According to The Australian Financial Review, Uber's new carpooling service, sharing a ride with other users travelling in the same direction, will launch in selected suburbs of Sydney on 3 April.
Riders will be initially offered up to 50 per cent discount in fares compared to using the current UberX door-to-door service. Over time riders are expected to get about 30 per cent discount.
Henry Greenacre, Uber's head of cities ANZ, said because UberPOOL matches riders moving in a similar direction at a similar time, discount will be much greater during commuting hours rather than people travelling in the middle of the day or late in the evening.
"We really want to see them leave their car keys at home and potentially not own that car," Mr Greenacre said.
"For a long, long time, we've had many transit lanes in many cities, but if you don't have advanced technology you can't cut pollution and you can't cut congestion."
​
http://www.afr.com/business/transport/ubers-carpooling-service-uberpool-to-target-commuters-20180323-h0xw0b

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

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Seven-Eleven Japan has begun delivering refrigerated products to stores in Ehime Prefecture on trucks that run on a fuel mixture that includes cooking oil.
It is one of the measures that the convenience chain is taking to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of its logistics division.
Ehime is a sliver of a prefecture along the Seto Inland Sea. It has 1.36 million inhabitants and 111 7-Elevens. The chain store operator plans to reduce the CO2 emissions from its delivery trucks in the prefecture by about 5%, or 31 tons a year. Seven-Eleven will also consider the biodiesel mixture for its trucks carrying frozen and non-refrigerated products in Ehime.
Consumers in Ehime can drop off used cooking oil at more than 400 community centers, supermarkets and other locations. The prefectural government is involved in the collection process, and eventually Seven-Eleven combines the biofuel with light oil. The fuel mix contains 5% biofuel.
The company is not receiving subsidies. Its fuel expenses in the prefecture are expected to be nearly the same as if it were buying light oil.
The chain store operator will look into teaming up with the public sector in other regions as well.
In another move, Seven-Eleven in February began introducing electric trucks made by Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus to its delivery fleet. The plan is to deploy 25 electric trucks in Tokyo, Kanagawa and other prefectures by summer. Seven-Eleven also plans to partner with Toyota Motor to introduce fuel cell-powered delivery trucks. The two companies will begin tests by 2019.
Seven-Eleven emitted 1.65 million tons of CO2 in fiscal 2016, with the logistics division accounting for 13%, or about 210,000 tons, of the total. Currently, 15% of Seven-Eleven's 6,000 or so delivery trucks are considered eco-friendly. By introducing electric trucks and other easier-on-the-environment vehicles, the company plans to increase the ratio to 20% by 2020.
Seven-Eleven has about 20,000 outlets nationwide.
Aeon, Japan's largest retail conglomerate, is trying to reduce its carbon footprint as well. In July, the company teamed up with Sapporo Holdings to get deliveries part way to their destinations via ship. By using the sea, Aeon halved its CO2 emissions from delivering beverages and other products.

https://asia.nikkei.com/search/findByRegion?facet_region=4

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7076249 
 

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan's listed companies are increasingly eager for people with senior management experience to sit on their boards as outside directors. With large shareholders such as asset managers pressing the companies they invest in to appoint directors with proven business acumen, the trend looks likely to continue.
Outside directors became much more common at listed companies after Japan adopted the Corporate Governance Code in 2015. But those appointees were mostly professionals, such as lawyers and academics.
Of the 50 highest-valued companies in Japan that end their business year in December and hold general shareholders meetings in March, 35 will have at least one outside director who has been a director or executive officer of a company, according to Takara Printing, which printed shareholder meeting notices for the companies.
The number of such outside directors is expected to rise by 10, or 18%, to 66 compared with the previous year. Those with senior management experience are thus expected to account for 40% of the 163 outside directors expected to be appointed by the 50 companies, up 5 percentage points from a year earlier.

​Ref: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Trends/Japan-companies-hungry-for-more-business-experience-on-boards

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4456156 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the iron ore grade boost BHP expects from its multibillion-dollar South Flank project is unlikely to be the start of a broader grade improvement campaign in Western Australia, according to the company's iron ore asset president Edgar Basto.
BHP is expected to take an investment decision worth more than $US3 billion ($3.9 billion) on South Flank within four months, with the massive mine expected to increase BHP's average iron ore grade from 61 per cent to 62 per cent if approved.
The increased grade will come at a time of increasing demand from Chinese steel mills for higher quality raw materials, and South Flank will also increase the proportion of lump iron ore produced by BHP's iron division.
The mine could be in production by around 2021.

​Ref: http://www.afr.com/business/mining/bhps-south-flank-grade-boost-unlikely-to-repeat-20180321-h0xrv9

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

According to The Australian Financial Review, Tasmanian tourism operator Rob Pennicott said the Apple Isle's "quirky but different" approach, as well as more manageable size and unique attractions, was helping it snare a bigger share of tourists from the mainland.
The island state is experiencing a record surge in international visitors as Chinese and American tourists seek a more unique travel experience on their holiday to Australia beyond the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland.
With international visitor spending topping $40 billion in December for the first time, Tasmania is also leading the nation on spending growth, up 32 per cent in the past 12 months to $497 million.
​
http://www.afr.com/news/politics/tasmanias-quirky-but-different-approach-to-tourism-snaring-bigspending-visitors-20180319-h0xp7o

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3579106 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, the world’s first facility to produce cells derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for commercial applications has been established in Japan by a major pharmaceutical company.
The regenerative medicine center of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., which will make iPS-derived cells intended for medical treatment, was completed on March 1. It will produce cells specially for clinical trials for the time being.
With a total floor space of nearly 3,000 square meters, the facility is divided into three zones according to the type of cells to be produced. It is outfitted with equipment to block impurity particles when its staff work there as well as an automated culture system.
The new center will use iPS cells created by Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) and other institutes not only to proliferate them, but to convert them into retina and other cells. These iPS-derived cells can then be shipped to medical centers for treatment use.
According to Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma officials, a large amount of cells enough to treat hundreds of patients can be produced annually in each zone of the facility.
Working with the Riken research institute, CiRA, Keio University and other institutions, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is developing iPS cell-based products to treat age-related macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and other eye diseases as well as Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries.
The company intends to make regenerative medicine one of its future core businesses and is looking to boost its sales in the field to 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) by 2030.
“The pioneer can gain an overwhelming advantage in the market of medical and pharmaceutical products,” said Masayo Tada, president of Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. “We will occupy a definite position in the field of regenerative medicine.”

Ref: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201803220001.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/ips2929148
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, the population of NSW grew at its fastest pace in eight years in the year to September as increasing numbers of immigrants more than offset the loss of locals to Queensland.
Faster growth in the most populous state, along with sustained growth in Victoria, helped push Australia's total population up 1.6 per cent from a year earlier to 24.7 million and put the country on track to top 25 million  in July, official figures showed on Thursday.
Strong economies, coupled with growing new housing supply that was being soaked up by new arrivals and weakness in other states prompting people to move from elsewhere is all underpinning the strength of growth in the two largest states.
"Sydney and Melbourne are in the sweet spot," said Terry Rawnsley, a principal of consultancy SGS Economics & Planning. "Their economies are strong. Their housing markets are providing more stock. At the same time, there are weaknesses in other states, so interstate migrants are flowing to where the jobs and housing are."
​
http://www.afr.com/real-estate/population-grows-at-fastest-rate-in-3-years-as-nsw-qld-pick-up-20180322-h0xtrk

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/38487910 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, cancer patients in a palliative care unit at a hospital here are ticking off their “bucket list” destinations or attending events that are otherwise impossible to reach by using a virtual reality headset.
The experience, a limited provision at the Ashiya Municipal Hospital as part of a health-care research project, has largely been seen as a positive experience by recipients.
Hospital officials are hoping the practice will help improve the patients’ quality of life in their final days.
A 40-year-old woman staying in the hospital was given an opportunity to watch a VR video recording of a concert that had been held late last year. The sound from the device’s headphone was in perfect sync with the movements of the performers, each playing a flute, a piano and percussion.
“The sense of reality goes to a different level when sound is added,” the woman said. “That allows me, even as I am staying in this hospital, to take pleasure in thinking about what I will be doing next.”
A VR system allows a user to feel as if he or she were really attending a scene, as its 3-D imagery rotates in accordance with the orientation of the user’s head.
The study involves fixing a goggle-type image display on the head of a patient, who is asked to use a remote control to choose, for example, where they want to go.
The device works with Google LLC’s video software app that allows the user to step into views and landscapes of choice anywhere around the world. It can also be operated with the imagery of a patient’s home or other fond places if image data taken with a special 360-degree camera is available.
The VR system is the brainchild of Kazuyuki Niki, an Osaka University assistant professor, who also works as a pharmacist for the Ashiya Municipal Hospital. He got the inspiration for using VR technology when he learned last year about a case where a sickroom space for a patient who could no longer go home was remodeled by using a curtain and bedclothes brought in from home.
Niki started the practice last autumn after obtaining the approval of the hospital’s ethics committee as a clinical study project.
The first to receive the VR experience was a woman who liked mountaineering. She enjoyed views from the peak of a mountain that she had wished to climb.
Others have come up with various requests. One “went to see” a park in their native Kyushu, to which they wanted to donate a cherry tree. Another “revisited” Kyoto, where they had been as a newlywed.
Yoshinobu Matsuda, director of the hospital’s Department of Palliative Care, said that most of the VR experience recipients were apparently content.
The goggle-type device, however, weighs about 500 grams, so it is a lot of work for a physically weakened patient to roll around the head under its weight. It should also be noted that patients in palliative care are prone to dizziness or feelings of nausea because of their diseases, drugs and other factors.
The woman who watched the concert video requested improvements.
“I find it painful to remain seated,” she said. “But if I lie on my back, the sky or the ceiling is about the only thing that comes into my view.”
Niki has started a separate, joint study at Gratia Hospital in Minoo, Osaka Prefecture, in February. The research project will hopefully address a total of 20 subjects, ask them questions before and after the VR experience and study changes in their physical and mental conditions.
“I hope the VR experience will help improve the patients’ quality of life, although its effectiveness has yet to be evaluated,” Niki said.

Ref: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201803190001.html
 
If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-vr8167924
​

Australian telco Pivotel has jumped on the growing satellite constellation bandwagon, saying it will soon be able to provide internet coverage "from virtually anywhere on the planet".
Pivotel just signed on as a launch partner for Iridium Communications, the owner of a satellite constellation known as Iridium NEXT.
There are now four satellites in the NEXT constellation, and Iridium has pegged $3 billion to have another four join it this year.
Together, they will provide a service known as Iridium Certus. The company says it will provide "high speed mobile data coverage to the entire Earth, connecting oceans, deserts, airways and polar regions".
​
http://www.afr.com/business/telecommunications/aussie-telco-pivotel-to-bring-the-internet-to-virtually-anywhere-on-the-planet-20180315-h0xjhs

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/8077710 

According to The Australian Financial Review, conglomerate Wesfarmers has announced its plan to spin grocery giant Coles off into a separate ASX entity.
Research published by Credit Suisse on Thursday put the value of Coles at $19.4 billion. Wesfarmers has a market capitalisation of $46.7 billion.
The demerger is expected to be completed in the 2018-19 year.
Wesfarmers will retain a 20 per cent stake in the business "to support strategic alignment between Wesfarmers and Coles in relation to various growth initiatives, including in the areas of data and digital".
​
http://www.afr.com/business/retail/wesfarmers-to-spin-off-coles-into-separate-asx-company-20180315-h0xjga

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