According To The Asahi Shimbun, an Osaka Institute of Technology research team developed a paint that produces heat from solar light, enabling remote places to be heated with surgical precision without using electricity or gas.
The team, headed by Shuji Fujii, a professor at the university, and Tomoyasu Hirai, an associate professor there, who both who specialize in polymer material, expect it can be applied for cooking on spacecraft, using the paint to absorb light that exists in space.
Materials that vacuum up light and convert it into heat already exist, but there weren't any that could be put into large-scale use.
The team paid particular attention to high molecular Poly 3 Hexylthiophene (P3HT), which conducts electricity. As it can be applied to coarse materials, it has been widely used for thin-film solar cells and transistors.
In the experiment, P3HT was created using chlorine ion as an impure substance.
When applying the paint to glass and exposing it to near infrared light (at 800 nanometers), which is also included in solar light, the temperature rose only at places where solar light was shed.
Only several seconds after shedding light, the temperature rose more than 500 degrees on the surface the paint was applied to.
The team also found they could control the paint's temperature. For example, when applying it in a thin layer, its temperature remained constant at 5 degrees.
​
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904010069.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5003946204 
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, the Opposition leader dubbed the cash splash on the cancer plan the most "important investment in Medicare since Bob Hawke created it".
Shorten pledged that if Labor wins the election, six million cancer scans over four years, including MRIs, will be paid for. Further, three million appointments with specialists, like oncologists, will also be covered.

Here is the summary:

Coalition
• $1.1 billion lift in primary care funding, and $309 million boost to imaging.
• Indexation freeze to be lifted for a further 113 GP items on Medicare.
• Commonwealth website created where specialists outline costs.

Labor
• $2.3 billion Medicare cancer plan over four years.
• All drugs recommended by experts will list on PBS.
• $600 million spent to cover all out-of-pocket costs for diagnostic imaging.

https://www.afr.com/business/health/health-sector-winners-no-matter-who-takes-the-election-20190403-p51ahu

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3858247
​

According to The Asahi Shimbun, cashless purchases of items automatically scanned by a robot, dozens of surveillance cameras to prevent theft, and nary a staff member in sight and all you need to do is show your face.
Leading convenience store chain FamilyMart Co. started testing face-recognition payment technology at a newly opened outlet in Yokohama.
With many chains struggling to fill staff shortages, urgent measures are necessary to create shops that can operate 24/7 with fewer staff members.
“What we have to do right now is save on labor and staff. We are looking at all possibilities,” said Takashi Sawada, president of FamilyMart.
FamilyMart Saedo, opened as a test outlet, includes a partitioned space separate from the normal retail area, with no staff stationed there.
The outlet introduced face-recognition technology developed by Panasonic Corp., which has a factory located nearby.
Currently, only Panasonic employees whose faces were registered in advance can use the face-recognition camera to open the wicket and enter the partitioned space.
When desired items are put in the center of the checkout, the price is automatically calculated and the money is withdrawn from a user's pre-registered credit card.
No fewer than 80 security cameras and infrared radiation sensors are installed in the general shopping area to detect customer movements and the number of products on shelves.
The information is displayed on screens held by staff members and alerts them if certain goods run out, or if the restroom needs to be cleaned.
The system is expected to save on labor for checking out items, as well as avoid missing sales opportunities owing to products being sold out.
FamilyMart will use the test outlet to check how operating efficiency is improved and decide whether to expand the system to other outlets.
Rival Seven-Eleven Japan Co. teamed up with NEC Corp. for its face-recognition system, which it is testing at an outlet in an NEC office building.
​
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904030061.html

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

According to The Asahi Shimbun, an army of Amazon Japan robot discs briskly hauled tall shelves stacked with items across the firm's warehouse floor in Japan.
The online retail giant installed the orange robots to accelerate efficiency in receiving items arriving at its warehouse and shipping them out to customers.
Touting its high-tech distribution Amazon robotics system, which began full-scale operations in April, the Japanese arm of U.S.-based Amazon.com Inc. opened its cutting-edge distribution base to media representatives on the day.
It is the firm's second such facility in Japan following one it operates in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture.
The slim robots, which resemble Roomba robot vacuums, glide automatically through the warehouse on wheels at a speed of 1.7 meters per second. They were upgraded to carry items of up to about 567 kilograms, over 200 kg more than those in the Kawasaki warehouse, a move the firm says paid off in increased efficiency.
People working with the robots don't need to memorize the whereabouts of items since the robotics system also manages the warehouse shelves.
Staff stay in a designated spot and follow instructions on a monitor, retrieving items from the shelves the robots bring over, and stowing them in containers to be shipped.
In contrast to traditional warehouse operations, no specific shelves are allocated to particular items. The system links items and available shelves as they arise.
The space the shelf-carrying robots move around in is off-limits for humans and partitioned off by a fence, which ensures safety, the company said.
​
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201904050032.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2117742
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, with both the Coalition and the Labor party pledging to spend billions of dollars on new road and rail projects around Australia as well as schools and hospitals, infrastructure and transport companies will be well-positioned whichever party wins the election.
Unlike several years ago, when the Coalition favoured road over rail projects, both parties are now firmly committed to funding more rail lines to take cars off roads and ease congestion, helping people move around more quickly.
But there is one key difference: the Coalition wants to put money into fast regional rail links with trains running at about 160 kilometres per hour, including a tunnel through the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Parkes, and create a National Faster Rail Agency.
Labor disagrees with the fast rail plan (which does not yet have cost estimates), and instead wants to set up a High Speed Rail Authority to build even faster trains that would run at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra at an estimated cost of $114 billion.
​
https://www.afr.com/business/infrastructure/boomtime-for-infrastructure-investors-20190404-p51asc

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4286198 
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan will seek to increase the development of talent proficient in artificial intelligence to 250,000 people a year, up from just a few thousand today.
All students enrolled in universities and technical schools will be mandated to take a beginner AI course, based on a draft proposal released at a cabinet-level innovation panel.
With about 600,000 post-secondary graduates per year, the goal is to have 250,000 of them possessing advanced AI expertise. The number would include 120,000 science and technology majors and 60,000 health science majors from four-year colleges. Another 70,000 liberal arts majors, representing 17% of the 420,000 students in that field, would round out the total.
The growing prevalence of "internet of things" technology -- where devices and systems are linked and able to share information -- and big data increasingly make AI expertise crucial in developing products and finding new business opportunities.
"The talent will extend across the sciences and the arts," said Osamu Sudoh, a professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in informatics. "If 1,000 top, world-class talent is produced out of 100,000 people, Japan will raise its competitive advantage."
Only 2,800 students currently complete master's degrees in AI research, according to a government task force. The 250,000-per-year target may seem like a high bar, but that is the level necessary to ease the labor shortage for AI experts, with the gap expected to reach 300,000 by the end of 2020.
"If college and technical students learn data science, they may apply AI to sales and projects once they start working," said Koji Kono at Mizuho Information & Research Institute.
These efforts will go hand in hand with measures being taken in academia and the private sector. Shiga University, which established Japan's first department of data science in 2017, will offer a master's degree program starting next month. Out of the 23 people due to enter, 80% will be working adults sent by businesses.
Insurance provider Sompo Holdings has offered an AI training program for people both inside and outside the company since 2017. The three-month courses are held twice a year, and have produced 100 graduates, some of whom are recruited by the company.
Not only does Persol Career match data scientists and AI technologists with employers, the staffing company also offers an educational program for talent on its roster.
A number of barriers stand in the way of freshly minting 250,000 AI experts every year, however, with one being securing enough teachers.
"The market rate [for AI educators] has soared over the past decade," said Yuki Matsumoto, chief technology officer at DMM.com, an e-commerce and internet company. "If you don't provide them the remuneration at or above what they'll receive in the private sector, it will be difficult to secure AI talent for the classrooms."
Japanese data scientists make up to 12 million yen (US$ 109,000) a year, according to British staffing agency Hays. That is less than the 1 million yuan (US$ 148,000) earned in China, and the 180,000 Singaporean dollars ($133,000) in Singapore.
And salaries for educators are lower still. The average Japanese high school teacher makes 4.32 million yen annually, while the figure rises to 5.52 million for college instructors, government data suggests. The lopsided demand from businesses could limit the number of AI instructors available to teach college students.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-aims-to-produce-250-000-AI-experts-a-year

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/ai-25

According to The Australian Financial Review, Caltex Australia is driving up its investment in technologies including petrol payment apps and automatic number plate recognition that could bill drivers without them having to leave their cars.
The chain's chief information officer Viv Da Ros said three million Australians use Caltex each week, but it needed to focus on a growing demand for convenience and rethink how it engages with drivers to increase loyalty.
Mr Da Ros said he hoped the number plate technology would eventually be rolled into a monthly bill so drivers would no longer have to pay each time they fill up.
​
https://www.afr.com/technology/apps/caltex-goes-hitech-to-change-how-we-buy-petrol-20190322-h1coa5

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/4816186 
​

According to The Nikkei Asian Review, Japan is becoming a nation of carnivores, as consumption of beef and other types of meat continues to rise amid changing lifestyles. Japanese today eat nearly 20% more meat per person than they did just two decades ago.
As the country's hunger for meat rises, steak restaurants are raking in money. Yakiniku joshikai, in which women gather in groups to wolf down Korean-style barbecue, are a common sight.
Yet, even as demand for beef has grown, domestic production has shrunk, partly because the country's livestock producers are aging, making expansion difficult. Domestic meat production now satisfies only around half the country's demand, raising concerns about food security and the future of the livestock industry.
The growing taste for meat is not unique to Japan. In China, beef consumption has risen 70% over the past 20 years as the country has become richer. Its imports of beef have jumped a hundredfold over the period.
Demand for beef is also rising in countries such as India and Brazil. China and India are the world's two most populous countries. Brazil is No. 5.
Back in Japan, the latest "food balance sheet" published by the agriculture ministry shows meat consumption totaled 89.7 grams per person per day in the fiscal year ended March 2018, up 17.6% from 20 years earlier.
Consumption of fish and shellfish continued to decline during the same period, tumbling 34.7% to 66.7 grams. Meat overtook fish and shellfish in terms of consumption volume in the year ended March 2012. Rice and other grain consumption also dropped 11.7% versus 20 years earlier to 243.2 grams.
The trend toward higher meat consumption is also clear from the latest household income and expenditure survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. While average monthly household spending fell by 40,000 yen ($363) from 20 years earlier to 287,000 yen in 2018, spending on meat climbed by just over 400 yen during the same period to 7,400 yen.
Changing lifestyles are driving the shift to a more meat-heavy diet. There are more single-person households, the population is aging and more women are working outside the home. There is a growing preference for meat because it is easier for busy people to prepare than fish: Convenience stores offer a variety of prepared meat dishes that people can buy and serve with little or no cooking. More and more barbecue restaurants are opening where people can grab a quick bite on their way home from work.
Domestic producers cannot keep up with surging demand. Japan's meat production rose 8.6% in the year ended March 2018, compared with 20 years earlier, to 3.3 million tons, only about half as fast as the 17.3% rise in demand during the same period. Domestically produced meat met 80% of demand in volume terms in 1985, versus 50% now.
Domestic beef production is in a particularly serious slump, falling 10% in the last two decades. Cattle breeding operations are generally small and the number of beef cattle farms has plummeted 60% from 20 years earlier to 48,000.
Imports are making up the shortfall. Last year alone they rose 6.0% on the year, exceeding 600,000 tons for the first time in 17 years, according to Agriculture & Livestock Industries, an independent administrative agency.
Frozen beef imports into Japan have also surged since the beginning of 2019 as tariffs were lowered under the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact. Although cheaper beef is good news for consumers, it is unclear whether prices will stay low, given rising consumption in other parts of the world.
If the global meat supply tightens, prices could rise, or supplies run short. In response, the Japanese government has earmarked more than 300 billion yen in its fiscal 2018 supplementary budget and its initial fiscal 2019 budget plan to boost the livestock industry.
Among the steps it is taking are programs for intensive management and raising of calves and breeding cows at communal facilities, and encouraging the introduction of information technology to assist with pregnancies and deliveries.
Japan's livestock industry policy has so far largely focused on protecting domestic producers as imports have expanded. But unless the policy shifts to enhancing the industry's competitiveness, there may be a backlash from consumers over supply shortages or higher prices.
​
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Japan-is-hungry-for-meat-but-domestic-producers-aren-t-feasting

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-2026

According to The Asahi Shimbun, Japanese researchers developed a way to produce induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells with a lower risk of rejection, overcoming a major obstacle to the clinical application of regenerative medicine.
A team headed by Akitsu Hotta, a junior associate professor at Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), used genome editing technology to change the structure of genes to create safer iPS cells.
The findings were published in the U.S. scientific journal Cell Stem Cell on March 8.
Although using donor blood of third-party individuals results in cheaper and faster iPS cell production, the procedure poses a higher risk of immune rejection after transplantation.
As such, it remains a major challenge to overcome for the practical application of regenerative medicine based on iPS cells.
The researchers said the new technique could enable iPS cells matching a larger number of patients to be produced more easily.
Researchers found that certain subsets of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) work as a marker in the immune system for killer T cells--a type of immune cell--to decide whether to attack certain cells while other HLA subsets signal for natural killer (NK) cells--another type of immune cell--to stop attacks.
The researchers edited genome in iPS cells so that HLA subsets that activate killer T cells will be destroyed while part of other HLA subsets that inhibit NK cells will remain.
The team then turned the treated cells into blood cells to be tested in vitro or in mice, and discovered that the iPS-derived cells could evade attack by killer T and NK cells, resulting in a lower possibility of rejection.
The CiRA is now working to develop and store iPS cells from blood samples provided by individuals with HLA types that are less likely to cause rejection. While 140 HLA types are needed to provide safe iPS cells for 90 percent of Japanese, it remains unclear when this goal can be achieved.
The team said the newly developed method will allow only seven HLA types to cover 95 percent of Japanese. It also estimates that 12 HLA types will be sufficient to treat a majority of people of different races.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201903310005.html

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/ips9407005 
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, packing costs at the centre are half the cost of store selection, and mistakes are rare – order accuracy is 98.8 per cent – almost eliminating the need for vans to deliver replacements.
When Ocado opened the Erith CFC last May, among the scores of guests checking out the facility was a team from Coles, led by Alister Jordan, chief executive of Coles Online and Coles Express.
Coles was on a two-year global mission to find the best way to make its fast-growing online grocery business profitable.
Coles' online sales grew 30 per cent last year and will crack the $1 billion mark this year, but the business is yet to break even.
After 18 months of negotiations, Coles signed a long-term deal with Ocado  this week to use its so-called "smart platform" technology, which gives the supermarket access to the bee-hive fulfilment technology, a new online grocery website and home-delivery solutions, including last-mile routing – getting goods to their final destination.
​
https://www.afr.com/business/retail/the-robots-coming-to-choose-your-groceries-20190328-p518dk

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/3304542 
​