7-Eleven and FamilyMart to Collect Donations. (王明仁) .

First batch of relief supplies delivered to Japan (王明仁)

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The Red Cross Society of the Republic of China yesterday announced it would work with convenience store chains 7-Eleven and FamilyMart to collect donations for relief efforts in tsunami-ravaged Japan.
The organization said that starting today, people who want to donate small amounts of money — ranging from NT$100 (US$3.40) to NT$20,000 — could do so through the electronic kiosks found in stores of the two chains.
The Taiwan Fund for Children and Families has also launched a fundraising drive, in part to recognize Japan’s assistance to Taiwan in the past.
Wang Ming-jen (王明仁), the group’s executive director, said that in the wake of the 921 Earthquake in 1999, Japanese groups such as Childfund Japan not only donated money, but sent officials several times to express their concern.

Ajinomoto Co. Seasonings Maker May Spend $3.7 Billion on Acquisitions in Three Years

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Ajinomoto Co., the Japanese seasonings maker that first sold monosodium glutamate, may spend 300 billion yen ($3.7 billion) on acquisitions in the next three years as the company expands overseas.
“We want to beef up our strong areas like Brazil and Southeast Asian countries as well as expand in new markets such as the Middle East and Africa,” President Masatoshi Ito, 63, said in an interview at the company’s Tokyo headquarters yesterday. In July, a team directly reporting to Ito will be set up to study potential purchases and alliances, he said. ...http://www.bloomberg.com/news

Although traditional East Asian cuisine had often used seaweed extract, which contains high concentrations of glutamic acid, it was not until 1907 that MSG was isolated by Kikunae Ikeda. MSG was subsequently patented by Ajinomoto Corporation of Japan in 1909. In its pure form, it appears as a white crystalline powder that, as a salt, dissociates into sodium cations and glutamate anions while dissolving (glutamate is the anionic form of glutamic acid).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate