Hitachi the Company Survives by Cut, Cut, Cut

choi

Hiroko Tabuchi, 日立公司的复兴，日立市的陨落. 纽约时报中文网, Jan 1, 2013.
http://cn.nytimes.com/article/business/2013/01/01/c01hitachi/

, which is translated from

Hiroko Tabuchi, Revival of Hitachi the Company Is a Detriment to Hitachi the City. New York Ties, Dec 29, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/2 ... ity-of-hitachi.html
("Since its 787 billion yen, or $9.2 billion, loss in 2009 [the biggest annual loss on record by a Japanese manufacturer], Hitachi has staged an impressive turnaround, booking a record 347 billion yen ($4 billion) in net profit in the year through March 2012, while rivals like Sony, Sharp and Panasonic continue to struggle")

Note:
(a) Now based in Tokyo, Hitachi, Ltd 株式会社日立製作所 was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei ODAIRA  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namihei_Odaira
(小平 浪平, 1874 – 1951)

* The "hi" and "tachi" are both Japanese pronunciations for nouns 日 and 立ち (whose verb form for is 立つ: stand (vi)).

* Taira 平 is the surname of a famous clan a millennium ago, which lost to another clan surnamed Fujiwara 藤原.
* nami 波(P); 浪; 濤 【なみ】 (n): "wave" (where "P" stands for principal; of course this is Japanese pronunciation--浪's Chinese pronunciation is "ro," as in "ronin" 浪人)
* The "hei" is the Chinese pronunciation of kanji 平.

(b) Said company was founded in
Hitachi, Ibaraki 茨城県 日立市
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi,_Ibaraki
, which got its start thanks to copper and iron sulphide 硫化鉄 mines there, according to ja.wikipedia.org.

* The 日立 in 日立市 is pronounced the same as--and derived from by changing the kanji for the same sound--province name

常陸国  Hitachi-no-kuni
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B8%B8%E9%99%B8%E5%9B%BD
(領域は現在の茨城県の大部分に当たる)

* translation: the area of 常陸国 roughly corresponded to the present-day 茨城県.
* 国 (whose Japanese pronunciation is "kuni") is translated as "province"--an administrative division before Meiji Restoration.
* The "no" in Hitachi-no-kuni is の.  

(c) A photo cation of the report says, "Hiroaki NAKANISHI, Hitachi's president and chief executive."
中西 宏明/ 社長
(d) The report said, "The city lost all its movie theaters. Its drinking district, Saiwaicho — which translates to happy town — was largely deserted one recent weeknight."

* Saiwaicho  幸町
* saiwai 幸い 【さいわい】 (b): "happiness; blessedness; luck; fortune; felicity  <あなたがここに居たのは幸いでした。 You were fortunate to be here.>"