According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Uniqlo apparel chain operator Fast Retailing will partner with materials maker Toray Industries to turn used down jackets and plastic bottles into new clothes, which will go on sale in 2020.
The CEOs of both Japanese companies -- Fast Retailing's Tadashi Yanai and Akihiro Nikkaku of Toray -- announced the recycling program in London on Monday.
Their initiative comes amid a growing international movement to reduce waste, from drinking straws to shopping bags.
"Earth as a whole is facing a crisis, and without Earth we can't do business," Yanai said. "We want to contribute to the sustainability of our society through clothes."
Uniqlo apparel stores across Japan will start collecting old down jackets this month. Recycling these jackets used to be a complicated process done by hand, but new technology from Toray has made it more efficient.
Plastic bottles also will be collected and turned into a fast-drying fabric, designated for use in T-shirts and other clothing.
Uniqlo is taking other steps to reduce waste, such as phasing out plastic bags and using less water to stone wash denim.
Uniqlo and Toray have worked together for over 15 years on some of the clothing retailer's most recognized products, including Ultra Light Down jackets and vests and Heattech underwear.
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https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Uniqlo-to-recycle-old-down-jackets-and-plastic-bottles-with-Toray

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9133524
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According to The Australian Financial Review, an imminent return to boom-time employment levels in the Australian mining sector is likely to accelerate labour cost inflation that is already evident in the industry’s most active hubs in Western Australia and Queensland.
A landmark review of near-term investment intentions by the Australian Mines & Metals Association has identified $41 billion worth of projects that are likely to be installed across our mining nation over the five years to 2024.
As a result, AMMA anticipates that direct employment by the mining sector will grow by about 8 per cent – or more than 20,000 – between now and 2024.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/mining-employment-returns-to-boom-time-footing-20190916-p52rvp

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9828126 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, Seven Bank, a Japanese bank, said it has developed Japan’s first ATM that uses facial recognition technology to identify users and does away with the need for cards.
The bank plans to replace all 25,000 Seven Bank ATMs at convenience stores, commercial facilities and elsewhere with the new machines within six years.
The company will start negotiating with its business partners, including more than 600 financial institutions, on when to start the new ATM service.
The facial-recognition ATM was jointly developed with NEC Corp. The costs of developing and installing the ATMs are expected to be in the tens of billions of yen.
Cameras on the machines scan the users’ faces, and the photo data is checked against pictures on driver’s licenses or other identification cards registered in advance.
In addition to deposits and withdrawals, Seven Bank wants users to eventually be able to use the new ATMs to open accounts.
According to Takashi Niino, president and CEO of NEC, the accuracy of the facial recognition technology in the ATM is “99.99 percent,” if there are no problems, such as brightness issues, in the environment surrounding the machines.
Improvements have been made to automatically detect and report to authorities the use of forged cards or stolen information.
The new ATMs were being developed at a time when society is increasingly going cashless and usage of ATMs is declining.
“It is necessary to create new social values with innovative technology to allow the ATM business to survive,” Yasuaki Funatake, president and representative director of Seven Bank, said.
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http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201909130064.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/atm 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, with temperatures rising in Japan at faster than the global average, farmers and scientists are locked in a high-stakes battle to develop varieties of rice and fruit that are less vulnerable to heat.
Success in this field was evident in early September as rice paddies in the Kamiogi district of Satte, Saitama Prefecture, were growing well even though the average temperature in the prefecture for August was about two degrees higher than average.
The rice paddies are managed by Yoshitaka Funakawa, 68, president of an agricultural corporation that has been using the Sainokizuna rice variety in recent years.
"We will likely be able to secure first-grade rice quality because the plants are growing as nicely as in normal years," Funakawa said.
Saitama rice farmers began working on new varieties after the mercury in Kumagaya hit a then domestic record of 40.9 degrees in summer 2007.
The Saitama prefectural agricultural technical research center found that most of the 300 or so new rice varieties being developed at the time had rice kernels with insufficient starch due to high temperatures.
However, one new strain, Sainokizuna, showed no evidence of being affected by the heat.
One of its characteristics is an ability to lower the temperature of its rice leaves and stalks by absorbing enough water, even on the hottest days. As heat problems did not arise with this variety, its kernels produced the required amount of starch.
Sainokizuna was formally registered as a new rice variety in 2014 and Saitama farmers quickly began planting it. In 2018, the variety had spread to about 4,000 hectares, or about 12 percent of the entire acreage for rice paddies in the prefecture.
"Its popularity spread because it continued to produce stable, high-quality rice even as hot summers continued," noted an official at the prefectural research center.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, average temperatures in Japan had increased by 1.19 degrees in comparison to the end of the 19th century. That is higher than the global average of about 1 degree.
Higher temperatures play havoc with rice quality.
For example, in 2010 when much of Japan baked during the summer, the ratio of first-grade rice throughout Japan was only 62 percent, or a decrease of more than 20 percentage points over the previous year.
A team at the National Agricultural and Food Research Organization (NARO) issued forecasts based on assumptions made by an intergovernmental panel of the U.N. framework convention on climate change. If global average temperatures at the end of the current century rose the maximum 4.8 degrees in comparison to before the Industrial Revolution, rice harvest in Japan would increase by 12 percent over the end of the 20th century, but 80 percent of that rice would likely be of a low quality.
In its road map to deal with climate change, the government has led the charge to promote ways to reduce the poorer quality of farm products.
That has led to research in other prefectures, such as Hiroshima and Toyama, to develop new rice varieties that are also resilient to higher temperatures.
In 2014, the Koinoyokan variety fostered by NARO was designated by the Hiroshima prefectural government as a variety that rice farmers should grow more of. Now, about 1,200 hectares of rice paddies are dedicated to that variety.
Toyama has also designated a new variety that is considered to be even tastier than the famed Koshihikari variety.
Fruit farmers are not sitting back, either.
A report by the farm ministry showed that about a dozen or so prefectures in recent years had reported "unshu mikan" fruit as being affected by higher temperatures. The heat apparently stops the growth of the fruit pulp even as the skin covering that pulp continues to grow.
Exposure to stronger sunlight is also apparently the cause of bad coloring on apples and grapes that are exposed to excessive sunlight.
To deal with the mikan fruit pulp problem, farmers spray a liquid that slows the growth of the pulp skin.
A new apple variety that continues to have a dark red color even with higher temperatures has been introduced in some areas.
In central and southern Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan, apple farmers have been encouraged to turn to a peach variety that grows well even in hotter areas. Peach harvests have increased seven-fold over the past decade.
"The spread of global warming could greatly change the best areas for rice farming, making the Tohoku region no longer viable for growing high-quality rice," said Yasushi Ishigooka, a senior researcher at NARO.
While implementing comprehensive measures to slow down the rise in temperatures is a must, Ishigooka said other measures were also needed, such as changing cultivation and harvest periods or improving the variety of produce grown.
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http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201909170043.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3115286 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Australians aren't just embracing modular housing to save time and money when building their dream home, they're also taking advantage of smart building materials to create high-tech, eco-friendly dwellings.
While traditional housing construction starts with a frame, modular construction involves building completed sections of a house in a factory – such as the roof and wall panels – and then delivering them to the block to be assembled onsite.
Modular housing can slash months off construction times, partly because builders aren't hampered by bad weather. And still allows flexibility when it comes to size and design, unlike completely prefabricated homes which are limited to what can fit on the back of a truck.
There is plenty of room for growth in Australia, where modular and prefab only account for three percent of the construction market. In Sweden, around 80 percent of detached houses use prefabricated timber elements. Meanwhile in Japan, more than 15 per cent of new homes and apartments are made inside factories.
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https://www.afr.com/property/residential/modular-housing-the-building-blocks-of-a-smart-home-20190711-p526dx

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6092078 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, a research team at Kobe University has developed a mammography screening technique using microwaves that is less painful, safer and more accurate than current equipment available.
The technology also can detect small tumors in the breast. An application to approve its use as medical equipment will be submitted with the government after clinical tests involving several hundred individuals during the next fiscal year. Current plans call for commercializing the technology from autumn 2021 at the earliest.
According to government statistics, about 14,000 women die of breast cancer each year in Japan.
The two main methods to detect breast cancer are mammograms and ultrasound tests. But mammograms involve X-rays that release radiation. The technique is also very painful because the breast is sandwiched between metal plates during the procedure.
While there is no pain or radiation involved in ultrasound tests, there are differences in the accuracy of results depending on the physical attributes of each patient.
According to Kenjiro Kimura, a professor of chemical and condensed matter physics at Kobe University who is part of the research team, the microwave beamed is very weak and about one-thousandth of the power of that used in cellular phones. An antenna emitting the microwave is moved over the surface of the breast.
X-ray mammograms may also miss tumors, especially among young women who have dense breast tissue. This is because the tissue, as well as tumors, both appear as white areas in the images on a mammogram.
In contrast, the microwave mammogram produces a highly accurate 3-D image of the tumor. Tests using the new microwave technology were carried out on about 300 breast cancer patients who had undergone X-ray mammograms and ultrasound tests. Tumors were detected in all of the patients.
In April, the government designated the microwave mammography technology as subject to early approval under a fast-track screening program.
One drawback of the microwave technology is that it can only be used to detect breast cancer. This is because microwaves can pass through fatty tissue that is the main component of breasts but not through muscle.
"In the breast, a tumor reflects back the microwave as though it was a mirror," Kimura explained. "This is the ideal method to use in detecting breast cancer among women."
Research teams at Shizuoka University, Kansai University and Hiroshima University are also trying to develop better mammography screening techniques using microwaves.
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http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201909140023.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7505296
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According to The Australian Financial Review, it's been used for schools and offices already, but the prefabricated and sustainable cross laminated timber technology is now being used for the first time in Sydney to build an energy efficient Passive House.
Large-scale examples such as Lendlease's award-winning cross laminated timber (CLT) office towers in Sydney and Brisbane have already shown the speed benefits of prefabricated timber in commercial construction, but architect Knut Menden has applied it for the first time to build a one-bedroom extension to an existing pre-war home in Balgowlah.
It took just 15 hours to assemble the slab, walls and roof − and meant craning panels as tall as 11 metres over the existing home into the backyard. But CLT technology also works well for energy-efficient homes built to the German Passivhaus Standard, which demands a near-airtight building and which cuts a home's energy needs by as much as 90 per cent, Menden says.
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https://www.afr.com/property/residential/how-to-speed-up-your-home-renovation-and-save-on-energy-bills-20190911-p52qek

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7855007
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan's government will play a greater role in developing the nation's geothermal power resources, seeking to lower the barrier for private-sector investment in this lagging area of renewable energy, Nikkei has learned.
State-owned resources agency Jogmec will conduct test bores -- part of the financially risky early phase of development -- on behalf of potential developers starting in the fiscal year from April 2020.
The initiative could help unlock underground heat as an energy source in volcanic Japan, which ranks third in the world in geothermal resources, behind the U.S. and Indonesia, according to data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Until now, drilling into the ground to determine whether conditions are right for geothermal power has been left up to private developers. Test bore surveys take about two years and cost the equivalent of several million dollars with no guarantee of success.
State subsidies cover part of the cost, but the private sector has called for greater national involvement. Going from test bores to a working geothermal plant can take as long as a decade or more.
A bigger role by Jogmec and the industry ministry, which oversees it, could also help ease the regulatory burden associated with drilling.
Many of Japan's geothermal resources are thought to be located within national and local parks, where concerns about damaging the environment and hot springs hold back development. Approval for drilling requires coordinating with various levels of government, from local authorities to the Environment Ministry.
Geothermal energy, which is less weather-dependent than solar or wind power, forms a piece of Japan's goal of increasing electricity from renewable sources to between 22% and 24% of the total by fiscal 2030, up from 16% in fiscal 2017.
But development is lagging. The industry ministry is considering calls from the private sector to shorten environmental assessments, which can take about four years to complete.
Jogmec -- officially known as Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. -- envisions conducting test bores for about six years to give prospective developers more certainty on which to base business plans.
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https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energy/Geothermal-power-in-Japan-set-to-heat-up-as-government-drills-in

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1375454 
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Amazon Japan will begin installing Amazon Locker pickup kiosks in Japanese retail outlets and train stations this year, looking to combat the ills plaguing the parcel delivery industry here.
The e-tailer is partnering with the FamilyMart convenience store chain, supermarket operator Fuji Citio and Odakyu Electric Railway. The lockers will appear in dozens of retail outlets and train stations by the end of this year, mostly in the greater Tokyo area. Amazon Japan will expand the service to 500 to 1,000 locations nationwide in the next few years.
American parent Amazon.com began accelerating deployment of the password-enabled lockers in the U.S. last year, where the kiosks are available in over 900 towns and cities. But in Japan, delivery lockers of any kind have marginal penetration. In 2017, less than 1% of people had used such terminals to pick up deliveries, a government survey found.
The expansion of the Amazon lockers also will ease pressure on home delivery services. The growth of online shopping has produced a steep increase in parcel volumes as well as redeliveries, contributing to a deepening crisis in the logistics chain.
Ground transport providers are employing delivery lockers as a solution to the problem. Industry leader Yamato Transport, in partnership with other companies, installed lockers at roughly 4,300 locations in major cities as of June. The lockers are near train stations and inside supermarkets, among other sites.
Plans call for expanding the network to 5,000 locations by the end of March. Ground shippers Sagawa Express and DHL Japan use the same lockers, as does Japan Post Holdings.
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https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Services/Amazon-lockers-headed-for-Japanese-retailers-and-train-stations2

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7888006 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia's fast-moving transition towards renewable energy has driven an explosion of interest in grid-scale battery projects nationwide but their wide-scale deployment is expected to require changes in regulation and market rules to ascribe value to the services they can deliver.
Battery proponents point to the ability of large-scale storage not only to provide grid balancing and smoothing services much more quickly and accurately than coal and gas plants, but to act as peaking power plants, replace the need to augment interstate transmission lines and help unlock new renewable energy resources.
Consultancy Rystad Energy has identified about 7000 megawatts of storage projects – either pumped hydro or battery – that have been proposed so far this year around the country.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/battery-project-line-up-defies-lingering-market-risks-20190912-p52qk9

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2974340
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