According to The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese new study is brightening the outlook for a prospective chemical engineering process that could one day lead to greener energy alternatives than fossil fuels by harnessing sunlight to produce mass quantities of hydrogen.
The research results, published in the journal Nature, could help light the path toward establishing a hydrogen economy in the future.
The team of scientists for the study improved the technology involved in a process called “water splitting,” which essentially uses light to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen with the help of a newly developed photocatalyst. Sunlight and water are renewable resources and hydrogen is a potential clean alternative fuel source.
The team of scientists reported they created an almost perfectly efficient photocatalyst for ultraviolet light. A photocatalyst is something that absorbs light and causes or accelerates a chemical reaction, in this case for changing water into oxygen and hydrogen gases.
It is currently still an impractical technique for creating large amounts of hydrogen at an industrial level because the photocatalyst works efficiently only with ultraviolet light with certain wavelengths. This means it is not economically viable yet.
In the past, other photocatalysts have mostly registered around 10 percent or less for solar energy conversion efficiency, known as their rate of quantum efficiency. In some of the better cases, a few surpassed 50 percent.
But this photocatalyst can convert ultraviolet light at nearly 100 percent efficiency, the study reported.
The researchers from Shinshu University, the University of Tokyo and other institutions in Japan noted they have only been able to achieve such a high level of efficiency for ultraviolet rays--unlikely to sustain large-scale hydrogen production.
But if the same principles can be adopted to use other parts of the light spectrum at a relatively high quantum efficiency, that could be a major step toward enabling the creation of a solar-hydrogen industry.
“Visible light is available in large quantities, so an efficiency of 30 percent or so would likely be sufficient to allow practical implementation of hydrogen production by using this method,” said one of the team leaders, Shinshu University special contract professor Kazunari Domen.
The research team achieved the promising results by adding aluminum to particles of strontium titanate, which is a semiconductor material, to create the photocatalyst. They used cocatalysts strategically to improve generating hydrogen and oxygen.
They achieved a quantum efficiency of nearly 100 percent for ultraviolet rays with wavelengths of 350 to 360 nanometers. A nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter.
“We will conduct further studies to broaden the range of available wavelengths,” said the other research team leader, Shinshu University specially appointed professor Tsuyoshi Takata.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13443670

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1783902.html
 

According to The Australian Financial Review, a $650 million power station project in South Australia that will utilise gas and solar power to deliver 422 megawatts of dispatchable power into the electricity grid has been given the green light by South Australian authorities, with construction to begin next year.
The Summerfield Hybrid Grid Firming Power Station is to be built on farm land at Tepko, about 60km east of Adelaide by privately-owned company SAPGen Pty Ltd, after gaining approval from the SA Planning Minister Stephan Knoll.
It would be the third largest power station in the state behind AGL Energy's Torrens Island station and Engie's Pelican Point operation in Adelaide's industrial north-west suburbs.
SAPGen managing director Ben Lee said the Summerfield project would create about 700 jobs during construction, which was earmarked to begin next year.

https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/650m-hybrid-power-project-in-sa-gets-green-light-20200618-p553u5

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7714251.html
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Working from home and being cut off from the visual and other cues co-workers give and take every day can cause stress, but online services are popping up to help colleagues reconnect. 
As remote work takes hold, more employees are dealing with a range of emotions. There is more family time and added freedom from not having to commute. But there is also the stress and uneasiness of trying to work far from one's colleagues.
The face to face problem-solving that used to take place among co-workers now must be conducted via text messaging.
This is the void some Japanese startups are stepping into, bringing solutions that encourage better communication and understanding among colleagues.
It's Friday evening, early June, and the employees of Uridoki, a dealer of secondhand items in Tokyo's Shibuya are having drinks together. At least they would be if the pandemic never hit. But COVID-19 is a reality, one that chased these workers out of their office and into their homes, so their bonding session is being held over Zoom. Crayons are involved.
They are taking part in a picture-drawing workshop. As an emcee guides them along they draw pictures about something delicious they recently ate, what they imagine while listening to their current favorite songs or how they while away their stay-home time.
"It's the first time in 30 years that I have used crayons!" one participant says.
Uridoki CEO Yasuo Kogure, who expresses his enthusiasm for business in his crayon work of art, explains, "We have rookies and new members but we're losing our communication. I wanted to make up for this and strengthen the connections among us."
Play Life, a Tokyo-based operator of an Internet site for sharing leisure information, devised the Zoom workshop. The name of its online event service, Bazukuri, is Japanese for "creation of venues."
CEO Taichi Sato describes the service as a substitute for the corporate Japan tradition of in-house drinking parties. Remote work has broken down connections between employees and cut down on the conversations that used to be part of daily office life. Play Life says its programs bring colleagues closer together through the sharing of a single experience.
Its menu lists more than 100 programs, including a cooking workshop in which the same ingredients are delivered to everyone's homes and participants share the experience of making a pot of curry. There are also muscle-training and board game programs, each of which is moderated by Play Life employees so participants, the company says, won't be bothered by the sense of distance inherent in online interactions.
A total of 500 people have joined a shared experience since the service was rolled out at the end of May.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Startups/Japanese-startups-ease-the-loneliness-of-working-from-home

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9756327.html 
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, Robots built by a Tokyo-based company designed to kill the flu virus using deep ultraviolet rays eliminated novel coronavirus on walls and floors in an experiment at a Tokyo university hospital.
Farmroid Co., which developed the robots, plans to market them from early July.
The robots, called UV Buster, irradiate surfaces with deep ultraviolet rays said to render 99.9 percent of the flu virus inactive when it is exposed to the rays for 2.46 seconds within a 10-centimeter distance.
Unlike normal ultraviolet rays, deep ones have shorter wavelengths, which makes their radiation more damaging.
The hospital, located in the capital's Itabashi Ward, where Farmroid is also based, confirmed the robot eliminated the coronavirus after using it to irradiate the virus on surfaces.
Yasuhiro Gon, a professor of pulmonary medicine at Nihon University School of Medicine, said the facility was keen to use the robots as a measure against infection from the novel coronavirus even though the nation's state of emergency has already been lifted.
Gon said the school wanted to "thoroughly prevent the spread of the virus and prepare for a second wave.”
Farmroid intends to sell the robots, which are built to order, to medical institutions, airports and commercial facilities.
As deep ultraviolet rays can have harmful effects on the human body, the robots can only be used only in places where people are not present. The company has no plans yet to sell them to the public.
Farmroid representative Kazuki Iimura said the robots would be priced to compete with expected rivals.
“We want to provide our products at a cheaper price than foreign companies that make similar products,” Iimura, said.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13491999

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1029098.html 
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According to The Australian Financial Review, Maple Development Group, an arm of Chinese developer Peng Bo, has been given planning approval for its largest residential project yet, a $200 million apartment tower in central Brisbane's Quay Street precinct.
The Rothelowman design for the mixed use project comprises 255 apartments, a five-star serviced apartment building, commercial offices and podium-level shopping and dining across two 30- and 35-storey buildings.
"Brisbane has in recent years experienced a period of evolution and significant growth, primarily focused on quality riverfront amenity and experiences, which make the most of the city’s climate and riverine landscape,” Maple's group development manager, Gilbert Zhu, said.
Maple, a subsidiary of Hebei Province-based developer Peng Bo, has been pursuing a series of residential and commercial projects in south-east Queensland over the past five years. Two years ago, it launched Arcadia Apartments, a boutique 29-unit project in Indooroopilly.

https://www.afr.com/property/residential/maple-plan-ticked-for-brisbane-s-quay-street-20200622-p554yc

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/1193444.html 
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, an app to help people stop smoking received Japanese government approval Friday last week, becoming the first prescription digital therapeutic in Japan and heralding an emerging field of treatments developed at lower cost.
The software from Tokyo-based startup CureApp to treat nicotine dependence is also believed to be the world's first prescribed app for smoking cessation.
It guides the quitter by dispensing algorithm-based advice, such as to chew gum or to take a deep breath, in response to reported cravings and daily physical condition. Part coach and part cheerleader, it offers encouragement to make staying off tobacco easier.
CureApp aims to launch the app, expected to be covered by public health insurance, to commercial markets by year-end. The company applied to the ministry for manufacturing and marketing approval in May 2019.
For its clinical trial, CureApp partnered with 31 stop-smoking clinics in Japan and used the app as part of a 12-week treatment program for 584 people and checked their cessation status later. The study found that 64% of those who used the app stayed smoke-free six months after the program, 13 percentage points more than the control group. After a year, 52% of users remained nonsmokers, 11 percentage points more than the control group.
Digital therapeutics are associated with a reduced risk of side effects and can be created for around billions of yen rather than the at least 100 billion yen (US$ 935 million) required for new drugs. They can be developed more quickly, too.
With the CureApp app, user data is accumulated daily and is expected to be used for development of new digital treatments.
The field of digital therapeutics is growing, with big-name companies moving in.
Astellas Pharma and U.S. partner Welldoc announced in November 2019 an agreement to bring the Food and Drug Administration-cleared BlueStar diabetes management tool to Japan and other Asian markets. Boston-based Akili Interactive and Shionogi announced that March a partnership to develop and commercialize digital treatments for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism. Otsuka Holdings group member Otsuka Pharmaceutical is working with New York-based Click Therapeutics on software to help people with depression.
In the U.S., a Pear Therapeutics app for substance use disorder won clearance from the FDA in 2017.
The global market for digital therapeutic devices -- including apps and wearables -- is projected to grow to US$ 8.47 billion by the end of 2024 from US$ 1.47 billion in 2017, according to Zion Market Research.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Quit-smoking-app-greenlighted-as-Japan-s-first-digital-therapeutic
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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2004506.html

According to The Australian Financial Review, entrepreneurs are starting new businesses at the highest rate seen so far this year, a positive sign the economy is starting to emerge from the COVID-19-induced hibernation.
Insurance agency BizCover sold 20 per cent more new business insurance policies – mainly to sole operators and small business owners – at the start of June compared with February, while policy cancellations were down 20 per cent compared with the start of the year.
"The rate of increase in small businesses starting seems to have accelerated in every week since the beginning of May, which is great news for small businesses and the economy," said BizCover chief financial officer Simon Schwarz.

https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/small-business-starts-rise-as-lockdown-eases-20200612-p551w7

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7410955.html
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According to The Nikkei Asian Review, once again, the domestic terminal of Tokyo's Haneda Airport was crowded with travelers Friday, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared an end to all restrictions on domestic travel the previous day.
The resumption of domestic travel is part of a full reopening of the economy that started on Friday, including allowing bars and nightclubs -- previously hotspots for the novel coronavirus -- to welcome customers. The government must now try to strike a balance between firing up the economy and keeping the virus under control.
During the period of voluntary restrictions, some people have gotten used to working from home and teleconferencing. But many others are eager for a change of scenery.
One 39-year-old flyer at Haneda Airport was on her way to Ishikawa in central Japan. The part-time university researcher said the lifting of the travel restrictions has finally allowed her to return to her lab and catch up on experiments she needs to finish before an academic conference in the fall.
While travel was restricted, she worked remotely with colleagues at the lab. But her research, which deals with the sense of taste, requires her to conduct experiments. "There is a limit to what I can do remotely," she said.
Resorts, amusement parks and nightclubs have also sprung back to life. In the northern hot spring town of Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, hotels have reopened. Operators are hopeful that domestic tourists from the south will bring money to Hokkaido's tourism-dependent economy.
Fuji-Q Highland, an amusement park near Mount Fuji, has begun welcoming guests from across the country. Until recently, the park was open only to residents of Yamanashi Prefecture.
In Tokyo, Johnny Angel, a nightclub in Edogawa Ward, has also reopened in a limited way. The venue normally seats up to 70 guests, but for now it will take a maximum of 15. A plastic sheet now hangs between the stage and the seats to reduce the risk of transmission.
In Tokyo's upscale Ginza district, hostess bars are back in action. True to the neighborhood's reputation for top-notch service, one of such bars has set up multiple air purifiers and fans to ensure good ventilation. Customers are required to have their temperatures checked at the entrance, wear masks at all times and wear covers on their shoes.
The relaxed rules mean events such as concerts can take place if there are no more than 1,000 guests. But the Nippon Professional Baseball league will hold its first game of the season on Friday without spectators.
Abe said at a news conference on Thursday that normal life can resume, so long as people observe basic social-distancing rules. Technology is also expected to play a part in keeping new cases under control. On Friday, the health ministry rolled out a contact tracing app called Cocoa, which is similar to the TradeTogether app used in Singapore but with more robust privacy features.
Like TraceTogether, Cocoa uses Bluetooth signals to keep a record of people who have been within 1 meter of the user for 15 minutes or longer. Users can notify other people on the app if they become infected with the coronavirus. Cocoa can be downloaded for free from the Google and Apple app stores.
Cocoa stores contact data for 14 days, after which it is automatically deleted. The data is kept on the user's smartphone, rather than with the government, as in Singapore. No data is gathered that is traceable to specific individuals, such as names, phone numbers or location data.
The app will be effective if it is used by 60% of the population, the government says.
"If we are able to quickly isolate people who come into contact with those who are infected, a lockdown will be unnecessary," Abe said. "Please rest assured. This app doesn't collect private information. So please go ahead and download the app," Abe said at the news conference.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Japan-reopens-for-business-pinning-hopes-on-tracing-app

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9723154.html
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According to The Asahi Shimbun, Japanese major clothing retailer Uniqlo opened its new flagship store called “Uniqlo Tokyo” in Tokyo’s fashionable Ginza district on June 19.
The Uniqlo store was originally located on the seventh floor of the mall Marronnier Gate Ginza 2, but has moved to occupy the first four floors of the building and gone through extensive renovations.
The sales floor area has markedly increased by about three times in size, now covering about 5,000 square meters.
The store’s new look is designed to reveal the other floors and show off the four-story ceiling. The design features exposed beams made of reinforced concrete.
The clothing store was previously only selling women’s clothing, but since the refit it now also sells clothing for men and children, as well as bedding.
“The store has cutting-edge sales floors,” said Tadashi Yanai, chairman and president of Fast Retailing Co., which operates Uniqlo, at a recent news conference.
“I would like the store to enjoy prosperity,” he said, adding he hopes it will serve as a symbol of “resurgence” from the novel coronavirus outbreak and “help revive Japan.”

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/13471661

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https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9142115.html
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According to The Australian Financial Review, the country's biggest office landlord, ASX-listed Dexus, is forging into the post-pandemic office market, lodging plans for a $2.1 billion twin-tower project on the Brisbane riverfront.
The proposed transformation of the Eagle Street Pier and Waterfront Place has been long awaited, as Dexus honed plans for two towers of 49 and 43 floors along with riverfront dining, retail outlets and public plazas.
The two towers will deliver a combined 120,000 square metres of office space. Another key feature will be the widened and upgraded Riverwalk for pedestrians and cyclists.
"The project's scale and central riverfront location will firmly establish Waterfront Brisbane as a world-class destination and is set to reshape the daily experience of the many people who visit and work there," said Dexus chief investment officer Ross Du Vernet.

https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/dexus-sets-up-on-brisbane-riverfront-20200617-p553h9

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7703523.html 
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