Two quotations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

Two quotations by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the early stage of the Ukraine/Russia conflict in February 2022.

1. "I'm here. We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our country." - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Subsequently Russian soldiers entered Ukraine and surrounded Kyiv. There were rumors that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had escaped from Kyiv. In response Zelenskyy in person said on 26th February 2022 in a short video addressed to Ukrainians that "we will defend our country”; "there's a lot of fake information online that I call on our army to lay down arms, and that there's evacuation". Zelenskyy then said "I'm here. We won't lay down our arms. We will defend our country."

2. "The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride." - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Despite Russian forces moving closer to the center of Kyiv, Zelenskyy declined an offer from the United States to be evacuated from the city. He said that "the fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride", according to the Associated Press who spoke with a senior intelligence official.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

普京稱烏克蘭建國是虛構的。歷史表明不是。 (2/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Putin Calls Ukrainian Statehood a Fiction. History Suggests Otherwise. (2/2)

The New York Times - Michael Schwirtz, Maria Varenikova and Rick Gladstone

Tue, February 22, 2022, 11:03 AM

(continue)

Now, with an estimated 190,000 Russian troops surrounding Ukraine like a sickle, Putin’s declaration that Ukraine’s very existence as a sovereign state was the result of historical error threatened to send a shudder through all the lands once under Moscow’s dominion. It also elicited expressions of contempt from Ukrainians.

“For the past few decades, the West has been looking for fascism anywhere, but not where it was most,” said Maria Tomak, an activist involved in supporting people from Crimea, a Ukrainian territory Putin annexed in 2014. “Now it is so obvious that it burns the eyes. Maybe this will finally make the West start to sober up about Russia.”

It is not clear whether Putin believes his version of Ukrainian history or has simply concocted a cynical mythology to justify whatever action he plans next. But his contention that Ukraine exists solely within the context of Russian history and culture is one he has deployed at least as far back as 2008, when he attempted to convince George W. Bush, who had expressed support for Ukraine’s NATO membership, of the country’s nonexistence.

Last summer, Putin published a 5,300-word essay that expounded on many of the themes he highlighted in Monday’s speech, including the idea that nefarious Western nations had somehow corrupted Ukraine, leading it away from its rightful place within a greater Russian sphere through what he called a “forced change of identity.”

Few observers, though, believe that historical accuracy is of much importance to Putin as he sets forth justifications for whatever he has planned for Ukraine.

“We can be clear that Putin was not trying to engage in a historical debate about the intertwined histories of the Russian and Ukrainian peoples,’’ said Joshua A. Tucker, a political-science professor at New York University and an expert on Russia. Instead, Tucker said, the Russian leader was laying the groundwork for the argument “that Ukraine is not currently entitled to the sorts of rights that we associate with sovereign nations.”

 “It was a signal that Putin intends to argue that a military intervention in Ukraine would not be violating another country’s sovereignty,” he added.

Moscow had vowed to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty as a condition of Ukraine’s giving up its nuclear weapons after the Soviet collapse. But Putin, analysts said, has made clear that pledge is of little importance to him. In 2014, after protesters drove a Kremlin-backed government from power in Kyiv, he ordered his military to seize the Crimean Peninsula and then instigated a separatist war that resulted Ukraine’s de facto loss of two rebel territories in the east.

On Monday, Putin moved to formalize that separation by recognizing those territories, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as independent. Soon afterward, he ordered troops into the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine.

But Putin’s efforts to wrest Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit have, in many ways, had the opposite effect. In a country that was once ambivalent about NATO at best, or openly hostile at worst, polls show that a solid majority now favor membership in the U.S.-led military alliance.

In Kyiv, where Ukrainians had been nervously awaiting Putin’s decision, the reaction to his speech was one of disgust and foreboding.

Kristina Berdynskykh, a prominent political journalist, gathered with colleagues at a bar called Amigos and sat around a phone watching Putin’s speech, by turns crying and cursing.

“It is hatred for all of Ukraine and revenge for the country’s movement toward the EU and NATO and democracy — albeit chaotic, with huge problems, slow reforms and corruption — but where people elect and change power in elections or revolutions,” Berdynskykh said. “The worst dream for an old lunatic is both scenarios: fair elections and revolutions.”

Translation

現在，估計有 190,000 名俄羅斯軍隊像鐮刀一樣包圍著烏克蘭，普京宣稱烏克蘭作為一個主權國家的存在是歷史錯誤的結果，這有可能讓曾經在莫斯科統治下的所有土地不寒而栗。這也引起了烏克蘭人的蔑視。

有參與支持克里米亞，於2014年被普京吞併的烏克蘭領土的人民的活動人士 Maria Tomak 說： “在過去的幾十年裡，西方一直在任何地方尋找法西斯主義，但不是在最嚴重的地方” 。現在它是如此很明顯，它會灼傷眼睛。也許這最終會讓西方開始對俄羅斯保持清醒” 。

目前尚不清楚普京是否相信他對烏克蘭歷史的看法，或者只是編造了一個曖昧的神話來證明他接下來計劃採取的任何行動是正當的。但他認為烏克蘭僅存在於俄羅斯歷史和文化背景下的論點, 是他至少早在 2008 年就已經使用的論點。當時他試圖說服曾表示支持烏克蘭加入北約的喬治布殊(George W. Bush) 相信該國的不存在。

去年夏天，普京發表了一篇 5,300 字的文章，已闡述了他在周一的演講中強調的許多主題，包括邪惡的西方國家以某種方式腐蝕了烏克蘭，通過他稱為“強制改變身份”的所作所為, 導致烏克蘭離開了在大俄羅斯範圍內應有的地位”。

然而，很少觀察家相信歷史的準確性對普京來說是非常重要，因為他只是為他對烏克蘭的任何計劃作出了一個辯解理由。

紐約大學政治學教授、俄羅斯問題專家Joshua A. Tucker 說： “我們可以很清楚，普京並沒有試圖就俄羅斯和烏克蘭人民相互交織的歷史進行歷史辯論” 。相反，Tucker說，這位俄羅斯領導人正在為“烏克蘭目前無權享有我們認知與主權國家連帶的各種權利”的論點奠定基礎。

他補充說: “這是一個信號，表明普京打算爭辯說，對烏克蘭的軍事干預不會侵犯另一個國家的主權” 。

莫斯科曾誓言尊重烏克蘭的主權，作為烏克蘭在蘇聯解體後放棄核武器的條件。但分析人士表示，普京已經明確表示，這承諾對他來說並不重要。 2014 年，在抗議者在基輔將克里姆林宮支持的政府趕下台後，他命令軍隊佔領克里米亞半島，然後煽動分裂戰爭，導致烏克蘭事實上失去了東部的兩個反叛領土。

 週一，普京承認頓涅茨克和盧甘斯克人民共和國是獨立的，從而正式確定了這種分離。不久之後，他命令軍隊進入烏克蘭東部所謂的頓涅茨克和盧甘斯克人民共和國。

但普京試圖將烏克蘭拉回俄羅斯軌道的努力在許多方面產生了相反的效果。在一個曾經對北約抱有相反態度，或者在最壞的情況下公開敵對的國家，其民意調查顯示，現在絕大多數人讚成加入以美國為首的軍事聯盟。

在基輔，烏克蘭人一直在緊張地等待普京的決定，對他的講話的反應是一種厭惡和不祥的預感。

著名政治記者Kristina Berdynskykh 與同事們聚集在一家名為 Amigos 的酒吧裡，圍坐在手機旁觀看普京的演講，時而哭泣時而咒罵。

Berdynskykh說: “這是對整個烏克蘭的仇恨，也是對該國向歐盟、北約和民主運動的報復 - 儘管烏克蘭混亂、存在巨大問題、改革緩慢和腐敗 - 但當人們選擇, 以選舉或革命中改變權力時” ;  “對於一個老瘋子來說，最糟糕的夢是兩種一齊的情況：公平選舉和革命” 。

So, all along Ukrainian identity politics and nationalism have been irritants in Russia since the feudal czarist times. Ukraine is seen by many Russians as their nation’s “little brother” and should behave as such accordingly. In the eyes of Putin, it was the crumbling Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev that allowed Ukraine to slip free of Moscow’s grasp, and the Western nations somehow have corrupted Ukraine, leading it to turn away from its rightful place within a greater Russian sphere. One thing is sure: Russia’s economy will be more difficult when the international community impose sanctions. In the 21-century, economic might is more powerful than military might in many respects. I am wondering what benefits Russia will gain if it occupies Ukraine militarily without winning the hearts and minds of the people there.

普京稱烏克蘭建國是虛構的。歷史表明不是。 (1/2)

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

Putin Calls Ukrainian Statehood a Fiction. History Suggests Otherwise. (1/2)

The New York Times

Michael Schwirtz, Maria Varenikova and Rick Gladstone

Tue, February 22, 2022, 11:03 AM

KYIV, Ukraine — In his speech to the Russian nation on Monday, President Vladimir Putin buoyed his case for codifying the cleavage of two rebel territories from Ukraine by arguing that the very idea of Ukrainian statehood was a fiction.

With a conviction of an authoritarian unburdened by historical nuance, Putin declared Ukraine an invention of Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, who he said had mistakenly endowed Ukraine with a sense of statehood by allowing it autonomy within the newly created Soviet state.

“Modern Ukraine was entirely and fully created by Russia, more specifically the Bolshevik, communist Russia,” Putin said. “This process began practically immediately after the 1917 revolution, and moreover Lenin and his associates did it in the sloppiest way in relation to Russia — by dividing, tearing from her pieces of her own historical territory.”

As a misreading of history, it was extreme even by the standards of Putin, a former KGB officer who has declared the Soviet Union’s collapse the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.

Ukraine and Russia share roots stretching back to the first Slavic state, Kievan Rus, a medieval empire founded by Vikings in the 9th century.

But the historical reality of Ukraine is complicated, a thousand-year history of changing religions, borders and peoples. The capital, Kyiv, was established hundreds of years before Moscow, and both Russians and Ukrainians claim it as a birthplace of their modern cultures, religion and language.

Kyiv was ideally situated along the trade routes that developed in the ninth and 10th centuries, and flourished only to see its economic influence diminish as trade shifted elsewhere. The many conquests by warring factions and Ukraine’s diverse geography — with farmland, forests and a maritime environment on the Black Sea — created a complex fabric of multiethnic states.

The history and culture of Russia and Ukraine are indeed intertwined — they share the same Orthodox Christian religion, and their languages, customs and national cuisines are related.

Even so, Ukrainian identity politics and nationalism have been irritants in Russia since the feudal czarist times that predated the Russian Revolution. Ukraine is seen by many Russians as their nation’s “little brother” and should behave accordingly.

Eastern Ukraine, which came under Russian influence much earlier than the west, still features many Russian speakers and people loyal to Moscow. But the happy brotherhood of nations that Putin likes to paint, with Ukraine fitted snugly into the fabric of a greater Russia, is dubious.

Parts of modern-day Ukraine did indeed reside for centuries within the Russian empire. But other parts in the west fell under the jurisdiction of the Austro-Hungarian empire, Poland or Lithuania.

“Putin’s argument today that Ukraine is historically subsumed by Russia is just not right,” said Cliff Kupchan, chair of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting organization. While the themes of Putin’s speech were not new for the Russian leader, Kupchan said, “the breadth and vehemence with which he went after all things Ukrainian was remarkable.”

The newly created Soviet government under Lenin that drew so much of Putin’s scorn on Monday would eventually crush the nascent independent Ukrainian state. During the Soviet era, the Ukrainian language was banished from schools and its culture was permitted to exist only as a cartoonish caricature of dancing Cossacks in puffy pants.

Putin also argued on Monday that the myth of Ukraine was reinforced by the crumbling Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev, which allowed Ukraine to slip free of Moscow’s grasp. It was a weakened Moscow that “gave” Ukraine the right to become independent of the Soviet Union “without any terms and conditions.”

“This is just madness,” he said.

It was not Moscow that granted Ukraine’s independence in 1991, but the Ukrainian people, who voted resoundingly to leave the Soviet Union in a democratic referendum.

(to be continued)

Translation 

烏克蘭基輔 - 總統普京(Vladimir Putin)週一在對俄羅斯國家的講話中, 把他支持將兩個反叛領土與烏克蘭分裂編纂成法理的，他辯稱烏克蘭建國的想法本身就是一種虛構。

普京堅信獨裁者不受歷史的干擾阻，他宣布烏克蘭是布爾什維克革命領袖列寧(Vladimir Lenin) 作出來的，說他錯誤地賦予了烏克蘭一種國家意識，允許它在新成立的蘇聯國家內自治。

普京說: “現代烏克蘭完全是由俄羅斯創造的，更具體地說是布爾什維克共產主義俄羅斯”; “這個過程實際上是在 1917 年革命之後立即開始的，而且列寧和他的同夥在處理俄羅斯時採取了最草率的方式 - 分裂、撕毀她自己的歷史領土” 。

對歷史的一個誤讀，即使以普京的標準來看，這也是極端的 - 他作為前國家安全委員會 (蘇聯)官員宣布蘇聯解體是 20 世紀最大的地緣政治災難。

烏克蘭和俄羅斯的淵源可以追溯到第一個斯拉夫國家 Kievan Rus，這是一個由維京人在 9 世紀建立的中世紀帝國。

但烏克蘭的歷史現實是複雜的，在宗教、邊界和民族的變化有一千年的歷史。首都基輔比莫斯科早幾百年建立，俄羅斯人和烏克蘭人都聲稱它是他們現代文化、宗教和語言的發源地。

基輔有利地位於 9 世紀和 10 世紀發展起來的貿易路線的沿線，並且隨著貿易轉移到其他地方，基輔的經濟影響力逐漸減弱。由於交戰派系的多次征服,和烏克蘭多樣化的地理環境 - 在黑海擁有農田、森林和海洋環境 - 創造了一個多民族國家的複雜結構。

俄羅斯和烏克蘭的歷史和文化確實是交織在一起的 - 他們有著共同的東正教; 他們的語言、習俗和民族美食都有相連。

即便如此，自俄羅斯革命之前的封建沙皇時代以來，烏克蘭的身份政治和民族主義一直使俄羅斯感到煩擾。烏克蘭被許多俄羅斯人視為他們國家的 “小兄弟” ，應該表現與身份相應的舉止。

烏克蘭東部比西部更早地受到俄羅斯的影響，仍然有許多講俄語的人和忠於莫斯科的人。但普京喜歡構画的國家幸福兄弟情誼，即烏克蘭緊貼在更大的俄羅斯的結構中，是值得怀疑的。

現代烏克蘭的部分地區確實曾置身於俄羅斯帝國境內幾個世紀。但西部其他地區則歸奧匈帝國、波蘭或立陶宛管轄。

一個叫歐亞集團的政治風險諮詢組織的主席 Cliff Kupchan 說: “今天普京關於烏克蘭歷史上被歸入俄羅斯的論點是不正確的”。雖然演講的主題對普京這位俄羅斯領導人來說並不新鮮，但Kupchan說，“他對烏克蘭所有事情的追求的廣度和熱情是異乎尋常” 。

在周一引起了普京的極大蔑視的列寧領導下的新成立蘇維埃政府，最終將粉碎新生的獨立烏克蘭國家。在蘇聯時代，烏克蘭語被學校放逐，其文化只被允許以穿著蓬鬆褲子跳舞的哥薩克人在卡通漫畫形式存在。

普京周一還辯稱，烏克蘭的神話被戈爾巴喬夫（Mikhail Gorbachev）的垮台蘇聯政府強化了，讓烏克蘭擺脫了莫斯科的控制。是一個弱勢的莫斯科“賦予” 烏克蘭權利 “在沒有任何條款和條件” 獨立於蘇聯。

他說: “這簡直是瘋狂” 。

在 1991 年不是莫斯科授予烏克蘭獨立，而是烏克蘭人民在民主公投中強烈投票決定離開蘇聯。

(to be continued)

Elon Musk：星際火箭接近進入軌道

 

Rockets line-up    (Source: BBC)

Recently BBC News on-line reported the following:

Elon Musk: Starship rocket close to going orbital

Jonathan Amos - BBC Science Correspondent

Fri, February 11, 2022, 7:04 AM

Elon Musk is hopeful he can launch his new monster rocket system in perhaps a couple of months from now.

In a presentation made while standing in front of what he calls the Starship, the US entrepreneur said the vehicle was close technically to being ready.

Much depends now on the Federal Aviation Administration. It's the licensing authority and it will not issue a permission to fly until an environmental assessment is complete.

"I think we're tracking to have the regulatory approval and hardware readiness around the same time," he told the audience at his SpaceX company's R&D facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

"Hopefully, you know, basically a couple of months for both."

And Mr. Musk added: "I feel at this point highly confident that we'll get to orbit this year."

Mr. Musk said that if the FAA process demanded further investigations, it would lead to a delay of many months as flight operations were shifted to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where another launch pad for Starship is under construction.

Thursday's presentation was the first formal update Mr. Musk had given on the progress of Starship's development in two years.

And while the level of activity at Boca Chica in the intervening time has been intense, Mr. Musk didn't reveal much that wasn't already public knowledge.

He discussed niche engineering details on rocket engine design, which will have delighted super-fans, and there was a glossy new animation that envisaged a crewed Starship mission to Mars, but the SpaceX CEO was shy about talking through the business opportunities that were emerging for the new launch system.

"There's going to be some future announcements that I think people will be pretty fired up about," he said. "There are a lot of additional customers that will want to use Starship [but] I don't want to steal their thunder; they're going to make their own announcements."

At just under 120m (390ft) in height, the new SpaceX rocket system is the biggest ever devised.

When it eventually takes to the sky, it will get off the pad with more than twice the thrust of the vehicles that sent men to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

The main engines on the Apollo Saturn V rockets delivered some 35 meganewtons (nearly 8 million pounds of force) when ignited. The first stage of Starship, which is called Super Heavy, should achieve around 75 meganewtons.

The inaugural test flight - whenever it happens - will see the Super Heavy booster hurl the Starship into space for a 90-minute, once-around-the-Earth trip, which will end with a disposal "landing" in waters off the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific. The Super Heavy itself will be ditched in the Gulf of Mexico.

Ultimately, though, SpaceX wants both segments of future vehicles to make controlled touchdowns, on land or on sea platforms, so they can be re-used.

At Boca Chica, the launch tower sports enormous mechanical arms, nicknamed "chopsticks", that would endeavor to catch Super Heavy as it hovered near the ground. These arms would then place the booster straight back on its launch mount, ready for the next mission.

Mr. Musk says the Starship system, once fully developed, will be more than capable of taking humans to the Moon and Mars, and the US space agency (Nasa) has already contracted SpaceX to provide a version of Starship to place astronauts on the lunar surface later this decade.

The rocket system could also ferry people and cargo quickly around the globe. Putting satellites in orbit is another obvious application. Indeed, Mr. Musk sees Starship as central to the ongoing deployment of his Starlink orbital broadband network.

"Once we make this work, it's an utterly profound breakthrough in access to orbit" he said.

"When aircraft first came along, they were viewed as toys. When the Wright Brothers first took off, most people were just riding horses; they would not have imagined that there would be tens of thousands of aircraft flying to every corner of the world. So, this really could be a profound situation and we really can't even imagine all the use-cases at this point."

Translation

埃隆馬斯克(Elon Musk)希望能在幾個月後發射他的巨無霸火箭系統。

這位美國企業家站在他所稱的星際飛船前進行的一次演說中說，這飛船在技術上已經接近準備就緒。

現在很大程度上取決於聯邦航空管理局。它是發出許可機構，在環境評估完成之前不會頒發飛行許可。

馬斯克在德克薩斯州 Boca Chica的 SpaceX 公司研發設施告訴觀眾: “我們正在注意進度, 我認為在同一時間會獲得監管批准和硬件準備” 。

“希望的是，你知道，两件事基本上只用兩個月” 。

馬斯克先生補充說： “在這一點上，我對我們今年將進入軌道充滿信心” 。

馬斯克表示，如果聯邦航空局的程序要求進一步調查，這將導致延誤數月，因為飛行操作被轉移到佛羅里達州的肯尼迪航天中心，那裡正在建造另一個星際飛船發射台。

週四的演講是馬斯克兩年來首次正式更新星際飛船的開發進展。

雖然在此期間在 Boca Chica 的活動非常緊湊，但馬斯克先生並沒有透露太多尚未公開的信息。

他討論了火箭發動機設計的專門工程細節，這將讓超級粉絲感到高興，並且有一個表面上有吸引力，時尚，並暗示財富的新動畫,去設想了載人星際飛船前往火星的任務，但 SpaceX 的首席執行官不願談論由新的發射系統正在引發出的商機。

他說“未來會有一些公告，我認為人們會非常興奮” ; “還有很多其他客戶想要使用 星際飛船 [但] 我不想搶走他們的風頭；他們會發佈自己的公告” 。

新的 SpaceX 火箭系統高度是僅僅不到 120m（390 英尺），是有史以來最大的火箭系統。

當它最終升空時，它的起飛推力將是超過 1960 年代和 1970 年代將人類送上月球的飛行器的兩倍多。

阿波羅土星五號火箭的主發動機在點燃時產生了大約 35 兆牛頓（近 800 萬磅的力）。星際飛船的第一段，稱為"超重型"，應該達到大約 75 兆牛頓。

首次試飛 - 無論何時發生 - 都將看到"超重型"助推器將星際飛船送入太空，進行 90 分鐘的環繞地球之旅，最後將在太平洋夏威夷群島附近海域進行一次棄置 “著陸” 。超重型本身將被拋棄在墨西哥灣裏。

但最終，SpaceX 希望未來飛船的兩個部分都能夠在陸地或海上平台上進行可控著陸，以便它們可以重複使用。

在 Boca Chica，發射塔裝有巨大的機械臂，綽號“筷子”，當超重型在近地面懸停時，它會努力抓住它。然後，這些臂會將助推器直接放回其發射架上，為下一次任務做好準備。

馬斯克先生說，星際飛船系統一旦完全開發，將不僅能夠將人類帶到月球和火星，而且美國航天局 (Nasa) 已經與 SpaceX 簽訂合同，提供一個星際飛船版本, 在這十年較後期將宇航員送上月球的表面。

火箭系統還可以在全球範圍內快速運送人員和貨物。將衛星送入軌道是另一個明顯的應用。事實上，馬斯克先生認為星際飛船是他正在進行的 Starlink 軌道寬帶網絡部署的核心。

他說: “一旦我們完成這項工作，這將是進入軌道的一個徹底的突破” 。

“飛機剛出現的時候，還被當成玩具。萊特兄弟剛起飛的時候，大多數人只是騎著馬，沒想到將會有上萬架飛機飛到世界的每一個角落。所以，這真的可能是一個奧妙的情況，我們此時真的無法想像出所有應用例子” 。

       So, while Elon Musk is looking forward to launch his new monster rocket system in a couple of months, I am eager to know the performance of this Starship. If successful, it could revolutionize the ways in access to orbit and make the mission to Mar a possibility.

麻省理工學院的研究人員創造出像鋼一樣堅固、像塑料一樣輕的新材料

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

MIT researchers create new material as strong as steel and light as plastic

Michelle Shen, USA TODAY

Sun, February 6, 2022, 4:35 PM

MIT researchers have developed a new material that's as strong as steel but as light as plastic.

It can be easily manufactured in large quantities, and the use cases range from lightweight coatings for cars and phones to building blocks for massive structures such as bridges, according to Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and the senior author of a new study.

“We don’t usually think of plastics as being something that you could use to support a building, but with this material, you can enable new things,” he said in a statement from MIT. “It has very unusual properties and we’re very excited about that.”

The material is several times stronger than bulletproof glass, and the amount of force needed to break it is twice that of steel, despite the fact that the material has only about one-sixth the density of steel, according to MIT.

The researchers were able to do this by developing a new process to form polymers. Plastics are an example of polymers, along with rubber and glass.

The researchers wanted to see whether they could create a two-dimensional version of a polymer that could remain flat, thus making it lightweight. They tried for decades to create such a material, and the new process they developed was published in peer-reviewed journal Nature last week.

Polymers are essentially chains of individual molecules, called monomers, linked together by chemical bonds. Normally, when polymers are formed, they expand into three-dimensional objects, like how a sheet cake rises as it bakes in an oven. The challenge is if even one monomer begins to rotate, the polymer becomes three-dimensional.

For example, imagine if you wanted to line up children and pack a bunch of them in an auditorium by having them link arms. However, if even one of the children choose to be unruly and shift around, it would be impossible to maintain order.

The key came from building a process that could allow the monomers to link up and grow into a polymer chain without causing any one of the monomers to stray. If you could build several two-dimensional polymers, you could layer them like disks and stack a bunch of them together in a tight space, similar to how you could pack lines of children into an auditorium, if they're well-behaved.

(This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MIT researchers create material as strong as steel, light as plastic)

Translation

麻省理工學院的研究人員已經開發出一種新材料，它的強度與鋼一樣，但與塑料一樣輕。

據麻省理工學院 Carbon P. Dubbs 化學工程科教授邁克爾·斯特拉諾 (Michael Strano) , 他亦是這一項新研究的作者說，新材料可以很容易地大批量生產，其用例範圍從汽車和手機的輕質塗料到橋樑等大型結構的砌塊。

他在麻省理工學院的一份聲明中說： “我們通常不認為塑料可以用來支撐建築物，但使用這種材料，你可以創造新事物”; “它具有非常不尋常的特性，我們對此感到非常興奮” 。

據麻省理工學院稱，這種材料的強度是防彈玻璃的幾倍，打破它所需的力量是鋼的兩倍，儘管這種材料的密度只有鋼的六分之一左右。

研究人員能夠做到這一點是透過開發一種造成聚合物的新工藝來達成。塑料是聚合物的一個例子，還有橡膠和玻璃。

研究人員想看看他們是否可以製造出一種二維版本的聚合物，這種聚合物可以保持平坦，從而使其輕量化。他們幾十年來一直試圖創造這樣一種材料，他們開發的新工序上週發表在同行評議的《自然》雜誌上。

聚合物本質上是單個分子鏈，稱為單體，通過化學鍵連接在一起。通常情況下，當聚合物形成時，它們會膨脹成三維物體，就像蛋糕在烤箱中烘烤時如何上升一樣。挑戰在於，即使一個單體開始旋轉，聚合物也會變成三維的。

例如，想像一下，如果你想讓孩子們排成一排，然後讓他們手挽手，把他們塞進一個禮堂。但是當即使是其中一個孩子選擇不守規矩，四處走動，就無法維持秩序。

關鍵在於建立一種工序，該工序可以讓單體連接起來並長成聚合物鏈，而不會導致任何單體偏離。如果您可以構建幾個二維聚合物，您可以將它們像磁盤一樣分層，並將它們堆疊在一起在一個狹窄的空間中，類似於您可以將一排排孩子塞進禮堂，如果他們守秩序的話。

       So, a new construction material has been discovered. Will it revolutionize the process in making material?

Iceland stops whaling after 2024, partly due to lower demand in Japan

 Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

アイスランド、２０２４年以降は捕鯨を中止　日本の需要減も一因

2022.02.06 Sun posted at 18:15 JST

  （ＣＮＮ） アイスランドのスバーバルスドッティル漁業・農業相は６日までに、同国が商業捕鯨を２０２４年に中止する方針を発表した。鯨肉（げいにく）需要の減退とクジラの保護論争が続いていることに配慮したことも明らかにした。

地元紙モルゲンブラディットへの寄稿で表明した。「割り当てられている捕獲許可の期限切れとなる２４年以降にも捕鯨を認める正当な理由がほとんどない」と指摘。

捕鯨はここ数年、同国に大きな経済的利益はもたらさなかったのは明白とし、過去３年の間、捕獲した大きなクジラは２１年のミンククジラ１頭にとどまったと述べた。

さらに、同国産の鯨肉の最大の買い手だった日本で需要が年々先細っているとも説明。「経済的な恩恵が生じない捕鯨を続行するリスクを背負うべきではない」と語った。

捕鯨が国際的に物議を醸してきた事実にも言及。米スーパーチェーンの「ホールフーズ」がアイルランド産品をしばらくの間、販売中止にした事例にも触れた。

国際捕鯨委員会（ＩＷＣ）は１９８６年に商業捕鯨の禁止を発表。ＩＷＣによると、アイスランドはこの後、小規模な「科学的な見地からの捕鯨事業」を続けたが、９２年にＩＷＣを脱退。２００２年に再加盟して０６年に商業捕鯨を再び始め、国際的な規則を無視しているとして多くの国が反発していた。

クジラやイルカの保護運動を進める非営利団体ＷＤＣによると、アイスランドは１９８６年の商業捕鯨の禁止以降、ミンククジラ、ナガスクジラやイワシクジラの１７００頭以上を捕獲。２００６年から１８年にかけてはナガスクジラ８５２頭を捕まえたが、１９年からの３年間ではないとしている。

日本は１８年１２月にＩＷＣを脱退、１９年に商業捕鯨を再開していた。

Translation

  (CNN) Iceland's Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Svavarsdóttir on the 6th announced that the country would stop commercial whaling in 2024. She also made clear that it was out of consideration over a declining demand for whale meat and the ongoing controversy over whales protection.

She stated this in her article to the local newspaper Morgunbladid. She pointed that "There is little good reason to allow whaling after 2024, when the allotted capture permit expires."

While it was clear that whaling had not brought significant economic benefits to the country in recent years, it said that in the past three years in catching large whale, they had only one minke in 2021.

She also explained that demand was declining year by year in Japan, which was the largest buyer Iceland produced whale meat. She said that "We should not take the risk of continuing whaling without financial benefits."

The fact that whaling had been internationally controversial was mentioned. She also mentioned a case where the US supermarket chain "Whole Foods" discontinued Irish products for some time.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced a ban on commercial whaling in 1986. According to the IWC, Iceland then continued its small "scientific whaling business" but withdrew from the IWC in 1992. It rejoined in 2002 and started commercial whaling again in 2006, and many countries had opposed to Iceland for ignoring international rules.

According to WDC, a non-profit organization that promoted whale and dolphin conservation, Iceland had captured more than 1,700 minke whales, fin whales and sei whales since the 1986 ban on commercial whaling. It supposed that from 2006 to 2018, it caught 852 fin whales, and had no catch in three years from 2019.

Japan withdrew from the IWC in December 2018 and resumed commercial whaling in 2019.

              So, Iceland announces that the country will stop commercial whaling in 2024 in considering a declining demand for whale meat and an ongoing controversy over catching whales. I am wondering when will Japan do the same.

中國北斗與俄羅斯GLONASS簽署新協議，與美國GPS衛星導航競爭

Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China's BeiDou and Russian GLONASS sign new deal to rival America's GPS satellite navigation

Sat, February 5, 2022, 1:30 AM

South China Morning Post

China and Russia have agreed to coordinate their satellite navigation systems as the two countries further solidify their partnership to rival the US-owned GPS.

This comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed "unprecedented" close ties with China at a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing ahead of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

A total of 16 deals were confirmed during the meeting, including one for 10 billion cubic metres (353 billion cubic feet) of Russian gas to be supplied to China per year via a new pipeline.

An agreement was also signed between the operators of the Russian high-altitude satellite system GLONASS and China's BeiDou, "on cooperation in the field of ensuring the complementarity of the global navigation satellite systems in terms of system timescales", according to the document list issued by the Kremlin.

The details of the agreement were not disclosed. But it follows and further develops a 2018 agreement between the two governments to shape a framework for the two systems joining forces.

Titled "Cooperation in the peaceful use of the BeiDou and GLONASS", that deal took effect in 2019.

Moscow and Beijing had then pledged to cooperate in the compatibility and interoperability of BeiDou and GLONASS. The new agreement's aim to ensure "the complementarity of system timescales" was part of the compatibility and interoperability effort, experts said.

"That is to say, both sides would coordinate well during their programming to maximise the use of resources of both systems in the future," Clark Shu, telecommunications researcher at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said.

"For example, when a BeiDou satellite covers a Moscow area between 0700 to 0900 [hours], a GLONASS satellite could be spared to cover the St Petersburg area during the same period or take over Moscow from 1000 to 1200 [hours]."

China launched its BeiDou, or Northern Dipper (the ancient Chinese name for the seven brightest stars of the Ursa Major constellation) programme in the 1990s. This came amid concerns that its People's Liberation Army (PLA) would be vulnerable without a satellite navigation system alternative to the GPS (Global Positioning System), owned by the US government and operated by the US Air Force.

BeiDou's third and current network of 30 satellites was completed and began offering global services in July 2020, when Beijing and Washington were going through bitter "decoupling" and rising military tensions.

Apart from its military applications, the BeiDou system, with a 1.2m accuracy of positioning that surpasses the GPS' 5-10m range, and added services such as text messaging, also aims to draw the global civilian satellite navigation market worth billions of US dollars.

Russia's GLONASS, or Global Navigation Satellite System, started as a Soviet programme during the Cold War, and was restored in 2011. Now, with a constellation of 24 satellites in orbit, it has great advantages for military uses - thanks to its strong anti-jamming capability.

"BeiDou and GLONASS each have their own advantages. If they could be deeply linked or even interoperable, they could form an ideal navigation system, which would not only facilitate cross-border transport between the two sides in peacetime, but also improve the stability and survivability of the whole navigation system by relying on each other in wartime," Chinese military expert Qian Liyan told Russia's Sputnik news agency.

US spy plane pilots use China's satellite navigation system as backup

In the 2018 deal, Beijing and Moscow also agreed to build ground monitoring stations for each other's networks on home territory, which could help improve the networks' global coverage and accuracy.

Operators in the two nations, the China Satellite Navigation System Committee and Russia's State Space Corporation (Roscosmos), have over the past few years established a monitoring and evaluation service platform for both systems.

They have conducted phase 1 tests for providing joint services to Beijing's multinational Belt and Road Initiative, and together developed satnav applications in cross-border transport and satnav chips, according to the Chinese committee.

Translation

隨著兩國進一步鞏固夥伴關係以與美國擁有的 GPS 競爭，中國和俄羅斯已同意協調其衛星導航系統。

在此之前，俄羅斯總統普京在冬奧會開幕式前與中國領導人習近平在北京會晤時稱讚與中國的“前所未有的”密切關係。

會議期間共確認了 16 項交易，其中一項是通過一條新管道每年向中國供應 100 億立方米（3530 億立方英尺）的俄羅斯天然氣。

根據由克里姆林宮發布的文件清單，俄羅斯高空衛星系統 GLONASS 的運營商與中國的北斗還簽署了一項協議，“確保全球導航衛星系統在系統時間尺度方面的互補性領域開展合作”。

該協議的細節沒有披露。但它遵循並進一步製定了兩國政府之間的 2018 年協議，以形成兩個系統聯合力量的框架。

該協議名為“合作和平利用北斗和GLONASS”，於 2019 年生效。

莫斯科和北京隨後承諾在北斗和 GLONASS 的兼容性和互操作性方面進行合作。專家表示，新協議旨在確保“系統時間尺度的互補性”, 是兼容性和互操作性工作的一部分。

中國電子科技大學電信研究員Clark Shu 說: “也就是說，雙方在編程過程中會很好地協調，以便在未來最大限度地利用兩個系統的資源” 。

“例如，當一顆北斗衛星在 0700 到 0900 [小時] 之間覆蓋莫斯科地區時，一顆 GLONASS 衛星可以在同一時期用於覆蓋聖彼得堡地區,或從 1000 到 1200 [小時] 接管覆蓋莫斯科。”

中國於 1990 年代啟動了北斗或北斗七星（大熊座七顆最亮恆星的中國古代名稱）計劃。這是因為人們擔心如果沒有衛星導航系統來替代美國政府擁有並由美國空軍運營的 GPS（全球定位系統），其人民解放軍 (PLA) 將處於弱勢。

北斗的第三個也是目前的 30 顆衛星網絡已於 2020 年 7 月建成並開始提供全球服務，當時北京和華盛頓正經歷痛苦的“脫鉤”和不斷升級的軍事緊張局勢。

除了軍事應用外，北斗系統的1.2m定位精度超過GPS的5-10m範圍，並增加了短信等服務，亦旨在吸引價值數十億美元的全球民用衛星導航市場.

俄羅斯的 GLONASS，即全球導航衛星系統，始於冷戰時期的蘇聯計劃，並於 2011 年恢復。現在，在軌道上它擁有 24 顆衛星的羣組，由於其強大的抗干擾能力, 在軍事用途有很大優勢。

中國軍事專家Qian Liyan告訴俄羅斯衛星通訊社:“北斗和GLONASS各有優勢，如果能夠深度聯動甚至互通，就可以形成一個理想的導航系統，既可以在平時方便雙方的跨境運輸，在戰時整個導航系統相互依賴, 又可以提高穩定性和生存能力”。

美國間諜飛機飛行員使用中國的衛星導航系統作為後備

在 2018 年的協議中，北京和莫斯科還同意在本國領土上為彼此的網絡建立地面監測站，這有助於提高網絡的全球覆蓋範圍和準確性。

兩國的運營商,即中國衛星導航系統委員會和俄羅斯國家航天局（Roscosmos）在過去幾年中為這兩個系統建立了監測和評估服務平台。

據中國委員會稱，他們已經進行了為北京的跨國“一帶一路”倡議提供聯合服務的第一階段測試，並共同開發了跨境運輸中的衛星導航應用程式和衛星導航芯片。

       So, China and Russia will coordinate their satellite navigation systems as the two countries further solidify their partnership to rival the US-owned GPS. One of the benefits will be to improve the stability and survivability of the whole navigation system by relying on each other in wartime. On national security matters, I am wondering whether they will trust each other to that extent.

Regenerating skin without leaving scars - Elucidation of the mechanism of newts: Tsukuba University Research Group

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

傷痕残さず皮膚を再生 イモリの仕組み解明 筑波大研究グループ

2022年2月3日 6時47分

両生類のイモリでは傷ができても、傷痕が残らずに皮膚が再生されます。筑波大学などの研究グループは、イモリでは傷痕の元になる毛細血管やたんぱく質が作られずに、表皮の細胞が増殖して皮膚が再生していることを初めて明らかにし、人でも傷痕を残さずに皮膚を再生させる研究につながると期待されています。

筑波大学の千葉親文教授らの研究グループは、イモリで傷痕が残らずに皮膚が再生されることに注目し、傷の内部を解析するなどして、イモリの皮膚の回復過程を詳しく調べました。

その結果、人では傷口にかさぶたができたあと炎症が起き、毛細血管やコラーゲンなどの「線維性たんぱく質」が作られ、皮膚が再生するのに対し、イモリでは傷口の周りだけでなく、周辺の表皮の細胞が通常のおよそ2倍のスピードで分裂することで、炎症を長引かせずに傷口を覆って、皮膚が再生することが分かったということです。

研究グループは、イモリで傷痕が残らず、皮膚の色合いやきめが元どおりに再生されるのは、再生の過程で炎症が抑えられ、毛細血管や線維性たんぱく質が作られないことを突き止めたとしています。

イモリの皮膚再生の仕組みが明らかになったのは初めてで、人でも傷痕を残さずに皮膚を再生させる方法の研究につながると期待されています。

千葉教授「新しい技術開発につながる」

千葉教授は「私たち人間にはない、自然界の動物の能力を分析することが、新しい技術開発につながると考えている」と話しています。

Translation

Even if the amphibian newt had a wound, its skin could regenerate without leaving a scar. Research groups from the University of Tsukuba and others revealed for the first time in newts that as the cells of the epidermis proliferated, the skin was regenerated without creating the capillaries and proteins that caused scars. It was expected that this could lead to research on skin regeneration that could left no scars even in human.

A research group in the University of Tsukuba led by Professor Chiba Chikafumi (千葉親文) and others had focused on the fact that the newt regenerated the skin without leaving scars, and analyzed the inside of the wound to investigate the recovery process of the newt's skin in detail.

As a result it was found that in human, inflammation would occur as scab was formed on the wound when regenerating the skin, and "fibrous proteins" such as capillaries and collagen were produced. In newts, not only around the wound, but also at the wound surrounding, cells of the epidermis divided at about twice the normal rate, covering the wound and regenerating the skin without prolonging the inflammation.

The research group found that the newt left no scars and the skin tone and texture were restored to their original state because inflammation was suppressed during the regeneration process, and capillaries and fibrous proteins had not been produced.

This was the first time that the mechanism of skin regeneration of newts had been clarified, and it was expected that it could lead to research on methods in humans for regenerating skin without leaving scars.

Professor Chiba - "leading to new technology development"

Professor Chiba said, "We believe that analyzing the abilities of animals in the natural world, which we humans do not have, will lead to the development of new technologies."

            So, this is the first time that the mechanism of skin regeneration in newts is made known, and it is expected that it will lead to research on methods for regenerating skin without leaving scars in humans.

Plants bloom one month earlier, and there are concerns about the ecosystem

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

植物の開花が１カ月早く、生態系への懸念も　英研究

2022.02.03 Thu posted at 07:03 JST

  （ＣＮＮ） 英国の一部地方で平年より暖かい天気が続くなか、同国内で植物の開花がかつてより平均１カ月も早まっているとする新たな研究結果が発表された。

ケンブリッジ大学のウルフ・ビュントゲン教授らのチームが、英森林保護団体ウッドランド・トラストに保管されている大規模なデータベース「ネイチャーズ・カレンダー」を基に、１８世紀半ばから２０１９年までに４００種を超える植物について観測された、計４０万件あまりの記録を分析。その結果を生物学専門誌「英王立協会紀要Ｂ」に報告した。

ネイチャーズ・カレンダーには、市民からの報告やインターネット上で広く募った情報を中心に、１７３０年代以降の開花や渡り鳥などの観測データ３５０万件が記録されている。

ビュントゲン氏らのチームは英国内各地の樹木や野草の開花日を、位置や標高、都市部か農村部かによって分類した。

これを月ごとの気象データと照らし合わせたところ、開花の時期は平均で１カ月早まっていること、世界の気温上昇と強い相関関係があることが確認された。

世界の平均気温がこのまま上がり続ければ、春は毎年２月から始まるようになるかもしれないと、チームは指摘する。

ビュントゲン氏によれば、植物の開花が早くなると、それにつれて虫や鳥など周囲の生態系のバランスが崩れたり、農業に悪影響が及んだりする恐れがある。植物が「冬眠モード」から早く覚め、成長期に入った後で遅霜に見舞われた場合、果物などの農作物が全滅する被害も予想されるという。

英国以外でも、昨年３月には日本で桜の開花が１２００年ぶりの早さを記録したり、２０１９年には米国を襲った熱波でヒマワリの開花が早まったりした例がある。

Translation

  (CNN) As warmer weather continued in some parts of the UK than normal, new findings had announced that plant flowering in the country was on average one month earlier than before.

A team formed by Professor Ulf Büntgen and others of the University of Cambridge had observed over 400 plant species starting from the mid-18th century and up to 2019 based on the large database "Nature's Calendar" that was stored by the British forest conservation organization Woodland Trust, and they analyzed a total of more than 400,000 records for plants. The results were reported in the biology magazine "Bulletin B of the Royal Society".

The Nature's Calendar contained 3.5 million observational data on flowering and migratory birds since the 1730s, centered on reports from citizens and information extensively solicited on the Internet.

The team of Buntgen and others categorized the flowering dates of trees and wildflowers throughout the UK by location, altitude, and urban or rural areas.

When this was compared with monthly meteorological data, it was confirmed that the flowering time was one month earlier on average, and that there was a strong correlation with the rise in global temperature.

If the average global temperature continued to rise, spring might begin in February each year, the team pointed out.

According to Buntgen, faster plant flowering could lead to imbalances in surrounding ecosystems such as insects and birds, and could adversely affect agriculture. If a plant woke up early from "hibernation mode" and was hit by late frost after entering the growing season, it was expected that crops such as fruits might be wiped out.

Apart from the United Kingdom there were other cases, in Japan where cherry blossoms bloomed, last year for the first time in 1200 years it bloomed in March; and in the US in 2019 sunflowers bloomed earlier due to the heat wave that hit the country.

            So, climate change will impact on the growth of plant that may directly affect our agriculture activities. Indeed, apart from plants, it also affects the survival of insects and animals.

New infections in the US are100% Omicron strains and Delta strains disappear

Yesterday CNN.co.jp reported the following:

米の新規感染の１００％がオミクロン株、デルタ株消滅

2022.02.10 Thu posted at 16:30 JST

 （ＣＮＮ） 米疾病対策センター（ＣＤＣ）は８日、米国内の新型コロナウイルスの感染状況に触れ、オミクロン変異株によるものが推定で１００％に達したと報告した。

 今年１月３０日から今月５日にかけ全米規模でゲノム解析したデータに基づく。

 ８日に発表した最新の推定データによると、オミクロン変異株の派生株である「ＢＡ．２」が新規感染のうち３．６％を占めた。前週比で１．２％増となった。

 地域別に見た場合、この派生株の拡散は西部の諸州でいくぶん進んでおり、新規感染の５％に近い水準となっている。

 デルタ変異株は米国内にもはや存在していないとも推測し、最近の週の大半で感染例が報告されなかったとした。

Translation

  (CNN) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on the 8th that the infection status of the new coronavirus in the United States due to the Omicron mutant strain had reached 100%.

This was based on a national scale on genome-analyzed data from January 30th to 5th this year.

According to the latest estimated data released on the 8th, "BA.2", which was a derivative of the Omicron mutant, accounted for 3.6% of the new infections. It increased by 1.2% from the previous week.

By region, the spread of this derivative was somewhat more advanced in the western states, near 5% of all new infections.

It was also speculated that the Delta variant no longer existed in the United States, and that no cases of delta infection were reported during most of the last week.

So, in the United States now all the coronavirus infection are due to the Omicron mutant strain. Does this mean the death rate due to Covid virus will drop substantially from now on in the US?

Nara eel shop falsely displays Chinese products as domestic products - approximately 160,000 sold

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

奈良のうなぎ店 中国産を国産と偽って表示 約16万個販売

2022年1月31日 19時49分

奈良県大和高田市に本店があるうなぎ店が、中国産のうなぎを国産と偽って販売していたことがわかり、近畿農政局は31日、表示の是正などを求める指示を出しました。

指示を受けたのは、大和高田市に本店があるうなぎ店の「うな源」です。

近畿農政局によりますと、おととし4月から11月にかけて奈良や大阪の店舗、それに通信販売で中国産のうなぎを使用した弁当やかば焼きなどの商品を国産と偽って表示し、合わせておよそ16万個を販売したということです。

近畿農政局は、食品に関する表示偽装などの情報を集めている「食品表示110番」に情報が寄せられたことから調査を進めていました。

「うな源」は、農政局に対し「中国産は国産より安いうえ、大きくやわらかいので購入したが、店のイメージを守りたいので国産と偽って販売した」などと話しているということです。

近畿農政局は31日に「うな源」に対し、食品表示法に基づき表示の是正や原因の究明、さらに今後のチェック体制の強化などを求める指示を出しました。

「うな源」出店 近鉄百貨店は“返金対応”

「うな源」は、近鉄百貨店のあべのハルカス近鉄本店と奈良店、橿原店にテナントを出店しています。

近鉄百貨店によりますと、産地が偽装された疑いがあるうなぎが販売されていた期間は、おととし4月から11月にかけての8か月間で、ネット販売を含めて、この期間に売られたうなぎは6万8000尾余りにのぼるということです。

「うな源」からは産地証明書の提出を受けていましたが、中国産のうなぎが国産と偽って記載されていたということです。

近鉄百貨店は代金の返金を求める購入客に対して、レシートやネットショッピングの記録などで確認したうえで返金するとしています。

Translation

It was discovered that an eel store, which had its head office in Yamatotakada City, Nara Prefecture, was selling Chinese eels as if they were domestically produced, and on the 31st, the Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Bureau issued an instruction requesting correction of the display.

The instruction was given to "Unagen", an eel store whose main store is in Yamatotakada City.

According to the Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Bureau, from April to November in the year before last, products such as bento boxes and kabayaki made using ells from China were displayed as domestic products at stores in Nara and Osaka, and a total of about 160,000 pieces had been sold by mail ordering.

The Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Bureau proceeded with the investigation because information was sent to "Food Labeling 110", which collected information related to food such as false labeling.

"Unagen" told the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Administration that "Chinese products were cheaper than domestic products and were large and soft, so they bought them; but as they wanted to preserve the image of the store, they pretended to sell them as domestic products."

On the 31st, the Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Bureau issued an instruction to "Unagen" requesting the correction of the labeling, investigation of the cause, and strengthening of its checking system in the future based on the Food Labeling Law.

"Unagen" branch store at Kintetsu Department Store would be "refundable".

"Unagen" had open stores at the Kintetsu Department Store’s Abeno Harukas Kintetsu Main Store and Nara Store, and also at the Kashihara Store.

According to the Kintetsu Department Store, eels suspected of disguising the production area were sold for eight months from April to November in the year before last, and during this period, including online sales, over 68,000 eels were sold.

While certificate of origin had been received from "Unagi", but the Chinese eels were falsely described as domestic ones.

Kintetsu Department Store would refund the purchaser who might ask for a refund after checking the receipts and online shopping records.

              So, Kinki Regional Agricultural Administration Bureau has done its job in finding out the disguising of production area for products from China and has issued an instruction requesting correction of the display.