Author: jezzabellemente

Environmentally Friendly Materials Used for Exterior Walls

Food from Around the World to Be Served

OSAKA, Japan, Sept 13 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — Kura Sushi Inc. (Headquarters: Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture), one of the world’s most popular revolving sushi chains, announced on September 12 that it will open a revolving sushi restaurant with 338 seats, the largest number of seats in the world for a company outlet, at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which will open on April 13, 2025, at Yumeshima, Osaka.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240911753115/en/

The restaurant will be located in the Future Society Showcase Zone on the west side of the Expo site. In addition to having the world’s largest number of seats, the restaurant will also have the world’s longest conveyor belt, at about 135 meters long, and deliver sushi and other food right to the customer’s seat.

The exterior walls of the restaurant will be constructed with the SDGs in mind, using plaster made from about 336,000 discarded ark clam shells. The walls are designed to be instantly recognizable as Kura Sushi, with a picture of tuna sushi in an “antibacterial sushi cover,” one of Kura Sushi’s unique features.

The interior is designed in a modern Japanese style with a white wood base, and the design of the Kura Sushi plates on the ceiling and the model of the antibacterial sushi cover in the waiting area are eye-catching to customers.
The restaurant will also be equipped with the following state-of-the-art, proprietary Kura Sushi system, which is standard at all Kura Sushi restaurants in Japan.

· “Smart Kura” eliminates the need for customers to be in contact with an employee from the time they enter to the time they leave the restaurant.
· A new AI camera system constantly monitors the lanes to prevent unwanted behavior.
· A “production control system” that assists in adjusting the amount of sushi to be placed in the lanes according to customer conditions in the restaurant.
· A “water collection system” that automatically carries finished plates back to the kitchen on a stream of water

Of course, customers can also enjoy “Bikkura Pon,” a game in which five plates are worth one game and the winner gets an original prize, which is a key to Kura Sushi’s popularity.
The capsules that contain the “Bikkura Pon” prizes are usually made of plastic, but the Expo store plans to use environmentally friendly materials.

Hiroyuki Okamoto, Director and General Manager of the Public Relations, Advertising and Investor Relations Division of the company, said, “At the Expo, our stores will be operated under the concept of ‘Revolving conveyor belt unites the world.’ Under this concept, the customers will be able to enjoy representative dishes from each of the countries participating in the Expo, along with popular sushi and side dishes from our restaurants. Despite the many challenges that exist in today’s world, we hope that visitors from all over the world will smile as they enjoy not only sushi but also dishes from around the world from our revolving conveyor belt, which has no beginning and no end. As the revolving sushi restaurant spread throughout Japan in the wake of the 1970s Osaka Expo, I would like to use next year’s Osaka-Kansai Expo as an opportunity to promote the revolving sushi restaurant even more widely throughout the world.”

As of September 6, Kura Sushi operates about 550 restaurants in Japan, 65 in the United States, 57 in Taiwan, and 3 in Shanghai.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240911753115/en/

Contact

For media inquiries regarding this press release:
Public Relations Department, Kura Sushi, Inc.
E-MAIL: prhq_kurasushi@kura-corpo.co.jp

Source : Kura Sushi, Inc.

–BERNAMA

Key Findings

• Asia Pacific home to 3 of Top 5 Global Megahubs – KUL 2^nd, HND 3^rd, and ICN 5^th.
• Kuala Lumpur #1 most connected for low-cost flights.
• Connectivity growth in Asia spreads with 17/50 Global Megahubs in the region.
• Tokyo Narita up 45 places to 15^th ranked globally, from 60^th in 2023. 

SINGAPORE, Sept 11 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — OAG, the leading data platform for the global travel industry, today released Megahubs 2024, the market’s definitive ranking of the Top 50 most internationally connected airports in the world.

OAG Megahubs analyses not only the total number of destinations served, but also the number of scheduled connections to and from international destinations, including rankings by global regions and for low-cost carriers.

Asia Pacific is home to 3 of the Top 5 Megahubs, Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Tokyo Haneda (HND), and Seoul Incheon (ICN), providing reassurance these markets are back and pursuing growth.

Connectivity growth in Asia is spread widely with an additional 4 Megahubs in South East Asia making the list (CGK, BKK, MNL and SIN), and 7 in North East Asia (NRT, PVG, HKG, FUK, CAN, TPE and PEK). Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) makes a huge leap year on year, from 60^th ranked in 2023 to 15^th in 2024.

For low-cost connections Asia Pacific airports dominate, making up 64% of the Top 25 LCC Megahubs. Kuala Lumpur (KUL) ranks first, offering 14,583 possible low-cost connections across 137 destinations. AirAsia is the dominant carrier there with 35% share of total flights and 48% of all LCC capacity.

Manila (MNL) moves up into 2^nd place on the Low-Cost Megahubs list this year, overtaking Incheon (ICN), with a high ratio of connectivity to 97 destinations.

“As Asia Pacific continues its rise in the global rankings, OAG Megahubs reflects the growing recovery of international air travel and strong demand for low-cost travel in the Asia Pacific region.” said Mayur Patel, Head of ASPAC at OAG.

For more insights and the full methodology, view the analysis here.

About OAG

OAG is the leading data platform for the global travel industry, powering the growth and innovation of the air travel ecosystem. It has the world’s largest network of flight information.

In July 2023, OAG acquired Infare, the leading provider of competitor air travel data. Together, OAG and Infare now form part of the most trusted data platform for aviation.

View source version on businesswire.com: 
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240910221841/en/

Contact

pressoffice@oag.com

Source : OAG

–BERNAMA

ORDOS, China, Sept. 12, 2024 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–

Viewed from above, 196,000 blue solar panels form a dynamic silhouette of a horse, galloping through the Kubuqi Desert.

Strolling around the solar power station in Chaideng Village, Ordos City, tourists marveled at the green vegetation and tracking solar panels that spun like sunflowers, and hardly believed that this was once a barren land called the “sea of death”.

The solar power station of Junma, which literally means horse in Chinese, is part of the “great photovoltaic wall,” an ambitious solar energy desert reclamation project, stretching along the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert and south of the Yellow River.

Spanning about 400km in length and averaging 5km in width, upon completion, this solar marvel is set to have an installed capacity of 100 million kilowatts.

The benefits of solar-powered desert reclamation are substantial. The panels cut groundwater evaporation by 20 to 30 percent, provide shade, and reduce wind speeds, all of which support plant growth. This helps vegetation, like forage grasses that help combat dust and sand, thrive. In arid areas, integrating solar-powered water pumps with drip irrigation has proven to be an effective method for greening desert landscapes.

The “photovoltaic power generation plus desert reclamation” model — where solar panels generate clean energy above while plants and livestock thrive below — is also opening new income opportunities and transforming local livelihoods.

Locals are finding various ways to boost their income, such as leasing their desertified land, participating in project construction, and engaging in contract farming. New energy and ecological management companies are encouraged to hire local farmers and herders during both the construction and operation phases.

Li Kai, an official with Dalad Banner Energy Bureau, highlighted the Kubuqi Desert Ordos Central-Northern New Energy Base project as a notable example. In 2023, the project installed 2.18 million solar panels and employed over 3,000 workers, most of whom were local farmers earning between 300 (about 42 U.S. dollars) and 500 yuan per day.

Solar energy desert reclamation projects typically feature a protective forest system established around the photovoltaic power station, combining grass grid sand barriers (using materials like wheat straw, rice straw, and reeds arranged in grid patterns to mitigate wind erosion and retain moisture) with sand-fixing flora to better keep the shifting sands in check.

Wang Ming is a farmer in Pingyuan Village, Dalad Banner, who relies on agriculture for his livelihood. In the past, his annual income was only a few thousand yuan. However, the sand control and afforestation work at the new energy base has provided him an extra income source, increasing his annual earnings by nearly 10,000 yuan.

This spring, he spent nearly a month supporting the construction project, managing over 30 workers and several machines.

“I now have stable work right on my doorstep. I’m really happy,” Wang said.

He also mentioned that the project is set to install 8 million kilowatts of solar power. To him, sand control and tree planting offer stable employment.

The city of Ordos, with vast sunflower fields, previously faced challenges with disposing of post-harvest straw. Inner Mongolia Three Gorges Mengneng Energy Co., Ltd., developer of the Kubuqi Desert Ordos Central-Northern New Energy Base project, has turned this challenge into an opportunity by using the straw to build sand barriers as part of their solar-powered desertification efforts.

Each year, the company buys large quantities of sunflower straw from local farmers, using it to combat desertification. This eco-friendly solution also provides an additional income stream for the local farming community.

Liu Tianyun, deputy director of the forestry and grassland bureau of Ordos, said that by 2030, the “great photovoltaic wall” project will provide 50,000 stable jobs, increase average income per capita by over 20,000 yuan annually, and boost the annual output of the ecological industry by 1 billion yuan.

Source: The Inner Mongolia branch of Xinhua News Agency’s News & Information Center

–BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 11 (Bernama) — LRN Corporation in its new report revealed striking generational differences in how employees engage with their organisation’s code of conduct and approach ethical decision-making in the workplace.

More specifically, Gen Z employees say they are more likely to consult their employer’s code of conduct compared to their older counterparts (63 per cent versus 49 per cent of Boomers, for example), but are paradoxically 2.5 times more likely to agree that bending the rules is acceptable to “get the job done”.

This generational divide poses unique, and significant, challenges for ethics and compliance (E&C) professionals aiming to build a consistent ethical culture across their multi-generational workforces.

A leader in E&C solutions, LRN Corporation in a statement said its 2024 Code of Conduct Report highlights a range of insights that reflect the evolving challenges in promoting and enforcing ethical behaviour in the workplace.

The research also found that employees in India and China, where code of conduct training was most prevalent among respondents (97 per cent and 91 per cent of employees respectively), are the most likely to engage “very often” with their code of conduct (47 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively).

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, 64 per cent respondents were least likely to have had training and 35 per cent are the most likely to say they “never” engage with it.

The findings showed that a notable gap continues to exist between how senior leaders, middle managers and front-line employees perceive the importance and use of the code of conduct, with 90 per cent of senior leaders believe that the code is followed, yet this confidence drops to 81 per cent among middle managers and just 69 per cent among front-line employees.

Despite organisations increasingly rolling out web-based or interactive codes of conduct, employees are 1.7 times more likely to prefer viewing the code in a traditional PDF format. This suggests that organisations need to communicate the benefits of digital tools more effectively to encourage adoption.

The report also uncovered employees in hybrid work arrangements show the highest levels of code engagement, indicating that a balanced approach between remote and in-office work is likely to play an important role in ensuring more effective E&C programmes.

— BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Bernama) — Themed “Driving Sustainability with Digital Innovation”, the 44th ASEAN Railway CEOs’ (ARCEOs’) Conference wrapped up successfully in Bandung, Indonesia, from Sept 2 to 5.

This year’s ARCEOs’ Conference focused on sustainable and eco-friendly railway development supported by digital transformation in safety and service aspects, with PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) (KAI) appointed as the organising committee for the conference.

Seven other ASEAN railway operators that were also present are Keretapi Tanah Melayu (Malaysia), Vietnam Railways (Vietnam), Ministry of Public Works and Transport (Cambodia), Lao National Railways (Laos), Philippine National Railways (Philippines), Myanma Railways (Myanmar), and State Railway of Thailand (Thailand).

KAI Chief Executive Officer, Didiek Hartantyo stated that the goal of the 44th ARCEOs’ Conference is to strengthen relationships and cooperation among railway operators and industry stakeholders in ASEAN.

He emphasised that working together allows for achieving greater accomplishments and truly realising the ASEAN spirit of mutual benefit, shared success, and resilience in facing various challenges.

Explaining this year’s theme, he believed the theme stems from the global challenges faced, including the urgent need to address climate change, improve operational efficiency, and meet the growing demand for more sustainable transportation options.

“Additionally, advancements in technology and changes in customer demands play a significant role in shaping our focus,” he said in a statement.

The event included several working group sessions to share best practices and discuss various issues ranging from the implementation of digital technology, railway human resource development, digital marketing, service transformation, to the application of high-tech railways such as high-speed trains.

Delegates had the opportunity to experience the first high-speed train ASEAN region, Whoosh train from Padalarang Station in Bandung, West Java, to Halim Station in Jakarta, followed by a tree planting activity, as well as the chance to ride the Panoramic Train, designed to offer panoramic views along the journey with large windows on both sides.

Furthermore, to support environmental sustainability and digital innovation, KAI deployed electric vehicles during the ARCEOs’ Conference, provided eco-friendly souvenirs, and used an app as an information platform throughout the event.

— BERNAMA