Stephen Hawking: Time Travel Possible

Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking says that time travel is possible and may hold the key to humanity´s future. His theory is supported by theoretical work by Albert Einstein and more recently by experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider.

Hawking says that over six years a ship carrying humans could accelerate to 98 percent of the speed of light. At that speed a year would pass on earth for each day on the ship. Humans could return to repopulate earth many years later.

Hawking by his own admission is obsessed with time travel and says we can only travel forward in time. In the past he has steered clear of the topic in public lest he be considered a crank but now he is less worried about that possibility.

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Woman Calls 911 - Wants a Ride Home

In Connecticut, a 28-year-old woman called 911 six times because she needed a ride home from a nightclub.

In the end she faced a charge with six counts of misuse of the emergency line. She was released on bail, which was set at $1,000, and is expected in court on May 5.

http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=83918

Crude imports rise 6.4%

Crude oil imports rose in March for the first time in two months, climbing 6.4 percent to 125.11 million barrels, the Natural Resources and Energy Agency said Friday.

Oil shipments from the Middle East accounted for 88.9 percent of total imports, down 1.2 points from the previous year, the agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary report.

Saudi Arabia remained Japan's biggest supplier, exporting 36.48 million barrels, up 0.3 percent. The United Arab Emirates was the second-biggest, with 29.31 million barrels, up 23.7 percent, followed by Qatar with 15.41 million barrels, up 5.5 percent.

Output of petroleum products fell 2.4 percent to 17.51 million kiloliters for the second consecutive monthly decline. One kiloliter equals 6.29 barrels.

Domestic sales of petroleum products were up 0.3 percent to 17.74 million kiloliters, marking the third straight monthly gain.

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Household finances for 38% of workers fall into red

TOKYO —

A record 38.7% of private sector workers in their 20s to 50s said their household finances fell into the red during the past year, according to a research institute. The Research Institute for Advancement of Living Standards based its conclusions on a survey last month, to which 573 workers around the Tokyo and Osaka areas responded.

Among respondents with an annual income of less than 4 million yen, 60.4% said their household finances went into red, with the figure climbing to 62.9% among male irregular employees, according to the think tank of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo.

Of particular note were the 31.4% of male non-regular employees who said they could not pay taxes and social insurance premiums and the 20% who cut back on meals. The survey also showed 17.1% of such workers could not afford to see doctors because of their financial difficulties.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/household-finances-for-38-of-workers-fall-into-red

Tokyo Food Bar opens at JR Akihabara Station

TOKYO —

A new type of food court opened Wednesday at JR Akihabara Station in Tokyo, featuring seven authentic dining selections to sate the appetites of hungry shoppers and commuters.

Run by Nippon Restaurant Enterprise (NRE), Tokyo Food Bar houses traditional tonkatsu restaurant Ginza Bairin, an Indian curry restaurant produced by Shonan’s popular Indian Garanaka Kaigan, Tokyo Backhaus bakery, and four others all inside the ticket gates of Akihabara Station.

NRE said it hopes that Tokyo Food Bar will reap sales of 1 billion yen per year.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/tokyo-food-bar-opens-at-jr-akihabara-station

McDonald's upgrades 12 outlets in Tokyo

McDonald’s Holdings Co (Japan) upgraded interiors and exteriors at 12 outlets in Tokyo Sunday with an aim to attract those who have never used the hamburger franchises. All of the outlets are entirely nonsmoking and have fewer seats so customers can feel more relaxed, according to McDonald’s Japan. Another upgraded shop will be added in Tokyo as early as June.

At the 13 outlets, prices of hamburgers and French fries will be raised by 10-50 yen in exchange for improved customer service, it said. Eiko Harada, the company chief, said, ‘‘We would like to offer comfortable spaces, at which the customers can feel a sense of luxury.’’

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/mcdonalds-upgrades-12-outlets-in-tokyo

Honda looks to China for parts

Honda Motor Co. plans to buy more parts from Chinese suppliers to cut costs at its auto assembly plant in Wuhan, central China, as demand grows for affordable cars in the world's largest auto market.

The carmaker aims to raise the proportion of locally made components bought from China-based companies to about 15 percent within three years from 10 percent now, said Mitsuo Yamamoto, a division head in charge of procurement at the plant, a joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group Co. That may result in cost savings of about 1,000 yuan ($147) per vehicle, he said in an interview at the factory this week.

Honda, Japan's second-largest carmaker, aims to cut costs to win market share in China's rural areas and second-tier cities, where demand for cheap, smaller vehicles is rising. Subsidies for rural buyers and a tax cut for cars with engines no larger than 1.6 liters helped Japanese vehicle sales surge 46 percent last year to 13.6 million, surpassing U.S. demand for the first time.

Honda's cheapest car in China, the Fit compact, is priced from 89,800 yuan (¥1.24 million), compared with 59,800 yuan for BYD Co.'s F3 compact, the nation's best-selling model last year.

While the Wuhan factory gets as much as 95 percent of its components locally, 90 percent of them are bought from Japanese and European parts makers operating in China, rather than Chinese companies, Yamamoto said. The factory makes Civic compacts, CR-V sport utility vehicles and Spirior sedans and has the capacity to produce about 1,000 vehicles a day.

Tokyo-based Honda may increase sales 9 percent to 630,000 vehicles this year in China, where industrywide demand will likely grow more than 10 percent, Chief Executive Officer Takanobu Ito, 56, said at the Beijing Auto Show last week.

Honda, which has three car factories in China, and Dongfeng are also preparing to begin production at a second plant in Wuhan from the second half of 2012.

The venture is gradually increasing automation at the existing Wuhan plant, said Shinichi Ikeda, a division head in charge of vehicle production. The factory has about 130 robots, compared with about 400 each at Honda's plants in Saitama and Mie prefectures in Japan, said Isamu Matsuoka, deputy president of the joint venture.

About 15 percent of the engine assembly work is automated at the Wuhan plant, compared with 50 percent at factories in Japan. Welding is one area in which automation is already used, to ensure consistency, Ikeda said.

Automation doesn't necessarily cut costs given the need for equipment maintenance, Ikeda said. Wages in China are also lower than in Japan and the U.S., Matsuoka said.

Most line workers are hired from local technical schools, and the average wage is about 4,000 yuan (¥55,000) a month, including overtime. That compares with an average monthly wage of ¥357,324 for Honda's workers in Japan.

After language study in Wuhan, some workers are sent to factories in Japan for three-month training courses, Matsuoka said. This year, 26 workers will be trained in Japan, he said.

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