Reading The Japan Times Weekly and TIME5

■The End of Cash From TIME January 9, 2012

The mobile wallet will change shopping habits.

The mobile wallet is a smart phone that is used as credit card, checkbook and shop-bot.

The major companies that operate the mobile wallet are Google, PayPal and Isis.

Google launched Google Wallet to cooperate with Citibank,MasterCard and Sprint's Nexus S 4G phone.

Paypal offers payment service using a mobile phone at a store in partnership with.

Isis is a mobile payment network joint venture formed by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Google and Isis rely on NFC.

It means that the phones and the sales terminal communicate each other.

Many retailers installed NFC to take payments with a tap of a mobile phone.

The mobile wallet changed style of shopping in this christmas.

Customers were using their cell phone to check reviews and compare prices in a store.

Amazon even offered $5 off to customers who scanned a bar code in a store.

Retailers which have physical store are wary to being used as a showroom for online retailers.

Reading The Japan Times Weekly and TIME4

■Feasting On Europe from TIME December 19, 2011

Huang Nubo planned to build a $200 million tourist resort in Grimsstardir in Iceland.

Huang Nubo is the billionaire chairman of China's Zhongkun Investment Group.

But Iceland's officials rejected this plan. Because they suspected that Nubo aims to Iceland's huge potentials of energy resource.

This conflict reflect an anxiety about China's rising presence on the continent.

However on the other hand, the EU needs cash injections from China to help fund to debtridden members like Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the region.

Beijing is under pressure to make the transition from basic industries like manufacturing and infrastructure to the higher-end products and services pioneered by the Western world.

So China shifts away from emerging countries and other Asian countries, and increasingly invest Europe.

At one time China's officials have returned their investment from euro-zone, because of

concerns about risk for euro-zone crisis that has worsened, public pressure to spend more at home on restive workers squeezed by rising inflation and weak social services.

But as a result, few Chinese buyers is homing.

For the Euro, there are big concerns about downside of accepting injections of Cash from China.

Specifically, the following.

・political concerns like Tibetan freedom.

When Dalai Lama comes to Europe, the european government have to consider the feelings of China.

・concerns about Chinese internal affairs.

Chinese industry is not opened for foreign investors.

Chinese government has close relations with business.

Europe's debt threaten to cause another all-out recession.

European leaders can no longer afford excessive pride.

So It is sure that China continue to invest Europe.

■My impression reading this article

I feel scared to Chinese greedy investment for foreign country.

I've read article that Chinese investors is buying Japanese water resources.

I want to protect my home country's resource.

I might have images to the foreign investors like invader.

But Euro's crisis is serious.

The injection of cash from China should be necessary for Euro.

I hope that another recession would be avoided

Reading The Japan Times Weekly and TIME3

■What do the women of Saudi Arabia want? from The Japan Time Weekly December 17 2011

The women of Saudi Arabia have low status than the men.

There's not freedom for women, and women are legally disadvantaged.

Every Saudi women has a male guardian.

They need permission of the guardian for the majority of their interaction with government.

In the Saudi justice system male have the superiority.

Physical abuse is only recognized as abuse.

While There is a movement seeking the advancement of women, a Part of the women of Saudi Arabia is afraid of accepting the change, being imposed the responsibility for their own freedom.

More Conservative campaign is organized.

That campaign's purpose is that strengthen the guardianship and the gender segregation in the workforce.

The women had been taught interpretation of Islam in religious class, and tend to accept the status quo, women's right in Saudi Arabia.

That is why this problem is so hard.

■My impression reading this article

There's diversity of religion and culture in each countries.

I think that it's difficult to understand all of them for people of other countries.

Local people with awareness of the issue should act proactively to solve their problem.

Or that is so hard.