Take our user survey and make your voice heard.

MotMotMot comments

Posted in: Kishida visits new chip factory, stressing ties with Taiwan and support for key technology See in context

The Japanese gov't did a really good job playing match maker between Sony and TSMC. US provided a lot of money for the TSMC AZ plant, but they mandated bleeding edge out of the gate. They also don't have a partner like Sony on the ground to smooth things over with local gov't. The Japanese plant is starting at 28nm, and will expanding into low and lower nm processes as time goes on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Unilever cutting 7,500 jobs and spinning off its ice cream business See in context

Ice Cream division is Wall's, Magnum, Cornetto, Solero, Viennetta, Carte d’Or and Ben & Jerry's.

The spin off will make them a ton of money. But it's a short term move to appease large share holders.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Freddie Mercury's home on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter' See in context

His close friend and ex-girlfriend, Mary Austin

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Nissan, Honda to explore partnership in electric vehicles See in context

less maintenance? yeah try spend 1-2 hours in the charging station every 2-3 days,

Most car owners charge at home. Often taking advantage of super low overnight power rates using a Level -2 charger.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: ‘The Boy and the Heron' earns Miyazaki 2nd Oscar; 'Godzilla Minus One' wins for visual effects See in context

The Godzilla VFX team was only 35 people with a shoestring CGI budget compared to the other films. Furthermore, unlike other Oscar categories, they had put a put on a technical presentation back in January for the Academy Members. Kiyoko Shibuya, VFX supervisor and producer, is only the third women to ever win in the VXF category.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan Airlines gets first woman president See in context

Freakanomics has done several shows on women executives.

There have been many studies that show women are often only offered the CEO/President position when a company is in trouble. Usually because men are not interested in taking on a job that's going to be very difficult and has a higher risk of failure.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: Ruling-party candidate strongly opposed by China wins Taiwan's presidential election See in context

China just doesn't get it. Any hope of having Taiwan move closer went away the moment they breached the agreements they had with Hong Kong. You can't trust China. "One country, two systems" is just a facade.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Musk uses expletive to tell audience he doesn't care about advertisers that fled X over hate speech See in context

Yet another self inflicted wound for Musk. Plenty of CEOs are right wing conservatives. They just have the good sense to funnel their opinions through lobbyists and outside trade organizations.

Musk is like an alcoholic who tried to solve his problem by buying a brewery.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Posted in: China arranges for embassy officials to visit detained Japanese citizen See in context

He could be a spy. Or it could be retaliation for Japan pulling so many factories from China the last few years. Or there could be someone important to China held in Japanese jail that they want released.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Crown prince says review of official royal duties required See in context

Japanese Royalty isn't really like the UK Royals. They have a lavish lifestyle, but it's heavily dictated by the Imperial Household Agency. Any attempts to modernize or make them more approachable by younger royals has been blocked by the Grand Stewards.

I don't expect that to change because the Imperial Household Agency is 1000 people with cushy, well paid, and prestigious jobs. The Grand Stewards are generally former high level government officials and ministers.

They seem to enjoy spending a lot of money to uphold traditions.

Meanwhile King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has been a KLM pilot for decades.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Posted in: Pop group Arashi member breaks silence on Johnny's sex scandal See in context

People knew and did nothing. It's possible some of them still work there.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: Norwegian fund to reject all-male boards in Japanese firms See in context

Unpopular option: People should not get jobs based on their skin color, gender identity, or ethnicity.

Agreed. It should would no longer be males from prestigious families that went to Waseda.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: Ford to get access to Tesla's U.S., Canada chargers See in context

Telsa owners are already whining about other cars clogging up the charge stations. Should be interesting to see where this goes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Musk's Neuralink says it has been cleared for human test of brain implants See in context

For those not in the know how device studies work. They use an entirely different set of rules compared to drugs. Medical devices are also much easier to get into initial studies compared to drugs. Though still fairly difficult.

This is only a study on if implanting the device causes any harm. It will not make any attempt to determine if the device works or has any benefit. Those are entirely different study that cannot happen until this is done.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Beijing criticizes Japan, Britain over 'anti-China' G7 summit See in context

Meanwhile the Chinese factories still crank out the low cost products that the west cannot do without…

One of the smarter thing Japan has been doing the past few years is create incentives to move factories from China back to Japan. Even more are looking at moving the factories to other parts of Asian. I think the Japanese see the upcoming issues of China using supply chain to project power and aren't having any of it.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Are you who you say you are? TSA tests facial recognition technology to boost airport security See in context

Boat has already sailed on that in the US. Delta has been boarding customers using just facial recognition since 2018 using tech from NEC at certain airports in the US and Europe. They use both TSA data and private data (companies that aggregate DMV photos) so it can be for both domestic and international. Though it's mostly used for international. Some airports have special areas where the check-in and bag drop can be done all with facial recognition. If 9/11 didn't happen we could have stopped this kind of stuff, but the boat is long since sailed here.

ANA already has a similar system in HND, but it does require them to capture your face at checkin. I assume for compliance with various Japanese Laws they aren't just pulling existing gov't photos.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Musk says he will tweet thoughts regardless of business blowback See in context

Using their freedom is not childish

He's an officer of a publicly traded company. He's free to say whatever, but not without the costs of violating SEC regulations and exposing himself and Tesla to shareholder lawsuits for sinking value.

Long and short of it is CEOs of companies that sell things to general public don't make public statements that alienate 1/3 of their potential customer based. It's dumb business.

I'd much rather Tesla would shift from having Elon at the helm playing "Half Ass Steve Jobs" to someone else at the helm who can play "Somewhat competent Tim Cook".

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Streaming giants battle for anime supremacy See in context

Hopefully it goes better than Netflix x Fuji TV Terrace House debacle.

Be that as it may, I hardly watch Anime anymore because the committee system puts out homogeneous junk and self censorship means far less risks are taken in character interactions compared to the 90s era.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. to lift most federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates next week See in context

Don't bother trying to get Anti-vaxers to understand science. Nothing you can say, and no amount of evidence will change their minds. You can tell them to look at the simple charts at the bottom of the 2023 mortality report and they'll just wave there hands about not trusting Biden's CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7206a3.htm

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan formally decides to downgrade COVID-19 to flu level on May 8 See in context

An odd choice of date. Why not before Golden Week so people can fully enjoy themselves without the gloom of Covid hanging over their heads?

Same reason retailers avoid software changes during holidays and banks during tax season. Risk management. By doing it right after they give themselves almost an entire year of runway to make changes and react to what happens.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Florida Gov DeSantis praises Japan's defense build-up See in context

There aren't any non-stop routes to Florida up until now, even though the slots are in place, I do know that JAL and ANA both looked at operating but there wasn't enough premium business expected to justify the route and this is post 787/A350 launch which makes these 'long and thin' routes feasible.

I'm a bit shocked the Origin/Destination traffic isn't there. Surely Florida much have business outside Disney? I mean even Minneapolis has a non-stop flight again to HND.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Posted in: Nissan, Renault near rebalancing of alliance See in context

What Ghosn did was illegal, but a lot of people would also contend they weren't particularly unusual in terms of Japanese executives. What was unusual was the way Ghosn was treated compared to senior Olympus executives. Which got a slap on the wrist and no jail time. Shocking considering size and scope of Olympus's misdeeds.

I think Ghosn saw the writing on the wall that this wasn't going to be a pay a fine, suspended sentence kind of deal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_scandal

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Prime Minister Kishida wants the U.S. to take a Goldilocks approach that is tough enough to deter Chinese assertiveness, but cautious enough to allow Japan's business interests to thrive. See in context

I was under the impression they want time. Given the incentives Japan has created for businesses to move production out of China (either back to Japan or to other parts of Asia).

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Police arrest Indian executive for urinating on plane passenger See in context

They run huge offices in India. It's where they outsource a ton of jobs.

Wells Fargo (via Wachovia) tried to enter the Japanese lending business in the 2000s. They had no idea how to get people to actually pay and ended up exiting rather quickly.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Man referred to prosecutors for defaming mother of late 'Terrace House' star See in context

It's all fine and good that slander is getting sorted out.

BUT, they have done nothing to address the producers of the show hiding behind NDAs for their role. They may or may not be guilty of something, but I don't think we'll ever know as long as they are allowed to hid from a full and open inquest.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Tokyo train operator begins issuing body cameras, but it’s not employee conduct that worries them See in context

Looks like a version of Panasonic's Arbitrator bodycam. It's big because 1) large battery pack, 2) it's an extremely rugged housing to avoid destruction of videos. If it's like the US product it meets MIL-STD-810G (aka MIL-SPEC).

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Posted in: Mother of late 'Terrace House' star sues TV broadcaster See in context

We really don't know much about the behind the scenes of the show since everyone is under NDA. The close ties between talent agencies, production companies and broadcasters makes getting to the truth hard as well. Speaking up is almost certainly career ending.

Her mother, Kyoko Kimura, was also a professional wrestler. She likely has a pretty good idea how what she was being asked to do on TH would effect her overall career and public perception. In particular given the stereotypes and bullying Hana faced being mixed race.

I don't know what the liability is legally, but it does seem like BS that the people with power in the production have been allowed to hide behind the NDAs. Certainly if this was in other countries there would have been in an independent inquest to air all the dirty laundry.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Bad guys turn good in China 'Minions' movie ending See in context

I hope more movies follow the example of Top Gun: Maverick and refuse Chinese censorship. Artistic integrity should trump profit always.

Hollywood is entirely about profits. However, between Chinese theater attendance being down and the limited number of films allowed in, appeasing China only makes sense for a small number of films.

Ironically, pre-pandemic, Top Gun was appearing China by removing the Taiwanese flag from the iconic flight jacket in the trailer. They put it back in when it was clear that a potential Chinese thesaterical release wasn't going to make much money.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Do you think China is a military threat to Japan? See in context

China is simply taking advantage of the Ukraine situation. On their face they are refusing to supply Russia with weapons outright, but at the same time they have quadrupled trade with Russia and are providing them with an alternate to SWIFT to process money internationally.

Make no mistake, if not for Russia's war on Ukraine the US would have sailed a carrier group between things. Just like they have done in the past.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Posted in: Obama among international dignitaries expected at Abe state funeral See in context

There's a separate private funeral the family is holding. If he isn't invited to that one then we'll know if Abe actually liked him or was putting on an act.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Recent Comments

Popular

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites


©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.