According to The Nikkei Asia, Komatsu, Japan's top construction equipment maker, plans to develop hydrogen power as an alternative to diesel for heavy-duty mining dump trucks, in a first for the industry, Nikkei has learned.
The company will start its hydrogen development program in 2021 and aims to have the trucks ready for practical use by 2030.
This effort to bring hydrogen power, which has made inroads into buses and road trucks, to mining comes as Komatsu customers seek to strip as much carbon dioxide emissions as they can from their business.
Some mining trucks run on electricity from overhead power lines, but most are diesel-powered. Using hydrogen as a fuel has the benefit of letting zero-emissions trucks travel on routes where power lines do not reach.
Weighing 600 tons or more when loaded, mining trucks are huge even compared with buses. In terms of hydrogen power, they present a different level of technical challenges than everyday fuel cell vehicles.
Costs pose another hurdle. Komatsu plans to procure fuel cells for its hydrogen-powered trucks from outside suppliers. Fuel cell stacks used in electricity generation are expensive. But mass production is expected to bring down their prices if they are used in a broader range of applications.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Engineering-Construction/Komatsu-aims-for-lead-in-hydrogen-powered-mining-trucks

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According to The Australian Financial Review, rising rents and more efficient bank loan approvals have led developer Red & Co to buy and develop more than 100 apartments overlooking the Brisbane River.
“We think it’s time to go in Brisbane,” Red & Co founder David Laverty said, fresh from snapping up the $4.75 million development site a block from Breakfast Creek Hotel at Albion.
Analysis by Domain showed recently that apartment rents had started to rise in Brisbane and, for the first time in five years, it now was more expensive to rent a unit in Brisbane than in Melbourne. Brisbane house and unit rents continued to reach record highs, with median asking rents of $425 and $400 per week respectively, the Domain data showed.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/time-to-go-brisbane-developer-bets-on-rent-and-growth-20210223-p5756m

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5612898.html?lang=ja

According to The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese start-up company here developed equipment that uses ozone gas to blow away and suck in viruses from people and their clothes.
The device resembles stand-up scanners used at airports to screen passengers for items or contraband they are prohibited from taking on to aircraft.
The company, o3peace, says the product ensures that anybody with the novel coronavirus attached to the body surface and clothes will get a "clean pass" before entering a building.
It is hoping to sell its gate-shaped ozone gas sprayer to hotels and other commercial facilities.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14184255

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1068963.html?lang=ja 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, Japanese gerontology researchers are racing to unravel the mechanisms of how humans age, with the goal of developing medicines and nutritional foods that can extend the healthy life spans of humans.
“It's no longer science fiction but an attainable goal to develop anti-aging methods and extend healthy life expectancy,” said Yoichi Nabeshima, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University and chairman of the Institute for Research on Productive Aging (IRPA).
The IRPA, modeled after a private research institute in the United States, kicked off its activities last year with the mission of developing anti-aging methods by studying the mechanisms of aging and longevity.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14175826

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6112107.html?lang=ja 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane has all but secured the Olympic victory it first tried for 29 years ago, but that goal will now trigger a debate about the infrastructure south-east Queensland needs to host the world’s biggest sporting event.
While proposals such as a fast rail line connecting the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and Gold Coast have been around a long time and could play part of the South East Queensland City Deal that is still under negotiation, the 2032 announcement will bring debates about them to a head.
The new ethos around hosting Olympic Games is to avoid costly white elephants, and the Brisbane bid documents emphasise the use of transport infrastructure already in place, boosting it with higher frequency services and extra rolling stock as necessary.
The region’s mayors, however, want the infrastructure boost they say is crucial to serve the fast-growing population of their region.

https://www.afr.com/companies/sport/now-the-olympic-fast-rail-games-begin-20210225-p575pf

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According to The Nikkei Asia, the value of Fast Retailing, the Japanese parent of casual clothing chain Uniqlo, reached 10.87 trillion yen (US$ 103 billion) at the end of trading Tuesday last week, putting it at the top of the global apparel industry in terms of market capitalization.
This marks the first time Fast Retailing topped Zara's Spanish parent Inditex, which had a market cap of about 81.7 billion euros (US$ 99 billion) at Monday's close and 80.8 billion euros at the end of Tuesday. The Japanese retailer's share price has steadily climbed since last August.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Uniqlo-outstrips-Zara-as-most-valuable-clothier-at-103bn

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1086567814.html?lang=ja
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According to The Australian Financial Review, mum-and-dad investors have joined the rush of first-home buyers snapping up housing lots in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, amid a growing preference for homes with backyards over inner-city apartments since the start of the pandemic.
Despite the government slashing its HomeBuilder grant to $15,000 from January 1, land sales specialist Core Projects registered a near record 2200 lot sales across Melbourne, Geelong and regional Victoria in January.
Core Projects estimated about a quarter of these sales were to investors in some estates.
Mr Neilson said investors had re-emerged in the land market after about a two-year hiatus, accounting for up to 25 per cent of sales in some projects in the final quarter in 2020.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/investors-return-to-booming-house-and-land-market-20210216-p572vt

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According to The Nikkei Asian, Japanese companies are moving to expand the country's still-nascent hydrogen fueling infrastructure, taking advantage of recent deregulation as Tokyo positions the fuel as central to its pivot away from carbon.
Eneos Holdings, Japan's largest oil distributor, will install hydrogen pumps at existing gas stations -- a first for the nation, according to the company. The effort will begin in the spring of 2022 with a total of two stations, in Kanagawa and Aichi prefectures. The company envisions this as a new business opportunity for its 13,000 Eneos-branded gas stations across the country.
Japan's basic policy on hydrogen in 2017 included proposals to ease regulations to encourage construction of filling stations, which had been expensive and technically challenging owing in part to strict safety requirements. Cuts to red tape have since helped the private sector move forward with new facilities -- a vital step in promoting fuel cell vehicles.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energy/Japan-s-hydrogen-fueling-network-expands-to-gas-stations

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-eneos.html?lang=ja 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese steel industry group has moved up its goal of achieving net zero CO2 emissions in the industry by 50 years, with the target year now set for 2050.
The goal brings the steel producers in line with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's pledge for Japan to go carbon free by 2050.
“We agree with the government policy of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 and will take on the challenge aggressively," the Japan Iron and Steel Federation (JISF) announced in a statement on Feb. 15.
In November 2018, the steel federation had set a goal of achieving net zero CO2 emissions by 2100, before the government announced its goal last autumn.
However, as the JISF has announced virtually the same efforts it plans to make to reduce the CO2 emissions as when it set the 2100 target, there seems to be little grounds for it to achieve the goal.
The steel industry emits 14 percent of all CO2 emissions in Japan and is the largest emitter among manufacturing industries.
To achieve a carbon-free industry, it is necessary to replace coke, which is used in the iron-making process, with hydrogen.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14197485

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/co22050.html?lang=ja 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, more than halfway through the earnings season, corporate Australia is shrugging off the gloom of the COVID-19 pandemic, delivering improving profits and looking to the future with more optimism.
Results this week from the three big iron ore miners, big banks, healthcare companies and a swathe of retailers and fast food firms serving the stay-at-home lifestyle point to a corporate sector returning to health after 2020’s lockdowns and restrictions.
Miners are benefiting from strong demand from Chinese steel mills and the energy transition. The stay-at-home economy is booming because of extra pantry stocking, and heavy investment in mini home renovations and DIY projects funnelling vast amounts of cash to retailers exposed to those sectors. That cash would normally have been applied to overseas travel and eating out at restaurants.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/corporate-australia-is-getting-back-to-good-heath-20210218-p573s1

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1974039.html?lang=ja 
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