According to The Asahi Shimbun, restaurant designer Howa Corp. is on a mission to help people go green after developing a paper material here that can be used instead of toothpaste in a tube.
The company started accepting orders in April for its plastic-reducing teeth cleaner for use as a hotel amenity. The product is expected to be delivered to establishments in Tokyo, Kyoto and Okinawa prefectures. Accommodation facility operators are showing interest in the substitute for toothpaste tubes after a law took effect April 1 urging businesses to reduce disposable plastics they use. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14609889
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Fortescue chief executive Elizabeth Gaines says Chinese iron ore demand remains strong despite escalating pandemic lockdowns, as she raised her company’s export target and blamed the Western Australian government’s border policy for cost blow outs on the Iron Bridge project.
The growing outbreak in China sparked a big slump in iron ore and coking coal prices in the past week, but Ms Gaines said all the signals suggested steel mills were still operating and buying Australian raw materials. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/fortescue-says-iron-ore-demand-solid-amid-chinese-lockdowns-20220428-p5agyu
According to The Asahi Shimbun, Nissan Motor Co. is heightening efforts in disaster-hit areas of Fukushima Prefecture to promote technologies for the future spread of electric vehicles.
Nissan in February last year signed a partnership agreement for “sustainable community development” with the three municipal governments of Namie, Futaba and Minami-Soma, all in eastern Fukushima Prefecture, and seven business entities, including retailer Aeon Tohoku Co. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14604088
According to The Australian Financial Review, rising interest rates are expected to boost the apartment sector, as higher mortgage costs encourage buyers to accelerate the push into cheaper units, developers and investors say.
Demand will probably shift from detached houses to apartments as more people are priced out of the market for standalone homes and find their borrowing power “dramatically” reduced because of higher mortgage rates, JLL’s senior director of research, Leigh Warner, said. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/interest-rate-rises-likely-to-spur-apartment-demand-20220504-p5aid0
According to The Asahi Shimbun, more of Japan’s biggest corporate names are moving toward introducing a four-day workweek, a notion that was once unthinkable in a country whose postwar prosperity was built on a work force willing to sacrifice home life for the good of the company.
The change, triggered partly by a growing labor shortage brought on by a rapidly aging population and dwindling birthrates as well as changing lifestyles and expectations, has the potential to rewrite the country’s work landscape. For one, it would widen the gap in days off between large and small companies. Electronics giant Hitachi Ltd. is among a growing number of big companies introducing a four-day workweek. Initially, the policy will apply to around 15,000 employees. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14615608
According to The Asahi Shimbun, Japan will finally allow tourists back in but on a strictly trial basis after a near-blanket ban on entry by foreign visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic flared in early 2020.
But like everything else in the government’s handling of the public health crisis to date, the process will be a gradual one contingent on whether fresh cases of the novel coronavirus start increasing again. Small groups of foreign tourists could be allowed into Japan as early as this month, according to several government sources. Further discussions are planned to determine the specific conditions that would apply for entry. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14615575
According to The Australian Financial Review, both labour and liberal parties have pledged billions of dollars of investment but the focus of the spending varies, an analysis of spending pledges shows. Experts say the difference will help dictate the pace of Australia’s energy transition.
The coalition is orientated towards blue hydrogen, which would prolong fossil fuels. It is a long journey from here to carbon capture and storage, however, Labor is not as enthused about blue hydrogen and is making more noise about green hydrogen. https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/net-zero-policies-split-over-hydrogen-batteries-20220503-p5aib2
According to The Australian Financial Review, grains farmers and analysts say near “perfect” conditions have set up another bumper crop, tipping further export records amid strong demand for Australian wheat, barley and canola as other major producers grapple with war and unfavourable weather.
Following the recent wet weather on the east coast, Thomas Elder Markets analyst Andrew Whitelaw said there was good subsoil moisture for the winter crop going in now until the end of June, for harvesting later in the year. https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/near-perfect-farmers-upbeat-on-another-bumper-crop-20220412-p5acyd
According to The Australian Financial Review, house prices are likely to fall harder in Sydney and Melbourne between now and next year if the higher-than-expected inflation numbers prompt the Reserve Bank to start raising the official cash rate, experts say.
The risk of a sharper decline in house prices outside the country’s two biggest markets will also increase and could trigger a downturn even in those capitals where home values are still rising. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/house-prices-are-at-risk-of-sharper-falls-20220427-p5agdt
According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese giant Mitsui & Co has started sounding out potential buyers for its oil and gas joint ventures with Woodside Petroleum, in Western Australia, fuelling expectations of a potential divestment.
Sources said Mitsui and its advisers had asked interested parties to think about its oil projects Vincent, Enfield and Greater Enfield, and gas projects Toro and Ragnar, all owned alongside Australia’s Woodside. https://www.afr.com/street-talk/mitsui-shops-stakes-in-woodside-jvs-jefferies-hired-20220426-p5agc6 |
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