Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Dec 22, 2014

choi

(1) The Only Oil Worth Owning.

Note: summary underneath the title in print: Crude prices down? Olive oil’s cooking

(2) Andrea Rothman, Airbus's Big Plane Has a Small (Order) Problem.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... g-plane-small-sales

Quote:

"Although the four-engine A380, which cost $25 billion to develop, is popular with travelers, most carriers today prefer smaller twin-engine jets that are more fuel-efficient and can access more airports. Emirates is the standout fan, having ordered 140 of the planes—about 40 percent of the total

"So far, Airbus has orders for 318 of its mammoth jumbos—a fraction of the 1,200 it thought airlines would buy when it started promoting the A380 in 2000. * * * [for China, which is a voracious buyer of passenger jets] only one Chinese airline taking five planes.

Note: summary underneath the title in print: With few new buyers, the superjumbo's fate is up in the air


(3) Chinese Banks Offer Goodies for Cash
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... ng-goodies-for-cash
("With customers pulling out money and putting it into higher-yielding investments, they are offering Mercedes, iPhones, and daily deliveries of vegetables to sidestep interest rate caps and get people to stash some yuan in savings accounts")

choi

(4) Brian Bremner, Craig Trudell, and Yuki Hagiwara, The World's Biggest Car Company Wants to Get Rid of Gasoline.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... ost-gasoline-future

Quote:

Toyota's Mirai 未来 has "in-your-face, angular grilles on the car’s front end. These deliver air to (and cool) a polymer fuel-cell [hydrogen]stack under the hood. Then there’s the wavy, layered sides, meant to evoke a droplet of water. It looks like it was driven off the set of the Blade Runner sequel.

"On sale in Japan on Dec. 15, it will be available in the US and Europe in late 2015 and has a driving range of 300 miles, much farther than most plug-in electrics can go. It also runs on the most abundant element in the universe and emits only heat and water—and none of the gases that lead to smog or contribute to global warming.

"Driving the Mirai around a large, man-made island in Tokyo Bay called Odaiba is a little surreal. The interior is a Zen sanctuary of silence

"The company is on course to earn a record $18.2 billion this year—more than the combined projected profits of Ford Motor, General Motors, and Honda Motor.

Note:
(a) This is one of the three feature articles in the issue.
(b) Yuki HAGIWARA  萩原 ゆき
(i) For 萩, see ハギ (which is katakana for "hagi")
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ハギ
(view the close-up photo only; section 1 名称: 「艸+秋」という会意による国字 [translation: a kanji created in Japan, made up of 艸+秋])

* Its scientific name is Lespedeza bicolor
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lespedeza_bicolor
(native to Asia; "3 metres (9.8 feet) in height and width * * * It can grow from ground level to 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) in one growing season")
(ii) yuki 雪 【ゆき】

(c) Blade Runner
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner
(a 1982 American film)

(d) Odaiba  お台場
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba
(a large artificial island; It was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s, dramatically expanded during the late 20th century as a seaport district, and has developed since the 1990s as a major commercial, residential and leisure area)
(i) The "o" (whose kanji is 御) is an honorific (to show respect).
(ii) daiba 台場 【だいば】 (n)" "(abbr[eviation] of 砲台場) fort; battery"

(e)
(i) Toyota's fiscal year 2013 saw revenue ¥22.064 trillion and profit ¥962.1 billion. Wikipedia
(ii) Each calendar year, Toyota's fiscal year ends March 31.
(iii) Japanese yen has depreciated against dollar since early 2013, soon after Abe was re-elected prime minister in late 2012. Today it is $1 = ¥119.5.
(iii) Global 500 2014. Fortune.
fortune.com/global500/toyota-motor-9/
(No 9 Toyota Motor: "The Japanese car company saw profits increase by 57% in its fiscal year 2014, earning $18.2 billion compared with $11.6 billion the previous year, thanks partly to a weakening yen. Sales were also up, with 10.1 million units sold compared with 9.7 million in fiscal year 2013")

(f) Toyota's president and CEO Akio TOYODA 豊田 章男 "almost always carries stickers in his suit pockets of Morizo, his cartoon alter ego, which he eagerly hands out."
(i) Chester Dawson, Toyota’s ‘Morizo’ a Mystery No More. Japan Real Time, Jan 6, 2011
blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/01/06/toyotas-morizo-a-mystery-no-more/
("The name Morizo comes from the nickname of a green shrub that was the mascot of the 2005 World Expo in Aichi Prefecture 愛知県 [whose capital is Nagoya 名古屋], where Toyota Motor is based")
(ii) For Morizō (where "ō" signals a long vowel, but English often is not bothered with the nicety), see 2005年日本国際博覧会
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005年日本国際博覧会
(section 7.1 モリゾーとキッコロ: "モリゾー (Morizo) 愛知県瀬戸市の海上の森に住む妖精。緑色をしている [with a photo]")

translation: Morizo is a sprite living in the forest [森, pronounced ‘mori’] above the sea by 愛知県瀬戸市

(g) "Toyoda says he often channels inspiration from Kiichiro in quiet moments before the family butsudan, or Buddhist altar, at his home outside Nagoya. 'My grandfather was 57 when he passed away, and I’m 58 right now,' he says."
(i) Kiichiro TOYODA 豊田 喜一郎 (1894-1952) incorporated the company in 1937, taking Toyoda Automatic Loom Works 豊田自動織機製作所 (which he had established in 1926) to automobiles.n ja.wikipedia.org
(ii)
(A) butsudan 仏壇 【ぶつだん】 (n): "Buddhist (household) altar"
(B) 仏壇
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/仏壇
(photo)

(h) I stop here (except viewing another graphic below). There is no point to learn more, in my opinion, unless the car sells.