Social distancing needs from covid19 have driven forth a new range of service-oriented robots that are now showing up in Japan. You can find the full column here at business-japan.jp. 

Traditionally Japan has often been perceived as a”Robot Nation”. The country is a world leader of especially industrial robots and maintains being the largest exporter. If you have ever had the opportunity to walk through a Japanese manufacturing plant, you’ve likely seen a range of robots working there, mainly for industrial assembly and logistics. The background of using robots in factories has been to automatize and free blue-collar workers from tough physical work. Robots can easily do simple assembly work and also more physically dangerous tasks, such as transporting heavy items.

In recent years, robotics projects have increased globally and caused a great boost in demand for robots. Robots have helped boost efficiency in product lines for decades, and are constantly evolving and this progress leads to the new value being created in a great variety of fields. The coronavirus situation has pushed through a new wave of service robots that emerge from the confines of factories to handle disinfection, transportation, and other essential tasks necessary to maintain safety and social distancing.

Walking down a subway station in Tokyo, you might run into PATORO, which is an unmanned security robot, armed with a disinfectant spray. This robot was developed by the robotics company ZMP, after the need to disinfect public spaces exploded. “The public health crisis has created a demand for service robots that allow for reduced human contact…” says Taniguchi, CEO of ZMP. PATPRO is one of many new autonomous robots in the so-called “Anti-corona-virus Robot Squad”, which also features delivery robots and self-driving vehicles.

Another example is Mira Robotics, with its “Ugo” robot that kills viruses on handles and elevator buttons with ultraviolet light, all while it conducts standard cleaning chores. The robot was originally designed to handle maintenance and security work at office buildings.

Firms from the US and China are also racing to invent service robots to satisfy needs from many sectors such as healthcare, security and entertainment, and more. Japan has been no exception. COVID19 pandemic has led to numerous companies now combining cutting edge technology offering their services to protect society and battle against the virus.

Except for manufacturing and the above-mentioned applications, robots in Japan are also used in aeronautics, welfare, or disaster investigation/rescue, and many other areas. The global demand for service robots has increased by 24% since 2015 and the market size is expected to reach ~$35 billion by 2020.

Earlier this week, the United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, strongly urged Japan and other wealthy nations to abolish the need for coal and fossil fuels as the primary energy source. You can find the full column on green energy in Japan here at business-japan.jp. 

The Paris Agreement went into effect in November 2016 with the central goal to counter climate change by limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To achieve this, Japan’s ratio of renewable energy must be at least 50% by 2030, according to a report by the Asia Investors Group.

In reality, the country is still dependent on coal and gas for power generation, so there is a need to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel. In 2017, renewable energy represented only 7.6% (11% including hydroelectricity) of the country’s total power generation, whereas the dependency on coal and fossil fuels (Oil/Gas) was a whopping 87.4%. This isn’t so strange, given that coal power, which currently supplies about a third of Japan’s power is expected to continue being the cheap option. So there is still a long way to go.

There are now several initiatives to counter this and Japan is joining the global cause to help avoid disastrous climate change. Ever since the Fukushima nuclear accident, Japan has steadily transitioned more into renewable power generation. METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) suggested in July to review Japan’s power mix starting next year with a focus on reducing carbon dioxide.

Solar power in Japan has been growing since the 1990s and the country is now a leading maker of photovoltaics (PV). Japan’s largest onshore wind farm has now also started its operations. For example the Tsugaru wind farm which stretches out over 12 km by the coast in Aomori prefecture and has a capacity for 122MW. This is expected to power over 90,000 households with renewable energy. Investments at the size of about $100 billion in solar and wind power are expected in Japan between 2020 and 2030. This would exceed Japan’s internal goal of 24% and reach about 27% of the renewable energy mix. The increase in investments will likely also be followed by a steadily decrease in cost for energy generation for solar and wind in Japan.

Besides solar and wind power, Japan also recently announced its hydrogen strategy. The plan is to have about 200,000 fuel cell vehicles within five years and up to 800,000 by 2030. This is compared to only 4,000 today. The challenge is that generating “green” hydrogen is 2-4 times more expensive than creating gas from fossil fuels.

The mysteries of space have always fascinated me since I was a young boy. I’m happy to have learned that Japan is also quite active in this sector. In July, I’ll quickly give an example of what is happening in the rocket industry in Japan. You can find the full column here at business-japan.jp. 

Earlier in July, the spacecraft “HOPE” was launched from Japan. This also marks the first time Japan has launched a vehicle to Mars.

The Mars orbiter probe was developed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to develop its science and technology. Since Hope is an orbiter, the probe will not land, but orbit Mars for 687 days, gathering data on how the weather and atmosphere of the planet change over time.

The launch was conducted from the JAXA facility Tanegashima Space Center, which is the largest rocket-launch facility in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries launched the “H-IIA” rocket for the 32nd time without incident. The 53-meter long rocket is Japan’s primary large-scale launch vehicle, said to have one of the world’s highest performance to cost ratios in the world.

Hope is expected to reach Mars by February 2021 and can be seen as a rehearsal for Japan’s Martian Moons Exploration mission in 2024. This is a future robotic space probe, set to bring back samples from Mars’s largest moon Phobos.

“Unemployment is skyrocketing” is a quote many people probably heard these last months. Now how is Japan holding up? In June, I’ll quickly touch on the topic of Japan’s unemployment status. The full column can be found at business-japan.jp. 

The global pandemic has without doubt brought destruction to many economies. In the U.S. for example, unemployment spiked to almost 13% in May, the highest level since the Great Depression.

However, in the case of Japan, the numbers have barely moved. Salaries and working hours have also remained stable. Does this mean that the rest of the economy remains untouched? Recent numbers from the first quarter indicate a decline of about 2% vs last year. It seems that a combination of cultural and demographic factors has made Japan resilient.

As the author of this short text, I’ve also been quite fortunate myself, being able to relax and take time off work during shutdown days. I’ve also been working remotely since the middle of April. My employer, a large international company, committed to paying an allowance of 80-90% of the salary for “Fushugyo” or shutdown days. This has been possible due to the company taking advantage of the Japanese government subsidies…

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This month I’ll make a quick introduction to Japan’s new rules for foreign investments. I recently published a short article for Z’Xent Pro, which is running business-japan.jp.

Last year, Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, approved an update to the foreign exchange law. It will strengthen the control of foreign investment in companies, and the rules will apply to about 400-500 of Japan’s over 3800 listed companies, which are connected to specific sectors of national security.

The background to the revision is to prevent influence from abroad in important companies and therefor strengthen national security. Last November, the Japan diet updated the “Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act” to lower the bar of the shareholding ratio of listed companies from 10% to the much lower 1 % threshold. The sectors include oil and other utilities, nuclear power, weapons, cyber-security, telecommunications, and railways…

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