Science and Technology Policy Japan

An international conference on fuel cells that is scheduled to open here Wednesday is set to call for powering 10 million vehicles -- including trains, planes and automobiles -- with the environmentally friendly technology in 10 years, Nikkei has learned.

A U.K. parliamentary committee has released a report that highlights industrial automation in Japan, calling on the government to promote automation in British industries

The government plans to build a central database to strengthen the monitoring of remote islands that define Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.

Japan's government will play a greater role in developing the nation's geothermal power resources, seeking to lower the barrier for private-sector investment in this lagging area of renewable energy.

The transport ministry plans to set up priority lanes for self-driving vehicles on some sections of expressways and other general roads.

The organizing committee for the Tokyo Games is considering using artificial snow to ease the expected summer heat during the events, officials said Wednesday.

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to introduce its own electronic currency, in a bid to ease the commuter rush during next year’s Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games and reduce the use of plastic shopping bags that contribute to marine pollution.

Electric vehicles will indicate how much charge they can still hold under proposed guidelines being drawn up for carmakers by the Japanese government.

The Japanese government will fund a program to develop artificial-intelligence-powered software that performs simultaneous interpretation in 15 languages, aiming to have it ready by the 2025 World Expo in Osaka.

The science ministry is planning to build a next-generation elementary particle detector, the Hyper-Kamiokande, in Hida, Gifu Prefecture, sources said.