Latest news with #RikkyoUniversity
Yomiuri Shimbun
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Yomiuri Giants Legend, ‘Mr. Pro Baseball' Shigeo Nagashima Dies at 89
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Retiring Yomiuri Giants player Shigeo Nagashima waves to his many fans as he circles the ground at Tokyo's Korakuen Stadium in October 1974. Yomiuri Giants lifetime honorary manager Shigeo Nagashima, widely known as Mr. Pro Baseball, died\ due to pneumonia at the age of 89 on Tuesday morning. Born in Usui (now Sakura), Chiba Prefecture, in 1936, he went on to Rikkyo University after graduating from Sakura No. 1 High School. While at university, he broke the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League record in the fall of 1957, hitting a total of eight home runs. Joining the Yomiuri Giants in 1958, he claimed the home run and RBI crowns, as well as Rookie of the Year. With his clutch performance — most notably a walk-off home run in the first game attended by the Emperor, in 1959 — he sparked a national frenzy. Together with teammate Sadaharu Oh, or 'ON,' as the pair were nicknamed, Nagashima played a key role in the Giants' nine consecutive Japan Series title wins from 1965, marking the team's golden age.
NHK
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NHK
Japan mystery author Edogawa Rampo's renovated Tokyo home reopens to public
The former Tokyo home of the late Japanese author Edogawa Rampo has been reopened to the public after renovations. Edogawa is best known for his mystery novels, such as "Kaijin Nijumenso," or "The Fiend with Twenty Faces." He wrote most of his works in the early to mid-20th century. His pen name was inspired by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. He lived for about 30 years in the house in Nishi-Ikebukuro until his death in 1965. The residence was donated to nearby Rikkyo University. It was reopened on Monday after being closed for renovations since last year. About 50 items, including a chronology of the writer's life and handwritten notes on plots for novels, can be viewed in a new exhibition room. Novels and specialist books referred to in his works are kept in a storage room that he used as his library. Items of furniture, including blue sofas used by the writer, are on display in a recreated guestroom. Visitors looked carefully at the items on display and took photographs. A Tokyo man in his 60s said the exhibits helped him to understand various aspects of the author, such as how he diligently collected materials. He said he wants to reread his books. Assistant Professor Sugimoto Kana of Rikkyo University's Edogawa Rampo Memorial Center for Popular Culture Studies says she hopes many people will visit the place to learn more about him and how he lived. The renovated house will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, except for national holidays.
South China Morning Post
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Writer Asako Yuzuki talks food, culture and the inspiration behind Butter
I was born in Tokyo in 1981. At that time, Tokyo still had the atmosphere of the 1960s and 70s . The sky felt high and the buildings were kind of dreamy and dramatic-looking. I now appreciate that that time was precious. My father was a salaryman and my mother worked in the clothing industry. As a child, I loved reading and read widely. My favourite authors were Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott , Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren and Margaret Rumer Godden. I loved imagining new cities, unknown foods and cultures. All things Parisienne Asako Yuzuki attended Rikkyo University. Photo: Shutterstock When I was 15, I became very ill. The experience had a huge impact on me. I became quite anxious, but it also made me much more resilient. I learned how to stand on my own feet and act when I saw an opportunity. During my high school years, fashion magazines were popular, and many Japanese people were obsessed with 'Parisienne' images. Naturally, I also became obsessed with all things Parisienne. I went to Rikkyo University to study French literature. I was attracted to the way it portrayed human relationships with an emphasis on dialogue. The write thing Portrait of French writer Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803). Photo: Leemage/Corbis At university, I was exposed to many films, books and people, and I began to form my own tastes and preferences. I had visions of becoming a scriptwriter for television dramas, so I took up writing as a part-time job. I was paid to write dialogue and plots, but not stories. I didn't become fluent in French at university, but I researched the representations of monasteries in the works of French novelists Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and Honoré de Balzac. I still feel these authors' influence on my writing today. The sweet spot
Zawya
31-01-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Resource-poor Japan was girding for an AI energy surge. DeepSeek raised the stakes.
TOKYO - Weeks after Japan revealed details of a landmark energy plan partly designed to keep up with an expected AI surge, the shock rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek has upended conventional wisdom over the sector's future power demands. It was only last year that Tokyo abandoned its long-held forecasts that its future electricity needs would dwindle with its ageing population, and began accounting for higher AI-driven usage from data centres and microchip makers. In late December, the government released a draft of its basic energy plan, a major policy document reviewed about every three years, projecting electricity generation would rise between 10-20% by 2040 and citing those factors. While Tokyo will not likely hurry to rejig its forecasts, DeepSeek's seemingly leaner models have triggered a broad rethink of AI energy needs that the world's most resource-poor major economy would be remiss to ignore, analysts say. "It would be risky (for Japan) not to take this seriously," said Andrew DeWit, professor at Rikkyo University's School of Economic Policy Studies in Tokyo. DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, it had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares. Power producers, whose stock prices had outperformed on expectations of ballooning electricity demands needed to scale AI technologies, also took a hit as investors weighed DeepSeek's seemingly more energy-efficient models. But as analysts parse DeepSeek's potential impact, an alternative view has emerged: its success may lower the barrier to entry in a sector dominated by Silicon Valley giants and catalyse higher overall electricity demand from new AI entrants. This is a potential headache for Japan, which produces just 13% of its energy needs from domestic sources, the second lowest ratio of all 38 OECD countries, besting only Luxembourg. "If AI proves to be cheaper to develop than currently expected, that would accelerate its mass introduction rather than slow it. If anything, it would increase power demand in the country," said Yuriy Humber, CEO of K.K. Yuri Group, an energy research and consulting firm based in Tokyo. "Japanese officials have taken their time to adjust power demand forecasts even though the AI boom was apparent two years ago. I expect they will monitor the new developments carefully," he said. The trade ministry, which oversees the country's long-term energy planning, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A senior official at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been briefed on DeepSeek in December and concluded that, while impressive, the technology did not advance existing systems. He said he thought markets had over-reacted. Tepco, Japan's biggest power company by sales, said it was monitoring DeepSeek's potential impact on power demand closely but has yet to assess its full effects. 'BITTER LEARNING' Japan's grid monitor had for years predicted future electricity demand would decline gradually due to the adoption of energy-efficient equipment and a shrinking population. But in 2024, it revised its outlook to reflect an overall increase, largely driven by an expected 5.14 million kWh of new power demand from data centres and chip plants by 2034. Senior government officials have also cited AI-related energy needs as a reason to restart nuclear reactors, a sensitive subject in a country that suffered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters when the Fukushima plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Mika Ohbayashi, director at Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo, said that DeepSeek's emergence was a "clear indication" that AI may become more efficient and demand less power. She criticised Japanese officials linking AI energy needs to the promotion of nuclear power, and said the government needs to do more to develop renewable energy instead. The jury is out over whether DeepSeek's models could trigger more or less AI energy demands in the future, and analysts say its technology needs to be rigorously stress tested before countries rush to change their plans. But Japan has had a bitter experience of getting its energy preparations for technology wrong in the past, said Rikkyo University's DeWit, pointing to the years before its economic bubble burst in the late 1980s. "Japan was a chip leader at the time and they figured they were going to become number one and they built out the power system. And of course, as they entered the 90s as the bubble collapsed, that power demand did not eventuate. "They've had a bitter learning. So it behoves the policy makers to take this seriously," he said. (Reporting by John Geddie and Katya Golubkova; Additional reporting by Tim Kelly and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Reuters
30-01-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Resource-poor Japan was girding for an AI energy surge. DeepSeek raised the stakes.
TOKYO, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Weeks after Japan revealed details of a landmark energy plan partly designed to keep up with an expected AI surge, the shock rise of Chinese startup DeepSeek has upended conventional wisdom over the sector's future power demands. It was only last year that Tokyo abandoned its long-held forecasts that its future electricity needs would dwindle with its ageing population, and began accounting for higher AI-driven usage from data centres and microchip makers. In late December, the government released a draft of its basic energy plan, a major policy document reviewed about every three years, projecting electricity generation would rise between 10-20% by 2040 and citing those factors. While Tokyo will not likely hurry to rejig its forecasts, DeepSeek's seemingly leaner models have triggered a broad rethink of AI energy needs that the world's most resource-poor major economy would be remiss to ignore, analysts say. "It would be risky (for Japan) not to take this seriously," said Andrew DeWit, professor at Rikkyo University's School of Economic Policy Studies in Tokyo. DeepSeek last week launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services. By Monday, it had overtaken U.S. rival ChatGPT in downloads from Apple's App Store, triggering a global selloff in tech shares. Power producers, whose stock prices had outperformed on expectations of ballooning electricity demands needed to scale AI technologies, also took a hit as investors weighed DeepSeek's seemingly more energy-efficient models. But as analysts parse DeepSeek's potential impact, an alternative view has emerged: its success may lower the barrier to entry in a sector dominated by Silicon Valley giants and catalyse higher overall electricity demand from new AI entrants. This is a potential headache for Japan, which produces just 13% of its energy needs from domestic sources, the second lowest ratio of all 38 OECD countries, besting only Luxembourg. "If AI proves to be cheaper to develop than currently expected, that would accelerate its mass introduction rather than slow it. If anything, it would increase power demand in the country," said Yuriy Humber, CEO of K.K. Yuri Group, an energy research and consulting firm based in Tokyo. "Japanese officials have taken their time to adjust power demand forecasts even though the AI boom was apparent two years ago. I expect they will monitor the new developments carefully," he said. The trade ministry, which oversees the country's long-term energy planning, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A senior official at the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had been briefed on DeepSeek in December and concluded that, while impressive, the technology did not advance existing systems. He said he thought markets had over-reacted. Tepco, Japan's biggest power company by sales, said it was monitoring DeepSeek's potential impact on power demand closely but has yet to assess its full effects. 'BITTER LEARNING' Japan's grid monitor had for years predicted future electricity demand would decline gradually due to the adoption of energy-efficient equipment and a shrinking population. But in 2024, it revised its outlook to reflect an overall increase, largely driven by an expected 5.14 million kWh of new power demand from data centres and chip plants by 2034. Senior government officials have also cited AI-related energy needs as a reason to restart nuclear reactors, a sensitive subject in a country that suffered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters when the Fukushima plant was crippled by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Mika Ohbayashi, director at Renewable Energy Institute in Tokyo, said that DeepSeek's emergence was a "clear indication" that AI may become more efficient and demand less power. She criticised Japanese officials linking AI energy needs to the promotion of nuclear power, and said the government needs to do more to develop renewable energy instead. The jury is out over whether DeepSeek's models could trigger more or less AI energy demands in the future, and analysts say its technology needs to be rigorously stress tested before countries rush to change their plans. But Japan has had a bitter experience of getting its energy preparations for technology wrong in the past, said Rikkyo University's DeWit, pointing to the years before its economic bubble burst in the late 1980s. "Japan was a chip leader at the time and they figured they were going to become number one and they built out the power system. And of course, as they entered the 90s as the bubble collapsed, that power demand did not eventuate. "They've had a bitter learning. So it behoves the policy makers to take this seriously," he said.
