rejection of the metric system is a mystery Those planning to travel, for business or pleasure will do well to learn the system of length conversion known as the metric system. In fact, a knowledge of metric length conversion will serve you well wherever you go on the planet, since only three countries in the world - Liberia, Myanmar and the U.S. - have refused to accept the metric system. (In the U.S., rejection of the metric system cost NASA $125 million dollars when a valuable Mars probe was lost back in 1999, because the scientists were working with two different measurement systems.)

Can You Count To Ten?

This rejection of the metric system is a mystery, because metric length conversion is quite easy - far simpler than the old-fashioned Imperial system of weights and measures in use today. If you can count to and add, subtract, multiply and divide by tens, you can master the metric system in short order - because all length conversions are based on powers of ten! A quick look at a length conversion chart can tell you all you'll need to know.

Bucking Ancient Tradition

This is a lesson that was learned in Japan over eighty years ago. Between the late 700s and 1924, Japan used an elaborate and complicated system of weights and measures called shakkan-ho. When you understand that the base unit, the shaku was equal to the distance between the tip of a person's middle finger and the thumb, you can see how length conversion would be inconsistent.

Start Converting Now!

When it comes to metric length conversion, the base unit is the meter. Everything else is either a multiple of ten or a tenth of something else. Length conversion is even easier to estimate when you understand that a meter is just a bit more than a yard, or three feet. Instead of being divided into units of twelfths however (i.e., 36 inches, or 3 x 12), the meter is divided into tenths and hundredths. Instead of inches, your metric length conversions in terms of short measurements (such as clothing) will be based on the centimeter, which is equivalent to 1/100th of a meter (just like a "cent" is 1/100th of a U.S. dollar).

Going From Here To There

Length conversions are even easier when it comes to longer distances. As you may know, a mile is 5,280 feet, and based on an antiquated system used by the Roman Army two thousand years ago!

Without having to resort to a length conversion table, if you understand that the basic unit of long-distance measurement is the kilometer, and that this is equivalent to 1,000 meters (just like a kilobyte is 1,000 bytes for you computer geeks), you'll have no problem with metric length conversion while in Japan!

Author: Susan Slobac
source :http://www.myfreearticlecentral.com/Article_15793_Measuring-Distance-in-Japan--The-Metric-Way.aspx