tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-178493832024-03-08T09:15:37.863+09:00Smokin' MirrorsStories to keep your brain healthy.willie101http://www.blogger.com/profile/12746071721025685020noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17849383.post-3639601724116311492009-09-02T22:36:00.001+09:002009-09-29T16:21:23.294+09:00<br />
<div><embed src="http://static.issuu.com/webembed/viewers/style1/v1/IssuuViewer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" menu="false" quality="high" scale="noscale" salign="l" flashvars="mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fdark%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true&documentId=090929071706-cbaf87cfd23041f39686b4860eec8327&docName=sm_mag&username=willhemina&loadingInfoText=smokin'%20mirrors&et=1254208842532&er=45" style="width:420px;height:262px" name="flashticker" align="middle"></embed><div style="width:420px;text-align:left;"><a href="http://issuu.com/willhemina/docs/sm_mag?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fdark%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true" target="_blank">Open publication</a> - Free <a href="http://issuu.com" target="_blank">publishing</a> - <a href="http://issuu.com/search?q=politics" target="_blank">More politics</a></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Japan's entrepreneurial scheme goes abroad</i> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">B</span></span></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">y Willhemina Wahlin and Dr Kaoru Natsuda</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;">The One Village One Product (OVOP) scheme is a way of rethinking the possibilities for small, rural populations, introducing ways to re-brand what they do best. Founded in the Kyushu prefecture of Oita over 20 years ago, it’s now being exported to some of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Still riddled with challenges, its greatest potential is the entrepreneurial independence it encourages in many of the world’s poorest communities.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
<br />
</span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_jan-feb_2008_one-village-one-product" style="font-family: verdana;">More</a><br />
</span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-style: italic;">This story was original published in the January 2008 issue of J@pan Inc Magazine. For subscriptions to the magazine, go to: http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_subscriptions</span><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Thanks for the support!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Images courtesy of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency)</span></span><br />
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Still a predominantly male-dominated society, it’s not surprising that Japan, which rates seventh in the United Nations Human Development Index, only made it to 69th in the same report’s Gender-related Development Index, and 42nd in the Gender Empowerment Index for 2006.</span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Slow as it may be, change is on the way. Feeling the squeeze from all sides, including low birth rates and an ageing population, Japan’s severe underutilization of women in the workforce no longer makes any good economic sense. What’s more, many are realizing that the type of management that women can provide could well be the key to once more unlocking Japan’s economic might.</span></p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:130%;">J@pan Inc spoke to four women who have enjoyed success in fields as diverse as government bureaucracy, business and non-profit organizations. They discuss their own experiences as professionals, and offer some interesting ideas on the future of women in the workplace in Japan.</span></p><a href="http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_sep-oct_2007_issue_women-in-the-workplace"><span style="font-family:arial;">More</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This story was originally published in the September, 2007 Issue of J@pan Inc Magazine.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>willie101http://www.blogger.com/profile/12746071721025685020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17849383.post-1157166370389319152006-09-02T11:51:00.000+09:002006-09-02T12:07:46.870+09:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/Motherfuckers.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/Motherfuckers.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span id="KonaBody"><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;">Hollywood in La La Land</span></span><br /><br />In a joint statement made in an advertisement in the LA Times this week, some of Hollywood's most powerful actors, producers, directors, studio bosses and media moguls condemned terrorism. Why don't we call terrorism what it is - the new red menace - and then we'll all know we're back in the throws of Mc</span><span id="KonaBody">Carthyism and be done.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.thecheers.org/article_1963_Smokin-Mirrors-Hollywood-in-LA-LA-Land.html">More</a><br /><br /><br /><br />Pic: Niciole Kidman presents the Humanitarian Award to Rupert Murdoch...somewhere, someone is laughing very hard.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/politics-header.4.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/politics-header.2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" >This Story was originally published for The Cheers Magazine's Political Column.<br />The Smokin' Mirrors political column is published every Friday at http://www.thecheers.org</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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So the protocol's redfaced host country is bumping up its involvement in the treaty's three mechanisms: Joint Implementation, the Clean Development Mechanism and Carbon Emissions Trading. Although still in their infant stage, these mechanisms are already big business. Japanese corporations are among the world's largest investors in carbon credits. Strangely, however, there are no plans to require mandatory emission reductions or to create a trading scheme within Japan. While certain government ministries are still debating the best course of action, Japanese corporations have been there, bought that. Environmental groups contend that if Japan is to reach its target it must adopt more stringent domestic measures, and quickly, to coincide with the investment boom in carbon credits offshore. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol</span></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The protocol requires all Annex I (developed nation) signatories to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% of the baseline 1990 levels by 2012. Each nation is given individual targets to achieve this, Japan's being 6%. Non-Annex I countries (developing countries such as China, India and Brazil) are not bound to set target reductions, but are encouraged to reduce emissions. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">For Japan, one of the biggest challenges to reducing domestic emissions is its abatement cost. "According to one estimate, "explains Mr. Hisane Misake, a commentator on international economics, "it costs Japan about $110 to eliminate a ton of carbon, compared with about $80 for Europe and $50 for the US, on average." </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Despite this, there is still much that can be done domestically, but the government is reluctant to take measures that might reduce its corporations' competitiveness. This has become a sticking point between the Ministry of Environment (MOE), which favours an environmental tax on fossil fuels, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), a proponent of private sector investment in overseas projects in preference to mandatory target reductions for industry. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">The three protocol mechanisms come under the auspices of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC). This regulatory body approves applications for Joint Implementation and Clean Development Mechanism projects, and monitors their progress to ensure they are delivering measurable greenhouse gas reductions before carbon emission reductions credits are earned. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Joint Implementation</span></strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Joint Implementation is the exchange by two Annex I nations of ideas or technology for reducing emissions. This could be technology for solar panels, wind farms, or still evolving technologies for renewable energy or improvements in energy efficiency.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><strong>The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)</strong></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This mechanism has the potential to accelerate investment in developing countries sustainably, by encouraging Annex I countries to invest funds in or provide technology transfers for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Non-Annex I countries. This earns Annex I countries or their corporations carbon credits, which can be put toward their target reductions. </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Japan's many CDM projects include the destruction of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs) and other greenhouse chemicals, methane gas capture from Brazilian landfills and Chinese coal mines, and biomass (such as electric power generation from rice husks in Thailand). </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">CDM has two stipulations. Firstly, a project must be additional - that is, without the existence of CDM it would not have happened. For example, the Gangwon Wind Park Project in the Republic of Korea received the financial backing of two Japanese corporations, Marubeni and Eurus Energy Japan. The project qualified as 'additional' because budgetary constraints would otherwise have induced the Korean Government to build fossil fuel plants rather than invest in renewable energies. CDM provided an avenue for both parties to benefit from the technology transfer: the wind farm reduces Korea's carbon emissions and fossil fuel dependency, and the investors earn carbon credits. Marubeni, in particular, is increasingly interested in trading credits; so CDM is a valuable investment. This project also addressed CDM's second stipulation: that a project have sustainable development value for the host nation. Wind, a renewable energy source, is a favourite of environmental groups. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">CDM projects can be controversial, because not all that have been approved can be regarded as additional or sustainable. One such type of project is the destruction of powerful greenhouse gases, such as HFCs. The trick is that a carbon credit is worth 1 tonne of CO2 emission reductions, and while CO2 is certainly the most prevalent and problematic of all the greenhouse gases, it is not the most powerful. For instance, if a company destroys a tonne of HFC, which has 11,700 times the global warming potential of CO2, it can earn up to 11,700 carbon credits, instead of just the one for carbon dioxide. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">However, HFC destruction projects, while not unbeneficial, hold little sustainable development value for the host country. "It's an already proven technology," says Naoyuki Yamagishi, the World Wildlife Fund Japan's Climate Change Policy Officer. "It's easier to do in developing countries. You actually just purchase the equipment and the plant, and that's it."</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">METI shares this opinion of these types of high-yielding projects. However, its Director of Environmental Affairs, Dr. Hiroshi Yamagata, says while the government encourages investment in sustainable projects rather than 'over the counter' market trading, such projects must be cost effective, ensuring the maximum amount of credits for the taxpayer's yen. To date, the government has invested most heavily in HFC destruction, landfill-gas capturing and other high-yield projects; its investment in renewables or energy efficiency has been minimal. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Trading companies invest in CDM to earn potentially lucrative carbon credits. They have plunged head first into the high-yield projects, particularly HFC destruction. Renewable and energy efficiency projects require a greater commitment by developers and have a relatively longer payback horizon in terms of earning credits. Some investors have called for a review of the approval process for CDM projects. They blame the lengthy, complicated process for steering companies away from renewable energy projects to projects with the fastest returns. This is cause for concern environmentalists, who would like to see the full potential of CDM realized.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);"><strong>Carbon Emissions Trading</strong></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Carbon trading allows a country to 'buy the right' to emit greenhouse gases. This is more than just allowing wealthy countries to buy the right to pollute. Firstly, there are two systems under which a country can sell a credit: if they are under their emission allowance, they can sell their credits, or they can earn credits through hosting project-based schemes, such as joint implementation and CDM. Credits can be exchanged for cash, equity or participation in projects that provide 'in-kind' contributions. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There are a growing number of Carbon Funds specializing in carbon trading, both for governments and the private sector. Popular are pooled funds. Investors pool their funds and a specialist administrative body buys credits on their behalf. Japan Carbon Finance is a good example of a pooled fund. Its overseeing bodies, the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), manage approximately US$145 million for some of Japan's largest corporations to purchase credits on behalf of the Japan Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (JGRF). Japanese trading companies have invested in funds all over the world. While some of these companies, which have other divisions in heavy industry, such as Mitsubishi, could use their market-acquired credits for their own voluntary emission reductions, they could, hypothetically, also sell them for a profit to the Japanese government in the future, and if the prices of credits rise as expected, the return could be hefty. The current market price for credits is around US$8-15, and if future predictions are correct, that price could rise to US$25 in just a few years. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Japan has officially announced it will use credits for 1.6% of its target reductions, but this figure is only for the government. While the private sector is not legally bound to reduce its emissions, pressure from Keidanren has seen major polluters accept high voluntary targets in order to avoid mandatory ones. This means they have plenty of interest in accruing credits of their own, but, as explained below, it does not provide the opportunity of a domestic trading scheme within Japan. This means that, aside from the possible credits Japanese investment firms could later sell to the government, the estimated 100 million carbon credits that the Japanese government will need within the next five years must be purchased from international sources. For Japan, the danger is that once the deadline for targets draws closer, many companies from the EU could start scouring the international market for credits, outside of their domestic trading scheme, which could drive up the price. For Japanese trading companies, this could be a windfall, but it could prove disastrous for the government, the sole Japanese body legally bound to a target. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Within the Kyoto Protocol, each Annex I country must include domestic measures as part of its overall plan to reduce emissions. The Japanese government introduced the Climate Change Program in 2002, upon ratification of the protocol, which included the introduction of over 200 policies and measures to mitigate climate change. This was followed by the Kyoto Achievement Plan of April 2005, which the Japanese government just recently amended again in March/April 2006. The plan has allocated a US$100 million budget for 2006 and authorized the government agency NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) to use that money to acquire carbon credits on behalf of the government. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">However, what's also notable is that the plan does not call for reduction of emissions stemming from energy use. This is strange. Japan's complete blow-out of its target is partly attributable to the energy sector, most notably the Tepco nuclear accident of 1999, which caused the temporary shutdown of 17 nuclear reactors, boosting the need for thermal power. Such interruptions to Japan's nuclear power supply raised emissions by 4.9%, yet METI remains reluctant to set mandatory targets for industry, or consider the benefits of a domestic trading scheme. Dr. Yamagata explains that there will be no such scheme in Japan "because Japanese industries have a voluntary fund...[the] Association of Power Companies [has] committed to a 20% reduction of kilowatt power until 2010 - this is very high pressure on the companies." He added that it may be difficult for other nations to comprehend the cultural reasons for such a decision. "In the Edo era, the samurai, once they commit to something and fail, he has to cut," Dr. Yamagata said, making a slashing gesture across his stomach. Asked, then, if reductions in the energy sector depend on the samurai spirit, he laughed, "I hope so."</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">But Mr. Yamagishi explains that the WWF would very much like to see a domestic trading scheme within Japan. "Introducing domestic emissions trading means that each company has to curtail its own emissions, [as they] have the same amount of emission allowances. In that way, each company has a more direct incentive to reduce emissions." </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A possible cause for METI's reluctance to set mandatory targets for industry is that its principal objective is to support Japanese industry in maintaining, and improving, its international competitiveness. So for METI, the push for investment into Joint Implementation and CDM projects makes a lot of sense, as projects in developing countries would be much cheaper investments, in turn lowering the cost of abatement. Now that the budget is passed and NEDO given full authority to act on the government's behalf, Dr. Yamagata is keen for the government to start investing in many more projects right away.</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" ><strong>The Japan Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Most of the large utility corporations in Japan have invested heavily in the JGRF. Mr Takao Aiba, the Development Bank of Japan's (DBJ) Deputy Director of the Policy Planning Department of Environmentally Sustainable Development, first raised the idea of CDM investment back in 1999. "When we began to talk with Japanese companies in the year 2000-2001, their response was not so great and only a limited number of power companies were interested in [the idea]." Many of the companies Mr. Aiba approached had planned on more independent purchasing schemes, mainly through the use of carbon funds. "But without government backing their procurement is not safe," he said, adding that JGRF has the backing of both MOE and METI. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">JGRF's investors include Tokyo Electric, Nippon Oil, Sony, Sharp and JGC Corporation, spanning the utility, manufacturing and oil, engineering and trading sectors. Mr. Aiba, who has worked within the field of climate change policy for many years, is a strong believer in the potential of CDM, and while the JGRF has invested in many high-yielding projects, its main project area is in biomass. "CDM is quite important to stimulate activities in developing countries, especially China or India, with rapidly growing economies," Mr Aiba says. "In that sense CDM has very good potential to combat climate change in the long-term." He added that today many corporations approach JGRF with money to invest, and there is the possibility that they may someday assist the government in credit acquisition. Japan Carbon Fund, which buys credits and then sells them to JGRF, has announced the achievement of half of its credit acquisition target. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">But the fastest movers in CDM project investment and credit acquisition have been the Japanese trading companies, such a Mitsui, Sumitomo and Mitsubishi (some of which are, cleverly enough, also investing in JGRF). In fact, a cornering of the high-yield project market has ensured that such projects have just about all dried up. "High-global warming potential projects are now largely all assigned," said Dr. Euan Low, Tokyo Representative of the global engineering consultants Mott MacDonald. "Japanese trading companies know the detail of every single factory in the world producing hydrochlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide etc. Emissions reductions purchase agreements have been secured to provide remedial technologies and to buy the credits at an agreed price." For a relatively low investment cost, these trading companies have managed to accrue large amounts of credits with little risk. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There's no doubt that Japan knows a good investment when it sees one. CDM in particular has the potential to radically improve development assistance to poorer countries. But as altruistic as its investment in CDM might seem, Japan still cannot avoid the fact that much remains to be done on the home front. This is clearly visible in everyday life here. Truck drivers nap with their diesels idling and supermarkets package groceries in polystyrene. These are small things, for sure, but they add up to indifference to climate change. </span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Japan has a real chance to reach its target by 2012, but it must keep an eye on its own backyard.</span><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:85%;" ></span><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:85%;" ><a href="http://www.japaninc.com"><img style="" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/japaninctophearder.6.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>This article was orginally published in the Summer 2006 Issue of </em></span><a href="http://www.japaninc.com"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Japan Inc. Magazine</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>.<br /></em></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Illustration above by Shigeo Endo (Creative Director, Japan Inc. Magazine)</em></span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:85%;" ></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bqpH8w2tqUE?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bqpH8w2tqUE?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object><br />
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<span style="color: #ff9900;">An Oita Sea-Change</span></span></b><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 85%;"><i>by Willhemina Wahlin</i></span></div><div align="justify" style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: 85%;"><i><br />
</i></span>On a recent trip to Oita Prefecture, on Kyushu Island, for Golden Week, my husband's parents booked us into an "onsen" (hot spring) hotel in the mountains just outside Oita City. After a quiet afternoon nap, I was the first to wake and make my way down to the bathhouse, where I found steamrooms, saunas and a variety of tubs, one even filled with roses of every color. Just when I was thinking that a girl could get used to this kind of indulgence, I was off for a 10-course meal, meticulously laid out on small plates. Most definitely, this is one of my favourite parts of Japanese culture.<br />
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Next we went to stay with my husband's aunt in Hita, also in Oita Prefecture. "Do you want to go to the onsen?" she asked after dinner. Feeling a little onsen-ed out (if there is such a thing), I was hesitant, until my husband pointed out it was a <i>private</i> onsen - for friends only.<br />
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Now that's what I'm talking about.<br />
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<a href="http://www.japaninc.com/jin369">More</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: 85%;"><i><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/japaninctophearder.5.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/japaninctophearder.5.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" /></a><br />
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This article was originally published as JIN Newsletter No. 369 for Japan Inc. Magazine on 23 May 2006.</i></span><br />
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And I wanted just to make sure, at that time, had you talked to Karl?" </em></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><em><br /></em></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">To which McClellan replied:</span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><div align="justify"><br /><em>“I've made it very clear, from the beginning, that it is totally ridiculous. I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need to go ask Karl, because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is committed to the highest standards of conduct."</em></div><div align="justify"><em></em> </div><div align="justify"><em></em></div><div align="justify"><em></em></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><br /><a href="http://www.thecheers.org/article_1866_Smokin-Mirrors-Just-Keep-Rovin-on.html">More</a><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><span style="font-size:85%;">pic: <a href="http://www.bizarro.com/">http://www.bizarro.com/</a></span></span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div align="justify"><em><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/politics-header.jpg"><img style="" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/400/politics-header.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This article was first published in Cheers Magazine on Friday, 19 May 2006.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bizarro.com/"></a></span></span></em></div></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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For one, they have both, at one time or another, challenged the fundamental economic philosophy on which the World Bank bases its policies. They are also, ironically, two of the most prominent contributors to this month's World Bank ABCDE Conference, which will be held in Tokyo on the 29 and 30 May. Along with some of Japan's most important economists, Stiglitz himself will be one of the special keynote speakers. In a world full of dry, dull conferences, the ABCDE Conference is beginning to look a little spicy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >Japan has an interesting history with the World Bank. According to Dr. Kaoru Natsuda, a Political Economist and Official Development Assistance Consultant with Ernst & Young ShinNihon in Tokyo, Japan and the World Bank have disputed the role of the state in economic development since the 1980s. "Japan in the past has traditionally believed that the role of the state is important in economic development, and has worked in close collaboration with industry to increase Japanese corporations' international competitiveness. The World Bank, on the other hand, has based its policies on neo-liberalism, nowadays known as the Washington Consensus, which is essentially a free market approach, where the role of the state is reduced to the absolute minimum." In other words, Japan believes that to run an economy effectively, government and business do better when they work together, an idea to which the World Bank was hostile. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >This dispute came to a head in 1989, when the World Bank criticized the 'two-step' loans of Japan's Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF, now Japan Bank for InternationalCooperation - JBIC). These loans, set at below the market rate of the time, jeopardized the status quo that both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank had developed as two the most powerful lending bodies in the world. While OECF may have eventually compromised by re-setting the loans at market rates, the incident provided another spark of opportunity forJapan. Providing the World Bank with US$2.2 million, which almost matched the cost of the World Development Report, Japan funded the East Asian Miracle studies in 1992. This culminated in one of the most important acknowledgements of Japan's economic philosophy, with the publishing of "The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy" report in September 1993. The report acknowledged the policy management success of Japan, making special mention of the positive role government had in economic development. One of the authors was none other than Joseph Stiglitz. </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics (2001) and a Columbia University Professor, was Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank from 1997-2000, when it is rumoured the US Treasury pushed him out of the position. Prior to that, he was Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton Administration. He is probably best known for his 2002 book, "Globalization and its Discontents," which criticized the policies of the IMF and, to a lesser extent, the World Bank. The book outraged the IMF, with its Chief Economist at the time, Ken Rogoff, writing a scathing open letter to Stiglitz. According to the "Observer's" Faisal Islam, the open letter actually helped to push up sales of the book. "In Globalization, he [Stiglitz] documented the IMF hit squads that decided a nation's spending priorities from the comfort of five-star hotels," wrote Islam, adding that, a year later, with Rogoff as one of its authors, the IMF published a report "which concluded that countries that follow IMF suggestions often suffer a 'collapse in growth rates and significant financial crises.'" </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >Prof. Stiglitz has gone on to write numerous books on international economic philosophy, proving what some might call a logical approach to development, the latest being "Fair Trade for All." Co-authored with Andrew Charlton, they write, "while increased trading opportunities are good for developing countries, liberalization needs to be managed carefully - the task is much more complex than the simple prescriptions of the Washington Consensus, which blithely exhorts developing countries to liberalize their markets rapidly and indiscriminately." </span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >In another irony of this tale, Japan, under the auspices of Koizumi, has been shifting its view on the role of the state in recent years. His forceful mandate of privatization and deregulation has moved Japan's economy much closer to the ideals of the World Bank. At the same time, some Japanese economists are becoming alarmed at the increasing gap between rich and poor as a result of these policies. On the 1 February this year, Koizumi responded to such criticisms, saying, "a gap between rich and poor within a society is not a bad thing."</span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" ></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;" >While all of these philosophies may seem a world away from the lives of us here on the ground, there has, in fact, been no time in history when more ordinary people have taken an interest in global trade and economics, and it is beginning to have an impact on gatherings such as the ABCDE Conference. Is it possible that there are rumblings within the World Bank itself to move towards more equitable agreements for Developing nations? Like any monolith, those movements are slow-paced, but the outcome of this conference will be well worth keeping tabs on. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Trebuchet MS;" ></span><br /><em style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/japaninctophearder.4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/japaninctophearder.4.jpg" border="0" /></a>This article was orginally published as Issue 367 of the JIN Newsletter for Japan Inc. Magazine on 12 May, 2006.</span> </em><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Trebuchet MS;" ><a href="http://www.japaninc.com">www.japaninc.com</a></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;font-family:Trebuchet MS;" ></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>willie101http://www.blogger.com/profile/12746071721025685020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17849383.post-1145284661684388142006-04-17T23:33:00.000+09:002006-09-02T15:48:05.030+09:00<div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/marla.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/400/marla.2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:180%;" >Remembering Marla</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >A tribute to Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><em><strong>Marla Ruzicka was tragically killed in a car bomb explosion in Iraq on April 16 2005, along with her co-worker and friend Faiz Ali Salim. One year on, we take a look at what CIVIC, the organisation she founded, still has to say about the innocent victims of war, and how they choose to remember Marla.</strong></em> </div><p style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"> </p><p style="font-family: verdana;" align="center">________________________</p><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><br /><br />I confess that a year ago, when I heard of the tragic death of a woman I had never heard of before that night, I cried. Marla Ruzicka, a young Californian woman, was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad on April 16 2005, along with her friend and co-worker Faiz Ali Salim. She had travelled extensively to both Afghanistan and Iraq, her main mission to try to get aid to civilians who have been harmed by the US wars in both countries. In an online journal entry on June 25 2004, she had this, almost prophetically, to say:<br /><br /><em>“Back in Baghdad and happy. A good friend of mine, advised me to keep my movements minimal in the coming days, saying "Just think of all the work you will be able to do in three months when the situation is better because you were not killed by a bomb." We know that leading up to the handover there is a high alert warning, but who knows what will happen on July 2nd or 3rd. CIVIC must continue our work. Faiz does a fantastic job when I am out of the country, but I need to be here as well. We are not taking any risks, and keeping our movements low. Well, the handover happened and thank god the last couple of days there have been no major car bombs.”</em><br /><br />Marla founded the organisation, CIVIC (The Campaign for the Innocent Victims of Conflict), around the time that Saddam’s statue toppled from its foundations in the centre of Baghdad. While the US government and military were staging their effigy-destruction, Marla was undertaking the first door to door survey of Iraq, with the aim of trying to get a clear picture on what the number of Iraqi civilian casualties actually were. It was not until December 2005 that President Bush actually acknowledged Iraqi civilian casualties.<br /><br />The aim of CIVIC has been to lobby government to recognise the needs of families inadvertently affected by war: the innocent victims left without houses and medical care. Marla’s work was beginning to bear fruit. She took her first report on Iraqi casualties and injuries to the Democratic Senator for Vermont, Patrick Leahy, who, according to CIVIC, sponsored legislation to provide U.S. aid to innocent Iraqis who were harmed in the military operations. CIVIC has adopted this legislation for its framework.<br /><br />One year on, CIVIC is honouring the memory of Marla by continuing her work. Sarah Holewinski, who joined the organisation in January 2006 after years of policy and humanitarian work in Washington, New York, and internationally in India and Rwanda, wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post (15 April 2006) to mark the one year passing of Marla and to talk about the progress CIVIC has made in the past 12 months. “To America's credit, we've made some progress on the issue of civilian casualties,” she wrote. “The Pentagon has a program of condolence payments -- a way for the military on the ground to directly compensate a family for the death of a loved one.” She further explained that, among many other achievements, Congress created the ‘Marla Ruzicka Iraqi War Victims Fund’ and a similar fund for Afghanistan, with a total of $38 million for families and communities of those injured and killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br />But, adds Ms Holewinski, there is still a lot of work for CIVIC to do, explaining, “…even these are baby steps at best. The 30,000 casualties cited by Bush is the bare minimum estimate…[t]he president's spokesman was quick to say that this was not an official estimate. We know that's true, because the United States does not keep adequate records of civilian casualties. And the military's program of condolence payments -- while important -- suffers from weaknesses that prevent compensation to many families that need it most.”<br /><br />Ms Holewinski is concerned that with the rise of the insurgency in Iraq, it is getting increasingly difficult for aid to get to those who desperately need it. Even worse, she adds, are the threats metered out to people if they accept help from Americans. “Although experienced military officers have learned that treating civilians well is critical to their mission, the U.S. search for an exit strategy may encourage tactics that put civilians at greater risk -- including more reliance on airstrikes to target insurgents. In populated areas, this makes it all the more likely that civilians will be hit.”<br /><br />I can’t begin to describe the deeply profound effect Marla’s death had on me the night I read her obituary, quite by mistake. To have achieved so much in such a short time on earth is truly remarkable and inspiring, and reading of the progress CIVIC has made, one year on, is truly reflective of the fact that her and Fiaz will not be forgotten. Marla would be proud to know that her work is continuing to pave the way for the betterment of innocent people’s lives so devastated by war. In Marla’s own words: “To have a job where you can make things better for people? That’s a blessing. Why would I do anything else?”<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Pic: Marla Ruzicka/CIVIC</span></em><br /><em></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">This article first appeared in the The Cheers Magazine's Smokin' Mirrors weekly political column on Sunday 16 April 2006. </span></em><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.thecheers.org">www.thecheers.org</a></span></em></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>willie101http://www.blogger.com/profile/12746071721025685020noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17849383.post-1143971208558347372006-04-02T18:28:00.000+09:002006-09-02T15:49:13.433+09:00<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/pics%20of%20test.jpg"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/pics%20of%20test.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-family: verdana;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" > <span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">Tokyo to New York in six hours?</span></span><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><strong><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:180%;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-family: verdana;">Sonic Boom</span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span></strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>by Willhemina Wahlin</em></span></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span>"Yes, only rich people can afford to take a Concorde," states concorde-jet.com. There's no doubting the Concorde had its fans, but like all good things, it too came to an end, the curtains closing on the elite's day-tripping flight service on October 24, 2003.<br /><br />In its wake is an industry in post 9/11 turmoil, where it's more common for an airline to go bust than boom. Despite this, a consortium of researchers from the United States, Europe and Japan are exploring new ways of bringing supersonic flight back and better than ever. In October 2005, on a rocket range in the middle of the South Australian desert, far from the glitterati and bubbly-quaffing elite travelers of the Concorde, Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) tested a fuselage design for a new supersonic jet -- and it was a huge success.<br /><br />Dubbed the 'Son-of-Concorde, the test of the very practically named 'Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport (SEST) in Woomera, Australia, was not the first for JAXA. In 2002 the first test ended in spectacular failure. "After attaining a height of about 100 meters, it began spiraling erratically and slammed into the ground and exploded," wrote Daniel Dasey in Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper in August 2005. "An investigation revealed a computer short-circuit was responsible for the malfunction."<br /><br />This time JAXA left nothing to chance. In the conference room of JAXA's Aerospace Research Center's Aerodrom Branch, Director of the Supersonic Transport Team, Dr. Takeshi Ohnuki, a PhD graduate in Fluid Dynamics from Tokyo University, proudly showed J@pan Inc. a compilation video of the test taken from 10 different cameras. One can only wonder, after the failure of the previous test and the many years of hard work to correct the problems since, what was going through the minds of the testing team as they watched their precious fuselage take off straight into the air, a fiery tail in its wake. This time, the fire was from the power of the rocket strapped to the body, not a disastrous explosion, and at an altitude 18,000 meters, the rocket separated from the craft, exactly as planned.<br /><br />The SEST flew for a total of 15 minutes, while computers recorded the aerodynamic characteristics and surface pressure of the craft as it made its trajectory over the red desert below. Reaching a speed of Mach 2, the supersonic craft glided effortlessly before a complex series of airbags and parachutes enabled it to land horizontally in a completely recoverable state, amid the cheers of a relieved testing team. The successful flight of the SEST cleared the way for the further development of the next stage of the craft, named the Silent Supersonic Technology Demonstrator (SSTD), which would tackle the issue of noise and the sonic boom.<br /><br />Japan's contribution to the great supersonic race is the body of the next generation of supersonic aircraft -- a big contribution. A good fuselage is the key to changing supersonic flight, and its secrets lie in the short-comings of its predecessor. While 34 years is certainly a good run, the Concorde was never going to be financially viable for long because it had far too many limitations placed upon it. These restrictions are what now drive the JAXA team. That team is composed of around 35 researchers covering such diverse areas as structure, control and propulsion of the rocket.<br /><br />Dr. Ohnuki joined JAXA's supersonic project in the year of its inauguration in 1997, when it was still part of the National Aerospace Laboratory. Prior to this, he was a researcher in drag reduction for conventional aircraft, again with the National Aerospace Laboratory. JAXA was formed in 2003, when the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL), the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) all merged into a single organization.<br /><br />Dr. Ohnuki's excitement is obvious when he starts talking about the challenges his team faces in the design of the SSTD and their contribution to the craft he says not one single country will own. "We will design the form, the shape of the aircraft, and it's a big role. The shape is almost equivalent to the brand -- it will become the JAXA brand. We would like to see the Rising Sun Flag symbolically on the craft."<br /><br />Their yardstick is the Concorde. As the only commercially successful instance of a supersonic aircraft, it is the sole yardstick they have. But as adored as the Concorde was, it had many flaws. The JAXA team intends for its design to correct those.<br /><br />The Concorde was always going to be an expensive ship to run because it only accommodated 92 passengers. As every international traveler today will tell you, fuel levies on flights are not getting any cheaper, and the Concorde's propensity for gas guzzling was out of step with rising fuel prices. JAXA's design aims to triple the number of seats, which essentially means that 300 passengers can go supersonic for a business class fare. Another problem with the Concorde was that its characteristic sonic boom and high level of emissions (nitrous oxide in particular) restricted it to routes over the ocean. So, for example, it could fly from London to New York, but not from New York to Los Angeles.<br /><br />What's more, the Concorde required a much longer runway than a conventional aircraft. Thus its service was limited to airports that could accommodate it. The long takeoffs and landings also had much more dangerous implications. One of the darkest moments in the history of the Concorde was the Air France crash on July 25, 2000, when a flaming Concorde struck a hotel and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport, killing 113 people, including 4 people in the hotel. Concorde operations on both sides of the Channel were suspended for a year after the accident. While the cause of the accident is still under investigation, it is thought that a small strip of metal that fell off during the previous plane's takeoff was lying on the runway. By sheer chance, one of the wheels of the Concorde ran directly over it, causing a rapid chain of events that would set one of the jet engines on fire. What compounded this problem, and the eventual downfall of all on board, was that the fuel tanks were so close to the engines, and it was only a matter of time before they too burst into flames. Had the takeoff speed been faster, they may have made it to nearby Le Bourget airport, where there were fire crews were standing by. Rob Lewis, in his book <em>Supersonic Secrets: The Unofficial Biography of Concorde</em>, wrote:<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><div align="left"><em><span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" >"The investigation report that followed on 31 August 2000 implied that a single design defect was to blame for the tragedy. The conclusion was damning for both the aircraft and the generation of designers who had originally put her together."</span></em></div><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">"There's a reason for the crash that's inherent in the SST design," explains Dr. Ohnuki. "Its triangular wings are fine in flight, but they add weight to the rear of the craft during takeoffs and landings. So the aircraft must maintain a high angle for a long time during these evolutions. This, in turn, requires a long runway.<br /><br />"Fast takeoffs and landings using a high lift device, as opposed to flaps and slats, reduce the chance of an accident. The inherent design of the craft necessitating a high angle at takeoff is problem enough, but the fact that extra time is needed for takeoff and landing compounds the problem, making these even more risky. Conventional aircraft do not have this long takeoff time, so any structural problems are not exacerbated."<br /><br />By far the research team's biggest challenge is reducing the craft's sonic boom to the level of noise from an ordinary jet engine. Dr. Ohnuki describes the process as trying to reduce a clap of thunder to a knock on a door. Nevertheless, he maintains that it is the design of the plane's fuselage, rather than the engine itself, that can make the biggest impact on reducing sonic boom, as well as reduce the amount of fuel consumed in flight. Unfortunately, says Dr. Ohnuki, this creates a third problem.<br /><br />"The technologies needed to solve the problem of the sonic boom and to reduce fuel consumption are different, and actually in conflict with one another, so we have to work out a way to keep these things in balance, as one will affect the other in a negative way."<br /><br />In a supersonic craft, there are two places that the sonic boom occurs, the nose and the tail. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done for the sonic boom at the nose, so the JAXA team concentrated their efforts on reducing that at the tail. They discovered that the second sonic boom can be reduced by changing the under carriage of the craft, so that shockwaves do not accumulate in one place. Much like a CT scan, the plane is made larger segment by segment from the nose, and the unique curvature of the undercarriage raises the air pressure underneath the plane. This increase in air pressure helps to distribute the shock waves along the plane, reducing the sonic boom. However, the increased air pressure creates drag, and therefore the plane requires greater fuel.<br /><br />As the problem of the sonic boom was rectified by the undercarriage design, it gave the researchers the freedom to work on the top section of the plane. They refined the design so that the upper section created the least possible resistance, enabling them to reduce fuel consumption. "It's very aerodynamic", says Dr. Ohnuki, "so it makes up for what's going on below."<br /><br /><strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);">The future of supersonics, hyper-sonics, and water-fuelled space travel</span></strong><br /><br />One has to wonder why, in an ever-competitive aircraft industry, there is a need for research into supersonic aircraft at all. Certainly the Concorde never became a 'commonly' used mode of transport -- symbolically, perhaps, the most frequent user of the Concorde was an oil tycoon, who made 70 round trips across the Atlantic a year. Eventually the fleet became a financial burden on Air France and British Airways, and as both have since been privatized, it would have certainly been a thorn in their side at the time of sale. Strangely, for a nation that is a global leader in automobile manufacturing, Japan has never developed an internationally competitive aircraft industry. Perhaps Airbus and Boeing are formidable deterrents to entering conventional aviation development at this late stage. Thus there is a certain logic in Japan's attempt to make a splash in the industry through research and development in supersonics.<br /><br />JAXA, in their vision statement, has made it a primary goal to establish Japan's aviation industry and develop supersonic aircraft. Not only do they intend to revive aircraft manufacturing, but also to eventually demonstrate the technologies of hypersonic aircraft. While supersonic aircraft are limited to Mach 2 or 2.5, hypersonic aircraft can potentially travel at Mach 5 (some aerospace engineers even claim up to Mach 10), meaning a trans-Pacific flight of just two hours. Hypersonic requires the use of jets known as scramjets ('air breathing rockets'), which work on a different principle from normal jets, which are used in supersonics. Brilliantly, scramjets use hydrogen as fuel, so the future of air and space travel may not even need the smell of an oily rag.<br /><br />"While a normal jet engine has a fan at the front to suck air in, a ramjet relies on sheer speed to force air into the combustion chamber," wrote the New Scientist Magazine in April 2004. "The difference between a ramjet and a scramjet is that airflow through the engine slows to subsonic in a ramjet, but remains supersonic inside a scramjet. This means that a scramjet can propel vehicles at speeds that only rockets can otherwise attain. But scramjets are far more efficient because they collect oxygen from the air, whereas rockets have to carry an oxidizer such as liquid oxygen."<br /><br />Scramjet tests in recent years in the US and Australia have clocked up to Mach 7. While JAXA's fuselage design is based on the use of a normal jet engine, investment into superior supersonic fuselage design has obvious advantages. One of the most exciting prospects for scramjet use lies in the futuristic dreams of space travel.<br /><br />For now we may have to be content with the prospect that the demise of the Concorde is not necessarily a fatal blow for supersonic travel. JAXA hopes that its SSTD will be commercially running by 2025, and being the next generation of supersonic travel after the Concorde, there are sure to be many of the old fans of supersonic travel lining up for a ticket. The question is whether or not the next generation will be commercially viable. For now we can assume that for those willing to fork out a business class airfare, they may want to actually get to their destination in less than half the time. Let's just hope that the glitterati still have time to quaff some champagne between ports. JI </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><em><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;" ><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/japaninctophearder.3.jpg"><img style="" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/japaninctophearder.3.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></em><br /><em><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;" >This story was originally published in the Sping Issue of Japan Inc. Magazine, March, 2006.</span></em><br /><em><span style=";font-family:Trebuchet MS;font-size:78%;" ><a href="http://www.japaninc.com">http://www.japaninc.com</a></span></em><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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</script></div>willie101http://www.blogger.com/profile/12746071721025685020noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17849383.post-1143969249931852782006-04-02T18:04:00.000+09:002006-09-02T15:50:24.196+09:00<div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/Mexico_money.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/Mexico_money.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Red Blood</span> & <span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Blue Jeans</span>:</span> </strong></div><div style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0); font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;" align="justify"><strong>a day in the life of deadly Mexican fashion</strong></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>by Willhemina Wahlin</em><br /></span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">There’s a strange tale unfolding south of the border in Pueblo, Mexico – a tale of corruption, abduction and plots of assassination. Far from being the inspiration of the next big Hollywood flop, this tale is for real, and for those involved, it’s deadly.</span><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><a href="http://www.thecheers.org/article_1837_Smokin-Mirrors-Red-Blood-and-Blue-Jeans-A-day-in-the-life-of-deadly-Mexican-fashion.html">More</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/thecheers_newadmin_headman.jpg"></a><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/thecheers_newadmin_headman.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/320/thecheers_newadmin_headman.0.jpg" border="0" /></a></em></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:78%;"><em>Pic: Diego Carranza/Dreamtime</em></span></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><em><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></em></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"></div><div style="font-family: verdana;" align="justify"><em><span style="font-size:78%;"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2589/1731/1600/thecheers_newadmin_headman.jpg"></a>This story was originally published in Cheers Magazine on Saturday 25th April, 2006. </span></em><em><span style="font-size:78%;">http://www.thecheers.org</span></em></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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