August 2007

Cool Earth 50

Cool Earth 50

Addressing climate change was one of the principal themes at the G8 Heiligendamm Summit in June. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan made an important contribution to the debate, sharing with fellow G8 leaders his vision of a new international framework to counter global warming: Cool Earth 50. The Japan Journal’s Hitoshi Chiba reports. Additional commentary from Kyoto University Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi.

Global Warming:Action Now

Yoichi Kaya, vice president of the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), details some of the measures being taken in Japan and around the world to combat global warming.

Enhancing Energy Security

This September, Nobuo Tanaka takes up his elected post as executive director of the International Energy Agency. We asked him what work lies ahead.

Manufacturing Excellence:Three key perspectives

With a focus on world-leading environmental technologies, Ryu Arakawa explores the excellence of Japanese firms from three distinct perspectives.

Cleaner Coal

Japan is making rapid strides in the development of IGCC and IGFC clean coal technologies that once commercialized will increase coal's efficiency in power generation and reduce harmful emissions. The Japan Journal's Miki Kamahori reports.

Hydrogen on the Horizon

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is successfully developing a technology whereby the high temperature gas-cooled reactor is combined with the thermochemical water-splitting IS process in the mass-production of hydrogen. Shinji Kubo of the Agency's Nuclear Science and Energy Directorate reports.

The Indians Are Coming

A variety of exchanges are taking place this year to celebrate Japan-India Friendship Year 2007. Waseda University professor Toshihiko Kinoshita analyzes Indo-Japanese ties with a focus on the expanding IT industry.

Japan-India Strategic Global Partnership

"We have reaffirmed that Indo-Japanese relations are the bilateral relationship with the greatest potential, founded on shared values such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, as well as a broad rage of common interests." -Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Around Japan

Policy news shorts: The Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake; Innovation 25

Clean Thinking

Functional materials derived from naturally abundant titanium oxide are truly materials of the twenty-first century. University of Tokyo Professor Kazuhito Hashimoto explains.

Addressing the Galapagos Phenomenon

The ICT International Competitiveness Council has called on Japan's ICT industry to increase its "ability to attain international coexistence." Teruyasu Murakami explains.

Keitai:A Driving Force of the Information Network

Mobile phones are now a ubiquitous commodity in Japan and in more ways than one. Professor Akihiko Shinozaki charts the remarkable rise of the keitai and spells out the challenges that lie ahead for the industry as the individual markets of television, telephone, and PC converge to become a large single entity responsible for the development of the information network industry.

Going Cashless

The soaring popularity of Suica and Pasmo prepaid travel cards is not all down to their usefulness when it comes to getting from A to B. Gavin Blair reports.

CoFesta:A Total Vision of Modern day Cool Japan

A collaborative effort between the government and the private sector, the 1st Japan International Contents Festival represents a brand new attempt to show the world everything the Japanese multimedia industry has to offer. Ryu Arakawa reports.