According to The Nikkei Asia, Toyota Motor, Toshiba, NEC and other big-name Japanese companies will partner with the government on a quantum research group forming as soon as this month to promote the development of a technology with major security implications.
About 50 businesses are expected to join the public-private organization, including Fujitsu and Hitachi. The group plans to create a corporate entity for the initiative next year, and a fund for investment in the field has been proposed as well.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga discussed quantum computing with U.S. President Joe Biden during their summit last month. "Quantum information sciences" was cited in their joint statement after the meeting as an area of cooperation to "enhance our countries' competitiveness."
Quantum computing, used for high-speed calculations and data processing, can enable dramatic increases in processing power. The technology is expected to play a major role in national security, through areas such as encryption, as well as intelligence gathering and analysis.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Japan-lines-up-Toshiba-and-NEC-for-quantum-research-group

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-507712923
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According to The Australian Financial Review, inner-city apartment markets, hit hard by the exodus of students and tourists last year, are showing signs of joining the broader housing recovery, as downsizers and homebuyers return, pushing prices higher.
A CoreLogic data shows that out of 59 inner-city apartment markets analysed, only five recorded a decline in value over the month of April, compared with 17 markets that have seen a year-on-year decline.
“This suggests most unit markets are now stabilising, or in an upswing phase,” said Eliza Owen, CoreLogic Australia head of research.
“We’re now seeing some upwards pressure in prices despite the exceptionally weak rental conditions in those markets.”

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/signs-of-recovery-for-inner-city-apartment-markets-20210505-p57oz3

​If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4558924

According to The Nikkei Asia, A harried commuter rushes through a Tokyo station hoping to catch the next train home. But first, a quick stop at a store to pick up a fresh head of lettuce. So fresh, in fact, that it is grown right there at the train station, cultivated using technology to ensure that it is raised under the most optimal conditions.
Tokyo-area rail operator JR East will soon make this possible -- and its stations greener while also cashing in on the indoor farming boom.
The company, officially known as East Japan Railway, borrowed the idea to grow vegetables indoors from German startup Infarm, which counts the rail operator as an investor. Infarm has partnered with the Japanese grocery chain Summit to grow produce using grow lights and sell it on-site.
Since January, a Summit Store in Tokyo's Adachi ward has grown lettuce and other vegetables in giant cases inside the location. At 213 yen (US$ 1.94) per head of lettuce, its almost double the price of lettuce grown outdoors. The store plays up freshness as the selling point.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Agriculture/Train-station-lettuce-Japan-railroad-grows-veggies-indoors

According to The Asahi Shimbun, Toyota Motor Corp. isn't slowing down in its push to help achieve a carbon-free society but is even speeding up its effort.
The automaker announced that it will enter a vehicle in motor racing powered by a carbon-free hydrogen engine.
Toyota said it can utilize existing technologies to develop a hydrogen engine expected to achieve zero emissions at a low cost. It will use the racing circuit as a testing ground to develop the necessary technologies over the long term.
"Japan has the accumulated (know-how) in automobile (technology), and there are ways to make use of it to reduce carbon emissions," said Toyota President Akio Toyoda. "The hydrogen engine is one of them."
Hydrogen engines burn hydrogen instead of gasoline. The mechanism is similar to that of gasoline engines, allowing the automaker to divert most of the components.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14339345

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, the Morrison government allocated more than $100 million to three green hydrogen pilot projects in a bid to kickstart the burgeoning industry.
The three grants – to be announced by Energy Minister Angus Taylor and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency on Wednesday – were awarded to two projects in Western Australia (Engie Renewables Australia and ATCO Australia) and one in Victoria (Australian Gas Networks Limited). All are subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies.
Mr Taylor said Engie’s project ($42.5 million grant) will see renewable hydrogen used to produce ammonia for export in the Pilbara, while ATCO ($28.7 million grant) and AGN’s projects ($28.7 million) will use renewable energy to produce hydrogen for gas blending into the existing natural gas pipelines.
Engie is French-owned, while ATCO is Canadian-based and AGN is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed giant Cheung Kong Group.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/arena-tips-100m-into-three-hydrogen-projects-20210504-p57otr

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/arena31
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According to The Nikkei Asia, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed an innovative PCR testing system controlled by robots that it is aiming to set up in downtown areas and airports by March next year, Nikkei has learned.
Each robot can conduct 2,500 PCR tests a day and the company is planning to roll out up to 50 of them by March in the first of its kind globally. This equates to 125,000 tests per day, almost doubling the current COVID testing capacity across the country.
The robots will be able to conduct the whole process but for the collection of samples for which human labor is needed. Nonetheless, the system helps to reduce the number of medical staff needed to conduct such tests, which in turn lowers the possibility of contagion.
Demand for PCR testing is growing as the number of infections globally is still rising rapidly. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 60,000 to 80,000 PCR tests are run a day across Japan.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Kawasaki-Heavy-to-roll-out-robot-conducted-PCR-tests-for-COVID

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/pcr112
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According to The Australian Financial Review, the federal government is likely to intervene to boost an apartment sector that did not enjoy the benefits of HomeBuilder but which is likely to suffer a hit from the loss of foreign migrants and international students, Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said.
The government’s $2.5 billion program – which contributed $25,000, and then $15,000 in its pared-back form, to complying new home builds and renovations – focused on detached housing because of the need to inject stimulus quickly into the economy, but this did not mean the apartment sector had been overlooked, Mr Sukkar said.
“It’s very exposed to factors such as international students and migration. There is no doubt we will have to respond with apartments.”
He declined to give any detail, but Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week paved the way for the May 11 federal budget to be a big-spending affair.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/commonwealth-will-have-to-respond-to-boost-apartments-sukkar-says-20210429-p57nei

 

According to The Nikkei Asia, Japan's jobless rate stood at 2.6% in March, compared with 2.9% the previous month, the Statistics Bureau said on Friday, as the nation's labor market stays relatively stable despite the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.
The month saw the nation emerge from a coronavirus state of emergency, which put curbs on nighttime dining and drinking in the nation's metropolitan regions from Jan. 8 to March 21.
Takuya Hoshino, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute also noted that the decline in the jobless rate was caused in part by 330,000 people falling out of the labor force between February and March. The number of people on the job also decreased but by a smaller margin, of 130,000. Hoshino said the labor market may not be as strong as the unemployment rate suggests.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-jobless-rate-drops-to-2.6-amid-economic-recovery

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/326-03 
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According to The Nikkei Asia, Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp. is set to increase the share of renewable energy sources in its power generation business from the current 30% to over 60% by its 2030 fiscal year, bringing one of its most important businesses in line with the government's latest efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The company will increase investment in solar and wind power at home and abroad, while gradually reducing coal-fired power generation to zero by 2050.
Trading companies handle the electric power business, which ranges from the construction to operation of power plants which are mainly located overseas.
Mitsubishi Corp. has a generating capacity of 10.8m kilowatts, including those under development, when calculated based on its ownership ratio. This is nearly twice the capacity of Shikoku Electric Power.
By fiscal 2030, Mitsubishi Corp. will double the amount of power from renewable energy sources from the levels in fiscal 2019 to 6.6m kilowatts.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Climate-Change/Mitsubishi-Corp.-to-boost-renewable-energy-in-power-generation-business

 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Fortescue Metals Group is on track to deliver record iron ore export volumes in the same year that prices for the steel-making ingredient surged to new record highs but has also raised its capital spending guidance as the cost of delivering growth projects rises.
The miner shipped 42.3 million tonnes from Western Australia in the period, beating Macquarie’s 42.2 million tonne forecast.
The result means Fortescue has shipped 2 per cent more over the past nine months than in the comparable period of its best ever year.
Fortescue set a new export record in fiscal 2020 when it shipped 178.2 million tonnes.

https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/fmg-on-track-for-record-iron-ore-exports-20210429-p57nc0

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