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December 21, 2024
 

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Chisaki Watanabe
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 28, 2018
Battery boom: The future of cars rests with firms that predate the Model T
It took more than seven years for automakers to sell 4 million passenger electric vehicles. It'll take about six months to sell the next million.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2018
Taro Kono's clean energy critique in UAE speech fuels talk of Abe succession
Criticism by a Cabinet minister of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's energy policies may say more about his own political prospects than it does about the country's debate over clean power.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Nov 9, 2017
Japan's green energy incentives cast spotlight on controversial use of palm oil
What started as a way to cut Japan's dependence on imported fossil fuels has led to an expected surge in a different and equally controversial energy source: palm oil.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2017
82-year-old glassmaker Ohara eyes future in next-generation battery market
Ohara Inc. sees batteries playing a bigger role in its future.
BUSINESS
Sep 7, 2017
Want hydrogen with your fish? Japan eyes home delivery of clean fuel in rural north
Want a canister of clean energy to go with your basket of carrots and fresh fish?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 30, 2017
Elon Musk's battery demand boom lifts Japan's Tanaka Chemical
As Elon Musk pushes out from his California base to make electric vehicles ubiquitous, a Japanese firm deep in the depths of the battery supply chain is riding his wake.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 10, 2017
Next-generation battery seen powering space projects, cars
Researchers at an Osaka-based firm are closing in on a safer generation of batteries that could weather extreme temperatures in outer space.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 30, 2017
Japan's mega-banks vie for top role as backers of clean energy
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. are in a neck-and-neck race to be the biggest lead arrangers of lending to the renewable energy industry in the first half of the year, highlighting the more active financing role for Japanese banks in clean energy.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2017
Panasonic cranks up market exposure for home fuel of the future
Panasonic Corp. will begin selling its residential fuel cell systems in the U.K. and Austria this year as it seeks to solidify its lead in a product category that some see as a stepping stone to harnessing hydrogen as the fuel of the future.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 23, 2017
Japanese researchers, firms part of global effort to develop spray-on solar panels
Imagine a future when solar cells can be sprayed or printed onto the windows of skyscrapers or atop sport utility vehicles — and at prices potentially far cheaper than today's silicon-based panels.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2017
Japan makes big push for hydrogen fuel cells scorned by Elon Musk as impractical
Elon Musk may think hydrogen-powered vehicles are rubbish, but Toyota Motor Corp. and a cadre of Japan's leading manufacturers are betting otherwise — and not just on cars.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2017
J-Power aims to burn more natural gas and wood as Abe fights climate change
Japan's biggest electricity wholesaler knows it will take more than cutting-edge coal technology to save the environment.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2016
Holiday lights burn bright along Meguro River thanks to biodiesel fuel initiative
Organizers of an elaborate midwinter light display running until January along the Meguro River in downtown Tokyo, a popular cherry blossom viewing spot in spring, are going off the grid as a way to limit harm to the environment.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 20, 2016
Startup tests egg-beater-type wind turbine that can resist typhoons on Okinawa
With hurricanes threatening Florida and typhoons lashing Japan, a startup company working on the island of Okinawa is testing a wind turbine that could withstand winds that blow the blades off traditional machines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 25, 2016
Fukushima floating wind farm is Japan's entry into contested sector
Japan's ambition to lead in the development of floating wind turbines is facing stiff competition from rivals in Europe — most notably from France — as companies and governments press to lower costs and prove that the technology can rival other sources of clean energy.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jul 14, 2016
Sun no longer shines on Japan's solar boom as subsidies wane
Japan's solar boom is beginning to falter.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2016
Hitachi Zosen eyes M&A to beef up energy-from-waste business
Hitachi Zosen Corp., a Japanese builder of plants and bridges, is pursuing mergers and acquisitions as it seeks to strengthen its waste-to-energy plant business and expand to South Asia and the Middle East.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 24, 2016
First Energy taps biomass in Japan for market-leading gains
A little-known Tokyo-based company's commitment to biomass has made it a darling among investors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2016
Hot spring bathing tradition stymies Japan's clean energy ambitions
With centuries of tradition on their side, Japan's hordes of naked bathers remain unmoved by the island nation's bid to tap a rich reserve of power equivalent to about 20 nuclear reactors.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 14, 2016
Japan unswayed by pressure to end support for coal power
Faced with increasing calls from environmentalists to phase out coal, Japan is standing by its support of the fossil fuel, saying it will help developing countries adopt the best available technologies for coal-fired power plants.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
A year after going private, structural reforms bearing fruit for Toshiba
Toshiba's Corporate Senior Executive Vice President Koji Ikeya speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
Curiosity didn’t kill the meme: Why cats still rule Japanese YouTube
A screen shot from YouTube user @lagelda shows the simplicity of going viral in Japan in 2024: A cat dancing to EDM in front of a green screen.
With rare Asia carrier deployment, France seeks greater interoperability
The flight deck of the French Navy's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier during a stop at Changi Naval Base in Singapore in May 2019

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
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