Japan, Thailand to launch new energy initiative for decarbonization

Japan has shot itself inches foot by ‘not’ encouraging wind and solar power.

In fact, initial subsidies have been removed leading to the reliance on fossil fuels to continue- a massive error

Weirdly, Sanyo manufactures some of the finest solar panels. But few are seen....

Hagiuda left Japan on Sunday and visited Indonesia and Singapore before arriving in Thailand. He will return to Japan on Friday.

So promoting decarbonisation but using fossil fuels to do it? One rule for them, one rule for the plebs again, who just want to see family before they die.

Weirdly, Sanyo manufactures some of the finest solar panels. But few are seen....

Sanyo is long gone. Their primary semiconductor plant was very badly damaged in the 2004 Chuetsu earthquake and they never really recovered. Panasonic bought Sanyo in 2009 and made them a subsidiary. They have slowly rebranded Sanyo products as Panasonic products or discontinued them altogether. A few products apparently linger with the Sanyo name but not many.

An interesting aside but Sanyo owes its existence to Konosuke Matsushita. In 1947 the elder Matsushita lent an unused factory to his brother in law and Matsushita employee Toshio Iue. The company thus founded by Iue became Sanyo. When Sanyo was on the ropes, Matsushita bought them back, though by then Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd had rebranded itself as Panasonic Corp. How the Panasonic name came to be is another interesting story.

Weirdly, Sanyo manufactures some of the finest solar panels. But few are seen....

That brings back memories of Sanyo's training center at James Yama, Kobe. In the mid-1980s, they had solar panels on the building for heating the water. It had limitations - showers were rationed to every second day, depending on the floor your room was on. But it generally worked well.

In 1947 the elder Matsushita lent an unused factory to his brother in law and Matsushita employee Toshio Iue

I was once introduced to his grandson (Satoshi Iue, I think) when he made an unscheduled visit to one of the classrooms at the training center.