keiichithecno

Casio to Launch digital camera for girl

noreply@blogger.com (nihonggo) — Tue, 3 Aug 2010 22:14:00 -0700

Casio Computer Co. said Tuesday it will release a digital camera aimed at young female users on Sept 10, featuring modes especially designed for taking shots of nail art and accessories. The EX-Z800, a new version of it's Exilim series, is equipped with a special sensor that enables users to take short of thier own faces automatically, as young women often take picture with their friends and boyfriends. Users can also make the focus mark on the camera's liquid crystal display panel heart-shaped. The camera, priced around 25,000 yen, comes in five colors, including pink and yellow.

Keyword: Casio, Camera

Nintendo woos gamers with classics, 3D

noreply@blogger.com (nihonggo) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:54:00 -0700

You won't need special glass to playgames in 3D on Nintendo's newest handheld device, but don't expect the thecnology to hit big-screen TV's anytime soon.
The 3DS, as the Japanese video game maker's upcoming gadget is called, uses a thecnology that's specially to a handheld device. It's a "parallax barrier" LCD screen, whose pixels are aligned so your left and right eyes see different portions of the image.
It’s as if two sets of thin blinds were laid over the screen so each eye sees its own version. Combined in the brain, the two versions become a 3D image, explained Satoru Iwata, president and CEO of Nintendo Co.
Nintendo showed off the 3DS along with a broad swath of upcoming video games Tuesday at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, an industry conference of 45,000. To please its longtime fans, Nintendo also introduced updates to classic game franchises like “Donkey Kong,” “Zelda” and “Kirby.”
The technology behind the 3Ds requires viewers to sit at a certain angle and distance from the screen. That’s why it works for a handheld device but not — at least not yet — for a TV.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said Nintendo “blew people away” with the 3DS. But the big question is the price, as the technology behind it could be expensive.
Nintendo didn’t say how much the 3DS would cost or when it will be available. But Iwata didn’t sound worried about a price barrier and noted that Nintendo has long been in the business of marketing products that appeal to the mass market.
When the company launched the Wii in the fall of 2006 at $250, the console easily sold online for months at times that suggested price.
The new device and game updates are part of an effort by Nintendo to stay ahead of its rivals by sticking to what it knows best — video games. Meanwhile, Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp are working to expand the reach of their consoles beyond gaming, marketing them as all-in-one entertainment hubs.
So far, Nintendo’s strategy has paid off. The company has sold at least 70.9 million Wiis, compared with over 40 million Xbox 360 consoles from Microsoft and 35.7 million PlayStation 3s from Sony.

Keyword: Nintendo, game, Sony Corp, Microsoft Corp

Toyota sought to discredit witnesses, Washington post reports

noreply@blogger.com (nihonggo) — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:59:00 -0700

Toyota officials were looking to attack the credibility of witnesses who testified before Congress about sudden acceleration problems in the automaker’s vehicles, according to a report in Washington Post.

The Post says it obtained documents that show Toyota sought to create a public relations campaign based in part on polling that questioned the integrity of two witnesses. Such polls are used by businesses and politicians to test the weaknesses of their opponents.

Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide because of sudden acceleration problems. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has linked 52 deaths to Toyota acceleration problems.

The Post identified the witnesses as Sean Kane, a Massachusetts safety consultant, and David Gilbert, an auto technology professor. Each has criticized Toyota’s handling of the problem.

Government investigators have asked Toyota officials whether the company had undertaken a campaign to debunk or discredit the witnesses, according to the report.

In response, Toyota told the Post it never produced advertisements based on the polling, and that Gilbert and Kane had made “assertions” that “created unwarranted consumer concern.”

The survey was done by Joel Benenson, who is also President Barack Obama’s chief pollster, the report said.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the automaker to turn over all related documents.

Keyword : America, Woshington, Toyota, Survey, The House Energy

5,000 rally in Kagoshima to oppose U.S relocation plan

noreply@blogger.com (nihonggo) — Sat, 8 May 2010 07:43:00 -0700

About 5,000 people gathered in the city of Kagoshima to protest Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s proposal to relocate some functions of a major U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.

Three mayors from the island, including Isen town mayor Akira Okubo, participated in the gathering held at a park in central Kagoshima a day after the local leaders rejected the relocation proposal on Friday in a meeting with the prime minister in Tokyo.

‘‘I conveyed (Tokunoshima) residents’ firm sentiment against (the proposal),’’ Okubo said at the rally, which was organized by members of the Kagoshima prefectural assembly, excluding assembly groups of the Democratic Party of Japan.

On Friday, Hatoyama, who heads the ruling DPJ, asked the mayors to accommodate some functions of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station, but the local leaders’ response was that they would never accept any U.S. military facility or drills.

Hatoyama, who has set a self-imposed deadline of May 31 to settle the base issue, is also seeking a plan to build a pile-supported platform off the coast of the Marines’ Camp Schwab to relocate other Futenma functions within Okinawa Prefecture.

At the rally on Saturday, Kagoshima Gov Yuichiro Ito expressed support for the mayors from Tokunoshima and said, ‘‘It may be a long way, but I will oppose the plan in cooperation with the three mayors.’‘

Norihisa Hamada, 23, a Kagoshima city resident who grew up on Tokunoshima until graduating from high school, said, ‘‘I am worried about the future of the island, which is rich in nature, and I want residents in the prefecture to stand by (the island).’’

Keyword : City, Marine, Camp, Okinawa, Tokunoshima

PM suggests moving Futenma outside Okinawa was not pladge

noreply@blogger.com (nihonggo) — Thu, 6 May 2010 06:57:00 -0700

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama suggested Thursday that he was only referring to a challenge, not a pledge, when he said during last year’s election campaign that his Democratic Party of Japan would try to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station ‘‘at least outside of Okinawa Prefecture’’ if it assumed power.

Meanwhile, Mizuho Fukushima, who heads the DPJ’s coalition partner the Social Democratic Party, which has been calling for the base to be transferred outside of Japan, suggested that Hatoyama does not need to resolve the relocation issue by his self-imposed deadline of May 31.

‘‘Since I said that and formed the government, I have acted, up to now, to make efforts’’ to realize the relocation of the Futenma facility outside of Okinawa, Hatoyama told reporters on Thursday morning.

In an attempt to clarify that seeking the relocation of the base outside of Okinawa was not a DPJ campaign promise, the prime minister said that the party had pledged to thoroughly review the planned realignment of U.S. forces in Japan to reduce the burden on the people of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in the country.

During a visit to the main island of Okinawa on Tuesday, Hatoyama said it is not feasible to relocate all of the functions of the base outside of the island prefecture, angering local people who believed Hatoyama had promised to seek its relocation elsewhere.

SDP chief Fukushima took a cautious view on the May 31 deadline for settling the dispute, indicating that further discussions are needed within the government.

During a TV program on Thursday, Fukushima, who also serves as consumer affairs minister, said the government ‘‘just has to come up by the end of May with an idea or direction that (the relocation) would not take place within the prefecture.’‘

On the possibility that her party could leave the ruling coalition over the matter, Fukushima only said, ‘‘The important thing right now is not whether the SDP will leave the coalition, but that it is time for the party to work hard not to let (the government) come up with a final conclusion that the base should be relocated within the prefecture.’‘

Fukushima suggested in December that the SDP would leave the ruling coalition if the government decided to relocate the base within Okinawa.

But the tiny party’s Diet affairs chief from Okinawa Prefecture, Teruya Kantoku, told reporters Thursday, ‘‘I’ve made a serious decision and am always prepared. I will not let anyone force any more sacrifices on Okinawa.’‘

Meanwhile, Kenji Yamaoka, chairman of the DPJ’s Diet Affairs Committee, said he does not think the Futenma issue will have a direct impact on the lives of the people, sparking criticism from an assemblywoman in Itoman, Okinawa.

Yamaoka also said in a meeting at the DPJ’s headquarters in Tokyo that people in other cities do not seem as interested in the Futenma issue as they are in child benefits—one of the party’s policies.

‘‘People seem to think the Futenma (issue) is something occurring in a different world but the child benefit issue is related to their lives,’’ Yamaoka said.

But the assemblywoman was quick to attack the senior DPJ lawmaker, saying, ‘‘For us, the course of the issue could destroy our lives. It sounds disrespectful to the people (of Okinawa).’‘

Yamaoka later offered an apology and retracted the comments.

Keyword : Futenma Air Station, Okinawa, TV Program, DPJ's