The aftershocks continue from the major earthquake that struck the Kumamoto Prefecture on the Japanese island of Kyushu April 14. Almost two months after the original quake registered a seismic intensity of 7, an aftershock of intensity 5- struck on June 13. Although it cannot be said that the 24 buildings in Kumamoto Prefecture that incorporate seismic isolation rubber came...
New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc. has announced that it will be releasing its New Balance Numeric line of shoes in Japan this July. It is the first action sports line in the brand’s history. Serving as the company’s entry point into the lifestyle category of sports footwear, the new line is aimed squarely at skateboarders. New Balance, which celebrates its...
Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. (TYO:5192) is riding strong sales of its E-Power and other energy-efficient V-belts, particularly for air-conditioning applications in factories and commercial buildings. The company’s synchronous belts for injection molding machines are also selling well. Expanding sales of high-torque belts are contributing to healthy business. Looking at the general industrial transmission belt market in Japan for the foreseeable future,...
Gates Unitta Asia Co. has released a new product, the Two Fit Belt, which acts in both capacities of synchronous power transmission and friction transmission. A multifunction belt, this new product has a curvilinear toothed synchronous belt with synchronized transmission on one side, while on the other side has a V-ribbed, high-load capacity belt with friction transmission. Primarily used to...
Asics Corp. (TYO:7936) is rolling out a line of high-performance athletic shoes available for purchase worldwide. The Flame Series comes in 19 varieties and features designs for six competitive sports: track and field, tennis, rugby, hockey, volleyball and wrestling. In Japan, Asics has begun selling a total of 10 types of Flame shoes. The four varieties for track and field...
Members of the carbon nanotube (CNT) development team at Nitta Corp. (TYO:5186) have received an award for environmental technology from the Kinki Chemical Society. The specific achievement earning the recognition was the team’s success in reducing the weight of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) made from CNT composite carbon fibers. Making CFRP products more lightweight will enable more efficient use...
