Honda Begins Operation of New Solar Hydrogen Station

Honda began operation of a next generation solar hydrogen station prototype at the Los Angeles Center of Honda R&D Americas, Inc., intended for ultimate use as a home refueling appliance capable of an overnight refill of fuel cell electric vehicles.

Designed as a single, integrated unit to fit in the user's garage, Honda's next generation Solar Hydrogen Station reduces the size of the system, while producing enough hydrogen (0.5kg) via an 8-hour overnight fill for daily commuting (10,000 miles per year) for a fuel cell electric vehicle.

The previous solar hydrogen station system required both an electrolyzer and a separate compressor unit to create high pressure hydrogen. The compressor was the largest and most expensive component and reduced system efficiency. By creating a new high differential pressure electrolyzer, Honda engineers were able to eliminate the compressor entirely - a world's first for a home use system. This innovation also reduces the size of other key components to make the new station the world's most compact system, while improving system efficiency by more than 25% (value calculated based on simulations) compared to the solar hydrogen station system it replaces.Compatible with a "Smart Grid" energy system, the Honda Solar Hydrogen Station would enable users to refill their vehicle overnight without the requirement of hydrogen storage, which would lower CO2 emissions by using less expensive off-peak electrical power. During daytime peak power times, the Solar Hydrogen Station can export renewable electricity to the grid, providing a cost benefit to the customer, while remaining energy neutral.
Designed for simple, user-friendly operation, the intuitive system layout enables the user to easily lift and remove the fuel hose, with no hose coiling when the hose is returned to the dispenser unit.

Engineered for an 8-hour, slow fill for overnight refilling of a fuel cell electric vehicle, the home-use Solar Hydrogen Station would replenish the hydrogen for a typical daily driving, meeting the commuting requirements of many drivers. As with the previous generation system, the hydrogen purity from the new station meets the highest SAE (J2719) and ISO (14687) specifications. Installed at the Los Angeles Center of Honda R&D Americas, the new Solar Hydrogen Station will employ the same 48-panel, 6.0kW solar array that powered the previous system.

Sejong City to have many business, investment drawcards, says Korea.net

To realize the goal of making the new Sejong City in South Chungcheong Province a global business and investment hub, the government has designated two specialized zones in the plan -- a "global investment attraction zone" in the northeast and an "international cooperation zone" near the city center.

Other than these two zones, the city of Sejong will also include a "high-tech green industry zone" in the northwest, an "international science and business belt" in the west, a "commerce and culture zone" in the south, and finally a "university and research center zone" in the east.

The government recognized that foreign investment is most critical in making Sejong a self-sufficient high-end city and has placed the global investment zone right next to the green industry zone.

This is based upon the assumption that quality products made in the industrial zone will be easily transported and promoted to foreign investors and enterprises based in the nearby investment zone, thereby expediting the globalization of Sejong City.
Situated on 1.9 million square meters of land, the investment attraction zone will induce headquarters and research institutes of major international corporations to set up here, as well as providing schools, housing and hospitals for their staff and families.

The government plans to speed up the inducement of foreign investors as soon as the National Assembly passes the amendment of the law on foreign investment promotion in February.

In ways to further activate foreign investment in Sejong City, the government has pledged to provide special tax breaks for incoming corporations.

For example, the corporations will be exempted from paying acquisition, registration and property taxes for the first 15 years.

Then at the heart of Sejong City, close to the planned green central park, will be placed the "international cooperation zone."

The government plans to invite international organizations, including those charged with solving the problems of climate change, and Asian headquarters offices of multinational corporations into the zone.

Convention and exhibition centers, hotels and commercial facilities will also be built in the region, and a special English speaking district will be designated as well.

Discover Korean Food #22: Dr. Sook-Ja Yoon's "Unpolished Rice - Korean Epimedium - Dioscorea Batatas - Porridge"

Unpolished Rice - Korean Epimedium - Dioscorea Batatas – Porridge is boiled glutinous unpolished rice porridge mixed with Dioscorea Batatas in Korean Epimedium water. It helps the preventon of amnesia and keeps bones and muscles strong by providing energy. The seeds grow on the leaves, similar to ginkgo, and the stem looks like a rice straw. The leaves are picked and dried in May.

Ingredients
1 cup of glutinous unpolished rice
6 cups of water
60 grams of Dioscorea Japonica
3 grams of Korean Epimedium
9 cups water
1 tablespoon of salt

Recipe
1. Wash the glutinous unpolished rice and leave in water for 5 hours. Then Drain the water.
2. Wash the Dioscorea Japonica and cut it into 0.5cm thick, 1cm wide and 1.5 cm long pieces.
3. Wash the Korean Epimedium and brew it for 1 hour.
4. Put the glutinous unpolished rice and Korean Epimedium water in the pot and heat for 8 minutes on a high setting. When it boils leave it on a medium setting for 30 minutes stirring ocasionally. Then, reduce the heat to low and steam for 20 minutes.
5. When it gets sticky put in Dioscorea Japonica and salt and boil for a further 2 minutes.

Ultimate mobility, must-have looks and blazing performance: New VAIO Z Series - unprecedented power

When only the very best will do, the breathtaking new VAIO Z Series of ultra-mobile notebook computers from Sony is your ultimate travel companion.
The slim, exquisitely styled new Z Series doesn’t compromise on mobility, looks, connectivity or stamina. What’s more, it delivers shattering performance to rip through your business computing needs – saving precious time and boosting your personal productivity.
Alongside up to 6GB of RAM to handle your applications, The Quad solid state drives can write data in parallel on a maximum of four SSDs, making process at incredible speeds. Smaller and lighter than conventional HDD arrays, it’s tearing through file transfers up to 6.2x faster (compared with HDD 5400 rpm) to save precious time when every second counts.
Graphics performance is often sacrificed on ultra-portable notebooks – but not with the new VAIO Z Series. The integrated NVIDIA® GeForce® GT330M graphics chipset with 1GB GDDR3 VRAM makes light work of media-rich documents, presentations, movie playback and more. A new Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System intelligently optimises performance to match your workflow. As an alternative to manually selecting graphics modes, AUTO mode detects usage conditions, switching automatically between STAMINA and SPEED modes to suit the task at hand.
Weighing below 1.45kg, the all-new VAIO Z Series is crafted to the highest standards in weight-saving yet durable carbon fibre and aluminium for maximum portability and robustness. Enhancing the notebook’s beautiful design, the tough yet light palmrest is precision-machined from a single thick slab of aluminium.
Whether you’re fine-tuning a presentation or enjoying your personal media collection, you’ll get a better picture with the Full HD 1920 x 1080 (model VPCZ11Z9E) VAIO Display Premium. Measuring 33.3cm (13.1”), this high-efficiency screen with LED backlighting offers exceptional brightness, clarity and contrast. An exceptionally wide colour gamut of 96% Adobe RGB coverage ensures rich, vibrant reproduction of Full HD video and still images.
Extreme performance and mobility doesn’t come at the expense of business-class comfort. A built-in ambient light sensor detects when ambient surroundings are dark, automatically switching on keyboard backlighting for accurate typing while dimming screen illumination to save power.
For extra convenience and peace of mind, a front panel-mounted ASSIST button gives one-touch access to VAIO Care. This easy-to-use new programme helps maintain, diagnose and troubleshoot your VAIO with just a few clicks.
Productivity is expanded further with VAIO Everywair 3G mobile broadband, connecting you to high-speed networks while on the move.
Powered by the latest generation of power-efficient Intel® Core™ processors, every new VAIO Z Series model is shipped with Genuine Windows® 7 Professional for best-ever business productivity.
A full range of add-ons includes a dedicated docking station, leather cases, mice and extended batteries. You can pre-order the new VAIO Z Series from Sony Style (www.sonystyle.eu) and enjoy a range of exciting options including noise-cancelling in-ear headphones and 8GB of memory. There’s also a choice of exclusive case patterns that add a luxuriously distinctive touch to your VAIO.

Discover Japan #13: Kagoshima Prefecture (THE EAST Campaign in Association with Japan National Tourist Organization London Office)

Kagoshima is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture at the southwestern tip of the Kyūshū island of Japan, and the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the “Naples of the Eastern world” for its bay location (Aira Caldera), hot climate and impressive stratovolcano, Sakurajima.

As of 1 January 2005, the city had an estimated population of 605,650 and a density of 1,107.81 persons per km². The total area is 546.71 km². In 2003, the city had an estimated population of only 554,136 and density of 1,911.41 persons per km². The total area was 289.91 km².

The city’s total area nearly doubled between 2003 and 2005 as a result of five towns—the towns of Kōriyama and Matsumoto, both from Hioki District, the town of Kiire, from Ibusuki District, and the towns of Sakurajima and Yoshida, both from Kagoshima District—merging into Kagoshima on November 1, 2004.

Kagoshima is approximately 40 minutes from Kagoshima Airport, and the city features large shopping districts and malls, is served by trams, and has many restaurants featuring Satsuma Province regional cuisine: kibi (a kind of tiny fish), tonkatsu (caramelized pork, as opposed to the breaded version encountered elsewhere in Japan), smoked eel, and karukan (sweet cakes made from steamed yams and rice flour). A large, modern aquarium has been installed on the old docks overlooking the volcano. The Senganen (Isoteien) Japanese garden is just outside the city.

The St. Xavier church is a reminder of the first Christians who came to Japan.

One of the best places to see the city (and the active volcano across the bay) is from the Amuran Ferris wheel on top of “Amu Plaza,” the shopping centre attached to Kagoshima Central Train Station. The wheel has two completely transparent gondolas which give a 360-degree view from 91 m above the ground.

History

Kagoshima was the center of the territory of the Shimazu clan of samurai for many centuries. It was a busy political and commercial port city throughout the medieval period and into the Edo period (1603–1867) when it formally became the capital of the Shimazu’s fief, the Satsuma Domain. Satsuma remained one of the most powerful and wealthiest domains in the country throughout the period, and though international trade was banned for much of this period, the city remained quite active and prosperous. It served not only as the political center for Satsuma, but also for the semi-independent vassal kingdom of Ryūkyū; Ryukyuan traders and emissaries frequented the city, and a special Ryukyuan embassy building was established to help administer relations between the two polities and to house visitors and emissaries. Kagoshima was also a significant center of Christian activity in Japan prior to the imposition of bans against that religion in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

Kagoshima was bombarded by the British Royal Navy in 1863 to punish the daimyō of Satsuma for the murder of Charles Lennox Richardson on the Tōkaidō highway the previous year and its refusal to pay an indemnity in compensation. Kagoshima was the birthplace and scene of the last stand of Saigō Takamori, a legendary figure in Meiji Japan in 1877 at the end of the Satsuma Rebellion.

Japan’s industrial revolution is said to have started here, stimulated by the young students’ train station. Seventeen young men of Satsuma broke the Tokugawa ban on foreign travel, traveling first to England and then the United States before returning to share the benefits of the best of Western science and technology.

Discover Japanese Food #10: Kabocha no nimono: simmered pumpkin in ginger soy sauce (THE EAST Campaign in Association with Atsuko’s Kitchen)

Kabocha is a Japanese name of pumpkin which has rich and nutty texture and had a natural sweetness also high in beta carotene.
Now a days you can find a Japanese kabocha in the supermarket.
This recipe is a very quick and basic type of stewed dish. Add a ginger is great idea to help to warm your body temperature.
When you simmer it, it is nice to leave the skin on to not to break into pieces and enjoy the rich texture and contrast of the colour.
Just slice some part of the skin to penetrate the flavour to it.

Ingredients: serve 4 as a main
500g Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), A finger sized piece of ginger, 8 Sugar snaps
Seasonings: 300ml Kombu dashi, 1 tbsp Sake, 3 tbsp Mirin, 2 tbsp Shoyu (Dark soy sauce )
For thick sauce: 2 tsp Katakuriko, 2 tsp Cold water
*mix together before cooking

Preparation
1. Peel the skin of kabocha randomly, dice into 3cm cube.
2. Peel and slice the ginger, cut into juliennes.

Method
1. Place the kabocha skin side down and ginger in the medium sauce pan then pour the kombu dashi.
2. Bring it to the boil.
3. When it starts boiling reduce the heat, add sake and mirin, then simmer with low heat until kabocha becomes soft which will take about 12 mins.
4. Add shoyu last, cook slowly with low heat for 5mins.
5. When the seasonings penetrated to the kabocha, take the kabocha out then place on the dish.
6. Reheat the seasonings then add sugar snap, stir in the katakuriko and water mixture to thicken the sauce.
6. Remove from the heat then pour the sauce on the top of kabocha.

Asiana Airlines Onboard Services voted best in the word for six consecutive years

Asiana Airlines (President: Young-Doo Yoon) was awarded the “Best Onboard Service & Flight Attendants Award” for six consecutive years, and was awarded the “Best Airline in North Asia” by U.S world renowned travel magazine “Global Traveler.” The award ceremony was held on the 21st of January at 8 p.m. in New York’s Andaz Wall Street Hotel located in Manhattan, NYC.

Asiana Airlines along with 3 other winning companies will also sponsor the (The Mentor Foundation) charity event that provides education for third world children.

The awards are given to the airlines that scored best in the readers’ survey executed by Global Traveler Magazine. This year, Global Traveler surveyed 31,500 people, through inserts to subscribers and online, from January to August. The Global Traveler survey includes not only the airline category, but also ranks hotels and tourist spots and gives out 55 prizes to the best airlines, hotels and tourist spots of the world.

Asiana Airlines has excelled in the category of onboard service & flight attendants for years due to the innovative and unique in-flight services such as magic shows, make-up service, onboard chef service along with the upgraded cabin facilities and customer oriented service are examples of the differentiated and high-class characteristics of services which Global Traveler Magazine highly recognized.