Category: Technology

Fresh & hot from Japan, from 10 to 14 April, 2017

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

10 Apr. Population in Japan to be 88.08 million after 50 years,  becoming less than 100 million in 2053

National Institute of Population and Social Security Research announced estimation of future population in the coming 50 years, saying that population would become 88,080,000 in 2065. The prospect of the number of children whom a woman would give birth to (average number of birth per woman) after 50 years is 1.44, recovered from the estimation (1.35) in the last time in 2012. The speed of population decreased has become slower than the estimation last time. That said, the population decrease will continue in the coming 50 years to be 30% less than the present population, and the low birthrate and aging of population will remain unchanged.

Comments: The low birthrate, aging and decrease of population will continue being major factors of Japanese markets.

11 Apr.　SDGs, Japanese companies have a long way to go, according to the first survey by a think tank

Japanese companies are yet to start activities for children in the future — concluded by the first report on actions and challenges of Japanese companies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocated by the United Nations.

Comments: It is like CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. It may take some time for Japanese companies to digest and understand what SDG is for their own business. SDGs is not a charity slogan, but must be their underlying principles of business.

Logo_SDGs

12 Apr.　Cyber attacks at infrastructure, such as the electricity and gas, under investigation by Metropolitan Police Department

The existence of a cyber attack aimed at companies and the government offices in charge of critical infrastructure such as the electricity, gas and railways became clear. There are even some cases in which no one noticed infection for nearly two and a half years while attacks had been there for four years. There is a risk that a large quantity of data might have been stolen without being found. The Metropolitan Police Department has been investigating these cases, saying that new infection routes were found.

Comments: Better late than never to investigate the cyber attacks.

13 Apr. Toyota to offer rental of rehabilitation support Robots, aiming at 1,000 rental in three years

Toyota Motor Corporation enters the new business of rehabilitation support using the robot. The robot is made applying the technique of the industrial robot for car manufacturing. The company will start the rental to medical institutions in September. A market of robots for rehabilitation and care of the aged is growing to make up for the shortage of labour force.

Comments: An interesting idea to apply the core competence of a company to an emerging business opportunity in the aging society.

14 Apr.　IRIS OHYAMA INC. to enter air conditioner markets, with remote- control functions by a smart phone

IRIS OHYAMA INC. announced that the company had developed the home air-conditioner equipped with a built-in radio communication devise so that one may control from a remote place using a smart phone. The company will start selling it in general merchandising stores of household appliances, etc. all over Japan from the 28th.

Comments: This is a home appliance version of the Internet of Things (IoT) !

  • 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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Fresh & Hot from Japan, 24 to 28 October 2016

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

24 Oct.　Toyota to release a fuel cell battery bus in the market, promoting the ecology-car technologies

Toyota Motor Corporation announced that the company will start selling a bus powered by a fuel cell battery, that generates electric power by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, from 2017. Toyota aims at having over 100 of the bus running in downtown Tokyo in 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic, thus appealing its technology to produce ecology-cars to inside and outside Japan.

Comments: It is a good side effect of the Olympic and Paralympic that the event provides a strong motivation for the industry of technology innovation.

25 Oct. J League (Japanese football league) entered into partner with Tag Heuer

 J League (Japanese football league) announced at a press conference that it has entered into a partner contract with a Swiss high quality watch maker, Tag Heuer. The boards used to display a relief player or an additional period in a game of J1 (The top league) will become the one modeled after Tag Heuer watches.

Comments: Glad to find another tie between Switzerland and Japan!

26 Oct. Japanese gender gap the worst among G7, down to the 111th

World Economic Forum (WEF) known as the Davos Forum announced the Gender Gap Report 2016, that compares the status of women and men of each country. Japan is the 111th place out of 144 countries of the world, which is the lowest rank among seven major economies (G7). The country lowered the rank from the 101st place out of 145 countries in 2015.

Comments: Low participation of women in decision-making level in politics and business is a major reason of the low rank. Thus women are heavily underutilized resource in Japan.

27 Oct. In which companies sexual minorities work comfortably? Ranking of 82 companies are released in Japan

To create a workplace in which those who are sexual minority may comfortably work, supporting organizations pulled together an “index” of the companies based on an evaluation of their actions for the minorities. The organizations awarded the highest category, “Gold”, to 53 companies and group companies of telecommunications, finance and manufacturing industries. A similar index is established in the UK, the US and Australia, and this is the first time in Japan.

Comments: Publicly recognizing good actions is a good way to admit and promote LGBT in society.

28 Oct. Too much assist by an electric bicycle, not allowed on the public road, seven products with over power

The National Police Agency announced that the power of the motor was beyond the legal limit as for at least 7 models from 6 vendors of the electric bicycles. According to the Agency, 4536 electric bicycles of these models were sold from 2013 to September 2016. The Agency invites users of such bicycles not to use them, as their motors are stronger than the level determined by the ordinance and thus are not allowed to run on the public roads.

Comments: Why isn’t there a checking of the motors of electric bicycles, if there is a legal limit  in the strength of the motors?

  • 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.