Live data from Hacker News

A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

nytimes.com

41–50 of 95 posts

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#41

And the people of Nepal supply the raw labor used by many of the Gulf states

Ghurkas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha I didn’t realise there were Ghurkas in the Indian army.

Also in British army

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#42

We (Nepali) have been using this material to make lokta paper for a long time now. These papers (Nepali Kaagaz) are used mainly today for official documents.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea, the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species?

edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthia gardneri, which was originally classified as daphne gardneri by the gardner who originally named it

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not locally sourced? I mean it's very possible flax isn't native to the Americas but it seems wasteful to source something from abroad. And while 100+ years ago it made sense from a logistics point of view - use hard to find materials to fight counterfeiting - I don't believe that's a valid argument anymore.

This thread is grossly missing the point. OP is writing about a foreign aid program directed at Nepali people. Nepal is a rocky country, having a large patch of lands unsuitable for farming. People in the rulal area are literally one of the poorest population in the world. Paper bush ("Mitsumata") grows well in such a rocky soil. This program is essentially an attempt to set up Japan as a longterm buyer of the materi…

i don't know if it's intended as a foreign aid program, but if it is, it's a foreign aid program whose budget amounts to a single google engineer's salary, so i'd think japan could do better

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#44
post #42

We (Nepali) have been using this material to make lokta paper for a long time now. These papers (Nepali Kaagaz) are used mainly today for official documents.

apparently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_bholua and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_papyracea , the usual species for lokta paper, are in a different genus in the same family as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha ; is it possible the argeli mentioned is an edgeworthia species rather than a daphne species? edit: twic found https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40039860 that it's edgeworthi…

Edgeworthia?

Anyone else reminded of the Phoenix Wright games?

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#45
post #36

specifically argeli , a term which has no wikipedia article; mitsumata (which the article says is the name of the paper) is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha . the wikipedia article says the papers are washi and, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tissue , kitakata . the econometrics from the article > This year, Mr. Sherpa has hired 60 local Nepalis to help him process his harvest and expec…

> Edgeworthia gardneri (common names: Indian papertree,[2] Nepalese paperbush;[2] Nepali: अर्गेली (Argelee))[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_gardneri

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#46
post #45
post #36

specifically argeli , a term which has no wikipedia article; mitsumata (which the article says is the name of the paper) is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha . the wikipedia article says the papers are washi and, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tissue , kitakata . the econometrics from the article > This year, Mr. Sherpa has hired 60 local Nepalis to help him process his harvest and expec…

> Edgeworthia gardneri (common names: Indian papertree,[2] Nepalese paperbush;[2] Nepali: अर्गेली (Argelee))[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_gardneri

hey, this is great! thanks!

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#47
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ghurkas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha I didn’t realise there were Ghurkas in the Indian army.

Also in British army

Apologies I took that as well known.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#48
post #36

specifically argeli , a term which has no wikipedia article; mitsumata (which the article says is the name of the paper) is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha . the wikipedia article says the papers are washi and, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tissue , kitakata . the econometrics from the article > This year, Mr. Sherpa has hired 60 local Nepalis to help him process his harvest and expec…

> hopefully the article will make it fashionable among hipsters seeking better materials for their moleskines?

If that happens we’ll be reading articles about how unfair it is that western consumers are pricing the Nepalese people out of their local products (a la quinoa).

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#49
post #36

specifically argeli , a term which has no wikipedia article; mitsumata (which the article says is the name of the paper) is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha . the wikipedia article says the papers are washi and, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tissue , kitakata . the econometrics from the article > This year, Mr. Sherpa has hired 60 local Nepalis to help him process his harvest and expec…

> hopefully the article will make it fashionable among hipsters seeking better materials for their moleskines? If that happens we’ll be reading articles about how unfair it is that western consumers are pricing the Nepalese people out of their local products (a la quinoa).

I don’t think all the hipsters in the world could consume that much specialty paper in a year, so it’s unlikely to be an issue.

Re: A shrub in Nepal supplies the raw material for the bank notes used in Japan

#50
post #36

specifically argeli , a term which has no wikipedia article; mitsumata (which the article says is the name of the paper) is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgeworthia_chrysantha . the wikipedia article says the papers are washi and, in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_tissue , kitakata . the econometrics from the article > This year, Mr. Sherpa has hired 60 local Nepalis to help him process his harvest and expec…

> hopefully the article will make it fashionable among hipsters seeking better materials for their moleskines? If that happens we’ll be reading articles about how unfair it is that western consumers are pricing the Nepalese people out of their local products (a la quinoa).

you can read that stuff if you like i guess. in fact if you really want to read it you can get gpt-4 to generate it today, without having to wait for it to actually happen: http://sprunge.us/REx4gD
Post reply on HN