26th Sept - UKTI Mission to Japan; Trains, British Embassy and first business meetngs

We offered the delegates the (easy) option of taking taxis to the British Embassy or the opportunity to navigate the train / subway system in Tokyo and it was a unanimous decision to take the trains! So we navigated our way to the British Embassy with 10 people and successfully made it intact.  Following a morning of briefing sessions at the British Embassy the delegates headed out to start the individual meetings with Japanese companies. Would everyone make it to every meeting?, would the Japanese companies respond positively? ......... reports and updates coming ...

Sept 26th - UKTI Mission to Japan - First taste of Japanese food

After a quick freshen up and time to relax at the hotel on Sunday afternoon the mission delegates headed  out for dinner at a local Izakaya Japanese restaurant.  There were smiles all round as the sushi, sashimi, tempura, noodles, tofu, tamago, yasai and sakana lined the table ....... and of course the odd beer and sake or two (as a night cap!).  It was then back to the hotel for an early night and a chance to charge up the batteries for a busy week ahead!

Sept 25th - UKTI Mission to Japan - delegates start arriving

Warm sunshine greeted delegates from East Midlands companies as they arrived in Japan this morning following long night flights from the UK. Seven people have now arrived in Japan looking to do business and a further 5 will follow over the coming week. Ian Morrison of UKTI East Midlands was the first to arrive, looking remarkably bright and breezy as he entered the arrivals hall at Narita International airport Tokyo.  The award for longest journey went to Mairi and Aidan from DeMontfort University who arrived almost 24 hours after leaving home due to a 3 hour wait on the tarmac during a changeover in Paris!  The group gathered and moved on to the hotel in Tokyo for a freshen up before heading out for a team dinner and the first taste of Japanese food.

Sept 25th - Keio University demonstrate Touchable 3D Character Projected Into a Real Environment

RePro3D, developed by a research group at Keio University, is a multi-perspective, naked eye 3D display in which viewers can touch a 3D character floating in midair.
The touchable 3D display is a combination of three elements. A mechanically-controlled model environment, a tactile interface and a glasses-free 3D integral imaging display.
“We use retro-reflective projection technology, using materials with special retro-reflective characteristics. This kind of material reflects light that enters back at the same angle it entered. Using this technology enables a display to show images at a different place from the light source.”
The input interface uses an infrared camera to recognize the movements of the user’s hand, and the character on screen reacts to the movements instantly. They are currently developing a system which can replicate the sensation of directly touching the image by having the user wear a tactile feedback device on their finger.
“There are many attractive characters in animations and games, but since those characters only exist within the screen, it feels a little lonely, and so we built this image display because we wanted to bring those characters into our real-world 3D space to play.”
Using past methods to display 3D images, it was hard to perfectly match the positions and images users were touching on the 3D display. But with this technology, it feels like you are touching the exact spot as you see it. In the future, they plan to build a touchable 3D display system that expands the size of the visible image, so that multiple people can be in the same space, and can share the same image.

Sept 25th - NTT DoCoMo unveils smartphone radiation 'jacket'

Japan’s top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo on Thursday unveiled a smartphone with changeable “jackets” that measure bad breath, body fat and even radiation levels.

DoCoMo says it has developed technology that allows users to measure their own bodies or surroundings by slipping their smartphones inside sensor-embedded shells.

The company will showcase the technology at the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, a fair featuring the latest in high-end gadgetry, starting in early October near Tokyo.

“Many customers have been nervous about radiation since the Great East Japan Earthquake,” DoCoMo spokesman Daisuke Sakuma told AFP, referring to the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami of March 11 that sparked a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima atomic plant.

“We had been thinking what services we can provide to address these customer needs as a telecom carrier.”

The tsunami knocked out cooling systems at Fukushima Daiichi, sparking meltdowns that sent radioactive materials into the air, soil and sea.

Worries over the health implications of the leak, which is still not plugged, have sent demand for radiation-measuring devices soaring in Japan.

DoCoMo will show off three kinds of “jacket” for use with a model of smartphone loaded with the appropriate software.

As well as radiation, the company said it would also demonstrate a case that determines if the holder has bad breath or smells of alcohol as well as checking levels of skin-damaging ultraviolet light.

A third case, dubbed the “health management” jacket, will measure body fat and muscle bulk

Sept 25th - 'Smart cities' bring high-tech green energy projects to devastated areas

Plans to rebuild many areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake as environmentally friendly "smart cities" are being explored by corporations and municipal governments.

By promoting large-scale projects that include power-generation facilities utilizing renewable energy and smart grids, the plans are also meant to create jobs. Some companies and local governments have already started working together on these projects.

Major electronics manufacturer Toshiba Corp. has proposed an integrated system, with facilities ranging from power generation and water-treatment systems to "smart meter" next-generation power meters, to some local governments.

An official of the company's smart community division said, "In the future, [we want] to export technologies created domestically."

Hitachi, Ltd. is considering ways to transport electricity generated at its factory in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, to evacuation centers by buses equipped with storage batteries in the event of a disaster.

Plans to construct mega solar power plants are also under way. Mitsui & Co., Ltd. is considering building a mega solar power plant on quake-hit vacant land, and SoftBank Corp. has established an organization to promote cooperation with local governments across the country.

Local governments in quake-hit areas are eager to restore their infrastructure by introducing smart city and mega solar power projects.

Rikuzen-Takata in Iwate Prefecture is considering a mega solar and large-scale power storage system in collaboration with Ofunato and Sumitacho in the prefecture. The plan aims to build a smart city and create jobs, according to an official at the Rikuzen-Takata municipal government.

Sendai is also considering a plan to build a solar power plant on devastated farmland in the city and run food processing facilities with electricity from the plant.

However, the plans being considered by companies and local governments are based on the precondition that the use of farmland will be deregulated and tax breaks will be available.

The central government's support and encouragement of companies and local governments are indispensable for the restoration of devastated areas.

Sept 25th - Elpida plans to move part of production to Taiwan

Elpida Memory, Inc. announced Thursday it would transfer up to 40 percent of the production capacity at its Hiroshima plant to its subsidiary in Taiwan, in response to the extremely strong yen and rapid deterioration of the market.

Elpida, the world's third-largest manufacturer of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips, said it was considering incrementally transferring the production capacity at its plant in Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, to its cost-competitive subsidiary Rexchip Electronics Corp. in Taiwan.

The Hiroshima plant will focus on products for smartphones.

Elpida said it would maintain employment by transferring affected workers within the Elpida group.

Moves to transfer production and other operation bases overseas are accelerating among manufacturers, whose business environment is deteriorating due to the high appreciation of the yen.

Panasonic Corp. plans to transfer part of its parts procurement and distribution functions to Singapore in the first half of fiscal 2012, sources said Thursday.

The sources said Panasonic will transfer about 20 of the 120 employees of its procurement and distribution headquarters in Osaka to Singapore. A base in Singapore will serve as a center for parts procurement abroad.

Panasonic also will reduce the number of companies from which it procures parts to about 10,000, down 40 percent from the current level of about 18,000, in fiscal 2012. The company aims to cut annual costs by about 60 billion yen through a central purchasing system, the sources said.

Sep 25th - Docomo smartphone app translates menus

NTT Docomo Inc. has released a free smartphone application that translates English, Chinese and Korean restaurant menus into Japanese in a split second.

The software will be available free of charge until Jan. 16. The company will collect user feedback to help improve the technology for future commercial use.

Users train the smartphone's camera on a restaurant menu, and the text is automatically translated in about 0.2 seconds. The translated text appears on the smartphone screen.

The software can be downloaded from the Android Market online store, and can be used on smartphones with Google Inc.'s Android operating system, version 2.1 or later. Docomo plans to develop the technology to also provide instant translations of signboards, product packaging and other written information.

Sep 25th - Rakuten invests £25M to acquire Play.com

A Japanese internet service company is buying e-commerce website Play.com – which employs 200 people in Histon, Cambridge

Rakuten is paying £25 million for the Jersey-based firm, which has a total of 500 staff, including the people at Vision Park, Histon.

It’s the company’s third acquisition in Europe – it bought French e-commerce pioneer PriceMinister last year and German online shopping mall Tadoria earlier this year.

It now operates e-commerce businesses in 10 countries around the world, including Japan.

“The UK market is one of Europe’s largest and most mature e-commerce markets,” said Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and chief executive of Rakuten.

“Play.com is not only a pioneer in the market but also one of the UK’s most successful e-commerce businesses.

“We aim to leverage our e-commerce strength and experience to further expand and develop Play.com’s business model and channel its loyal user base, merchants and deep product offerings into Rakuten’s global e-commerce network.”