According to The Asahi Shimbun, an interpreting device specially designed for health-care workers and non-Japanese patients is under development in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. expect their interpreter to be marketed by the end of this fiscal year.
The equipment can interpret expressions referring to various types of pain, such as “shiku shiku” (nagging) and “zuki zuki” (throbbing), as well as technical terms used in the medical industry, according to officials.
The device had been tested at 21 medical centers across Japan until the end of March.
In late March, Maiko Imuta, 36, a nurse at Yonemori Hospital in Kagoshima, asked a female patient in her 60s from Beijing to “show medicine you take now” in Japanese. The device put on Imuta’s chest immediately interpreted her words into Chinese.
When the patient replied, her response was quickly interpreted into Japanese.
The University of Tokyo Hospital is assisting in the development of the device, based on the NICT’s VoiceTra speech translation app.
Jargon and explanations of health conditions were added to make it more user-friendly.
Although the interpreter is now only geared for English and Chinese speakers, the number of languages will be raised to 10 by 2020.
According to the officials, the product can deal with sentences that are difficult to interpret through conventional devices, such as “Choroidal detachment could occur as a complication” and “Meningitis often occur with no infectious diseases in other extrapulmonary sites.”
Hundreds of thousands of technical terms and expressions are only used in the health-care industry, and it is necessary to have the device program learn all those words and sentences, the officials said.
“It would be unacceptable if misinterpretations cause any disadvantage to patients,” said Eiichiro Sumita, a fellow at the NICT. “The development takes much time because we are carefully designing the device.”

Ref: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201805300004.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9792357 

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, the Japanese government plans to ease restrictions on unskilled foreign nationals seeking to work in Japan, Nikkei learned Tuesday, as the country grapples with a serious labor shortage.
The new policy, which will ease Japanese language requirements for overseas workers, will be incorporated into a work permit system and included in draft economic policy guidelines to be finalized by June.
The change marks a significant shift in Japan's policy regarding overseas workers. Under current rules, work permits are issued mainly to skilled professionals.
The government hopes to attract more than 500,000 overseas workers by 2025 to five industries especially hard hit by a lack of unskilled labor. Japan had 1.27 million registered foreign workers last year, according to health ministry figures. The change aims to bolster the country's dwindling pool of workers, especially unskilled laborers.
The new work permits will apply to construction, agriculture, lodging, nursing care, shipbuilding and related manufacturing. Applicants will be required to take occupational and Japanese language tests designed for each type of work by industry associations.
The draft guidelines, called the Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, will call for creating a new class of work permits valid for up to five years. Details are still to be fleshed out.
Under the existing Technical Intern Training Program, foreign nationals are required to complete a three-year training program.
The new qualification system will lower the hurdles for foreign nationals. They will be allowed to work immediately if they pass the required tests. Those who have finished the Technical Intern Training Program will be exempt from testing.
As for the Japanese language requirements, foreign nationals will have to be "capable of understanding slow conversations," in principle.

​Ref: https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-to-ease-language-requirements-for-unskilled-foreign-workers

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-2550 

According to The ABC News Australia, in Japan, where land is a scarce resource, just 1 per cent of council waste ends up in landfill, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Much of Japan's waste is burnt at one of the 1,000-plus incinerators dotted around the country.
In Australia, since the 1970s, backyard incineration and open burning at landfills has declined sharply due to health concerns.
But burning is now back on the agenda in the wake of China's recyclables ban.
Osaka's Maishima plant cost $730.5 million and handles a quarter of Osaka's rubbish.
The facility's manager said while the cost may seem expensive, the plant provided value to the community by reducing waste and generating electricity.
Incineration plants have prompted health concerns and Japan implemented extremely strict laws in the early 2000s to alleviate fears.
"At the same time, all of the small size incinerators which were not able to burn at high temperature were shut down as they generated dioxins," waste economist Shusaku Yamaya said.
"Japan now has large-scale incinerators which cover big areas and cleared the dioxin problem.
"But it cost a huge amount of money to build incinerators so it was inevitable that the waste management cost went up."
Waste-to-energy projects may be expanded to help tackle the growing recycling crisis in Australia, according to Minister for Energy and Environment Josh Frydenberg.
But Professor Yamaya warns the capital costs of incineration plants are significant and said it was an imperfect solution for Australia.
"I think it's most important to think about waste prevention," he said.
"[Australia] should build the minimum number of incineration facilities and not burn in large scale.
"[But they are useful because] the waste becomes [a fraction] of its size after burning and I think it'll have a significant effect as it can also extend the life of the final landfill sites.
"Also it's essential to build a high-level incineration facility which can reuse the energy as much as possible."

​Ref: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-21/the-japanese-waste-incinerator-that-has-its-own-tripadvisor-page/9780872

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/8155517 

According to The Australian Financial Review, more than $1 billion of federal government money will be poured into super computers and high speed digital networks as the Coalition shifts its science spending into research.
That's on top of more than half a billion dollars that was previously allocated to the Australian Synchrotron – a particle accelerator outside Melbourne.
Altogether $2.2 billion will be spent over 10 years as the government implements the National Research Infrastructure Roadmap drawn up by Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel.

http://www.afr.com/news/policy/budget/22-billion-in-research-infrastructure-big-boost-to-australian-super-computing-20180514-h1018p

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/226198483 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney-based biomedical researchers at the Garvan Institute will kickstart an ambitious plan to create a genetic index including summary data of 5000 aggregated human genomes to help the global hunt for cures to diseases, after receiving a grant from Microsoft to crunch the data on its Azure cloud infrastructure.
The index will require enormous amounts of computing power, and the Garvan Institute hopes it will make a major contribution to ongoing international efforts, such as the hunt for cancer treatments, by making the resource accessible to the worldwide genomics community.
Chief of informatics at the Garvan Institute Warren Kaplan said there had been extraordinary advances in the technology of DNA sequencing during the past 10 years, meaning the different genomes could now be split into groups, in order to run hugely complex queries to try to pinpoint the causes of different abnormalities or diseases.
When the sequencing of the first human genome was completed in 2003 it was the result of a 10-year project that cost around $3 billion, but Dr Kaplan said it was now possible for the Garvan Institute to sequence 50 genomes a day at a cost of $1000 apiece.

​Ref:http://www.afr.com/technology/cloud-computing/garvan-institute-uses-microsoft-azure-grant-to-build-genetic-index-to-hunt-disease-cures-20180418-h0yxvf

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2070821
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, smaller, newer electricity producers and retailers are coming up with inventive and resourceful ways to add extra value to their products so they can outdo competitors and avoid falling into price wars.
Since power generation and the retail electricity market were opened up to competition two years ago, many small electricity companies have sprung up, and more than 10 percent of consumers have switched their providers.
One of those, Tokyo Yudenryoku, has set up a system to reuse overlooked energy resources in the home to generate power, while tackling water pollution at the same time.
“Tokyo is a big oil field,” said Yumi Someya, president of the power company, referring to the large amount of frying oil thrown out through domestic and commercial use in the city with a population of over 13 million. The company name is a compound of “yuden” (oil field) and “denryoku” (electric power).
The project has set up 500 collection stations for household oil used to make tempura and other foods at supermarkets and public facilities in and around Tokyo, and about 20 to 30 tons of oil is brought in daily, according to Someya.
The oil collected is used as fuel to run a generator in Gunma Prefecture that has a generating capacity of 145 kilowatts of electricity.
Currently, the project is selling electricity in the metropolitan area at prices 3 to 5 percent lower than that of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to homes as well as a number of businesses that use a lot of oil, such as Chinese restaurants, in return for collecting used oil from them.
Someya plans to introduce a new generator with a generation capacity of 500 kilowatts in 2018 and aims to gain another 20,000 customers.
“I want the customers to buy our electricity, but I also want them to feel the excitement of what they used to chuck out becoming an energy resource,” said Someya.
Tokyo-based Minna Denryoku has started a program to set up solar power generation on school rooftops and to make financial contributions to the schools from sales of the electricity.
From March, it started selling electricity generated at three public schools in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture. When consumers sign up to buy electricity from the schools, a certain percentage of sales is donated to the Takatsuki city government, and the money will be spent on restoration of the school buildings and the purchase of school furniture or tools.
The company is planning to expand the program to more schools as they believe “there are a lot of people who want to support their old schools.”
Apart from the educational charity, the company is exploring other benefits for future customers such as attending idols’ handshake events or tickets for wrestling matches.
Grow Up Inc. is a Tokyo company that publishes a trade magazine for bakers that branched out into the electricity retailing business, particularly targeting bakeries and cake shops.
Baking uses a lot of electricity to power ovens, and to cater to that specific industry, Grow Up offers cheaper pricing from midnight to early morning when bakers start making their daily goods. For greater energy users, it means saving dozens of thousands yen over a year.
Making the most of its name recognition in the industry where it boasts more than 18,000 subscribers, Grow Up has won contracts with more than 2,200 bakers so far.
“We would like to grow while doing things major power companies can’t,” said Grow Up President Takahiro Furuta.
According to the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, there were more than 460 electricity retailers as of this April, and about 10 percent of household and businesses have switched their power providers.
According to Ennet Corp., a major operator among new electricity retailers, more than 12 percent of all electricity sold in Japan is now through new retailers.
However, many consumers remain uninterested in changing their power suppliers.
Previously, electricity retailers had been unable to differentiate their products from others, and used to descend into severe price wars.
Yohei Kawai of marketing research company Fuji Keizai Co., who has expertise in the power industry, said, “Major electricity companies have the overwhelming advantage in terms of size of operation and name value, but I think strategies that attract consumers who are interested in combining their plans with other benefits, not just pricing, may become more common.”

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201805220055.html

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-23907864 

According to The Asahi Shimbun, East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) is using cutting-edge technologies to replace its graying and retiring force of inspection and maintenance workers.
The high-tech instruments can run diagnostics on tracks and carriages even while the train is in service, negating the inconvenience to passengers under conventional methods.
The “smart maintenance” framework may offer more precise analyses than manual checks, and it will give JR East more opportunities to spot potential signs of failure.
“With advanced technologies, we would like to establish a framework for maintenance and inspection that could exceed our conventional methods, in addition to dealing with the labor shortage,” a JR East official said.
Currently, JR East’s railway maintenance and inspection operations are conducted on a periodic basis. Workers visually check the tracks while walking along the railways. Other workers climb on the trains’ roofs or crawl under their carriages to check for problems.
But time is running out for these workers.
According to the 2015 census, about 24 percent of around 25,000 maintenance and inspection workers for railways were in their 50s, the largest age group.
Railway infrastructure is also aging, and train operators fear that a mass retirement of their workers will leave them shorthanded to ensure safety on their tracks.
Enter the E233 series train.
JR East has been running this train on the Keihin-Tohoku Line that connects Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures through eastern-central Tokyo since its trial run in 2013. It features rapid sequence cameras installed underneath the cars that can take images of the tracks even during normal commercial operations.
The diagnostic imaging system uses red light that can identify rail distortions or breaks in the track brackets and railway ties.
JR East is also introducing the E233 series on the Yamanote Line loop in central Tokyo and the Chuo Line that runs east-west through the capital.
Besides the E233 series, the E235 series debuted on the Yamanote Line in 2015 and constantly monitors the rails as well as the vehicle itself.
Different types of sensors can obtain data in 700 categories, such as the motor mechanism that opens and closes doors. JR East is studying the wealth of data collected to determine the types of changes that can cause glitches.
The Dr. Yellow trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line specialize in detecting abnormalities on the tracks and overhead wires through sensors. But these inspection trains can only operate when general trains are not running on the line.
Installing such sensors on passenger trains could increase the frequency of such inspections.
West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) plans to install a vehicle monitoring system on the JR Fukuchiyama Line in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto Prefecture, this spring. The system is equipped with cameras and sensors that monitor overhead wires as well as wear and tear on the train’s wheels.
The cameras also check for problems on the roof of the train, which helps reduce the risk of workers falling off during inspections.
Japan’s aging society and low birthrate are hitting railway companies.
The JR companies also have a distorted work force in terms of age as a result of cutbacks on hiring before the state-owned Japanese National Railways was privatized and became the Japan Railway Group in 1987.
JR East had about 56,000 employees as of April 2017. About 25 percent of them, or 14,000, are 55 years old or older, while about 4 percent, or 2,000, range in age from 45 to 49.
The average age of concrete bridges for trains in Japan is 56 years, according to a study in fiscal 2013 while that of tunnels is 62 years. Many of the current structures have been around for more than 100 years.
“It’s vital to streamline operations, including cutting costs, to realize appropriate maintenance management for rolling stock with an eye on the era of depopulation,” said an official at the Railway Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
The ministry included about 290 million (US$ 2.64 million) yen in this fiscal year’s budget for subsidies for technological developments in the private railway sector, such as cameras in train drivers’ seats that automatically detect potential problems with the rails.
The transport ministry also exchanges related information with companies, research institutes and other entities.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201805230001.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7273618 

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese listed companies continue to improve their ability to generate profits, as they scored a second year of record profits in the year ended March 31, with automakers and manufacturers of chipmaking and industrial automation equipment leading the way.
Combined net profit of the 1,566 companies that have released their fiscal 2017 results by Friday rose 35% to 29.37 trillion yen (US$ 264 billion), according to data compiled by Nikkei. The tally excludes financial companies.
The increase far exceeded the 18% rise of the previous fiscal year, when revenues shrank but profit still grew thanks to cost-cutting efforts at many companies. In fiscal 2017, in contrast, many corporations boosted sales through competitive technologies and products. Combined sales rose 8% to 557 trillion yen.
With the global economy expanding, electrical machinery and automotive industries powered the overall profit growth. These two sectors alone accounted for more than half of overall profit growth.
Growing data usage demand is a powerful business driver for semiconductor equipment makers. Tokyo Electron, for instance, enjoyed a 77% surge in net profit. Mitsubishi Electric racked up brisk sales of factory automation equipment.
Automakers also performed well. Toyota Motor logged a 36% net profit increase to 2.49 trillion yen -- the highest ever for a Japanese company -- even though it had forecast a net profit decline as of May last year. Nissan Motor and Honda Motor booked record profits too. The auto majors widened their lead in profit margins against their foreign rivals.
A softer yen favored exports as the currency weakened by about 2.5 yen on the year to 110.8 per dollar on average. And the U.S. corporate tax cut lifted Japanese corporate profit by nearly 2 trillion yen.
About 30% of companies covered in the data logged record net profits. And 25 of the 32 industries boosted profit. Manufacturers' profit soared 50%, while nonmanufacturers' climbed 17%.
As the year progressed, many companies' own profit projections improved significantly. At the start of the fiscal year, overall net profit was forecast to rise 9%, but this rose to 30% at the end of the third quarter. And the full-year results came in even higher.
In the nonmanufacturing sectors, trading houses did well, thanks in part to higher resource prices. Mitsubishi Corp. increased net profit by 27%. The recovery of resources markets also buoyed marine shippers that transport them. Nippon Yusen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha both turned to the black.
Among the sectors focused on domestic demand, human resource service providers fared well in the tight labor market.
For the current year started in April, however, combined net profit is projected to shrink 2%, falling for the first time in three years. Factors include a stronger yen, high materials costs and a drop-off in the profit boost from the U.S. tax changes.
The automotive industry's net profit is expected to plunge by 1.1 trillion yen. Steady growth in semiconductor demand and the sale of Toshiba's memory chip unit should boost the bottom line for the electric machinery industry, but not enough to absorb the forces dragging down overall corporate earnings.
With foreign exchange rate assumptions rather conservative among big companies, however, actual earnings could be higher, said Hisao Matsuura of Nomura Securities. The forex rate assumptions by key companies average 106.7 yen per dollar, factoring in a stronger yen than the current 110-yen level.

Ref: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Business-Trends/Corporate-Japan-learns-to-boost-profitability
 
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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/18335
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto will have fully autonomous trains running on its Western Australian iron ore railways within weeks, after securing a long awaited regulatory approval for its "Autohaul" project on Friday.
Autonomous trains have been operating on Rio's iron ore railways for more than a year now, but always with a human operator on board when hauling ore.
This week's approval from the rail safety regulator will allow Rio to run trains with no humans on board for the first time, with the miner expected to start with a single autonomous journey per day and then gradually expand the program.

http://www.afr.com/business/mining/rio-to-deploy-fully-autonomous-trains-within-weeks-20180518-h108lq

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/8505162 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation is backing the joint venture that is working to solve South Australia's future energy needs with a "virtual pipeline" project that would see liquid natural gas imports linked to a new firming capacity power station.
The now $800 million project proposed, which was reported first in The Australian Financial Review in March last year, has been developed by a group of former BHP managers who work at Melbourne-based management consultancy Integrated Global Partners.
Mitsubishi has invested $15 million to fully finance a feasibility study on a proposal to land imported shipments of liquid natural gas at Pelican Point, 20 kilometres south of Adelaide, where it would be converted, stored and used to fuel a related power station development and be sold into South Australian gas markets.

www.afr.com/business/mitsubishi-backs-800m-gas-solution-for-south-australia-20180513-h0zzz7

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​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/8533300
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