course, this should be done with the car standing and cold. I bought the spray as a temporary measure until they finished solving the hole in the garage. And now what. The priority is to cover the garage hole where the rats access, since the alternative remedies will be of little if the problem persists right next where I appear. Fortunately, it seems that garage insurance will cover the workshop spending, which good news for that part. In addition, we are already mobilizing the community to solve the problem of rats. I could have changed their garage directly, although things are not currently to make this decision lightly. We will see what everything is left. Cover image | Michael Fusert and Svetozar Cenisev In Xataka | The best -selling cars in 2024 and 2025 in Spain

In Castilla-La Mancha there is an unexpected crop that lives a record campaign and quadruple production: the pistachio

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The pistachio is more than a tasty dry fruit. It is also a millmillonary business and in full expansion that, according to The forecasts Data Bridge will exceed 5.8 billion dollars worldwide in less than a decade. In Spain (especially Castilla-La Mancha) Farmers They have noticed of that potential and are dedicating hectares and more hectares of field. Now the Castellanomanchegas cooperatives leave us a clue for how forceful that expansion is being: they expect this campaign to be their production spray records, multiplying by four The results of last exercise. One more test of the Pistachization of the fields. A fact: 8,900 tons. If the forecasts of the sector are met, 2025 will be a good year for the Spanish pistachio. Well no, great. At least if we talk about production. On Wednesday agro-food cooperatives Castilla-La Mancha (an organization that brings together almost 600 organizations of the region) revealed that this campaign expects to reap some 8,900 tons of fruit, which would far exceed the production level of last year and give a new sample of the accelerated rhythm to which They expand The pistachmen for the Castellanoleon field. Does it increase so much? Yeah. According to the agency Agrícola those 8,900 tons would quote the production of last year, which encrypts in just over 2,200. Moreover, community cooperatives already speak of “the greatest registered pistachio harvest to date” in their territory. They also hope that much of the fruits will be “high caliber and quality” and leave ecological farms. The Government of Castilla-La Mancha Calculate That in 2023 the dry pistachio harvest with shell reached 5,580 T in its territory, almost 75% of national production. Even taking that data as a reference, higher than 2024the increase provided by farmers for the current harvest would be remarkable. Why is it important? So it reveals to us about the sector and how it expands in the region. It is not strange that the volume of production dance from one campaign to another, sometimes increasing and in others decreasing. Just a year ago, for example, Castilla-La Mancha cooperatives were waiting for a “prick” in the amount of fruit collected (in November the forecasts pointed to about 4,900 tons of dry pistachio) due to the window character of the trees. Even so that cooperatives foresee that production quadruples this campaign, leaving a result that is promised historical, reveals an increasingly evident trend in Castilla-La Mancha: the growing weight pistachio plantations in the region. Figures on the margin, arrives with a walk through the Province of Toledo To observe how hectares of land that until recently they were dedicated to cereals or grass have been converted into plantations focused on the pistachio. Another figure: 64,400 hectares. The organization has shared Some figures that help to better understand that expansion. According to the spokesman of the Sectorial Commission, Ignacio Lobato, the surface of pistachio planted in Castilla-La Mancha has reached this year the 64,400 hectares. Of these are “in production” 16,400, the vast majority (12,215 ha) in dry land. In fact, the harvest increase this year is explained by the “input into production” of 5,550 ha. “This expansion of the surface in production represents a significant increase of 40% compared to the previous year, which is estimated there were 11,700 ha in production,” insists The professional group. It is not an exclusive phenomenon of the Manchega region. Recently Agroptium published A report That the increase in the surface dedicated to cultivation in Spain as a whole: from 15,000 ha in 2016, it went to 70,000 in 2022 and almost 78,500 in 2023. Earrings of Castilla-La Mancha. The forecasts of Castilla-La Mancha import because the region has managed to make a fundamental foothold in the pistacher sector nationally and internationally, even sneaking Among the main ones Pistacheras del Mundo areas. The data of the autonomous government show that the region brings together around 80% of the total area dedicated to pistachio plantations in the country and that at least 2023 concentrated almost 75% of the production: 5,580 t of dry fruit with a shell of the 7,550 t shelter of the whole of Spain. Images | Jake Belluci (Flickr) In Xataka | Dubai chocolate fever has had an unexpected effect: it has dynamited the world pistachio market

Very few countries in the world are dedicated to the industrial production of avocados. Now an unexpected one has joined: Japan

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Tsutomu Uchida is 64 years old, is a retired entrepreneur and for a while now He spends hours working on a plot located in the Shizuoka districtwhere different cultivation techniques prove. So far unusual. The funny thing is that Uchida is not dedicated to Plant riceneither soy nor Mikana very popular citrus in the region. No. His interest has little to do with traditional vegetables. What is trying to grow since 2020 are avocados, a plant that wakes up more interest in Japanese agriculture. The reason: the market … and climate change. What happened? That in Japan, Rice landcherries and citrus, there are farmers who begin to Look with interest A new variety of crop, a very popular in other latitudes but that has so far had an almost testimonial weight in the country of the rising sun: avocado. And the most curious thing is what that curiosity is awakening. Beyond the growing Internal demand or the Production increase Worldwide, the factor that has led Japanese farmers to plant avocados is climate change. Shizuoka avocado. The news I advanced it A few days ago The Japan Times: More and more farmers in Shizuoka Prefecture show interest in avocados. The phenomenon is curious for several reasons. First, because the traditional cultivation of that region is another good, the Mikana citrus similar to mandarin. The second reason is that this interest It is promoted by local authorities. Shizuoka Prefecture has just activated a triennial plan that aspires, among other goals, to develop cultivation techniques and sales channels focused on avocado. With that purpose the institution plans to invest over the coming months 18 million yen (about 100,000 euros) in investigations to improve local production. Putting his head. If everything goes as planned, in three years you will publish a manual for farmers. It may seem like a modest initiative, but it is quite significant: Shizuoka is one of the main producing regions of Mikan From Japan and right now the avocado cultivation in the country is very small. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2022 there were hardly any 34 tons who came out above all from Saga, Ehime and Wakayama, territories that (exact!) have always stood out for their citrus. TEMPERATURES QUESTION. The most curious thing is that this growing interest in avocado is not explained only for its internal demand or market prospects. At stake there is another equal or even more relevant factor for Japanese farmers: climate change. Their effects already They let themselves feel in the Rice crops and They threaten to punish to much of the plantations of Mikan of the country while They favor to those of avocado, a tree originally from Mesoamerica. “We cannot simply advance complaining about the negative impact of change on the agricultural environment. We are trying to convert this adversity into an opportunity and make the most of it,” Recognize to The Japan Times Yuji Hirano, responsible for agricultural strategies in the government of Shizuoka. With that clear idea, the prefecture probes the pros and cons of betting on a dozen subtropical crops in the region. Among them there was one that stood out for their “pull” in the market and that could also be favored by the weather: the avocado. But … what are they based on? In forecasts that draw such a promising scenario for avocado as a funeral for the Mikan. In March the National Organization for Agricultural and Food Research (Naro) public A report in which he warns that the future of citrus in Japan “will depend largely” on greenhouse gas emissions while avocado suitable areas could expand its current size more than 2.5 times by the middle of the century. An uncertain horizon. Nikkei It goes further And he warns that climate change can make that at the end of the Japanese century find that 80% of the areas that are right now for the cultivation of tangerines cease to be. With the land suitable for avocado plantations, a subtropical fruit, the opposite would happen: they would multiply by 7.7. “Maybe you think that a temperature difference of 1ºC does not mean much,” Clarify Toshihiko Sugiura, from Naro. “But for him Mikan It makes the difference. “ Hence the scenario can vary greatly depending on what happens in the coming years. If for 2100 the temperature rise does not exceed 1.4ºC the country may keep 80% of the current surface destined for Mikan. If the increase is 4.3ºC as soon as any. However, and although the increase in temperatures may make it easier, the avocado is not guaranteed in Japan either: the winter cold waves would mean a serious threat. The other key: the market. The other factor that explains Shizuoka’s interest in avocado should be sought in the market. The Japan Times remember that today the fruit is much more popular in the Japanese fruit shops than a few decades ago. And the data show it. In 1988, only 3,400 tons were imported. In 2020 there were already 80,000. That boom coincided with an increasing exposure of the fruit in the country’s media, which began to highlight its nutritional value as “superfiment” rich in vitamins and fiber. Today the avocado is already integrated from the diet of many Japanese and it is easy to find in supermarkets, although the nation basically depends on imports. The vast majority (at least in 2020) comes from Mexico, where they start around 85% of importsand Peru, which brings together about 11%. National production is scarce and is sold at prices greater than foreign fruit. Images | Eddie Pipocas (UNSPLASH), 光曦 刘 (UNSPLASH) and Rui Hao Lim (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | Japan is suffering a bankruptcy record from Ramen. And in part it is the result of the “1,000 yen barrier”

China has commissioned the largest battery of all its electricity network to an unexpected company: Tesla

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China has no problem parking Commercial tensions with the United States If it is for the benefit of the country. And the country needs Tesla for an increasingly pressing task: stabilize a network with more and more renewable participation. The largest battery in the largest network. China has selected Tesla to develop what will be the largest energy storage station at network scale throughout the country, surpassing the 1 GWh battery park in Shandong. The American giant He signed an agreement with the local government of Shanghai for 4,000 million yuan, 557 million dollars, to lift a gigantic station that can actively participate in the spot electricity market. China has the largest electricity grid and a renewable energy generation capacity in constant and massive growth. The Tesla battery station You can buy and store energy When demand and price are low, and then sell it to the network during consumption peaks, helping to balance supply and demand, and improving the general stability of the system. The business is in the megapacks. The Energy Division of Tesla does not stop growing, to the point of become a fundamental pillar of the company. The project engine is megapacks, Large storage units in 3.9 MWh batteries which can be used to stabilize the electricity grid and avoid supply cuts. It is no accident that the most ambitious battery station in China will be built in Shanghai. Just four months ago, Tesla launched a new Megapacks factory in the Lin-Gang area, where is also its car factory “Gigafactory Shanghai”. The new “Megafactory” is the first plant of this type out of the United States, and although it has barely been operational since February, it has already produced more than 100 megapacks. Tesla gets into the patio of Catl and Byd. They are “only business”, but the movement is still striking considering that Tesla is competing with Catl and Bydthe two Chinese giants who take 54% of the world battery market. Another way to see it is that China needs many batteries By the end of the year, the government expects to reach 40 GW of storage. But taking into account that the country installs half of the entire new capacity for renewables (329 GW in 2024), by the time the Tesla battery station in Shanghai enters service, the goal will have continued to rise. And Tesla will be just one of the puzzle pieces. Image | Tesla In Xataka | China manufactures more batteries than anyone. The problem: they accumulate next to the solar panels without storing energy

We thought that Japan’s tourist boom was an opportunity for AI. It has become an unexpected remedy

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Japan is one of those countries that one thinks knowing without having stepped on it. For his millenary temples, For their trains that exceed 300 km/hfor its technology and for its robots. That is why it does not strange that Millions of people Make the bags every year to travel their cities, their mountains and even its less known rural areas. What is surprising is this: how AI begins to break through where, until now, only human talent was accepted. The paradox is as Japanese as its culture: a country where hospitality is deeply valued, and, at the same time, where those who can practice it are scarce. Because if something has revealed the tourist tsunami that Japan is receiving is that the lack of bilingual guides has become a serious problem. It is not new. Many retired during the difficult years that the sector was going through during the pandemic, others changed from sector. But now the situation squeezes, and the country begins to respond. Where before there was a guide with smile, now there is an app with ia The scarcity of guides is not an anecdote. It is a reality that begins to leave a mark on the experience of thousands of travelers. As Nikkei Asia collectsJapan had something more than 46,000 bilingual guides. The figure included both licensed professionals and certified by local governments, and even people with sufficient knowledge and to perform that role. Four years later, the figure had fallen almost 20%. In 2023 there were about 37,700. The trend is still down. The reasons are understood quickly. The pandemia devastated the tourist calendars, froze reservations and left thousands of guides Freelance No stable income. Many looked for another way. Some retired. And although years have passed since those times, what has remained is an aging template: about 60 % of licensed guides are over 60 years old. If we talk about the official exam, in 2024 only 380 people approved it. The agencies notice it. Some recognize that they have had to Cancel or reprogram tours Because, simply, there was no one available to attend them. Before, when their workforce was at the limit, they could resort to independent professionals. Now, not that. And although Since 2018 Japan allows Make payment tours without the need for the official license, a good part of tourists and agencies continue to prefer authorized guides, with knowledge, accreditations and, above all, trust. Today, in places like Okinawa, there are tourists who prefer the robotic voice of applications such as the operator Cerulean Blue before running out of tour. The system detects its location by means of the mobile GPS, shows real -time information with augmented reality and active audioguías as the visitor advances. That gesture, almost imperceptible, says much of the present … and perhaps also of the future. Because AI still does not improvise jokesHe does not feel pride when talking about his city, he does not respond with a smile. But when the guide does not arrive, technology seems to be ready to respond. And the most interesting thing is that tourism is not an isolated case. What is happening with the guides is part of a broader pattern that begins to be noticed strongly in Japan. In agriculture, for example, Companies are using Apps based on AI capable of identifying plants diseases with just one photo. In schools, English teachers do not supply, so some already use virtual assistants who talk with students. In public administration, municipalities Like Yokosuka They have started using Chatgpt To summarize meetings and write documents. According to calculations of the Consistory itself, the time saving is counted in thousands of hours a year. All this responds to the same structural problem: the lack of hands. Japan is a technological power, yes. But it is also a country that is aging and has a very low birth rate. Images | Micah Camper | Angel | Geoff Oliver In Xataka | Japan has realized that to welcome 60 million tourists, something lacks: workers in the hotels

At his departure from Valladolid, Ryanair has left an unexpected death injured: airport coffee

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Ryanair’s impact is not only counted by the number of flights he leaves in an airport. Not at least where they are a key piece in the operation of a regional square such as Valladolid, where Its march has reduced by 60% The number of travelers who pass through their facilities. Last January, the company announced that this summer would close operations at the Valladolid airport. The decision entered into the Pressure measures that the company is applying against the government for discrepancies related to the collection of hand suitcases or rates that Aena Cobra for operating in the facilities. This pressure tool translated into a reduction in operations in seven airports. In Vigo, for example, Ryanair has eliminated their seats by 61% available. But the highest figure is not always the one that does the most damage because you have to pay attention to the specific impact that the company has on the airport. And in Valladolid it was huge. So much that the volume of travelers at the city airport has been reduced by 63.2% According to data offered by AENA. But the company’s march not only has a direct impact on the offer of flights that are now available the Valladolid. It impacts the workers of the airport itself. Like those of its cafeteria. Three workers dismissed due to lack of work The story brings it first hand The North of Castile. The local media has interviewed César Carreras, a cafeteria dealer of the Valladolid airport who says that with the march of Ryanair, 80% of the clientele has vanished. In less than a year, Carreras has seen how the airport was emptied without Ryanair’s operations (which stopped operating on March 28) but with The previous flying of Vuelingwhich stopped offering the Valladolid-Barcelona route in June last year. Right now, Binter is the only company that operates the airport but has no daily trips. “This month They only work two days a week“, says the head of the cafeteria. Specifies that travelers have left but that there is also an employee hole, since only four workers of all employees that the company maintained in Valladolid remains in the facilities although performing other work. He explains that only the days that there are flights and just for three hours are exploding to cafeteria because the rest of the day the airport remains practically empty. He explains that now he only works the cafeteria and that he has had to fire three employees. At the moment, it remains in the concession because it would have “problems” to leave it and because it can give the service itself since it has another open business. When Ryanair announced that Valladolid left and Jerez and what reduced its operations I already talked about the decision would leave “Half -empty regional airports” although he blamed the march and reduction of operations to the alleged high rates of Aena. Those Aena rates They are the ones used to maintain the minimum services of an airport (security, cleaning …) and from the company ensure that they are extremely low in regional airports because there are multiple discounts to make them attractive. At the moment, they say, they are operating just two euros per passenger. What has long resonates is the fine that the Ministry of Consumption imposed on Ryanair for the collection of the hand luggage suitcase. For the Government, the allowed dimensions are extremely reduced and do not cover the definition of “essential” to which it obliges European regulations. Consequently imposed a sanction of more than 100 million euros. That fine was the one that precipitated everything, since Ryanair understands that without a more concrete definition he has no reason to let in the cabin that They exceed 40x20x25 cm measures collected in its most basic rate. Therefore, they assure that the collection for the cabin trolley It is perfectly legal. Something that seems, It will be ratified in a few months by the European Union itself. Photo | Fred Rivett and Fahmi Fakhrudin In Xataka | Curves are coming in summer: Ryanair wants more controllers in Spain and if he does not get them there will be delays

The house is getting so impossible in Madrid that people are returning to an unexpected place: seseña

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Real estate markets have their own symbols. For years Seseña was from Lick, The real estate bubble which exploded in 2008. Today is something very different: the housing crisis which faces Madrid (and Spain), which has allowed that ancient ghost city associated with Francisco Hernando‘El Pozero’, being reborn strongly. With prices in climbing And a serious housing deficit In the capital, more and more people look out of Madrid when they have to look for a house, to localities such as ValladolidSegovia … or seseña, where It has resumed construction and arise New promotions residential AND It is not the only “Ghost city” that is gaining impulse thanks to the families expelled from Madrid for a market that increasingly tightens Your pockets. Of brick bubble icon … For years Seseña, especially THE PAU THE QUIÑÓN (The city projected by ‘Paco el Pocero’) was an icon of the years of brick excess and The real estate bubble. Also of his hangover. Those who bought in the middle of the urban maelstrom found a kind of “Ghost Barrio”homes in the hands of banks and a fractured market in which prices did not stop falling. If in 2007 a two bedroom floor cost almost 200,000 euros, seven years later, with the banks desperate to get rid of the properties, it could be bought by less than half: about 60,000 euros. … to enjoy a golden age. Today things are different in Seseña. After years with half -building works and worried For the Okupas, the town is living a new golden age. Families arrive. They open business and services. Projects such as PARQUIJOTE. And they raise New promotions. In 2023 The newspaper He spoke of two major projects: an urbanization of 156 houses that moved between 110,500 and just over 200,000 euros and another of chalets. The change has been cooking for some time. Almost a decade ago The countryHe dedicated him A wide report in which he explained how the residential city the Quiñón was gaining impulse little by little, with families, businesses and services. At that time the newspaper spoke of 6,411 inhabitants. Last year Antena3 again analyzed the situation of the Macro Urbanization Toledana and He found An increase in the number of residents, in addition to a growing demand for housing. “Three years ago you could find a house easily here. Now it is almost impossible,” explained At that time Vanesa, a woman who had installed time before in the Toledo urbanization after buying a four -room house with storage room, garage and pool for about 150,000 euros. Waiting list to buy. The last clue on the rebirth of the urbanization of Seseña gave it A few days ago Reuters, who has found The growing interest by the town. Although it is about 40 kilometers south of the capital and does not have the best connections and public transport, more and more families seem interested in settling in their apartments. Reuters speak With an agency that had a waiting list of 70 people for each home. Seseña (and something else). The area has also seen how the new work was also activated. Promotora Impact Homes, for example, is promoting a promotion of 156 homes which started in 2023. Its goal is to have it ready throughout this year. In the sector there is even talk of presale levels of almost 50% In new buildings. “Seseña is 100%,” celebrates the mayor, Jaime de Hita. His is not the only town in Madrid that has seen how his brick was activated. Something similar It has happened in Valdeluzurbanization located 75 km from Madrid that It was halfway after the outbreak of the real estate bubble. Its mayor wait that the population triggers over the next few years. Reuters appointment even a third example: an urbanization located on the outskirts of Bernuy de Porrerosapproximately 100 kilometers north of Madrid, which has also recovered the activity after remaining almost abandoned. And what is the reason? All these populations have something in common: their relative proximity to Madrid, which makes them an attractive destination for families that end up being expelled from the capital for the high cost of their home. Is The case For example, from Nestor, an employee of the construction sector who four years ago left Carabanchel to move with his family to Seseña. Living in Seseña requires you to get up every day at dawn and take the 6.30 h bus that takes it to the capital, but the price gap makes that discomfort more than assumable. In his day Nestor moved to Seseña because the rentals were there 20% lower than those of Madrid, Explainand a few months ago he decided to take another step and become an owner: together with his wife, he bought an apartment in the Toledo town for 240,000 euros. “We chose this close site because we can pay it. Madrid is very expensive right now,” The man tells. Is it a unique case? No. It comes rapidly to the newspaper library to meet Testimonies of families who have decided to settle in Seseña or professionals in the sector who attend the rebirth of urbanization and its buildings. “They seemed monsters that were going to stand for the future, but the need for housing has caused them to reactivate,” confesses A real estate to Tele5. “We move in prices below 200,000 euros. That is impossible in Madrid.” Money issue (and km). Seseña is not the only town to which the families expelled by the Madrid real estate marketthat only in the last year has seen how housing became more expensive, According to idealist. The improvement (and cheaper) of communications, especially the train, has caused Segovia or even Valladolid being hosting people who work for companies in the capital. In those municipalities they find homes at prices that, such as I recently recognized A family installed in Valladolid, “Nor would they smell” in Madrid. Images | Seseña City Council, Wikipedia and Seseña is more (Flickr) In … Read more

The commercial war between China and the US has had an unexpected injury: Starbucks

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Just a year ago we talked to Xataka of the delicate moment through Starbucks. A year later, the world’s largest coffee chain deepens the crisis of its business model, now trapped between those structural problems, which came from afar, and a new problem: Trump’s tariffs. The current situation. Starbucks accumulates five consecutive quarters of falls In sales in the United States. Only in the last quarter, transactions fell 4%, although average customer expenditure increased by 3%. It does not matter: that increase is insufficient to compensate for the loss of traffic in coffee shops if customers look for cheaper alternatives like Dunkin ‘or McDonald’s. Why is it important. The company depends on coffee imported from more than 30 countries, and with The new 10% tariffshis commitment not to raise prices in 2025 further complicates the recovery of his margins, which were already down. The context. What for years was an unstoppable growth story, tripling its premises from 2012 to exceed 40,000 in 2024, it has now become a struggle to maintain its profitability. The United States, its main market, is saturated. And China, its great growth commitment, has its own problems. The US market shows clear signs of maturity with a growth of premises that has slowed down. In China, although it has almost doubled its stores in five years, income has stagnated, with flat interannual sales (0% last quarter). The latter has a lot to do with Nationalist consumption That put local alternatives before. The threat. Beyond tariffs, Starbucks has other open fronts around its business model. Between the lines. The new CEO Brian Niccol, signing of Chipotle with music from Fanfarrias, has launched the Plan “Back to Starbucks“To recover the essence that made the company great. However, he recently recognized that “our results of the second quarter are disappointing,” although he also said he “confidence that our plan is the right strategy to turn the business.” The unexpected turn. Despite all these problems, Niccol maintains its commitment to freeze prices in 2025, a brave decision (and we will see if reckless) when their competitors will surely increase them due to the impact of tariffs. It is true that this strategy could give it competitive advantage if it manages to control its margins on other ways, but it is also that these margins are increasingly constrained. In figures. The financial situation explains the deterioration of the business: The actions almost 30% have fallen From the announcement of tariffs. Its adjusted operational margin of the last quarter was 8.2%, quite below the expected 9.5%. The benefits collapsed more than 50% compared to the previous year, to 384 million dollars. The company accumulates 23,000 million net debt, with a indebtedness ratio superior to triple. The latest. Starbucks has already implemented several measures to contain costs: Elimination of extra charges for alternative milks. Reduction of customization options. Product discontinuation. Free recharges offer for those who consume in their establishments. The question now is whether these measures will be enough in the face of an increasingly hostile economic environment, where consumption habits are changing and the experience that previously defined Starbucks no longer seems sufficient to justify their prices. In Xataka | Specialty coffee is expensive and there is something that increases it even more: to remove caffeine Outstanding image | Xataka

An unexpected buyer is turning houses, temples and abandoned factories from Japan into tourist accommodations: China

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Something is happening in Japan for a while to this part, a phenomenon that began with waves of Chinese tourists who came to the nation To stayand then extended through zones, where the proliferation of “new chinatowns” was giving rise to neighborhoods with Chinese than Japanese. The theme became something more serious when this “chinification” reached one of the national bastions: Pop culture. The latest: Beijing is buying its most traditional architecture and turning it into Resort tourist. Kyoto as shuttle. He told him Nikkei weekend In an extensive report. In a Japan where modernity threatens to eclipse centuries of tradition, the figure of Yuichi Ishikura embodies a phenomenon as unexpected as decisive: the Rescue of the architectural heritage traditional by Chinese citizens. Born in the province of Fujian and raised from adolescence in Kyoto, Ishikura found her vocation after a personal experience in a guest house during her university studies in the United States. Upon his return to Japan in 2015, with just 23 years, he acquired his first Machiya (Typical narrow and deep wood housing built since the EDO period) for just over 10 million yen. He transformed it into a tourist accommodation and, in just three years, he had recovered his investment. Since then he has renewed More than 60 properties Similar, including the Shichikutei house, near the Kyoto station, and has declared its intention to become the number one operator of Machiyas throughout Japan. The threat of the Machiya. It is not a trivial theme in Japan. The Kyo-Machiya are architectural jewelry of the old capital, and are disappearing to the alarming rhythm of about 800 a yearpressed for the high cost of its maintenance, inheritance taxes and the real estate voracity that replaces them with apartments and floors. And while the Japanese seem to resign themselves to that disappearance, foreign investors (especially of Chinese origin) They are turning that crisis into the opportunity. Here, like Nikkei explainedFigures like Lee Wendy, a native restorative of Shanghai who have rehabilitated 40 Machiya and perfectly reflect this trend. The phenomenon has grown so much that, according to a study by the city of Kyoto, a 30 % of the accommodations Under municipal license are in the hands of some 500 foreigners, many of them Chinese buyers who have converted these traditional houses in tourist accommodations without losing their aesthetic or historical value. Temples for sale. The phenomenon is not limited to houses. In rural areas such as Shiso, in Hyogo Prefecture, Buddhist temples They have also started Change hands in the absence of successors priests. One of these temples, acquired by a Chinese buyer after the death of the main priest in 2017, has generated local controversy for the informal use of the enclosure. Meanwhile, other temples have had to publicly go out to Define rumors Sales disseminated on platforms as Rednotea Chinese social network in which deceptive ads circulate that promise tax benefits for acquiring religious properties. One of the most popular cases was the Jisso-in Monzeki templewith 800 years of history, which He denied categorically Be for sale, after detecting false publications aimed at Chinese investors. The fiscal attractiveness. Behind this fever for acquiring temples, sanctuaries and Japanese traditional houses Nikkei had That there is a double attraction: on the one hand, the cultural and architectural value that represents for many Chinese citizens a difficult heritage in their native country. On the other, and equally important, the favorable fiscal conditions For religious institutions in Japan, which attract investors with commercial vision. Real estate sector executives in Osaka confirm that they have intermediate in the sale of religious properties to companies based in Hong Kong and are currently promoting other enclosures in Kyoto and Nara. And the sake. The phenomenon has gone much further. The conservation of the cultural legacy has also reached other spheres. In 2019, Zhou Chunbao, Shanghai businessman, Matsuoshuzojo acquireda historic Sake distillery in the saga prefecture that was on the verge of closing due to management problems. Motivated by their desire that the Chinese people know the Japanese culture through the Sake, Zhou revitalized the company and its production, which in 2022 reached regional recognition by winning the highest award in the Junmai Daiginjo category. Zhou’s intervention saved from oblivion a local institution whose history goes back at the end of the Edo period, at a time when the sake industry is It has drastically reducedwith a 40 % decrease in the number of distilleries and a 20 % drop of its historical volume of national sales. The “soul” of Japan. Thus, and while the tangible heritage of Japan (from traditional houses to centenary temples and ancestral distilleries) faces a slow but constant disappearance due to the lack of successors, it seems that it is a generation of Chinese investors who are willing to assume the challenge of keeping it. What for some represents a loss of cultural control, for others it becomes an unexpected form of continuity. Thus, in the face of the passivity or inability of certain local sectors, new heirs (Chinese) are arranged not only to invest capital, but also to revalue with sensitivity and pragmatism that for centuries has been the material essence of Japanese identity. Image | GIVE CRUSE In Xataka | Japan is living something unpublished in its most emblematic neighborhoods: the “chinification” of anime and video games In Xataka | A phenomenon that has already happened in New York is spreading throughout Japan: neighborhoods with younger than Japanese

The commercial war between the United States and China is having an unexpected victim: Christmas trees

by

At the doors of Holy Week and with half a pending country, in Spain almost no one (Neither Abel Caballero) Think of Christmas. In China The thing is different. There the factories that are dedicated to manufacturing the ornaments and trees that decorate the US households every December should be receiving orders that do not just arrive. And in the industry there are little doubt what the reason is: the Commercial War raised 145% (If you take into account 20% applied by the export of fentanyl precursors) the rates to Chinese imports. What is less clear is … What will happen at Christmas? Where are the orders? That is the question that Chinese companies are being asked that are dedicated to manufacturing Christmas ornaments and trees. Yes, we are still in early April; but under normal conditions they should be receiving orders from their US clients. And it is not so. The news The Reuters agency advanced yesterday, which has spoken with the administrator of a Jinhua Christmas tree factory that has even seen how one of its partners on the other side of the Pacific suspended an order worth $ 400,000. And that the Chinese company has already invested $ 54,000 in materials. His great fear is now that the commission is annulled. “No request”. Jinhua is not an isolated case. Nor unique. Reuters He has spoken with other Chinese Christmas manufacturers that point in a similar direction. “We are concerned that US orders decrease,” explains the owner of another factory dedicated to Shaoxing Christmas decoration. The person responsible for a third company admits that at least the situation breaks with the experience of past years. “In mid -April all orders are usually finished, but now … it is difficult to know if any will come,” The manager tells from Jinhua. So far they have not registered “any request” from the US. And what is the cause? For China manufacturers there are few doubts. Or none. If 2025 is being an anomalous exercise for them is basically The commercial war unleashed on the other side of the ocean and that has been climbing. “Of course it is the tariffs,” assumes one of the entrepreneurs in the sector. After all, the tariff war may have intensified over the last days, after The act starring Trump in the Rosaleda de la Casa White with his already famous tariff table by countries and regions; But the word tariff (the favorite of the Republican) has been grabbing headlines for months. And one of the countries that He has always been In the focus is China, as was already happening in His first mandate. A figure: 145%. The result is that in the middle of April the Trump policy and the resurgence of the commercial war between Beijing and Washington (which has resulted in a mutual exchange of attacks and counterattacks tariffs) threatens to have an unexpected victim: Christmas. For now, Chinese merchandise to the US faces a tariff rise in the 125%percentage to which another 20% applied by the commercialization of fentanyl precursors. If we talk about Christmas ornament, USA and China maintain a more than prominent relationship. According to Reuters calculations 87% of the supply of American retailers dedicated to Christmas decoration comes from the factories of the Asian giant, which in turn half of their production to the US. “My colleagues and I depend on American orders to survive,” assumes Jessica Guo, administrator of a Christmas tree factory. Christmas decoration (and something else). At stake there is more than the Christmas ornament or that the US halls have more or less garlands, foams and artificial trees this year. That the sector goes well or badly translates into employment. And in millions of dollars. Two data arrives to get an idea. The merchandise acquired by American retailers in China reaches a value of 4,000 million of dollars. As for employment, only in Jinhua there is a factory of artificial trees of almost 11,000 m2 that normally uses 140 people, a template that can be elevated to 200 employees during the months of greater activity. Except for surprise, everything indicates that in 2025 it will not be necessary. Is there alternative? That is the other big question. And twice. Does China have an alternative market with which to compensate in a puncture of the American demand? And do the US companies have to the Asian giant to stock up on figurines and trees with lights? None will have it easy. In China, domestic demand for Christmas decoration is low and there are already businesses thinking about strengthening their efforts in Russia, Europe or Southeast Asia, which are an important part of the sales cake. Yet, days ago A local businessman shared with Reuters his “concern.” The situation in the US. The US can also look at other suppliers, but without getting rid of the elongated shadow of tariffs. Another country with some weight in the production of Christmas ornaments is Cambod 49% to imports from that country. From the sector they also question that manufacturing ends up moving to the US, as the Republican leader aspires. “There is no technology or labor market,” They recognize To the agency. Result: Ten months seen worries since those who want to decorate their houses face a price increase. Images | Frames for Your Heart (UNSPLASH), Gage Skidmore (Flickr) and Trong Khiem Nguyen (Flickr) In Xataka | In the middle of the largest commercial chaos, olive oil seems immune thanks to a factor: consumption in Spain

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