According to The Jiji news, a Japanese group said that it succeeded in improving symptoms of Parkinson's disease patients with nerve cells produced from induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells.
Symptoms improved in four of the patients participating in a clinical trial in which nerve cells made from iPS cells were transplanted into their brains, said Kyoto University Hospital and the national university's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, or CiRA.
Sumitomo Pharma Co., which supplied the nerve cells, plans to apply for a state approval for the treatment under a fast-track system for regenerative medicine products that gives approvals on certain conditions for use over limited periods.
The Osaka-based company aims to gain such an approval within this fiscal year at the earliest. A paper on the clinical trial was published on the British journal Nature.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/39530#goog_rewarded

According to The Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto and Mitsui have launched a $75 million bid for billionaire prospector Mark Creasy’s Pilbara iron ore deposits, cementing their partnership in the resource-rich region following the Japanese group’s $8.4 billion stake in Rio’s Rhodes Ridge project.
The all-cash offer for CZR’s Robe Mesa project, which has been accepted by the miner’s board, trumps an earlier bid by Fenix Resources, an iron ore junior headed by former rugby international John Welborn.
However, Fenix has the right to increase its $71 million all-scrip bid and match Rio and Mitsui’s offer by April 17. Fenix was contacted for comment.
The latest offer was made through the Robe River Joint Venture, which is 60 per cent owned by Rio and 40 per cent by Mitsui.
If successful, the deal will mark the latest vote of confidence in the Pilbara by the Japanese trading house, which in February made the biggest investment in its 78-year history with its 40 per cent stake in Rhodes Ridge, one of the world’s richest untapped iron ore deposits.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/rio-tinto-and-mitsui-target-billionaire-creasy-s-pilbara-iron-ore-20250411-p5lr2l

According to the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese company, NTT, has announced that it has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor for use in surveillance cameras and drones. This means that processing can be faster and power consumption can be reduced compared to the general method of sending captured images to a data centre for processing.
The new AI semiconductors are designed to process high-definition video in real time. The higher the definition and size of the data, the greater the amount of computation and memory required, and the more likely it is to consume more power. For this reason, until now, the video footage was compressed down to a smaller size for data processing. The new AI semiconductors have achieved a technology that enables data processing without compressing the video. This makes it possible to detect people and objects even from about 150 metres above the ground.
The aim is to commercialise this technology by the end of this year for use in analysing human and vehicle traffic with cameras, security services and bridge inspections using drones.

https://digital.asahi.com/articles/AST4C2DZ6T4CUHBI00CM.html
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, real estate transactions involving Japanese investment in Australia boomed last year, making up one in every five deals, as Japan’s push to find new markets coincided with Australia’s increasing need for capital, Herbert Smith Freehills’ Japan-Australia Investment Report 2024 shows.
The sector chalked up 14 of last year’s 72 transactions – up from a total 53 in 2023 and the most of the eight annual reports to date. It will remain the hottest this year as a new generation of investors, having learned from mistakes of the 1980s and 90s, focuses on quality property assets, the law firm’s latest report says.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/real-estate-now-takes-1-in-5-japanese-deals-and-it-s-growing-20250330-p5lnpw
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill says it is too expensive for the country’s largest producer of natural gas to make deep cuts to its carbon emissions, putting the company on a collision course with major investors who want to see it take more action on climate change.
O’Neill held a briefing for investors, and said it would cost Woodside between $US200 and $US500 per tonne of carbon for options such as retrofitting of carbon capture on existing LNG plants, well above the company’s current emission reduction cost base of $US80 a tonne.
O’Neill said there was huge potential for carbon capture and storage to help tackle carbon emissions but for now it was not commercially viable.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/woodside-ceo-too-expensive-to-make-deep-cuts-to-carbon-emissions-20250326-p5lmlb

According to The Jiji news, Japan Airlines plans to start commercial flying car operations in 2027, company officials said.
The Japanese airline will start test flights of unmanned flying cars in Osaka, a city in western Japan, in early 2026.

https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/39406
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According to The Australian Financial Review, BHP chief commercial officer Rag Udd says Chinese steel makers will maintain current production rates for several more years and that iron ore prices should remain above $80 a tonne, bolstered by growing demand in new sectors such as electric vehicles.
China was the source of 62 per cent of BHP’s revenue last year, with Chinese steel makers consuming most of the iron ore mined by BHP in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and a small portion of the coking coal mined in Queensland.
Udd said investors were too fixated on the slowdown in the Chinese property sector, which uses large volumes of steel, and had taken less notice of the strong growth in steel demand from other areas, such as machinery and electric vehicle manufacturing.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/bhp-says-china-demand-for-iron-ore-to-remain-strong-for-several-years-20250404-p5lpaw

According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese property giant Daibiru Corporation has snapped up a Sydney office block for more than $600 million, as investors from that region show increasing interest in Australian real estate.
It is the largest office property deal to be finalised so far this year. The transaction was struck on an investment yield of about 6 per cent, a key benchmark for valuing city office towers.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/japan-s-daibiru-picks-up-sydney-office-tower-in-600m-deal-20250401-p5lo38
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, selling prices of apartments in Australia’s largest cities jumped a record 24 per cent in the December quarter as building costs, labour shortages and a shift towards owner-occupier-grade stock pushed the average over $19,000 a square metre, new figures from Urbis show.
The leap was the biggest in a decade of data the consultancy has collected. The average price of presales and under-construction projects across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Gold Coast was also up 34 per cent year-on-year and was driven by demand in Brisbane, where off-the-plan prices leaped 33 per cent from the third quarter to $23,000, Urbis said.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/apartment-prices-in-record-jump-to-19-000-per-square-metre-20250331-p5lo26

A Japanese wagyu beef producer and seller is rapidly expanding its exports to the Islamic world, attracting considerable attention and serving as a business model for Japanese companies. 
Sugimoto-Honten Co., headquartered in the Toyonomachi district of Uki, embarked on the international shipment of its Kurohana Wagyu beef from the renowned Japanese Black breed in 2021.
The company’s exports topped 1 billion yen (US$6.7 million) three years later.
Expecting Sugimoto-Honten to serve as a “model” for businesses to pitch Japan-made merchandise to the global market, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has designated the stock farmer as a “flagship producer and exporter.”
Exporters must qualify for halal certification to sell food items to Muslim countries. The word “halal” means “permitted” under Islamic law in Arabic.
Applicants are screened by certification authorities comprised of experts in religion and food hygiene.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15669117