Latest news with #Shimada
Axios
27-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Japanese startup uses AI to cross trade barriers
A Japanese company is using AI to bridge trade, language and culture gaps — one solution for a world where historic bonds are loosening, but consumer demand is as strong as ever. Why it matters: If it works, it's a potential model for small businesses and creators around the world to access the U.S. market at a time of growing obstacles to international commerce. Catch up quick: Monoya launched in late 2024 as a wholesaler of the work of Japanese artisans to the international home goods market. Many of these artisans don't speak English, don't sell internationally and don't have a commercial infrastructure. Yu Shimada, a former McKinsey consultant born in Japan and raised in New York, launched Monoya to bridge that gap. The company is backed by WAY Equity Partners, which invests in Japanese tech startups. More than 90% of what it sells, Shimada says, isn't available in the U.S. market otherwise. Driving the news: On Tuesday Monoya is taking the wraps off Monoya Connect, an AI sourcing platform to more directly connect sellers and buyers. "The domestic market is shrinking, the one critical strategy we need to do is go outside of the country," Shimada told Axios. The tool will provide a range of translation and design data services to more directly connect artisans and international vendors. The intrigue: Shimada acknowledges AI is not perfect for all uses cases yet, — but the goal isn't to promote an AI platform, it's to use the technology as a tool. "Having them understand this AI concept is not something I'm doing. I'm having them understand that with this tool it's going to solve their problems in a way, and we're using this thing called AI," he said. Between the lines: Monoya is launching its new platform at a fraught time for global commerce, with the U.S. effectively charging the highest tariff rates in almost a century. Shimada's argument is that a possible tariff isn't the biggest problem his sellers face — it's shipping, with rates rising around the world. The bottom line: Even with rising trade pressures, Shimada said Japanese artisans can still be a solution for big U.S. brands.
Yomiuri Shimbun
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Kinnikuman Museum in Japan Marks 1st Anniversary; Story Writer of Kinnikuman Mangaka Duo Speaks at Celebratory Event
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Kinnikuman Museum in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture NUMAZU, Shizuoka — The Kinnikuman Museum in Numazu — now a hot spot for fans of the popular manga — held an event on May 3 to celebrate its first anniversary. The museum, located in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, has welcomed about 100,000 visitors from Japan and abroad since it opened in April 2024. Takashi Shimada, the story writer of the mangaka duo Yudetamago that created Kinnikuman, and Minowaman DZ, a professional wrestler who serves as the museum's director, appeared at the talk event to commemorate the anniversary. In front of about 300 fans, Shimada shared behind-the-scenes anecdotes about creating the manga, and Minowaman DZ spoke on the challenges of being a museum director. The talks were followed by a raffle, in which a 7-year-old boy from Akiruno, Tokyo, won a T-shirt signed by the two speakers. 'I won an amazing prize on my first visit to the museum!' the boy said. Shimada said: 'This is far more than I expected, and I'm surprised. We will further expand the exhibits so that more fans will come to the museum and have a good time.'
15-05-2025
4 Nabbed in Japan over Delivery Driver Account Transfer
Tokyo, May 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police have arrested four individuals for allegedly transferring a driver account of Demaecan, a food delivery service website, to a foreigner who is not qualified to work in Japan. The four are Kotaro Yamazaki, a 50-year-old executive of a consulting firm, Takuma Shimada, a 32-year-old bodywork therapist, Kimihiro Sano, 35, and Mamatkodirov Iskandarbek Rejabboy Ugli, a 24-year-old Uzbek national. The suspects were arrested for allegedly creating a Demaecan driver account under the name of Shimada on Oct. 21, 2023, transferring it to Mamatkodirov and obtaining money illegally. They have admitted to the charges. Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department suspects that Demaecan driver accounts created by Japanese nationals under the instruction of Yamazaki, who is believed to be the ringleader, were allocated to about 150 foreigners ineligible to work in the country. According to the MPD, Sano recruited Shimada on social media and had him create a Demaecan driver account. Mamatkodirov, who was recruited by another Uzbek national, used the account to pose as Shimada and engaged in delivery tasks assigned by food delivery service provider Demae-can Co. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
The Mainichi
11-05-2025
- The Mainichi
Japan police tackle prostitution in Osaka nightlife area with Nobel-winning 'nudge theory'
OSAKA -- In the bustling nightlife district near Osaka's Umeda area is a narrow street known for attracting women engaged in prostitution and men seeking their services. Locals whisper warnings such as, "Never go there," cautioning their children against setting foot in the notorious lane. Recently, residents and police have teamed up to transform the environment of this troubled street. Drawing inspiration from a Nobel Prize-winning economist's concept, their efforts are yielding promising results, complemented by measures encouraging women to reconsider getting into prostitution. Just off the vibrant main streets bustling with young locals and foreign tourists, near the Toganocho district of Osaka's Kita Ward, lies a municipal road roughly 100 meters long, surrounded by hotels and commercial buildings. Its secluded nature made it ideal for illicit rendezvous, and there were visitors constantly. Some neighborhood families strictly instructed their children to avoid the area entirely. Street gains notoriety through social media as prostitution hotspot According to Osaka Prefectural Police, women believed to be engaging in prostitution started appearing on this street around 2022, and social media posts led to its widespread recognition as a "prostitution hotspot." Police arrested or referred to prosecutors 30 people for prostitution-related offenses (soliciting customers) during a little over a year through late November 2024. Sonezaki Police Station, which oversees the street, enhanced patrol frequency and collaborated with locals to put up posters with messages such as, "Waiting to solicit customers is illegal," but their actions yielded few tangible results. Starting last summer, the prefectural police began talks with Osaka Municipal Government officials and locals, incorporating expert advice to come up with more effective strategies. Decision to apply Nobel laureate's 'nudge theory' Their chosen approach was based upon "nudge theory," a concept from behavioral economics proposed by Nobel Prize-winning American economist Richard Thaler. "Nudge" refers to lightly prompting or gently influencing someone's behavior toward making better choices. Nudge theory aims to shape people's decisions subtly -- without forced compliance -- through analyzing and influencing behavioral motivations. Takahito Shimada, a professor at Shiga University and former head of the crime prevention research division of the National Police Agency (NPA)-affiliated National Research Institute of Police Science, collaborated on the initiative. According to Shimada, narrow spaces surrounded by tall structures often do not cause stress even when people stay there for extended periods. He explained, "This problematic street acts like a hidden spot. The secluded layout enables women to solicit clients without fear of being observed." Painting the street yellow to deter solicitation Considering Shimada's analysis, authorities painted the street surface yellow, a color typically associated with caution or warnings. The goal was to subconsciously alert visitors and discourage them from lingering. Additionally, authorities commissioned art students from a nearby vocational school to create a series of 10 illustrations depicting fish swimming toward the street's exits. Installed along the pavement, these aquarium-themed images were intended to further motivate pedestrians to move through quickly. Locals warmly welcomed this creative touch. Road painting and artwork placement concluded in December 2024. To evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions, plainclothes officers from Sonezaki Police Station conducted patrols four times daily for a week. The average number of people lingering per patrol dropped substantially, from 7.43 in November 2024 to just 0.86 in February 2025. According to Shimada, using nudge theory to counter prostitution is unprecedented globally, making this initiative particularly groundbreaking. Masafumi Fujino, 79, who leads neighborhood crime prevention efforts, praised the interventions, saying, "The street has become brighter, and people in our community are talking about how much easier it feels to pass through now." Police plan to continue patrols and monitor whether the positive changes endure. However, some question if simply expelling women from one street may just push prostitution elsewhere. During public consultations, locals and police also voiced concern that officials should address factors forcing women into prostitution. 'Yellow cards' carry compassionate warnings to deter prostitution To deepen their efforts, from March 2025, police prepared postcard-sized yellow cards for officers to distribute directly to women frequenting the problem street. While these cards feature explicitly written warnings that prostitution and solicitation are illegal -- hence "yellow card," symbolizing a caution -- they also include messages expressing care and support: "Your body and heart matter. There are people who genuinely want to protect you." Officers from Sonezaki Police Station had personally witnessed women becoming victims of assault and robbery when accompanying clients into nearby hotels. Prompted by a desire to prevent similar abuse, officers created these cards with the heartfelt message: "We don't want you to feel afraid on these streets. Value yourself and stay safe." Alongside the cards, police are handing out flyers produced by the city of Osaka that list contact details for accessible counseling services available through channels such as email and social media, hoping these resources provide support whenever women decide to seek alternative assistance and leave prostitution behind. Ryo Kitagawa, who was head of Sonezaki Police Station's community safety division until the end of March, reflected, "Previously, there were cases where women we'd questioned simply returned to the street. While we remain vigilant in eliminating street prostitution, we also want the area to become a supportive environment for women facing difficult circumstances."
CNN
11-03-2025
- Science
- CNN
The largest shark that ever lived just got larger, scientists say
Paleobiologist Dr. Kenshu Shimada has been fascinated by fossil sharks, including the giant Otodus megalodon, since childhood — he found his first megalodon tooth at 13 years old. So when he saw the 2018 blockbuster 'The Meg,' he thought something was fishy. Not only did the movie depict the long-extinct megalodon surviving to modern times, but the 75-foot-long (23-meter-long) Hollywood version of the predator seemed way too big. Exactly how large megalodon was in real life is a long-standing mystery — no complete fossils have ever been discovered. But now, to Shimada's own surprise, his most recent research suggests megalodon could have reached a whopping length of 80 feet (24 meters). What's more, he and his coauthors posit that megalodon was slenderer than previously thought, closer in build to a sleek lemon shark than a chunky great white, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. 'Megalodon is not a simple, gigantic version of great white shark. I think that we really have to move away from that concept,' said Shimada, a professor of biological and environmental sciences at DePaul University in Chicago who served as lead author. The findings could help reshape how scientists and popular science fiction depict the enormous creature — and has possibly shed light on what lets some marine vertebrates evolve extraordinarily huge proportions, according to Shimada. Megalodon fossil record: Plenty of teeth but not much else Unlike in 'The Meg,' the prehistoric megalodon never coexisted with humans, but between 15 million and 3.6 million years ago, the apex predator dominated oceans around the world, according to various megalodon fossils scientists have unearthed. As a shark, megalodon is part of the family of cartilaginous fishes. 'They have a very poorly mineralized skeleton. There are no true bones that make the skeleton hard,' Shimada said. 'On the other hand, teeth are very hard, so they're durable.' Megalodon produced new teeth throughout its life, helping make these fossils a fairly common find. Along with teeth, the existing fossil record includes parts of giant shark skeletons from the same period, including a 36-foot-long (11-meter-long) section of a fossilized spinal column from Belgium, a news release stated. The vertebrae of this shark are up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter; another fossil shark specimen from Denmark has vertebrae that are 9 inches (23 centimeters) across. For context, adult human vertebrae are roughly 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) in diameter. Neither shark backbone specimens were found with the massive, serrated teeth associated with megalodon, but scientists have presumed they belong to the same species. Megalodon's teeth resemble those of a modern great white shark, so some scientists previously concluded that the two sharks had a similar stout body shape. Shimada followed this hypothesis when he published a paper in September 2019, arguing that the maximum size for megalodon was 'just' 50 feet (15.3 meters) long. However, several years ago, Shimada and some of his colleagues began to question the underlying assumption that megalodon looked like a huge great white shark. In reviewing a August 2022 paper, in which scientists built a digital 3D model of megalodon, Shimada found some of the math behind the shark's proportions didn't seem to add up. 'We kind of realized — click— that (the) great white shark is not a good model,' Shimada said. So, he began searching for a better match for megalodon's modern analogue. Megalodon may have had a long, sleek body Shimada and his team compared 145 species of living sharks and 20 species of extinct sharks and built a database of the proportions of their heads, bodies and tails. The researchers then compared these proportions with the parts of megalodon's body that have been found. 'We have a vertebral column that's known, and if we assume that that's the complete trunk length, then why can't we estimate the head length and a tail length based on modern day?' Shimada said. The researchers calculated that the likeliest body plan for megalodon wouldn't have been that of a stout, tanklike great white but rather a more streamlined fish, such as a lemon shark. In this discovery, Shimada said, his team also stumbled upon a larger pattern in marine biology. 'Inadvertently, we discovered the mystery of why some vertebrates can get large, but some cannot,' Shimada said. Great white sharks, with their thick bodies that grow to about 20 feet long (6 meters), seem to be about as big as a stocky animal can be and still move efficiently through the water. Meanwhile, sleeker animals such as blue whales, which can grow up to about 100 feet (30 meters) long, can attain enormous lengths while still swimming well. 'If you stay in a skinnier body, there is a better chance of being able to grow larger,' Shimada said. This principle applies to megalodon, which according to Shimada's new study could have been up to 80 feet (24 meters) long, but thinner than previous models. Dr. Stephen Godfrey, the curator of paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland, who was not involved with the study, said he was surprised by both megalodon's proposed similarity to a lemon shark and by the giant size proposed by Shimada and his team. 'The argument that they make, that a long, slender animal that size is more hydrodynamically efficient than if they're really kind of fat and chunky, like if you scale up a living great white — that argument is a good one,' he said. 'But still, I'm not saying it gets stuck in my craw, but wow. I mean, that's twice the size,' Godfrey said, referring to the estimated megalodon length increasing from 50 to 80 feet. Ultimately, there's just one way to know for certain how long megalodon was and what it looked like. 'What we really need is the discovery of the complete skeleton,' Shimada said. 'The real test comes when we really have the complete skeleton, and then it will support or refute whether it was really skinny or stocky.'
