Joe Camel Speaks Japanese!

I must have missed something somewhere along the way. All this time I thought that Joe Camel was as American as apple pie or the Marlboro man. Now I find out that Joe is actually an employee of Japan Tobacco! Of course I can't complain since I also work for a Japanese company....

JT also owns Winston as a result of having bought the tobacco related businesses of RJR Nabisco back in 1999. But the economy is in the dumps in Japan, so they are trying to expand to compensate. You would think with all the increased stress here that cigarette sales would be climbing. So, where are they looking to expand?

Food - they already have a significant food preparation business, and just bought a chain of Japanese bakeries. Now they are expanding their pharmaceutical business (I guess it's natural extension from cigarettes to other types of drugs), and they want to promote overseas sales....

Don't hold your breath, or at least don't inhale.

Japan Tobacco looks to boost overseas sales
- posted by tempusmaster @ 11:26 PM

 
Stranger than Fiction

I have to say up front that this is a true story - the article came directly from Reuters....

Garbage Trucks to Teach English
Wed Apr 3,10:27 AM ET
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Garbage trucks in the south Taiwan city of Tainan will soon broadcast English lessons from loudspeakers to educate citizens as they haul away the rubbish.

"Even grandmothers and grandfathers will be able to speak the most basic conversational English after listening for a few dozen times," the United Daily News newspaper quoted Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair as saying. "This is Tainan's first step toward internationalization," Hsu said. Hsu said his wife came up with the idea for the educational garbage trucks.

The English-teaching garbage trucks are scheduled to hit the streets on September 1. Currently, Taiwan's garbage trucks call people out to the curb with their rubbish with a classical music refrain.

Yahoo! News - Garbage Trucks to Teach English
- posted by tempusmaster @ 6:31 PM

 
Italian Design!

I have always been fascinated by fine design, though I haven't always been able to afford it. There is something about the shape, feel, and experience that comes from fine design that touches my soul deeply. I recently had the opportunity to do some research on Alessi, an Italian company known for unique and sometimes surprising designs for table and kitchen ware.

As usual, I was also interested in the history of the company. How did the founder decide to establish a new company? What trials, tribulations, successes and failures served to temper and strengthen the company as it grew? Questions like that always run through my mind.

One interesting bit of trivia is that the current Alessi head is Alberto Alessi inherited two distinct design styles from his grandparents and is forging them together to form the direction and spirit of modern day Alessi. On his paternal side, his grandfather was Giovani Alessi, a craftsman that took the initiative and risk to found the company back in 1921. On his maternal side, his grandfather was Alfonso Bialetti. You probably don't recognize the name, but Alfonso was the inventor, designer, and manufacturer of the popular octagonal coffee pot. All though the basic design hasn't changed since he originally designed it, it still sells more than 4 million units a year.
ALESSI | Welcome - Benvenuto
- posted by tempusmaster @ 6:54 PM