Eurotechnology.com news & events
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“Japan needs to prepare fourth level and fifth level defense-in-depth to nuclear accidents” Record, summary and commentary by Gerhard Fasol Governor Hirohiko Izumida: “Nuclear power operating companies should have their headquarters at the nuclear power plant in order to immediately take responsibility and respond.” Governor Hirohiko Izumida (泉田裕彦) is elected by the 2.3 million people…
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Interview for the Chinese Newspaper Southern Weekly about Shuji Nakamura by Gerhard Fasol The Chinese Newspaper Southern Weekly interviewed me about Shuji Nakamura’s invention of the blue LED and the background to his Nobel Prize. Here some of my answers. Read the article in Southern Weekly in Chinese language here: 【2014诺贝尔·科学】无人相信的发明 Shuji Nakamura: when he…
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Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 for the blue GaN LED by Gerhard Fasol Shuji Nakamura, Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano enabled the global lighting revolution The Nobel Prize in Physics 2014 was awarded in equal shares to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura “for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright…
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Dr Charles Casto: the Fukushima disaster changed my life. We cannot let this happen again anywhere in the world. Dr Charles “Chuck” Casto: leader of the US Government response to the Fukushima Dai Ichi Nuclear disaster When President Obama expanded the Operation Tomodachi to include the nuclear disaster, Dr. Charles Casto was selected to lead…
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Murata and its robots Murata introduced their newest Cheerleader robots in a press event on September 25, 2014 in Tokyo.Purpose of the robots is brand building and advertising of the company’s components and capabilities. Watch the Cheerleader robots dance synchronously here: Murata Manufacturing (村田製作所) While Japan’s eight electronics conglomerates stagnate in both revenues and income…
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ApplePay is expected to start in October 2014 – Docomo’s Osaifu-keitai wallet phones started on July 10, 2004. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2014/09/16/why-apple-pay-isnt-as-revolutionary-as-it-seems.html Mobile payments Japan, e-money and mobile credit (200 pages, pdf file) In business the first-comer does not always win the game Japan’s NTT-Docomo tested two types of wallet phones, manufactured by Panasonic and SONY with 5000…
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What can we learn from 10+ years of mobile payments in Japan? Apple Pay vs Japan’s Osaifu-Keitai: watch the interview on CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/video/2014/09/16/why-apple-pay-isnt-as-revolutionary-as-it-seems.html?play=1 Mobile payments Japan, e-money and mobile credit (200 pages, pdf file) Japan’s Osaifu keitai mobile payments started on July 10, 2004, after public testing during December 2003 – June 2004 Two different…
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EU direct foreign investment into Japan could be 56% higher! With improved management skills, EU owned business in Japan could be at least € 50 billion high than it is today Many companies would wish to have a larger business in Japan, and generally the overall amount of direct EU investment in Japan is considered…
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Electricity storage is crucial for the efficient use of renewable energy, especially solar and wind Japan plans to build world’s largest storage battery testing laboratory Wind farms and solar plants deliver electricity not continuously, but output depends on weather, wind and solar illumination conditions. Battery storage technology is necessary to store solar electricity produced during…
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The Way Ahead; Trends Reshaping the Auto Industry Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of Renault, Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance The Renault-Nissan Alliance was started on March 27, 1999 with Renault acquiring 36.8% of outstanding Nissan shares, and with Nissan acquiring 15% of Renault later in 2001. Chronological details can be found in the EU-Japan…
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Nokia strengthens No. 1 market position in Japan’s mobile phone base station market! Japan’s mobile phone base station market Japan’s mobile phone base station market is about US$ 2.6 billion/year and for European companies Ericsson and Nokia the most important market globally, although certainly also the most difficult one. Nokia is No. 1 with a…
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iPhone AppStore-Japan “Top Grossing” games ranking of July 13, 2014: iOS App Store ranking of June 6, 2015 here. Google Play Store ranking of June 6, 2015 here. Japan game market report (398 pages, pdf-file): Bold figures show rankings in February 2014 No. 1 Puzzle & Dragons by GungHo No. 2 Monster strike (by Mixi)…
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Japan biomass electricity generation approaches 4 GigaWatt Renewables in Japan is not just solar… Looking superficially at Japan’s renewable energy sector, its easy to overestimate geo-thermal energy, and to underestimate biomass. Biomass electricity generation capacity is about 5 times higher than geo-thermal Currently the installed biomass electricity generation capacity is about 5 times higher than…
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Solar Japan: some of the world’s most attractive feed-in-tariffs In the single month of March 2014 Japan approved almost as much renewable energy projects as all solar ever installed in Germany Japan’s ten regional electricity monopoly operators traditionally kept renewable energy below 1% following an unwritten rule. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) kept renewable well…
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Japan electricity regional operators’ income peaked about 10 years ago Japanese electricity companies’ business models face massive disruption by technology innovation and the Fukushima nuclear accident With the annual general shareholder meetings completed and financial results published, we have analyzed the financial results of Japan’s 10 regional electric power companies (plus several other Japanese electricity…
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Stockholm School of Economics at the Embassy of Sweden in Tokyo (Alfred Nobel Lecture Theatre) European Institute for Japanese Studies EIJS Announcement and summary on the website of Stockholm School of Economics. This talk is based on data from our reports: European Institute of Japanese Studies (EIJS) Academy Seminars About the talk: Japan’s electricity architecture…
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by Gerhard Fasol Watch The Economist interview on Japan’s energy policy. Read our report on Japan’s energy sector, and our report on Renewable energy in Japan. Many times, often several times a day, I get asked about what will happen with Japan’s nuclear power stations – today alone twice. So here is the answer I…
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Corporate governance Japan: Prime Minister Abe urges reform of corporate governance Reuters reports that Japan’s Prime Minister Abe urges company boards to reform corporate governance to include independent directors. I added the following comment. Corporate governance Japan: exercise of shareholder power and emergency situations The question of independent Board Directors is often framed in terms…
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Interview for The Economist “Keeping the lights on – deregulation and Japan’s energy mix” Japan energy policy – interview outline: Japan energy policy Question: Is the new energy policy of Japan’s Government an appropriate response to the situation or a missed opportunity Answer summary:The Government in its new strategy summarizes Japan’s energy situation and proposes…
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25 listed top game companies listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange have total market cap of US$ 30 billion Japan game market report (398 pages, pdf-file): Japan is the cradle of many global games Japan created much of today’s global game market with icon’s such as Nintendo. However, today the moment has been taken over by…
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LINE revenues: LINE announced quarterly revenues on their website, the revenue data are redrawn below, with approximate US$ amounts shown as well. Extrapolating assuming continued linear growth, we can estimate expected annual LINE revenues of YEN 70 billion (US$ 700 million) for the full year 2014. Yesterday I was interviewed by Wall Street Journal about…
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SoftBank overtakes Docomo and KDDI in all major KPIs SoftBank presents annual results for the Financial Year which ended March 31, 2014 today, NTT-Docomo and KDDI presented their results a few days ago. Using projections published by SoftBank and using data found in the Japanese business press over the recent days, we have compared SoftBank,…
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by Gerhard Fasol Corporate governance Japan is now in the focus of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s reforms Reform of corporate governance is an ongoing issue in Japan, and part of Prime-Minister’s Abenomics’ “third arrow” revival efforts. Here is a note, that I added to a recent article in The Economist, entitled “Corporate governance in Japan…
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Supercell Japan is not satisfied with 10th rank for Clash of Clans in the Japanese iPhone app store… by Gerhard Fasol Report on Japan’s game makers and game markets Japan is the world’s No. 1 top grossing app market both for iOS apps and for Android apps, as we discussed before. Supercell Japan: investments by…
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Docomo financial report for FY2013: US$8.2 billion operating profits but withdraws from India by Gerhard Fasol On April 25, 2014 NTT-Docomo announced annual results for FY2013 (April 1, 2013 – March 31, 2014) and explained the way forward. Annual revenues are YEN 4461.2 billion (US$ 33.6 billion), operating income is YEN 819.2 billion (US$ 8.19…
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Japan energy mix, smart grid, electricity deregulation – briefing by The Economist Corporate Network Economist Corporate Network held a breakfast briefing today April 24, 2014 for about 50 Japan-CEOs and executives. Shigeki (Sean) Miwa, General Manager of SoftBank’s CEO Office, and Representative Director & CEO of Bloom Energy Japan KK, and EVP of SB Energy…
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Horizon 2020 Japan participation conference at the EU Delegation in Tokyo Horizon2020 is the world’s largest research program, undertaken by the European Union, and it is open to cooperation with researchers from all countries including Japan. EU encourages Japan participation in Horizon 2020 Actually, the EU strongly encourages participation from Japan: Maria Cristina Russo, Director…
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IAEA President Amano on Fukushima decommissioning by Gerhard Fasol It is wrong that Japan has all technology to decommission Fukushima Dai-ichi “It is wrong that Japan has all technology to decommission Fukushima Dai-ichi. The IAEA strongly recommends international cooperation for the decommissioning of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants”, is the strongest statement Mr Yukiya Amano…
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by Gerhard Fasol Many press articles get SoftBank market share in Japan wrong With SoftBank‘s acquisition of US No. 3 mobile operators Sprint and the possibility that Softbank/Sprint will also acquire No. 4 T-Mobile-USA, SoftBank and Masayoshi Son are catching global headlines. SoftBank market share in Japan: Many media articles report wrong data, because they…
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Tokyo Institute of Technology President Yoshinao Mishima: Educational reforms at Tokyo Institute of Technology (President of Tokyo Institute of Technology. Materials scientist specialized on nano-materials and high-performance materials) Keynote presented at the 6th Ludwig Boltzmann Symposium on February 20, 2014 at the Embassy of Austria in Tokyo. Tokyo Institute of Technology – short history 1881:…
