Word: japanized
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China is usually the first nation to protest-loudly-any perceived backsliding by Japan on its acceptance of guilt for World War II abuses. Yet, last month, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denied Japan's wartime army had forced tens of thousands of Asian women into sexual slavery, igniting an international furor, Beijing stayed conspicuously quiet. China's diplomatic silence was the latest sign of an unexpected thaw in the two nations' often icy relationship...
...contrast to Beecham's somewhat orthodox business model, the Yotel is downright radical, attempting to pack guests into much smaller spaces than Western consumers usually encounter. Woodroffe says he was influenced by Japan's capsule hotels, which feature rooms little bigger than the sleeping compartments on trains. Yotel's "pod rooms" will offer a bit more space than Japanese-style cocoons. Still, they're not for the claustrophobic. The largest are just 10.5 sq m, though they're tall enough for even the most statuesque of guests to stand up in. Also jammed into that space: tiny workstations...
Nakamura's work did not remain obscure for long. He left Japan in 1999 to join the University of California at Santa Barbara and last year won the $1.3 million Millennium Technology Prize for his work on LEDs. He is now researching zero-energy-loss LEDs, which would be close to 100% efficient. Today even the best LEDs lose some energy to heat. Many scientists feel LEDs are already approaching the limit of their efficiency, but it wouldn't be the first time Nakamura has defied the odds...
...Motaki Terai, the project's engineering manager, assures me that bumpiness won't be an issue: "People will be able to drink hot coffee when we start commercial service." But that day may be a long time coming, because the maglev is as costly as it is speedy. Japan Rail (JR) Central, the ex-public company that operates the country's main shinkansen artery, has already spent nearly $2 billion developing the maglev. Building an operational line that would cover the 342 miles between Tokyo and Osaka -Japan's most heavily traveled rail route - would cost an estimated $70 billion...
...Rational objections have rarely stopped massive Japanese infrastructure projects in the past - hence that huge debt - and Terai insists that the maglev makes technological and financial sense. "For us as a company and Japan as a country, this is a 21st century project," he says. "We need speed." A nation that already rides the bullet won't be satisfied with anything less...