jac_no_k's comments

@cosmie provides a good model for IT organization to quickly bring supportable solutions. The principles behind Agile is to reach across these barriers / towers. These Experts are the product owners / users, the developers, and also includes UX designers, operations team, security team, and capacity team. This is ideal but realistically challenging to pull off.

A given Firm should also be providing a way for Shadow IT project to brought into the light, formally adopted and supported.

/me is one of the minions from team "Eye of Sauron". However I'm not stuck in this tower.

I'm torn between two worlds. One side applauds the grass roots based solutions and the JFDI attitude. The other side is concerned that these solutions becomes widely used, de facto production, and problems upstream ends up breaking the output. On error, hopefully fails loudly but subtle problems could creep in. If the reports are consumed by other automation, the problem spreads rapidly.

Ideally the IT department would take a step back, assess what the users (you the stakeholder) needs are, and provide the solutions. Better Agile.

Using the successes to drive more development and operations budget is the way to go.

2018 Nissan Leaf owner here driving with e-pedal, essentially a single pedal driving from movement to complete stop. I've driven from summer conditions down to -10dC (14dF) conditions.

For winter, the car is on squishier winter tires. This confuses the traction control unit enough to cut out regen on full pedal lift off and switch over to caliper brakes, still single pedal. The car still slows and comes to a complete stop, but deceleration is much stronger with regen. I've adapted to no longer fully lift off the pedal, expecting a more gentle deceleration, providing a more consistent stopping distance.

The brake pedal still responds normally and it gets used in surprise situations.

Even at -10dC (14dF), the regen operates similar compared to warmer temps with the Leaf. At -30dC (-22dF) the battery heater supposedly kicks in, but have not taken the car into those kinds of conditions. I would think it's a software update on the Tesla to kick on the battery warmers in colder climates for consistent regen. Or software update to engage the brakes when regen isn't available.

I can't find the article any more but I think Toyota has it's engineers build a handful of cars by hand as part of it's kaizen process. This would act as entry point for next the next generation of engineers.

/me is a US citizen with a PR (permanent residency) status in Japan. Spouse has naturalized to a Japan citizen.

My anecdote: without fitting into any of the qualifying categories, I was able to get a PR in Japan after residing in the country for 10 years. The rules have changed and with the right qualifications it's possible to apply for PR with only two years residency (work visa).

Further anecdote: My wife recently got her Japanese citizenship. This was difficult, it took over a year and an intrusive investigation. Like getting top secret clearance. The investigation brought up why I wasn't pursuing Japanese citizenship until they discovered my low level of Japanese skills, and it was no longer an issue.

My entire family here in the greater Tokyo area is doesn't quite fit in with the Japanese. We're a bit loud. We're consumerists. We get quizzical looks when filling in applications. We've broken software that expected only Japanese to use. It has it's negatives but the positives of being different in this mostly homogeneous society has it's advantages.

Yes, my situation is a small minority but with the policy changes, it's one less hurdle for people who want to live in Japan. We are what makes the "society".

If you manage to find a Japanese grocer, it's a staple item. In a pinch, order through Amazon:

House Foods Cream Stew, 4.93 Ounce (Pack of 10) by House Foods Link: http://a.co/d/hXsgx21

I recall similar with the Sony Playstation 2 that made available Linux available so it can be classified as a computer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_for_PlayStation_2

Other news sources are carrying this. Example: https://nyti.ms/2AbVQOP https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/obituaries/paul-allen-dea...

/me lives in the Tokyo area, ethnically Japanese but grew up in the USA.

I still call these "grue" lights "midori" (green), confusing people around me.

Spot on. [apologies for low effort post, but I have nothing more to add.]

/me concurs!

I have a 53x12 setup and top out at just above 120 cadence. It really is interesting to be going 70kph, passing mopeds!

When I'm drafting behind these random cars, vans, and box trucks, I stay right at the edge of being in the slip stream. If the vehicle ahead does something dodgy, I have an escape route or at least a bit more distance to brake.

Getting dropped out of the slipstream is really a drag! Easily lose 20kph+ of speed.

Ex-pat in Japan, Tokyo area here.

Not having to change clocks is nice. Pressure companies / employers to have flex time to allow earlier starts and earlier leaves. Even though Japan culture tends to lag 10 to 15 years behind, it does change.

Now if the rest of the world (London / New York) would stop shifting clocks around on different dates, it would make global synch ups easier to handle.

I've gotten a Nissan Leaf v.2 which comes with e-pedal. Essentially single pedal driving. Best described as someone who drove stick shift as staying in second gear but without none of the noise. Push the pedal down and it accelerates normally, but start lifting off and it goes from "neutral" to "engine braking" (regenerative) all the way to a complete stop. https://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/e_Pedal...

While I do miss doing 3 -> 2 heel toe downshift for corners, trying to figure out when to lift off to scrub enough speed without touching the brakes for a corner is just as entertaining.

I think shifting gears in general, whether automatics or manual, will fade out as electric drive-trains take over.

Electric camper van concept from Nissan, based on the e-NV200 / Leaf. https://newsroom.nissan-global.com/releases/nissan-unveils-t...

But I also second the idea of having a "sled" available as a kit car. I'm thinking the same concept as how the Lotus 7 is delivered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Seven

Cycle commuter (30km+ each way) here in Tokyo.

I find yelling effective, but this might just be of my location where music is played at a reasonable level. Don't need to move my hands to activate and easy to modulate from "passing through" to "I'm here, don't back into me!".

Another effective item is a 1,400 lumen lamp. Set to strobe as needed.

You know, I would pay for something that integrates a two stage horn (announce or loud) and push to strobe lamp; remotely switched by buttons in the handlebar wrap on the brifter. (think electronic shifting buttons and remote shifting buttons).

I've had two bespoke homes built for me in the Tokyo area and bought two cookie cutter homes in southern California.

For custom homes, the amount of details and things to consider for the structure itself is enormous. Each area is a specialized skill, from the paperwork and inspections, the waterworks, electrical, ventilation, lighting, accessibility, and more.

We worked with the architect for over four months, making him earn his pay to fit everything to our requirements. While we were quite demanding, the wife was an architect in California and I run software projects, we were sympathetic and tried to give clear change requests along with reasoning.

During the build, we visited the location regularly and was allowed to make last minute decisions. Again very aware to make sure the changes were trivial and straightforward.

While we settled on wood frame house (with ceramic sidewalls), we also looked at steel and concrete. I think the most compelling concrete build is this "Hebel House" with the use of aerated concrete. This type of concrete provides insulation along with other concrete properties such as resistance to fire.

For homes with modern amenities, there's too many specialized knowledge for one person to do a build in a reasonable time frame. There are firms with a team that can help with the build. And it's important for the most important stakeholder, you the owner, to be fully involved but also work with the experts.

EPA (US environmental protection agency) rates it as 241 km (150 miles)

JC08 (Japan's rating agency) rates it at 400km (248 miles). Even the dealer says this is wildly optimistic.

At 100% charge, my car reports 220 km. It's starting to "learn" my driving style.

My lead foot, my preference for 25dC (77dF) cabin temperature when it's 40dC (104dF) at 90%+ humidity drags this down to real world 150km (93 miles).

I'm sure if I drove more conservatively during more reasonable weather conditions, I could easily get over 220km. But with fast charge stations no more then 50km apart, no need to hypermile. It's good to take a break hour and half or so. (Speed limit in Japan is maximum 80kph (49mph) on highways.)

Here in Tokyo I ended up with a Nissan Leaf v.2 (2018 model) with the 40kw/h model with real world range of 150 km (93 miles). It sees about 10 to 20km for errands, ideal city car model. It's home is a stand alone house with a 200v outlet, rare for this area. Typical residences are dense apartments with over subscribed mechanical parking spots.

I did consider the Toyota Prius and all it's variants; the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV; and Nissan's e-power series. Several negatives. Both the Prius and Outlander 10% to 20% more expensive then the Leaf. After government discounts; manufacturer discounts; and dealer incentives they ended up nearly 60% more expensive. All of these hybrids had the shortcomings of ICE (internal combustion engine) of dealing with fuel, oil changes, belts, plugs, and others.

The PHEV (plug in hybrid electric vehicle) would have worked in my use case as the battery has 30km range. Just recharge daily at home but the price was a turn off.

The perceived negative with the Leaf was range. But just the other day I've made a 300km round trip and the three 30 minute breaks to charge the battery was just fine. Japan is easy with such good density of chargers: https://www.plugshare.com/

We rarely use the charger at home. The Leaf gets charged at the local market whenever it's below 50%. Charge time is limited 30 minutes at the public spots and it's enough to get the charge to over 80%. This means that even for people without access to a charger at home easily use the public spots. The salesperson used the same pitch, saying that Leaf owners regularly drop in for a 30 minute charge and hang out at the lounge with free soft drinks.

Anyways, this was my reason and experience on getting BEV instead of a hybrid.

In Japan, Tesla supplies the adapters to use CHAdeMO.

Norm for Japan as well.