Japan Green Technology Update—Isn’t it true that Japan is a tech powerhouse? In the end, it’s a place where robots and computer games and all kinds of gadgets can be found.
However, another side to the story is Japan’s low-tech culture. However, whereas most of the world uses email to communicate, our Japanese colleagues still use fax machines. While the rest of the world relies on digital signatures, the old Japanese practice of ‘Hanko,’ or personal red seal stamps, is still practiced. Foreign visitors, especially those from China, are surprised to learn that cash still plays a significant role in consumer purchases in the United States.
While Japan watchers have long mused about the country’s preference for low-tech, “the pandemic showed flaws as households, firms, and the government struggled to make use of digital technology,” according to a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Many of my Tokyo coworkers have been racing to the office to pick up faxes or stamp documents throughout the Covid-19 waves.
Japan Green Technology Update: Japan stands to gain a great deal by accelerating the digitalization of public service delivery.
The government’s use of digital tools is surprisingly low in a country that has played a vital role in economic progress. According to the OECD, fewer than 10% of people in developing nations use the internet to submit completed forms to government websites, compared to an average of 30% in G7 countries.
Hopefully, the recent move to establish Japan’s public sector Digital Agency would inspire other government areas to follow its lead in recent Japan green technology update. After all, citizens’ lives are increasingly influenced by the workings of the government. State institutions in an aging culture frequently handle social security and medical and long-term care for the elderly. Citizens in this country beset by natural disasters, particularly in light of Covid-19, need to be connected to government information and aid services.
Japan stands to gain a great deal by accelerating the digitalization of public service delivery. For starters, digitalization might help reduce Japan’s massive public debt, which presently stands at 240 percent of GDP, the highest in the OECD. According to the most recent OECD assessment, government debt might reach 260% of GDP by 2050 if no action is taken.
Japan Green Technology Update: Technology in Agriculture
Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization develops technology that predicts where insects will fly to zap them down with lasers.
By 2025, NARO hopes to have a marketable product thanks to a partnership with the business sector.
Insecticide resistance and hazardous chemicals in modern farming could be alleviated by implementing the new technique.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the global demand for food will increase by 70 percent by 2050 because of population growth. However, the development of world cereal production has halted due to global warming and significant pest blights. Pests rob the world’s food supply of roughly 16% of its total output.
As insecticide resistance grows, the effectiveness of chemical pesticides decreases. Agricultural compounds created over a significant amount of time and money have been rendered obsolete. Using a lot of chemicals is bad for the environment at the same time. NARO’s pest control unit is led by Masaya Matsumura, who creates a laser system for more environmentally friendly pest management.
However, the technology isn’t quite ready for daily usage yet in recent Japan green technology update. Cameras are used to take images of insects and establish their location for shooting. As quick as it is, a moving insect will be missed if this method is used.
Researchers have come up with a way to anticipate the flight routes of insects to solve the problem. Spodoptera litura, a significant pest in Asia known as the cotton leafworm or tobacco cutworm, is one possible target for these efforts. This nocturnal moth’s larval form hosts include soya, cabbage, and strawberry, among other vegetables and fruits. Researchers have been utilizing a technology that predicts flying cotton leafworm trajectories to shoot them down. Cameras with two or more lenses and an image sensor that mimics binocular vision are required in recent Japan green technology update.
Mops can fly from 6-9 centimeters in just 0.03 seconds. They’re pretty fast! After sensing movement, the system accurately forecasts an insect’s direct flight route to within 1.4 centimeters. The laser beam has a good chance of striking the flying cotton leafworm, around 2-3 cm long.
The autumn armyworm could also be a target. This pest’s larvae feed on various plants, including economically critical cultivated grasses like maize, causing significant damage.
Desert locusts, which decimate crops, pastures, and trees in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and India, may also benefit from the system’s use.
In Japan green technology update, recent computer calculations estimate that one laser could kill 300 bugs each minute. According to the researchers, a drone outfitted with the system is expected to perform optimally in the field tests, which are scheduled to begin in 2022.
Japan Green Technology Update: Going Sustainable
“New capitalism” could be unleashed by Japan’s prime minister, who has devised an ambitious economic strategy.
On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio called for a new form of liberal democratic capitalism that placed greater emphasis on effective communication between governments, businesses, and workers. According to a speech he gave to corporate and government leaders in recent Japan green technology update, by investing in green technology, digitization, and human capital, Fumio plans to revolutionize Japan’s economy.
“Japan’s regeneration through a new type of capitalism” is one of Fumio’s top priorities.
A former prime minister’s economic policies are primarily to blame for Japan’s financial woes, including climate change, a social revolution, expanding wealth divides, and rising poverty rates. According to Fumio’s strategy, renewable energy, technology, and equality will contribute to economic progress. Due to a dwindling middle class and unexpected geopolitical and geoeconomic pressures, he added, “Democracy is in jeopardy.” Japan should be “revitalized,” according to this idea of what it should look like.
During the same period, nominal earnings in Japan only increased by 1.2 percent, while the average household’s wealth decreased by 3.5 percent. The combined wealth of Japan’s 50 wealthiest families increased by 48 percent to $249 billion alone in 2020.
Abenomics, a series of economic policies implemented by Japan’s former prime leader Shinzo Abe, has contributed to the polarization. Shigeto Nagai, head of Japan economics at Oxford Economics, said the policies have failed to increase household wealth. Fumio stressed in his speech on Tuesday that the moment has come for “historic economic and social transformations.”
According to Fumio, we’ve relied too heavily on competition and self-regulation to rein in market excesses. We can’t go on like this. In recent Japan green technology update and according to his vision, Japan will take the lead in the green transition, and Fumio claims that the country’s investment in green technologies will more than treble in the next several years. In addition, a new carbon pricing system will be implemented to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance Japan’s goal of becoming an Asian hub for carbon emissions trading.
As a carbon emitter, Japan is ranked fifth in the world. As a result of pressure from environmental groups and European countries, the government committed in 2021 to a 46 percent reduction in emission levels by 2030. Fumio believes that implementing intelligent grids, upgraded power and distribution networks and low-carbon energy sources such as solar and wind energy will contribute to the achievement of this goal.
Fumio adds another area of worry for Japan’s economic and social reformation in Japan’s approach to digitization. Japanese digital uptake has generally been slow, but he explained that COVID-19 had given them a leg up in their digitization efforts in recent Japan green technology update. Over the next two years, Japan’s government plans to spend extensively on next-generation networks, optical fiber, and 5G-related infrastructure, covering 90% of the country’s residents.
