Hacker News with Generative AI: Japan

Japan backs nuclear power in climate plan criticized as insufficient (japantimes.co.jp)
The government approved separate plans Tuesday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% in the fiscal year from April 2035 — and by 73% in fiscal 2040 — compared with 2013 levels, and have renewables and nuclear power generate half and 20% of the country’s electricity, respectively, by 2040.
Japan, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Energy
5 points by mikhael 2 days ago | 0 comments
Why Japan succeeds despite stagnation (tomaspueyo.com)
For more than three decades, Japan has endured near complete economic stagnation. Since 2000, Japan’s total output has grown by only $200B.
Economics, Japan, Stagnation
10 points by creer 3 days ago | 0 comments
Japan Perfected 7-Eleven. Why can't the US get it right? (bloomberg.com)
Owner Seven & i has tried for years to upgrade the chain’s reputation in the US. Now, a rival Canadian retailer is betting $47 billion that it can do a better job.
Japan, Convenience Stores, Retail, Business, Acquisitions
12 points by nohuck13 3 days ago | 2 comments
Japan's $1.5B bet on ultra-thin solar cells in challenge to China (ft.com)
Japan, Solar Energy, China, Technology, Business
15 points by bookofjoe 4 days ago | 2 comments
Statement or eyesore? Japan's divisive brutalist buildings – in pictures (theguardian.com)
Architecture, Japan, Art, Criticism
79 points by PaulHoule 4 days ago | 37 comments
A Guide to Japanese Listening Bars (tokyoweekender.com)
Listening bars are evolving and gradually spreading across the world. Nowadays, there are listening bars in the hippest towns in the coolest neighborhoods, from Shibuya in Tokyo to Brooklyn in New York. And the best thing about them is that each one is completely different from the next.
Japan, Music, Bars, Culture, Travel
3 points by PaulHoule 5 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: Do you think AI is being hyped by "Surprisers"? (ycombinator.com)
Hi,HN<p>There is an internet meme in Japan called “Odrokiya(驚き屋)” who are overly surprised by the release of OpenAI and overstate the usefulness of AI.
Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, Technology, Japan, Memes
5 points by enpera 7 days ago | 10 comments
Centrefolded: Japan's 'porn disposal' boxes phased out amid rise of the internet (theguardian.com)
For more than a decade Kazuhide Inoue has played an understated part in protecting the morals of adolescents in Fukuoka. Several times a year, the 73-year-old visits eight white “post boxes” installed in the city in western Japan, turns a key and empties their contents. On a recent visit, his haul totalled 16 books and 81 DVDs in a single day.
Social Issues, Japan, Culture, Censorship, Pornography
8 points by c420 7 days ago | 0 comments
Japan can be a science heavyweight once more if it rethinks funding (nature.com)
The nation must lose its tight focus on individual disciplines if it is to keep pace with the evolving requirements of scientific enquiry.
Science, Japan, Funding, Research
159 points by rntn 9 days ago | 51 comments
Domino's Pizza to close 172 outlets in Japan (japantimes.co.jp)
Domino's Pizza Enterprises, headquartered in Australia, said Friday that it will close 205 unprofitable outlets worldwide, including 172 in Japan.
Domino's Pizza, Japan, Business, Retail, Restaurants
22 points by mikhael 11 days ago | 10 comments
Japan's Semiconductor Photoresist Monopoly [video] (youtube.com)
Japan, Semiconductors, Manufacturing, Technology, Video
3 points by mgh2 12 days ago | 0 comments
Spike Japan – A Look at the Overlooked (wordpress.com)
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
Japan, Travel, Culture
6 points by jcurbo 13 days ago | 1 comments
Treaties Lost in Translation (historytoday.com)
In early May 2019, the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono travelled to Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to settle an old score.
International Relations, History, Diplomacy, Russia, Japan
3 points by Vigier 13 days ago | 0 comments
Station of despair: What to do if you get stuck at end of Tokyo Chuo Rapid Line (soranews24.com)
More people spend the night in Otsuki than want to spend the night there.
Japan, Transportation, Travel, Public Transport
523 points by edward 15 days ago | 333 comments
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan (teslarati.com)
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
Tesla, Energy Storage, Japan, Batteries, Renewable Energy
5 points by bilsbie 17 days ago | 0 comments
Japan plans to sell rice from emergency stockpiles to cut prices (japantimes.co.jp)
Japan plans to release some of its rice stockpiles reserved for emergency use in response to record domestic prices for the grain.
Japan, Rice, Food Prices, Government Policy, Emergency Stockpiles
21 points by Pamar 18 days ago | 11 comments
Japanese WW2 "Fu-Go" Balloon Bombs (2016) (nuclearmuseum.org)
On November 3, 1944, Japan released fusen bakudan, or balloon bombs, into the Pacific jet stream. They each carried four incendiaries and one thirty-pound high-explosive bomb. Japan’s latest weapon, the balloon bombs were intended to cause damage and spread panic in the continental United States. The balloons would claim six American lives on May 5, 1945, but they were widely considered a military failure. Japan halted the operation in April 1945.
History, Military, Japan, United States
10 points by thomassmith65 20 days ago | 6 comments
Osaka bans smoking on all of its streets, vaping included (soranews24.com)
Japan’s third-largest city expands smoking ban ahead of world’s fair.
Japan, Public Health, Smoking, Vaping, Cities
114 points by askl 23 days ago | 78 comments
Sony Will Stop Producing Blank Blu-ray Discs After 18 Years (gizmodo.com)
Sony says it will stop manufacturing blank Blu-ray discs for the Japanese market along with MiniDiscs and MiniDV cassettes that could be used to save media in a physical format. “We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our many customers for their patronage,” a short press release concludes. It has been 18 years since the Blu-ray was first introduced coinciding with the launch of the PlayStation 3.
Consumer Technology, Media, Business, Japan
3 points by rntn 24 days ago | 0 comments
Can foreigners live in Kofu, a small Japanese town? [video] (youtube.com)
Japan, Travel, Expats, Relocation, Culture
29 points by CaliforniaKarl 26 days ago | 7 comments
IOC long shot Watanabe hopes 'crazy' Olympic idea sparks debate (japantimes.co.jp)
Japan's Morinari Watanabe is a rank outsider to become International Olympic Committee president but he hopes his "crazy idea" to host the Games in five cities at once can spark debate.
Olympics, Japan, Sports, Politics, International Relations
47 points by PaulHoule 27 days ago | 54 comments
Eki Bright – The Case for DIY Routing (twocentstudios.com)
When I set out making the first prototypes of Eki Bright, my train timetables iOS app for the Tokyo metropolitan area, I had no intentions of tackling routing. In fact, that was one of the selling points; the lack of routing, like lack of maps, made it visually and conceptually simpler for solving the problem of getting the next train departure time at any particular station.
Mobile Apps, iOS Development, Japan, Transportation
40 points by twocentstudios 27 days ago | 9 comments
American stationery nerds are fueling a Japanese notebook boom (japantimes.co.jp)
Come the end of the year in Japan, there’s a rush on cleaning services, straw decorations and boxed osechi ryōri (traditional New Year’s cuisine). But over the past few years, a new item has joined Japan’s January prep lineup: planners.
Japan, Stationery, Trends, Culture
6 points by PaulHoule 30 days ago | 0 comments
A technical dive into the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer (cookieplmonster.github.io)
It’s been 18 years since the last release of a Tokyo Xtreme Racer game outside of the two not-so-well-received mobile installments. This is about to change, as Genki is releasing a new TXR game in Steam Early Access on January 23rd:
Gaming, Video Games, Racing Games, Japan
33 points by FMecha 30 days ago | 10 comments
Japan Offers Free Daycare to Boost Tokyo's Falling Birth Rate (xatakaon.com)
Japan has been grappling with its demographic statistics with a sense of urgency, particularly regarding its declining birth rate. In 2023, the country recorded its eighth consecutive year of decreasing births, with a 5.1% drop that has pushed its fertility rate to historic lows.
Japan, Demographics, Birth Rate, Government Policy, Economics
52 points by nithinj 31 days ago | 102 comments
Lonely sunfish in Japan gets cardboard human friends (bbc.com)
A sociable sunfish who was reportedly missing its human audience during a temporary closure of its aquarium in Japan has been comforted in an unorthodox way.
Animals, Japan, Aquariums, Social Behavior
142 points by krylon 31 days ago | 86 comments
A System for the Sixties-and-a-Half: The Toshiba Visicom COM-100 (nicole.express)
It’s 1977, and you’re in charge of the large Toshiba Corporation. Video games seem to be possibly a real market, and as an innovative electronics firm, you’ve got to get in on the ground floor. Sure, you’ve got Epoch to make you a copy of their System 10 as the TVG-610, but that’s so limited, you know pongs don’t have a future. But you don’t have a console architecture in-house either. So what do you do?
Video Games, History, Technology, Japan
29 points by ingve 32 days ago | 5 comments
Japan's elderly are lonely and struggling. Some women choose to go to jail (cnn.com)
Japan, Aging, Social Issues, Crime, Women
45 points by Tomte 32 days ago | 36 comments
Japan's original decluttering guru (no, not that one) (nytimes.com)
Before Marie Kondo captured the world’s attention with her exhortations to rid ourselves of items that did not “spark joy,” there was another Japanese guru of decluttering.
Japan, Decluttering, History, Culture
84 points by whack 34 days ago | 63 comments
Higher potassium intake at dinner linked to fewer sleep disturbances – study (nutraingredients-asia.com)
A Japanese study underscores the potential of higher potassium intake, particularly at dinner time, in relation to improved sleep.
Nutrition, Sleep, Health, Research, Japan
269 points by hilux 34 days ago | 183 comments