fasol.blog

More Drastic Changes Needed at Sony (CNBC TV interview)

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:13:06 PDT

Read more about SONY and Japan's electrical industry sector: http://www.eurotechnology.com/store/j_electric/index.shtml
Subscribe to our newsletters: technology newsletters from Japan

Investor Club: What crisis? Meet some booming Japanese companies

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:19:12 PDT

It's not all doom and gloom here in Japan. Nintendo's sales and operating profits are rising 8.8% year-on-year. KDDI saw its net profits increasing 59% year on year. Yahoo Japan increases dividends by 22%-25% for 2008. Who are today's winners in Japan's IT industry? Gerhard Fasol will show us how and why some great Japanese companies excel in today's crisis.

The talk reviews today's status of Japan's electrical companies, the telecommunications sector and the internet sector, and introduces seven different companies, which show rapid growth of revenues, operating income and net income despite the crisis. These seven companies we introduce turn the crisis into an opportunity.

The PowerPoints of this presentation are available as the April-2009 issue of the (paid) Eurotechnology-Japan newsletter series. Subscribers receive one newsletter each month - the April issue is an augmented and expanded version of the PowerPoints of the presentation above.

To subscribe to the newsletters and to download the presentation click here (April 2009 issue of our Eurotechnology-Japan newsletter, requires subscription)

Mr Fasol is one of the best specialists of Japan's IT industry. After 12 years in Japan working for the most prestigious Japanese institutions and companies (the University of Tokyo, NTT, Hitachi...), he founded the strategy and M&A firm Eurotechnology Japan KK in 1996. Mr Fasol has advised some of the greatest companies, including NTT, SIEMENS, Deutsche Telekom, Cubic, Unaxis and about 100 fund managers on strategy for Japan, as well as the President of Germany. He helped a French pharmaceutical company acquire a factory in Japan.
He comments regularly on CNBC on Japan's tech sector.

Schedule: March 24th, 2009 (Tuesday) from 18:30
The conference will be followed by a light cocktail.
Place: French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan, meeting room
Iida bldg 1F, 5-5 Rokubancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0085
Tel.: 03-3288-9624
Access map: www.ccifj.or.jp
Language: English
Fees: 5.000 yens (to pay in cash at the door)
Payment will be required for cancellations or no-show after this deadline.
Announcement on the website of the French Chamber of Commerce
read a report on the talk here in the monthly newsletter of the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan (in French)

Background reading: our J-ELECTRIC report about Japan's electric companies

and our Eurotechnology Japan Blog

Professor Junichi Hamada, President of Tokyo University

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:30:13 PDT

Attended Professor Junichi Hamada's presentation at Tokyo University. Professor Hamada is expert on the legal aspects of journalism, freedom of press and media regulation. Professor Hamada will be the new President of Tokyo University from April 2009.

In his presentation Professor Hamada discussed the changes in the media sector, and of course also his views and strategies for Tokyo University.

Asked during question time about his views of University ranking lists, his answer was that serving society is much more important than ranking lists.

For my own work at Tokyo University see: Fasol Laboratory webpages

our future: hot, flat, and crowded... celebrating Ludwig Boltzmann's 165th birthday

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:49:50 PST

Ludwig Boltzmann was one of the most important physicists and philosophers: it is almost impossible for any engineer, chemist or physicist to do a day's work without using Boltzmann's tools and results every day. Ludwig Boltzmann is this author's and Eurotechnology Japan KK's founder's great grandfather - and his excellence is our company's guiding light.

Ludwig Boltzmann was born 165 years ago on February 20, 1844, and last Friday, February 20, 2009 we celebrated by inviting several of Japan's science and technology leaders to the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium in Tokyo with kind cooperation and hospitality by the Ambassador of Austria and the Austrian Embassy.

First speaker was Professor Hisashi Kobayashi, Founder of the IBM Tokyo Laboratory, former Dean of Engineering of Princeton University. He showed how Entropy and noise in communications is linked to Boltzmann's generalized Entropy and the H-Theorem. Coming from Princeton, Hisashi also showed us elegantly how strongly Einstein's work is linked to Boltzmann's.

Professor Kiyoshi Kurokawa, former Dean of Medicine of Tokai University, former President of Japan's Science Council and Advisor to two Japanese Prime Ministers and now Professor at Japan's new Political Science University, gave an intense and passionate speech about which changes are necessary to live in our future which will be hot (as in global warming), flat (as in global communications and internet) and crowded (due do population growth). Kiyoshi also made a passionate appeal to Japanese organisations (including the S&T leaders participating at our Symposium) to change, open up and compete globally. (Website: "Hot, Flat and crowded" by Thomas Friedmann)

Kazu Ishikawa of Exa Japan gave a fantastic demonstration how Boltzmann's equations are used to simulate airflow for the construction of cars, airplanes, jet engines ... Boltzmann's equations replace the macroscopic Navier-Stokes equations as numerical wind tunnels. Boltzmann's equations are particularly needed for the simulation of transients.

Finally, Gerhard Fasol, Ludwig Boltzmann's Great-Grandson, gave two talks: one talk about Ludwig Boltzmann's scientific achievements, his search for understanding the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics with mechanics, the effects of collisions and the generalization to non-equilibrium - leading the H-Theorem, and the generalization of Entropy and Boltzmann's philosophical work. The second talk introduced the human side of Ludwig Boltzmann: his life and his passions.

Photo: Hisashi Kobayashi shows why Boltzmann's work is important for telecommunications, and how Einstein's work is linked to Boltzmann's. Her Excellency, the Austrian Ambassador follows closely.

Photo: Hot, flat and crowded. In a passionate speech, former science and tech advisor of two Japanese Prime-Ministers, Kiyoshi Kurokawa talks about the future, and how to be prepared to compete.

Photo: The Austrian Ambassador invited the participants of the Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium to the Austrian Residence.

More photos here

Coffee with the Foreign Minister of Austria in Tokyo

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:09:32 PST

Was invited to coffee with the Foreign Minister of Austria, Mr Michael Spindelegger, at the Embassy in Tokyo. Minister Spindelegger is in Tokyo for celebrating 140 years of Austria-Japan diplomatic relations, and he gave a short presentation.

Another reason for the Minister's visit to Japan is that both Japan and Austria are non-permanent members of the United Nations UN Security Council for the two year period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010.

Blue GaN LEDs take over Christmas

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:57:28 PST

Since Shuji Nakamura's first commercialization of GaN LEDs (read the Blue Laser Diode Book) LEDs are progressing rapidly to make the US$ 400 Billion global lighting industry more environmentally friendly, reducing CO2 output and reducing electricity bills for lighting dramatically. Recently rail stations in Japan have begun to test plug-compatible replacement of fluorescent tubes by LED based solid state lighting.

This year our company advised a number of investment fund managers on technology, business models, financial models and trends of the solid state lighting industry. Please find a detailed Solid State Lighting report here - we continuously update this report.

Christmas lighting with blue LEDs in Tokyo Midtown. Tokyo Tower can be seen in the back, lighted using traditional lamps, though. Merry Christmas!

Speech by Japan's Chief-Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura (河村建夫)

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 18:41:32 PST

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura (河村建夫) gave a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club on December 17th, 2008. Kawamura is born in Hagi (Kawaguchi-ken - a beautiful Castle Town in the west of Japan's main island, which is also host to many famous potters). Kawaguchi was Education Minister in Prime Minister Aso's cabinet.

In his speech Kawamura of course mainly talked about the current global financial crisis and stimulation programs to support the economic recovery, to support new industries and new technologies. Another emphasis is consumer protection support of the consumer agency in view of recent food scandals, and other consumer good problems.

Points which I found interesting in Kawamura's presentation where:

- A comprehensive law for decentralization is on the way for next year.
- The basic law on space development

There was quite a long Q&A with discussion. What I found interesting was Kawamura's answer to the question about the disputed Takeshima islands, that a solution in an international arbitration court is desirable.- This is the first time I heard about this possibility from Japanese leaders.
Asked also about the disputed Sentaku Islands, Kawamura mentioned the possibility of joint ownership areas for maritime resources, and the development of gas resources beyond the 200 mile territorial limits.

Paradigm change of the global mobile phone business and opportunities for Japanese mobile phone makers

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:53 PST

presentation by Gerhard Fasol, at the Industry Association of Japanese telecom and networking equipment makers, Friday November 27, 2008, 15:00-16:30

Presentation was fully booked several weeks before the talk, attended by about 100 managers and executives of Japan's telecom equipment makers, and included also the Vice-Minister/Secretary of State of Japan's General Affairs Ministry, which is responsible for telecom regulation in Japan.

Download the presentation as a pdf-file here (in Japanese language)

Nomura CEO, Kenichi Watanabe speaks about the Lehman Brothers acquisition

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:47:39 PST

Nomura CEO, Kenichi Watanabe, today gave a presentation about the acquisition of the former Lehman Brothers operations in Europe & ME, Japan, Asia (ex-Japan) and in India.

Nomura acquired:
Europe and ME:
Equities and investment banking operations (approx 250 people)
Fixed income staff (approx 150 people)

Japan:
approx. 1100 people

Asia (ex-Japan):
approx. 1500 people

India:
three subsidiaries, in total approx 2900 people
LB Services India, IT, Global servicing
LB Financial Services India, research services
LB Structured Finance Services, Capital Markets Support and Analytics

Synergies:
Nomura is strong in mutual funds (74.2% of business)
Lehman is strong in hedge funds (56.8% of business)
Nomura is strong in retail
Lehman is strong in wholesale

Nomura plans three phases:
Phase 1: x-Lehman staff join Nomura
Phase 2: start joint operations
Phase 3: promote efficiency
Phase 4: create synergies

Q&A (there was an extensive Q&A session), selected questions were:

Question: Could the Lehman acquisition be seen as a "reverse takeover", ie Lehman people taking over Nomura?

Answer: any kind of takeover, foreign staff taking over, new hires taking over, long term employees taking over is ok for Nomura, if it makes the customers, shareholders and employees happy.

Question: how does Nomura plan to cover the acquisition costs, how does Nomura plan to become profitable, and could there be cuts in headcount?

Answer: we will right-size in each business area according to the necessities in each business area, and in some business division we are hiring and increasing headcount.

Question: what about highly paid "talents" and high bonus payments? Could there be friction with existing Nomura employees?

Answer: Nomura already has several thousand employees with about 50 or more nationalities, and some are paid more than the CEO of Nomura, so we are already familiar with this situation. Currently Goldman-Sachs CEO and top executives have announced that they will not receive any bonus payments. We will hope that this will be understood in our company as well.

Question: Will the acquisition mean an end to lifetime employment and bring the introduction of performance based payment?

We must make sure that we satisfy our clients, we will focus to deliver the services our clients need.

Modo Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo Shinjuku (モード学園コクーンタワー)

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:47:11 PST

Modo Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo Shinjuku (モード学園コクーンタワー)
Purpose: shared by three Universities and schools, and others
4 underground floors + 50 above ground floors
building started: May 1, 2006
opened: October 15, 2008
Architects: Tange Associates (丹下都市建築設計)
Building company: Shimizu (清水建設)

"Four critical factors for Japanese corporates making major international acquisitions", Stuart Chambers, CEO of NSG Group

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:37:08 PST

Stuart Chambers, CEO of NSG Group, gave a press conference on October 16, 2008, here are some notes and thoughts.

On February 16th, 2006, Nippon Sheet Glass' offer for the 80% of Pilkington plc it did not already own, for US$ 3.14 billion in total, was accepted by Pilkington's share holders and the acquisition was completed in June 2006. At the 142nd Annual Shareholder Meeting on June 27th 2008, Stuart Chambers was appointed Representative Executive Director, President and CEO of NSG Group.

Here some essential points of Stuart Chambers' presentation, entitled "Four critical factors for Japanese corporates making major international acquisitions".
The four critical factors in the title are:
1. Integration (share holders and customers demanded integration, because the value of the combined NSG + Pilkington after the acquisition must become bigger than the sum of its parts -> must change HR management, and board)
2. Repaying debt -> senior management must understand the balance sheet
3. Identifying growth opportunities for the future (glass for solar energy)
4. Succession

From the outset the aim was not to create a Japanese company with overseas subsidiaries, but to create an international company, headquartered in Japan and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Therefore the greatest changes needed to be made in Japan.

NSG Group changed from an exclusively Japanese Board, to a new Board structure:
Board of Directors: 12 (7 Japanese + 5 non-Japanese) and
Executive Officers: 23 (11 Japanese + 12 non-Japanese)
These changes were necessary in order to retain non-Japanese management talent from leaving the acquired company after the merger.

The Board structure was changed from the traditional Kansayaku (Corporate Auditor) structure to a Board with Committees.

HR management changes from internal promotion according to time served in each job level to the international practice of combining internal and external hiring according to capability and demonstrated performance ignoring age as a factor.

Paradigm change of the global mobile phone business and opportunities for Japanese mobile phone makers

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:13:59 PST

Presentation at the CEATEC Conference, talk NT-13, Meeting Room 302, International Conference Hall, Makuhari Messe, Friday October 3, 2008, 11:00-12:00.

The emergence of iPhone, Android, open-sourcing of Symbian, and the growth of mobile data services are changing the paradigm of the global mobile phone business opening new opportunities for Japanese mobile phone makers. Japan's mobile phone handset makers have missed most opportunities during the first wave of mobile phone opportunities. The developing paradigm change opens new opportunities for Japanese makers. The talk will explain the paradigm shifts and trends of the global mobile phone handset market, and resulting opportunities for Japanese mobile phone makers, and will indicate how these opportunities can actually be realized.

Download the presentation as a pdf-file here (in Japanese language)

LDP President (and candidates for the next Prime Minister) present their messag

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 03:05:51 PDT

The candidates for the next President of the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) of Japan presented their views and answered questions at the FCCJ in Tokyo to the foreign press. An LDP party electoral college (387 Diet members + 141 regional representatives, in total 528 votes) will vote to select the president on September 22, 2008, who is likely to become the next Prime Minister after Yasuo Fukuda's resignation. The candidates are:

Nobuteru Ishihara (50), son of Governor Ishihara of Tokyo. Minister for Administrative and Regulatory Reform

Yuriko Koike (56), Journalist, Minister of Defence under Prime-Minister
Abe

Taro Aso (67), Minister of Foreign Affairs und Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi. Taro Aso is Roman Catholic. Studied at Stanford University and at the London School of Economics.

Shigeru Ishiba (51), Minister of Defence under Prime Minister Fukuda

Kaoru Yosano (70), currently State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy

Our comment: Media generally predict that Taro Aso is likely to win the race for Presidency of the LDP and thus become next Prime Minister of Japan. Taro Aso comes from a leading family, and has wide experience.
Having attended the event at the Correspondents Club, in my opinion Mme Koike gave the clearest presentation - having worked as TV journalist clearly helps, but its also the content of her political program which is clear and meaningful and easy to understand. Mme Koike's program included the plan to "destroy Kasumigaseki", meaning that she plans to take political power from the Ministries to the Government and strengthen political leadership...

There is a generation gap between Aso (67) and Yosano (70) - and - Ishihara (50), Koike (56) and Ishiba (51). The presentations also clearly manifested this generation gap.
In my opinion Japan would benefit from diversity in leadership. Japan already has a number of outstanding women leaders, and would benefit to have some more women in politics as well, including top positions. So if I could vote - which I can't - I would myself vote for Ms Koike, and I said so in a TV interview by Asahi-TV.

Will the iPhone trigger a turning point in Japan's mobile phone industry?

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:41:36 PDT

Tetsuzo Matsumoto (Senior Executive Vice-President and Board Member of SOFTBANK MOBILE Corporation),
Gerhard Fasol (CEO, Eurotechnology Japan KK)
and
Dennis Normile (Japan Correspondent of SCIENCE Magazine, and FCCJ)
discuss about the future of Japan's mobile phone market.

"Will the iPhone trigger a turning point in Japan's mobile phone industry?"
(Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Tokyo Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 12:00-14:00)
(Photo: Copyright Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, used with permission)

A European perspective on M&A in Japan

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:58:33 PST

Presentation at the lunch meeting of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (DCCJ) on June 4, 2008.

Announcement

Photos of the event

Announcement text:

With the very high EURO and low valuations of many Japanese companies, and with changing attitudes in Japan, now is an excellent time for European companies to start or expand business in Japan.

There are many ways to start or expand business in Japan, and acquiring a Japanese company is one of the paths often selected by European companies to grow in Japan.

Some acquisitions of Japanese companies by European corporations have led to fantastic successes - while others have led to catastrophic failures.
The presentation will discuss the key factors for European companies to succeed in acquiring a Japanese company, and some of the key reasons for failure, based on the speakers 23 years of experience with Japan's high-tech sector.

50 years EU celebration in Tokyo

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:30:32 PDT

Today was the 50th anniversary of the treaty of Rome which was at the beginning of the European Union. In Tokyo we had a big party at the top of Roppongi Hills - 52nd floor. Here are some pictures...

Green Tokyo Tower on St. Patrick's Day

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 04:51:38 PDT

Tokyo Tower was illuminated in green color on St Patrick's Day:

"Help - my mobile phone does not work!" - Why Japan's mobile phone sector is so different from Europe's

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:52:18 PST

Presentation at the Lunch meeting of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce in Japan (FCCJ) on March 16, 2007 at the Westin Hotel, Tokyo.

Find the summary and photos of the meeting here

Download the presentation here

From the Announcement:

In his presentation, Dr. Fasol will explain the essentials of Japan's mobile phone market, why and how it is so different to Europe's. He will also talk about some of the reasons why it is so difficult for European companies to succeed and uncover opportunities and the keys to success for European companies in this important market.

3G Summit & Mobile Payment workshop

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 05:19:41 PST

22-25 January 2007 MarcusEvans organized the "Global 3G Evoluation Forum" in Makuhari near Tokyo.

Speakers included:

Takanori Utano, Executive Vice-President and CTO of DoCoMo,
Takehiro Nakamura of NTT and Vice-Chairman of 3GPP
Jean-Pierre Bienaime, Chairman of the UMTS-Forum,
Gaston Ormazabal of Verizon Labs
and many other leading mobile communications managers from all over the world.

Jointly with Jan Larsson, General Strategy Manager of TeliaSonera International Carrier division, I chaired all sessions all day on Wednesday January 24, 2007.

On Monday, January 22, 2007, I held a three hour workshop about "Mobile Payment".

Ericsson Strategy & Technology Summit Tokyo

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:01:39 PST

Eurotechnology's CEO was invited to attend Ericsson's Strategy & Technology Summit in Tokyo on November 15, 2006.

Ericsson's CEO, Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson CSO - Chief of Strategy, Japan-CEO Rory Buckley and other Ericsson top management presented Ericsson's strategy and vision. About 100 investors and investment bank analysts were invited to attend.

I was given the opportunity to share the lunch table with CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg and had a fascinating discussion (some of his comments flowed into our company's project report to the European Union on benchmarking Japan's vs EU's fixed and mobile telecommunications and broadband sectors).

With some of the largest and most advanced mobile investments, Japan's mobile market is one of the most important markets globally for Ericsson. Recently Ericsson won major contracts from SoftBank and eMobile.

Briefing TeliaSonera top management

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 05:06:07 PST

The day before the Finland-Japan Ubiquitous Society Conference in Tokyo, I briefed the top-management (CEO, CTO and other top managers) of TeliaSonera, on October 26, 2006.

The next day, October 27, 2006, the Finland-Japan Ubiquitous Society Conference was held. Tero Ojanpera, Exec VP and CTO of NOKIA, gave an overview of NOKIA's vision of communications, other speakers and panelists included Juho Lipsanen, Finland CEO of TeliaSonera, KDDI Chairman Murakami.

Panel discussion with TeliaSonera CEO Juho Lipsanen and KDDI-Chairman Murakami.

Japan's Mobile Phone Industry and u-Japan (Talk announcement)

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:16:35 PDT

Title: "Japan's Mobile Phone Industry and u-Japan"

Date and Time:
Thursday, 12th October 2006, 17:00-19:00

Location (tentative, please check closer to the date for changes):
Main Conference Room 4F, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, Tokyo
Click for a map

Download PowerPoints of the presentation here:
(pdf-file, 50 pages, 19 figures, 12 photographs)

Agenda:

Japan's mobile phone and broad-band markets are about 3-6 years ahead of Europe: new services are typically invented or first brought to market in Japan, 3-6 years earlier than in Europe. Internet in Japan is generally much faster and much cheaper than in Europe. For this reason and because of it’s size, Japan’s telecom markets are full of opportunities for European companies with the right products and the right strategy, and for investors with the necessary knowledge.
Japan’s mobile phone industry is notoriously difficult to understand for Europeans because it’s
market logic is very different from Europe’s, and because the pace of innovation and structural change is much faster, and because of the language barriers.
This talk will explain the driving forces behind recent dramatic changes in Japan’s mobile telecom sector, and will explain new changes that the “ubiquitous-Japan” (“u-Japan”) policy will bring in the near future.
Do you need to know what Europe’s mobile phone and internet markets will look like in 2010 or 2015? – Come to this talk and you will get a good look into Europe’s IT future about 5 years ahead, as well as Japan’s telecom markets today.

Download detailed announcement and registration form:
Seminar invitation (pdf-file) Seminar invitation (MS-Word file)

Background

Following Vodafone's decision to end business in Japan and the announcement of the sale of Vodafone-Japan to SoftBank, this author has been asked to brief the Technology Attaches of the 25 EU Embassies in Tokyo on Japan's mobile phone and telecom sector (download the presentation as a pdf-file here).
The EU Technology Attaches were particularly interested in the impact on Europe by the termination of by far the biggest ever European investment in Japan. Clearly it is also important to determine, what other European companies can learn from Vodafone's experience.
Eurotechnology Japan KK has been awarded a contract by the European Union to benchmark Japan's telecom sector vs EU and make recommendations.

More about Japan's telecom sector:JCOMM report (pdf-file)

Ludwig Boltzmann - 100 Years

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 04:55:38 PST

Ludwig Boltzmann (February 20, 1844 - September 5, 1906) is our company's founder's great grandfather - and one of our company's great inspiration. We are working hard to continue his tradition of innovation and excellence and diligent work.

Ludwig Boltzmann died exactly 100 years ago today, on September 5, 1906.

Ludwig Boltzmann worked in many different areas and found the first explanations for many phenomena. He did not just create one single invention, but he created very many.

Boltzmann is best known for his work in gas theory: using complex mathematical tools, many of which he had developed himself, Boltbmann linked the macroscopic "Entropy" of gases with the microscopic forces between atoms and molecules in gases. "Entropy" was initially just a useful macroscopic concept similar to temperature and pressure of a gas developed during the early days of industrialization in England to optimize steam engines. Boltzmann showed that Entropy is a much much deeper fundamental concept, and showed how Entropy is related to the collissions between atoms and molecules in a gas and that Entropy expresses the probability that a body is found in a certain state.

In Boltzmann's days, it was not generally accepted that atoms and molecules exist. Actually, in Vienna in those days, in order to survive socially, Boltzmann had to use very careful words: he usually did not say directly that he is convinced that atoms and molecules exist: he said that they are just a useful concept, whether they exist or not.

Ludwig Boltzmann was the last great classical physicist. He knew of several unexplained puzzles: Brown's motion, the discrete spectra of atoms, curvature of space, but he could not explain them with the classical methods he mastered. Today Boltzmann's methods, the Boltzmann constant, the
Boltzmann Equation and much of his work is used every day in telecoms, information technology, electronics, chemical industry and many other areas.

Read more about Ludwig Boltzmann...

SoftBank's flagship store

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:35:42 PDT

Yesterday (August 26, 2006) SoftBank opened the new Roppongi flagship store.

SoftBank's white/silver/grey colorscheme replaces Vodafone's bright red:

YAHOO and Google's mobile strategies

fasol@eurotechnology.com (gerhard fasol) — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 08:08:54 PDT

Japan is a couple of years ahead of Europe and US in mobile communications by most measures.

What are GOOGLE and YAHOO doing in Japan's mobile sector?

GOOGLE partnered with KDDI (Japan's No. 2 mobile operator with about 25 million mobile subscribers) to develop mobile search.

YAHOO-Japan made a large step forward when SoftBank acquired Vodafone's Japan operations in March this year.

SoftBank's latest mobile phones include a "Y" = YAHOO button:

Yesterday, August 26, 2006, SoftBank opened it's new flagship store in Tokyo-Roppongi including a YAHOO-Spot: