Japan

FTSE Group is helping Vanguard expand its offerings overseas as the index provider licenses developed European, Asia ex-Japan, Japan and world stock benchmarks for four new Ireland-listed exchange traded funds. According to a press release, Vanguard will utilize four FTSE indices, the FTSE...

Japan's nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that one reactor was sitting directly above an active tectonic fault, effectively ruling out a restart forever.

The HTC One is an excellent smartphone, one of only three phones to ever earn a five-star rating from us. Despite our unmitigated endorsement of the device, we're still curious about a of couple things.First off, why did China and Japan get a version with microSD? A lot of users would love to bolster the device's storage with an additional 64GB.Second, why isn't the best Android phone of the year on Verizon? Will it ever come to Big Red, or should we quit holding our breath?At CTIA 2013 we had a chance to sit down with HTC and ask them just that. Senior Global Online Communications Manager Jeff Gordon - not the NASCAR driver - fielded our burning questions.Smaller radio bands made room for microSDApparently, the inclusion of microSD in Asia's HTC One came down to one factor - space. Gordon explains:"Because the Chinese version of the One is designed specifically for the smaller Chinese radio bands, we do have additional space inside the device we were able to use for the microSD slot. That space isn't available to us in the global version."We're assuming this is also the case with the Japanese version, which has microSD as well. We're still green with envy, but at least there's an explanation.Gordon's reasoning would seem to be supported by an iFixit teardown, which found the One to be harder to repair than the iPhone 5. Given that the iPhone 5 was notoriously hard to assemble, there's probably not a lot of room in that thing.The Big Red OneAs for the lack of love from Verizon, Gordon couldn't say as much."It's always a great thing to have our phones on as many operators as possible, but we've got nothing to announce in terms of Verizon."In the past, Verizon has always carried Droid branded devices from HTC. It carried the HTC Droid DNA, but not the HTC One X or the One X+. Perhaps it wanted its own special version of the One and HTC wasn't willing to comply?Still, rumors are flying about the HTC One coming to Verizon. Maybe it'll breakdown and carry that red version of the HTC One we glimpsed briefly online? It sure is pretty to think so.

New X Men,Wolverine 2 second movie trailer hit the net with unseen footage. Yesterday morning, 20th Century Fox dropped this new,2nd movie trailer (below) for their upcoming action flick "Wolverine 2: The Wolverine," and it looks absolutely wicked,featuring tons of new,unseen,action scenes as Wolverine appears to have problems with his healing abilities at one point,but seems to overcome that in the end to kick some major ass. Check it out,below. The new movie stars: Hugh Jackman, Will Yun Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, and Brian Tee. In the new flick, Logan aka Wolverine will be the eternal warrior and outsider in Japan. There, samurai steel will clash with adamantium claw as Logan confronts a mysterious figure from his past in an epic battle that will leave him forever changed. Logan will also be left quite vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits. It hits theaters on July 26th,2013.

Bravo to the Bravo TV network. And Bravo to Michael Yaki, a former City of San Francisco supervisor who is now a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. When Yaki wrote to the network to complain about the use of the term “JAP” to describe a “Jewish American Princess” on a new reality [...]Related Posts:We need to train young journalists (and people in general)…Author urges women to date diverse men (good), then…Jeff Yang in WSJ deconstructs “model minority”…Do we still call ourselves “Asian American?”Yuki Kokubo’s “Kasama-Yaki” documentary…

Did  you know that talented Hawaii chef Alan Wong was born in Japan? In fact, he's half-Japanese.  And he's featured in a new show making its broadcast  premiere at 9:00 pm Thursday, May 23, 2013 on PBS Hawaii.  With this program,  Wong's fellow Isle chef Ed Kenney (TOWN Restaurant) makes his debut as a TV host. Blending food, travel and genealogy, PBS HAWAII PRESENTS Family Ingredients traces Wong from his roots in Japan to  the rural Oahu town where he grew up, Wahiawa. With Wong,  Kenney introduces us to organic farmers, tofu makers, sushi chefs and others who help to connect cultures through food. In Wahiawa, they take us to the oldest tofu manufacturer in America, Honda Tofu Factory, and the Petersons' Upland Farm, 100 years old, still producing eggs for the community. Blogger Catherine Toth attended a premiere party: www.thecatdish.com/food/foodies-you'll-love-this-show/ Heather Giugni is Executive Producer; Dan Nakasone is Producer; Ty Sanga is Director; and Todd Fink shot much of the video. Kudos!

I’m going to have to start posting more frequently. My last post was about solar firms going bankrupt in China and now my cleantech news is about how solar is set to rebound. Seems like something should have happened in between that post and this one. Actually, a few biobased chemical deals were announced. Thanks BASF and Evonik! Making a better solar cell. Credit: University of Stuttgart Institute of Photovoltaics Anyway – back to solar. Earlier this week, Lux Research (a rather skeptical gang generally) put out a summary of a new research report titled “Solar’s Great Recovery: Photovoltaics Reach $155 Billion Market in 2018.” Actually, solar had a great 2012 – at last in the U.S. – but that was mainly due to installations of several large utility projects. The business of producing those solar modules had hit some major potholes. Around five years ago, solar demand was hindered by high prices – held up by shortages of key polysilicon raw material, but balanced by huge subsidies in Europe, especially in Spain and Germany. Then – in the nature of boom and bust cycles – the high prices prompted huge polysilicon capacity increases. Then prices fell, Europe cut subsides, the recession hit… and all that new capacity made solar prices tank and inventories piled up. Whew – what a tale. In a fun new twist, according to Lux analyst Ed Cahill, the solar crisis will become a boon as record low prices boost demand. (And after that what will happen? Stay tuned). The rise will take place as those cheaper installations (especially utility and commercial rooftop) become routine and spread into new markets. U.S., China, Japan, and India are expected to speed up installations. That will help to power (no pun intended) a compound annual growth rate in the industry of 10.5% over the next three years. A few other things might help – according to this New York Times article, the U.S. and Europe are both working to smooth over trade disputes with China. Regional pricing schemes may take the place of tariffs. China had been accused of exporting solar modules at prices less than the cost of production (a practice called “dumping”). China, in turn, accused polysilicon makers in the U.S. and Europe of doing the same thing. All of this fun news is not likely to help revive solar module manufacturing in the U.S. or in Germany. But new technology might. My colleague Alex Scott flagged a news item from the University of Stuttgart’s Institute for Photovoltaics. Researchers there have tested a crystalline silicon solar cell with a 22% sunlight conversion efficiency. It is difficult to say how much a module made of these cells would convert, but a traditional module is normally around 15%. The secret to the team’s work is a design that puts the metal contacts on the back layer of the cell, using a laser. While hanging out on the back of the cell, the material will not block light hitting the front of the cell. Ta-da! More electrons. Related Posts:They’re the Tops: Leading Solar Module ProducersGermany Unwinds Solar Gravy TrainNo Magic In China’s Solar IndustrySolar Boom in Japan, with Battery to MatchEpic Fail: Solyndra files for bankruptcy

I'm going to have to start posting more frequently. My last post was about solar firms going bankrupt in China and now my cleantech news is about how solar is set to rebound. Seems like something should have happened in between that post and this one. Actually, a few biobased chemical deals were announced. Thanks BASF and Evonik! Making a better solar cell. Credit: University of Stuttgart Institute of Photovoltaics Anyway – back to solar. Earlier this week, Lux Research (a rather skeptical gang generally) put out a summary of a new research report titled “Solar's Great Recovery: Photovoltaics Reach $155 Billion Market in 2018.” Actually, solar had a great 2012 – at last in the U.S. – but that was mainly due to installations of several large utility projects. The business of producing those solar modules had hit some major potholes. Around five years ago, solar demand was hindered by high prices – held up by shortages of key polysilicon raw material, but balanced by huge subsidies in Europe, especially in Spain and Germany. Then – in the nature of boom and bust cycles – the high prices prompted huge polysilicon capacity increases. Then prices fell, Europe cut subsides, the recession hit… and all that new capacity made solar prices tank and inventories piled up. Whew – what a tale. In a fun new twist, according to Lux analyst Ed Cahill, the solar crisis will become a boon as record low prices boost demand. (And after that what will happen? Stay tuned). The rise will take place as those cheaper installations (especially utility and commercial rooftop) become routine and spread into new markets. U.S., China, Japan, and India are expected to speed up installations. That will help to power (no pun intended) a compound annual growth rate in the industry of 10.5% over the next three years. A few other things might help – according to this New York Times article, the U.S. and Europe are both working to smooth over trade disputes with China. Regional pricing schemes may take the place of tariffs. China had been accused of exporting solar modules at prices less than the cost of production (a practice called “dumping”). China, in turn, accused polysilicon makers in the U.S. and Europe of doing the same thing. All of this fun news is not likely to help revive solar module manufacturing in the U.S. or in Germany. But new technology might. My colleague Alex Scott flagged a news item from the University of Stuttgart's Institute for Photovoltaics. Researchers there have tested a crystalline silicon solar cell with a 22% sunlight conversion efficiency. It is difficult to say how much a module made of these cells would convert, but a traditional module is normally around 15%. The secret to the team's work is a design that puts the metal contacts on the back layer of the cell, using a laser. While hanging out on the back of the cell, the material will not block light hitting the front of the cell. Ta-da! More electrons. Related Posts:They're the Tops: Leading Solar Module ProducersGermany Unwinds Solar Gravy TrainNo Magic In China's Solar IndustrySolar Boom in Japan, with Battery to MatchEpic Fail: Solyndra files for bankruptcy

Logo for the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco. Image courtesy of NEW PEOPLE. 14 Live-Action and Anime Films at NEW PEOPLE Cinema from July 27-August 4 Source: MediaLab press release Official Site: jffsf.org Special Thanks to Erik Jansen The 2013 J-POP Summit Festival, the popular yearly San Francisco summertime Japanese Pop Culture celebration, has announced the launch of the Japan Film Festival of San Francisco, the first fully-dedicated annual Japanese film event for Northern California and the S.F. Bay Area. SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO is among nine live-action films screening at the festival. Photo courtesy of NEW PEOPLE. © 2010 SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO Production Committee The week-long Japan Film Festival of San Francisco will take place at the NEW PEOPLE Cinema beginning Saturday, July 27th through Sunday August 4th. The festival will also be a prominent feature of the 2013 J-POP Summit Festival, taking place across Japantown on Saturday and Sunday, July 27th and 28th. A complete schedule and advance ticket information is available on jffsf.org. Nine live-action films representing a vivid cross-section of the best in recent Japanese cinema will have their exclusive U.S. and/or San Francisco premiere at NEW PEOPLE. Live-action films include director Miwa Nishikawa’s DREAMS FOR SALE, Sakuran director Mika Ninagawa's HELTER SKELTER, Sion Sono's award-winning masterpiece, HIMIZU, architect/author Kyohei Sakaguchi’s documentary, HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE HOUSE, director Takashi Miike’s LESSON OF THE EVIL, director Shinsuke Sato’s LIBRARY WARS, actor Kazunari Ninomiya’s PLATINUM DATA, the samurai adventure of RUROUNI KENSHIN, and SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO, based on one of Japan’s greatest anime properties (known in the U.S. as STAR BLAZERS) and a must-see for any sci-fi aficionado. Films will be presented with their original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles. Continued...

GPS could've warned of 2011 Japan tsunami in three minutes.