Fresh & hot from Japan, 1 to 5 Apr. 2016

Please enjoy fresh & hot news from Japan with comments by Europe-Japan Dynamics.

1 Apr. “Chance of the leap!”, said CEO of Kyushu Electric Power Co.on the market liberalisation of power supply at the welcome ceremony of the new employees

The retailing of the electricity is fully liberalized in Japan from 1 April. This will allow the household to choose the electric power supplier. Taking this drastic change into account, CEO of Kyushu Electric Power Co., Mr. Michiaki Uryu, alerted to about 200 new employees at the welcome ceremony, saying, “Our industry enter the full competition.”. He also encouraged the new employees, “We expect you to be leaders of the change of the industry. Let’s take challenges ahead together”.

Comment: The existing monopoly would remain strong for coming years as the power supply industry is heavily rely on infrastructure built on the ground. We learned this lesson from the market liberalization of telecommunications, in which the ex-monopoly remains to be strong till today.

4 Apr. Cost of solar power generator for homes down by 40%, ”Self-supply” of power coming true?

According to calculation undertaken by the Renewable Energy Institute (Tokyo), costs of the power generation by solar power by household has become the same as the electric bill of a major electric power company, if used over 20 years. This is due to the decrease of the installation costs of the solar power generator systems in the past several years. The “self-supply” of the electricity, without being dependent on major power suppliers, may not be a dream in future if the batteries for home use will become popular.

Comment: Development of the renewable energy is MUST for human beings.

5 Apr. “What is your trusted information source?”, survey addressed to the 18 and 19 years old

The age eligible for voting will become 18 years old, younger by 2 years than before, from a House of Councilors election planned for this summer. Asahi Shimbun Co. has undertaken a survey to ask information sources needed for election used by the 18 and 19 years old by mailing a questionnaire to 3000 people (Over 2000 replies obtained).

With regard to the information sources about politics and social problems, “TV” got 86% of the vote, followed by  “Web sites and SNS” (58%), “News paper” (28%), and “School teachers and courses” (26%) (multiple answers).

When asked the most trusted sources among the information sources they use, “TV” got the highest vote of 52%, followed by “News paper” (9%), and “Web sites and SNS” (8%). The least trusted source was “School teachers and courses” (7%).

Comment: Influence of TV on young voters’ decision is considerable, despite their heavy use of the web and SNS in day to day life.

  • All the news items are picked up from “Asahi Digital”, and summarized and translated by Europe-Japan Dynamics. The articles are not an official translation by the Asahi Newspaper.

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