According to The Nikkei Asia, Japanese trading house Itochu looks to promote sustainable sourcing among fashion brands in Asia through a partnership with Italy's Aquafil, the world's leading producer of regenerated nylon.
The two companies will build facilities in Japan and elsewhere in Asia to collect and reprocess post-industrial and post-consumer waste such as nylon. Itochu will help Aquafil market its regenerated materials in Asia, targeting sales of around 2 billion yen (US$ 19.1 million) in the first year.
Aquafil collects and cleans scraps from apparel factories as well as fishing nets and used carpets. It processes this waste into nylon materials and synthetic fiber at facilities in Slovenia with its regeneration technology.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Itochu-helps-Asian-fashion-labels-go-green-with-recycled-nylon

​If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6391784.html?lang=ja

According to The Australian Financial Review, falling housing prices in Sydney and Melbourne in the third quarter cut nearly half a year off the time taken to save for a deposit as affordability improved last year, new analysis of official housing and weekly earnings figures shows.
Sydney’s $21,000 and Melbourne’s $20,000 fall in median house price in the September quarter cut 23 weeks off the time needed to raise a deposit in the NSW capital and 22 weeks in the Victorian capital, figures published by the Australian Institute for Progress, a conservative-aligned think tank, show.
However, the greatest hurdle to home ownership in Australia is saving a deposit at a time when record low interest rates have pushed home values to new highs while also making the return on any savings minimal.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/more-difficult-to-get-into-the-housing-market-than-it-s-ever-been-20210205-p5702q

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/6734847.html?lang=ja
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Hoshino Resorts will produce drinking water by desalination at its property on a remote Okinawan island beginning Saturday, dispensing with the need to provide plastic bottles of water in guest rooms.
The Japanese hospitality company hopes to attract environmentally conscious tourists by highlighting its shift away from plastic.
Equipment at Hoshinoya Taketomi Island will make about 60 tons of potable water daily from seawater using a special membrane.
Residents of Taketomi Island receive their water from Ishigaki Island, about 5 km away, via undersea pipes. Because this supply is limited, the resort has provided roughly 40,000 plastic water bottles annually to guests to reduce the impact on residents.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Remote-Japanese-island-resort-taps-ocean-for-drinking-water

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7515216.html?lang=ja
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According to The Nikkei Asia, Japanese electronics manufacturer Casio Computer will release its skin cancer detection devices in foreign markets, anticipating demand in countries with higher rates of the condition.
Casio will market its Dermocamera and dermoscope in Australia and New Zealand by March, expanding to Taiwan and the U.S. later this year. Australia had the highest rate of melanoma in 2018, followed by New Zealand, according to data compiled by the World Cancer Research Fund.
By taking this business overseas, Casio looks to lift revenue from medical devices north of 1 billion yen (US$ 9.48 million) in two to three years. The segment's sales are currently estimated between 100 million yen and 200 million yen.
The two devices work by magnifying and photographing skin lesions under different lighting conditions. A physician can identify whether the lesion is a malignant tumor based on the surface structure and coloring.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Health-Care/Casio-brings-skin-cancer-detectors-overseas-including-to-US

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/8511210.html?lang=ja
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According to The Australian Financial Review, the world’s largest battery – with a capacity of up to 1200 megawatts – will be built in the NSW Hunter Valley.
The $2.4 billion project reflects yet another scaling-up of grid-scale storage ambitions to complement intermittent renewables, in direct competition with gas-fired power.
The battery, announced by Morris Iemma-led CEP.Energy, will be up to eight times the size of the original  “big battery”  in South Australia.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/hunter-set-for-world-s-biggest-battery-20210204-p56zji

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5343944.html?lang=ja
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According to The Australian Financial Review, after years of development and hype over the benefits of feeding seaweed to livestock, Australia is set to have more eco-friendly, faster-growing cattle by next Christmas.
Led by Sea Forest in Tasmania, seaweed farmers hope to produce the world’s first commercial-size crops of asparagopsis – the seaweed found by CSIRO researchers to slash methane emissions from cattle in the form of burps and farts when added to their feed.
Research shows that adding a small amount of seaweed concentrate to cattle feed cuts methane emissions by more than 80 per cent, and suggests the animals also grow faster because of more efficient digestion.
FutureFeed chief executive Andrew Gatenby said Sea Forest was the most advanced of the emerging players and expected to have commercial volumes available in the Australian market towards the end of 2021.

https://www.afr.com/companies/agriculture/seaweed-farmers-crack-the-code-for-greener-cows-20201221-p56p5o

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5455315.html?lang=ja
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According to The Australian Financial Review, investors will return to Australia’s housing markets as concerns about price falls dissipate and as dirt-cheap borrowing costs draw back that cohort of buyers, ME Bank’s latest quarterly survey of market sentiment shows.
Investor sentiment improved for a fourth straight quarter, leaping from 43 per cent of investor respondents who said they felt positive about the housing market three months earlier to 58 per cent in the bank’s Q1 2021 survey, putting them on par with owner occupiers, whose “positive” respondents jumped from 41 per cent to 58 per cent.
“We fully expect to see property investors back in full force this year,” said ME’s head of home loans and personal banking, Claudio Mazzarella.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/investors-poised-to-return-to-housing-market-20210201-p56yjh

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1374863.html?lang=ja
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, when Megumi Ogawa served meals designed for patients with a swallowing disorder to her father, he would refuse to eat and become grumpy.
“Food was a source of joy left for my dad, who could not move his body,” said Ogawa, 49. “He loved beef but could not consume it. I wanted to do something for him.”
So, Ogawa, who works at Panasonic Corp., sought the advice of a senior official she worked with at the company's plant in the Kansai region.
The official, Tokie Mizuno, quickly agreed that they should create a new home cooker for individuals troubled by the same problem.
Many food products targeting patients who have difficulty swallowing have been released to offer a greater variety of tastes and materials, but they can't be compared with their homemade counterparts.
“My grandmother lived to be 116, but always stuck to homemade dishes and had food my mother cooked until her last moment,” said Mizuno, 55. “Many people want to continue consuming meals made at home.”
As the two women had no experience in product development, they dedicated themselves to researching microwave ovens and pressure cookers at a meeting room in the plant. Their goal was to make a product that would soften food while maintaining its shape.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14125419

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2596437.html?lang=ja 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, newly minted automotive parts supply behemoth Hitachi Astemo Ltd., expecting a windfall from the development of electric and self-driving vehicles and other technologies, is expanding in scale to capitalize on the opportunity.
Hitachi Astemo President and CEO Brice Koch said he intends to make the company a global leader in CASE (connected, autonomous, shared and electric) technologies at a Jan. 18 online news conference to unveil the company's business strategy.
Hitachi Astemo became Japan's third-largest auto parts maker this year through a merger of four auto parts suppliers affiliated with Hitachi Ltd. and Honda Motor Co. Its capacity is topped only by Denso Corp. and Aisin Seiki Co., which are affiliated with Toyota Motor Corp.
The company anticipates a 30 percent rise in sales from the business year ending in March 2020 to roughly 2 trillion yen (US$ 19 billion) in the business year ending in March 2026 due to growth in the market for next-generation technologies such as electric and self-driving vehicles.
Hitachi and Honda struck a basic deal to merge the four companies in October 2019.
In January this year, Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd., which was a wholly owned Hitachi subsidiary, absorbed and merged with Keihin Corp., Showa Corp. and Nissin Kogyo Co., which had been turned into wholly owned subsidiaries by Honda.
Hitachi has a 66.6 percent stake in Hitachi Astemo. Honda owns the remaining 33.4 percent.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14131430

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www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1049551.html?lang=ja 
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According to the media statement from IHI Corporation, they  starts feasibility study on Kogan Hydrogen Demonstration Project which will produce and sell carbon free hydrogen from Solar PV Power located next to Kogan PS site with CS Energy which is a Queensland-owned and based energy company in Australia.
Kogan HDP will have a Solar PV, Battery Energy Storage System, Electrolyser and Fuel Cell to produce and sell carbon free hydrogen from Solar Power and also sell surplus power to the market through grid. Design of the HDP system, verification of hydrogen market, and etc. will be performed for business feasibility evaluation during FS. Demonstration Plant construction and operation are also under planning after FS.
  
https://www.ihi.co.jp/en/all_news/2020/resources_energy_environment/1197001_2032.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/ihics-energy.html?lang=ja