Eisenhower on leadership

Today, we would like to quote Dwight D. Eisenhower on leadership:

A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.

This is an American perspective, which is not shared by all cultures. I do not see a sense of humor as
being part of the art of leadership in Japan. Or did I miss something?

Nuclear power plants are starting up again

Nuclear power plants are starting up. Have we learned from our mistakes? Are we sufficiently investigating alternative power sources? I fear that the answer to both is no. I see in the news that Japan will be working together with Vietnam to build two nuclear power reactors in Vietnam. We are not heading in the right direction. When will we?

The skyrocketing yen

The yen is just getting higher and higher. Ghosn recently declared that Nissan was going to have to transfer still more production overseas. At this rate, the high yen just makes production too difficult for Nissan. Why is the yen going up and up? The paper says that Europe and America are facing too many problems. This may be true, but Japan is no tea party. Unemployment, underemployment and nuclear cleanup. And still the yen goes higher and higher...

Sushi, sashimi, fish and radiation

When you bite into a piece of fish, sushi, sashimi, boiled, fried or dried, do you wonder where it was swimming? Are you eating safe fish? What does safe mean? If you eat the wrong fish, what will happen? Perhaps many of us can only answer the first question with certainty.

38 hours to meltdown

Yesterday, The Japan Times informed us that the nuclear power plant reactors in Fukushima could survive for 38 hours without water injections. After that, they would melt down. Solar and geothermal power looks so much more attractive.