According to The Jiji News, Japanese companies are divided over whether to keep remote working arrangements in place after the country downgrades COVID-19 to a lower-risk category of infectious diseases that includes seasonal flu.
Some major companies have been shifting back to working at the office in principle. Others are cautious about fully returning to the office-based work style. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26137
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According to The Australian Financial Review, the federal budget’s $2 billion hydrogen fund would get the biggest bang for its buck by closing the gap between the cost of production and what customers are prepared to pay, potentially helping billions of dollars worth of projects to a final investment decision, aspiring producers say.
The priority must be to get green hydrogen and ammonia projects off the ground in Australia, using the available funds in a targeted way, said Daniel Kim, CEO of Korea Zinc’s Australian subsidiary Ark Energy, which is planning a $20 billion-plus project in Queensland. https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/hydrogen-fund-needs-to-close-the-gap-on-costs-ceos-20230510-p5d79e
According to The Jiji News, artificial intelligence tools are in wider use in Japan to prevent oversights in medical examinations and inspections of infrastructure.
AI can be used to make computer images clearer and spot potential abnormalities from vast amounts of data, allowing workers to notice problems more easily and their workloads to be reduced. Its importance is growing as Japan suffers worsening shortages of engineers amid the decreasing population. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26159
According to The Jiji News, monthly pay increases offered by small and midsize companies to their labor unions so far in this year's "shunto" spring wage talks have averaged 3.35 pct, or 8,328 yen, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said Wednesday.
The average increase rate for companies with fewer than 300 employees is up sharply from 2.02 pct from a year earlier in response to rapid price increases, the umbrella organization of labor unions in the country said. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26208
According to The Australian Financial Review, house prices nationwide are poised to bounce back this year, albeit at a modest pace, after strong migration and low stock levels reversed the housing downturn earlier and quicker than expected, experts say.
CoreLogic’s home-value index for April shows Sydney house prices increased by 1.3 per cent during the month, slightly lower than the 1.4 per cent recorded in March, but a strong rebound from the 1.2 per cent decline in January, when prices bottomed out. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/house-prices-tipped-to-rise-now-short-but-sharp-downturn-is-over-20230428-p5d3yy
According to The Perth Now, Australia's top-selling automaker has shown off a collection of big and small hydrogen-powered vehicles in an event designed to spark conversation about its potential as mainstream, pollution-cutting transport technology.
The Toyota Hydrogen Showcase, which will tour other Australian capitals over the next two months, ranges from a hydrogen fuel-cell bus and the company's Mirai sedan to a next-generation forklift and a concept van with a working kitchen installed. https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/transport/toyota-shows-hydrogen-cars-in-push-for-new-green-tech-c-10547862
According to The Jiji News, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways said it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions from all domestic flights to and from Hiroshima Airport to effectively zero until the end of this month.
The project comes as the western Japan city of Hiroshima hosts a summit of leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies in 19-21 May. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/26080
According to The Australian Financial Review, when Akiko Naka abandoned her job as a manga artist in her mid-20s to launch an online job seeking portal, she was one of Japan’s youngest entrepreneurs.
It was 2011, and she was also one of the few women leading a company that would go on to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Her company, Wantedly, now has a market capitalisation of almost $190 million and more than 3.5 million users. Naka, 38, jokes she is old compared with the new wave of start-up founders building innovative companies from their tiny Tokyo apartments. https://www.afr.com/world/asia/meet-the-tech-leaders-shaking-up-japan-20230504-p5d5n7
According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney’s house prices rose 1.3 per cent in the three months to March, the first quarterly increase in a year and the most substantial gain since 2021, Domain data shows.
House prices in the combined capitals also rose for the first time in a year as the market reached a turning point during the first quarter. ANZ is predicting Sydney house prices to rise 2 per cent this year and Perth to lift by 1 per cent. Melbourne is forecast to end this year flat, but Brisbane is set to fall by 2 per cent, Adelaide by 6 per cent, Hobart by 8 per cent, Darwin by 4 per cent and Canberra by 5 per cent. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/anz-revises-forecast-as-house-prices-rise-faster-than-expected-20230425-p5d36c
According to The Australian Financial Review, Japanese building giant Kajima has seen an opportunity to make good returns in the South Melbourne property market, after acquiring an equity stake in a $160 million mixed-use project being undertaken by local developer Lowe Living.
In exchange for investing in the project, Kajima, through its Australian development subsidiary, Icon Kajima, will earn an equal share in any profit the project generates. The Woods Bagot-designed development, which was approved in just four months by the City of Port Phillip, comprises a 2000 sq m two-level commercial office building with an adjacent car park, 1000 sq ms of ground-floor retail space, and 36 one, two and three-bedroom apartments. https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/japanese-giant-buys-into-melbourne-office-and-apartment-project-20230426-p5d3d3 |
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