Science and Technology Policy Japan

Japan has maintained its carbon emissions reduction target in its updated emissions plan submitted to the United Nations as part of an international process to address climate change.

The government plans to establish a licensing system for operating drones when the flights are beyond the operator’s line of sight.

A health ministry panel approved Wednesday the production and sale of a gene therapy for treating spinal muscular atrophy, a rare incurable disease that destroys muscle function through a decrease in motor neuron cells.

The health ministry is moving to test whether a drug designed to treat influenza also works against the new coronavirus.

Japan is set to expand support for its domestic drone industry to alleviate security concerns posed by Chinese-made devices dominating the world market.

The government said Tuesday it will draw up a comprehensive strategy by this summer on future 6G wireless communications networks and set up a panel to discuss the matter later this month.

The farm ministry will launch an online system in fiscal 2020 to link food banks with food donors to support needy people and families while cutting food waste, officials said Saturday.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Akira Yoshino will head a new government-funded international research center focusing on reducing carbon emissions to net-zero, industry minister Hiroshi Kajiyama said Friday.

The government Tuesday began accepting applications for licenses to operate local 5G services — next-generation ultrafast communications networks to be used only in limited sites such as factories and farmland.

Telecommunications giants such as NTT Docomo Inc. will start their 5G services from next spring, delivering data transmission speeds around 100 times faster than current 4G networks, but their service areas are initially expected to cover mostly large cities.

Japan will oblige domestic automakers to have all new and remodeled passenger cars equipped with automatic brakes from November 2021 amid a rise in the number of traffic accidents involving elderly drivers, the government said Tuesday.