According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan's north-eastern prefecture of Fukushima, devastated during the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster, is looking to transform itself into a renewable energy hub.
A plan is under way to develop 11 solar power plants and 10 wind power plants in the prefecture, on farmlands that cannot be cultivated anymore and mountainous areas from where population outflows continue.
The total cost is expected to be in the ballpark of 300 billion yen, or US$ 2.75 billion, until the fiscal year ending in March 2024.
The government-owned Development Bank of Japan and private lender Mizuho Bank are among a group of financiers that have prepared a line of credit to support part of the construction cost.
The power generation available is estimated to be about 600 megawatts, or equivalent to two-thirds of a nuclear power plant. The produced electricity will be sent to the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The plan also envisions the construction of an 80-km wide grid within Fukushima to connect the generated power with the power transmission network of Tokyo Electric Power Co. That part of the project is expected to cost 29 billion yen.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Energy/Fukushima-to-be-reborn-as-2.7bn-wind-and-solar-power-hub

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5319239
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Mike Henry knew he wanted to work for BHP a decade before he joined the company. But as CEO, he will face some tough calls.
Mike Henry was 25 years old when he first came across BHP.
After a stint teaching English in Japan, where he met his wife of 30 years, Henry landed a job back in his hometown in Vancouver with the Japanese trading giant Mitsubishi.
"I still remember all the materials I was looking at, the people I was speaking with,” Henry recalled on Thursday. “I still remember now just how impressed I was at the time. I knew then that this was a company I wanted to work for.
“Almost 30 years on, to be afforded the opportunity to run BHP is pretty special."
​
https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/mike-henry-s-30-year-journey-to-bhp-s-top-job-20191114-p53aoz

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/bhp6522155 
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese fashion giant Uniqlo is partnering with two robotics startups to automate the last tasks still handled by human workers at its warehouses, a process that the company hopes to complete within five years.
The company signed strategic global partnership agreements with Mujin of Japan and France's Exotec Solutions, parent company Fast Retailing announced, the latest step in a 100 billion yen (US$ 917 million) supply chain transformation project launched last year.
Fast Retailing CEO Tadashi Yanai said the company will leverage the startups' technology to achieve full automation at its warehouses "within three to five years."
Uniqlo has already made strides toward this goal. In October 2018, it partnered with Daifuku, a Japanese material-handling equipment company, to help automate its flagship Ariake warehouse in Tokyo. The number of workers at the warehouse has since been slashed by 90%.
One step that still requires human hands, however, is selecting and packaging items to be shipped to customers or stores.
To automate that process, Mujin will provide an AI-equipped robot controller that enables industrial robots to "think and move on their own," said Mujin CEO Issei Takino. "We can keep creating innovation together with Fast Retailing."
Exotec Solutions, founded in 2015, produces small robots that can climb up to 10 meters and collect items from racks. The company has sold its robots to French e-commerce and grocery giants including Carrefour and Cdiscount and aims to double its robot production to 1,000 next year.
Fast Retailing produces 1.3 billion item of clothing yearly and sells them at 3,500 stores in 26 countries and regions. A more flexible and responsive supply chain has become critical for the company as its expands and strives to meet growing demand across diverse markets.
As part of its supply chain transformation project, Uniqlo last year partnered with Accenture and Google to develop a demand forecasting system.
Uniqlo is also aiming to cut down on waste and aims to become a company that "does not produce, carry or sell wasteful things," Takuya Jimbo, Group Executive Vice President of Fast Retailing, told a news conference. To this end, the company will build-up systems to produce clothes based on market trends and then agilely deliver them to the stores and consumers.
"In terms of sustainability, we will make clothes that are [only] truly necessary for customers," Yanai said.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Uniqlo-taps-robot-startups-to-take-humans-out-of-its-warehouses

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9258496 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, a car that floats on water is expected to go on sale next year in Japan, with the company behind the electric minivehicle hoping it will save lives during floods and other disasters.
The semi-amphibious FOMM One was developed by a start-up launched by an engineer who was shocked to see so many vehicles engulfed by the tsunami triggered by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
The compact car, which can also travel on water at a speed of 2 to 3 kph, went on display at Tokyo Motor Show 2019 from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4 at Tokyo Big Sight, in the waterfront district of Ariake.
Kawasaki-based FOMM Corp. was founded in 2013 by Hideo Tsurumaki, who was involved in the development of a motorbike at Suzuki Motor Corp. and the small electric model Coms at Toyota Auto Body Co.
Tsurumaki said he decided to start his own business after seeing motorists in cars swept away by the tsunami or failing to escape due to traffic jams in the 2011 disaster. At the time, he said he wanted to create a car that could float.
The FOMM One, measuring 2.6 meters long and weighing 620 kilograms, can accommodate up to three passengers other than a driver. With a recharge time of 7.5 hours, it can travel up to 166 kilometers under normal road conditions on a single charge. Its maximum speed is 80 kph.
When roads are flooded, FOMM One can travel on water to escape to safety, though it is not designed for prolonged use in water.
The wheels have blades to absorb water and discharge it to the rear, allowing the vehicle to travel on the surface of the water. To secure sufficient space for the legs and feet of motorists, the accelerator is operated with a device on the steering wheel.
The company unveiled the FOMM One in March 2018.
In November that year, the company started accepting orders for the model, priced at 2.2 million yen (US$ 20,200), in Thailand, which is frequently hit by floods. While it began mass-producing the car in March 2019, orders for 1,600 units have come in as of late October, according to FOMM representatives.
FOMM is looking to pitch the minivehicle to Japanese consumers between March and April next year.
With torrential rain and typhoons causing flooding in many parts of Japan in recent months, FOMM has received an increasing number of inquiries from local governments and people who live in coastal areas.
"We've just finished preparations at long last," said Tsurumaki. "During an emergency, the FOMM One can be used to avoid being submerged in water. I hope to see it on streets across Japan."

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201911150003.html
​If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4625063

According to The Australian Financial Review, the Australian start-up makes products from construction rubble otherwise destined for landfill, which is retrieved from building sites and pulverised before being transformed into stone paper.
Karst has since 2017 produced a range of notebooks made from a material known as 'stone paper', which requires none of the tree-felling or intense water use of traditional wood pulp paper.
At $25 for a single A5 size notebook, the environmental savings make Karst costly compared to A5 notebook competitors, available at Officeworks for as little as $2.
However, Karst co-founder Jonathan Tse said that corporate gifting from clients keen to show an eco-friendly face, including Dermalogica, Facebook and WeWork, had become a major revenue driver.
​
https://www.afr.com/companies/manufacturing/start-up-makes-paper-from-construction-rubble-20191113-p53a79

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9373822 
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese rolling stock makers are tapping the "internet of things" to offer maintenance and management solutions to rail system operators suffering from chronic staffing shortages.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries looks to offer a service that uses cameras and sensors mounted on freight trains to detect problems such as track warping. The monitoring service also analyzes operating data to determine the least disruptive time to make repairs. The system is slated to launch as early as next year.
Companies like Kawasaki Heavy and peer Hitachi are developing services for rail maintenance in order to supplement their train car manufacturing operations, which have become increasingly unprofitable as price competition escalates.
With its monitoring service, which may be offered through a subscription model, Kawasaki Heavy seeks a slice of the estimated $6 billion North American rail maintenance market.
Major rail freight companies operate more than 200,000 km of track in the U.S. alone. In some areas, such as the Rocky Mountains, rough terrain makes it difficult to check track conditions in person. Though shippers run track inspection vehicles once a year or so, derailments in recent years have put pressure on these businesses to improve safety.
Kawasaki Heavy's service will let even regular trains spot problems "with nearly the same level of accuracy as inspection cars," said Hiroshi Nakatani, general manager of the group's corporate technology division.
Hitachi, which enjoys a strong presence in Europe, has partnered with the owner of the Copenhagen Metro in Denmark to test a system that automatically adjusts train service based on ridership. The service, which runs on Hitachi's Lumada platform, uses sensors at each station to track congestion.
The system should ease crowding for riders while reducing costs and improving efficiency for rail operators. Hitachi looks to put it on the market soon, targeting mainly developed countries.
In Australia, Hitachi and miner Rio Tinto have created a fully automated long-haul freight rail network. The driverless system has improved efficiency sharply by eliminating the need for the hourlong shift changes that averaged three per day. Hitachi reports a 6% increase in speed, along with greater operating flexibility.
But as with rolling stock, competition also is intensifying in rail services. Siemens in particular has been a step ahead of Japanese rivals in the internet of things space. The German company has teamed with Sweden's SKF, the world's largest maker of ball bearings, on a maintenance system that monitors train components and provides recommendations on when they should be replaced.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Transportation/Japan-s-train-car-makers-turn-to-connected-rail-line-services

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/iot9254340 
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, an Aussie tech company has won a key deal with a high-end Japanese apple exporter that will give end consumers the ability to trace the origin of fruit.
Brisbane-based Fresh Supply Co has penned a contract to provide its traceability system to Tokyo-based Nihon Agri and two of its apple packing facilities, after what co-founder David Inderias described as a tough process.
"It took a long time to get a yes," Mr Inderias said. "There was no wining and dining – it was me in a shed getting my hands dirty, understanding what they're all about."
The 35-year-old explained that to be able to build the relationship he had to spend time in northern Japan at the apple packing facilities that handle the fruit marketed and sold by Nihon.
​
https://www.afr.com/technology/the-brisbane-start-up-making-sure-posh-japanese-apples-are-legit-20191017-p531ji

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3046840 
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba will launch an "internet of things" platform next spring that will include companies like SoftBank Group, wireless carrier KDDI and utility Tokyo Gas.
Toshiba will create an association of roughly 100 Japanese companies called ifLink Open Community, the company announced on Tuesday. The group will be established by the end of March.
The global internet of things market totaled US$ 646 billion last year, according to U.S. researcher IDC, and is forecast to surpass US$ 1 trillion in 2022.
It is a significant step for Japanese companies that are struggling to break into the growing technology sector. More than 90% of Japanese businesses say they lack information technology specialists, according to a recent government white paper.
The IoT market is currently dominated by companies like General Electric, Hitachi and Siemens, which offer their own proprietary systems.
Businesses participating in Toshiba's new platform will not have to design their own services from scratch. Prototypes can be developed in one or two days by combining products from other companies, reducing the time needed for commercialization.
The group will follow Amazon.com's model, which offers connection kits to manufacturers developing smart devices that use the company's Alexa artificial intelligence tech. Over 85,000 products have emerged through the program.
Backers of Toshiba's initiative say it could help combine existing technologies in new ways, such as placing weight sensors in front of museum artwork to automatically start offering guidance when visitors are detected, and houses that activate their own lights and air conditioning at the turn of a key.
The diversity of the alliance's prospective members shows how the arrival of faster 5G wireless networks is stimulating innovation across traditional industry lines.
Toshiba will also develop a website for consumers that will display products developed by alliance members. Shoppers will be able to mix and match offerings even if they possess no programming knowledge.
Companies and organizations in the ifLink community will pay annual fees between 30,000 yen and 3.6 million yen (US$277 to US$33,260) depending on their size and other factors.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Toshiba-to-form-IoT-alliance-with-SoftBank-KDDI-and-others

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/iot100 
​

According to The Asahi Shimbun, for businesspeople and others on the go looking to get an important task out of the way or make a private call to a client, enter the booth--literally.
Railway operators and other businesses have been introducing soundproof booths at train stations for company workers seeking to do work outside the office, buoyed by the promotion of teleworking to ease traffic congestion during next year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
Two such booths were set up on Oct. 1 behind a ticket gate at Kyodo Station on the Odakyu Line in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward.
Measuring 1.2 meters long, 1.2 meters wide and 2.3 meters tall, the booths are equipped with a desk, sofa, socket and USB charger. As the top is covered and the walls are soundproof, users can speak with clients and others by phone without worrying about being overheard by people nearby.
Those who wish to use the service register on a dedicated website, book an available booth and read a QR code displayed on the door to unlock it with a smartphone.
Prices start from 250 yen (US$ 2.30) for 15 minutes.
A similar service started at Machida Station in the capital on Oct. 28 as well. The program benefits Odakyu Electric Railway Co., operator of the Odakyu Line, as it can receive rent from Tokyo-based Telecube Services Co., which offers mobile offices.
Starting from September, Seibu Railway Co. also set up work booths at Tokorozawa Station in Saitama Prefecture, outside Tokyo, and Takadanobaba Station in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward.
V-Cube Inc., the Tokyo-based parent company of Telecube Services, has provided a remote online meeting system for corporate customers.
As President Naoaki Mashita felt there were few personal spaces where one can hold confidential talks by phone or via the Internet without privacy concerns, V-Cube spent one year jointly developing the special booth with office furniture maker Okamura Corp. in Yokohama.
A bigger response than expected came when V-Cube and East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) started free trial service of its brainchild at Tokyo, Shinjuku and Shinagawa stations in November last year.
The rate of occupied time was more than 50 percent of all operating hours over the eight-month test period, while the personal spaces were also used in unexpected ways, such as a high school student studying, a woman fixing her make-up and a user taking an English conversation lesson by smartphone.
The popularity of the booths remains high after the service started collecting usage fees in August, according to relevant officials.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Estate Co. started a joint program with V-Cube on a full-scale basis this past summer, after it conducted a trial using the booth on the first floor of an office building in the capital’s Marunouchi district last autumn and confirmed that there is a need for such a service.
A total of 47 V-Cube working booths have been introduced at 16 locations in stations, office buildings and elsewhere in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
​
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201911040003.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:

https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4142292

According to The Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto is entering a phase of elevated spending on new and existing mines in Australia's iron ore heartland, warning investors its mines are becoming deeper, wetter and generally more expensive to run after half a century in operation.
China's demand for iron ore has been stronger than expected in 2019, and Rio warned that depletion of mines would occur swiftly, meaning new greenfield mines would need to be built and perhaps even new greenfield iron ore provinces with expensive infrastructure, such as railways.
Rio approved a $US2.6 billion spend on the first phase of the Koodaideri iron ore mine in Western Australia last year, but it said on Thursday that "sustaining" spending to maintain its existing mines would also be $US1.5 billion higher than expected over the next three years.
​
https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/rio-tinto-warns-of-rising-iron-ore-spend-on-generational-renewal-20191101-p536ez

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6165156
​