Science & Technology News from Japan - International Relations

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Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft Confédération suisse Confederazione Svizzera Confederaziun svizra Embassy of Switzerland in Japan State Secretariat for Education and Research SER Nuclear Energy Systems & Services Division, and president of the Power Systems Company. Meanwhile, Takashi Kawamura, currently chairman of the board of both Hitachi Plant Technologies Ltd. and Hitachi Maxell Ltd. is to become representative executive officer, chairman, president and CEO of Hitachi. Positron-Imaging To Observe Substance-Movement In Living Plant (March 31, 2009) The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Niigata University have jointly developed a plant positron-imaging technology that can observe the movements of various substances in living plants through the use of radioactive tracers. The Agency newly produced a radioactive nitrogen gas and established a method for purifying the gas promptly and administering it to a plant. This was the first time in the world that soybean root nodules had been successfully observed absorbing nitrogen in their natural condition. Based on the image data, JAEA has been able to find a practical use for the measurement of the nitrogen fixation ability of soybean root nodules. 10. Physics High Efficient Method To Extract Light From Semiconductors (March 17, 2009) Research Institutes discovered that more than 50% of the spontaneous emission light generated in semiconductors with microscopic V-grooves is emitted into the air and have succeeded in explaining the mechanism. Semiconductor light-emitting materials are formed on substrates with microscopic V-grooves. When the light produced in the semiconductor material is totally reflected at the semiconductor-air interface, evanescent waves are generated. Due to the V-shaped surface structure of the material, evanescent waves originated from different crystal surfaces interfere with each other, and are transformed into light propagating in air with an efficiency of greater than 50%. Silicon’s Giant Magnetoresistive Effect In High Electric Field (March 18, 2009) Kyoto University has discovered that silicon exhibits significant changes in its electrical resistance in a high electric field. The phenomenon is called a 'giant magnetoresistive effect' and has contributed to radical improvements in the performance of PC hard disks and magnetic sensors. The discoverer of the effect won the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2007. As a semiconductor material, silicon has been studied intensively for more than 50 years, but its magnetoresistive effect had not been known. This may help the development of magnetic memory devices made of silicon, an inexpensive material. Secondary Beam Line In Hadron Experimental Hall Completed (March 31, 2009) The Nuclear and Particle Physics Facility (Hadron Experimental Hall) inside the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) at Tokai Village recently completed work on constructing the secondary particle beam line "K1-8BR," using it to successfully produce and transport secondary particle beams. The facility is co-owned by JAEA and the High-Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and will use proton beams of great intensity to produce secondary particle beams containing large amounts of K mesons, π mesons, antiprotons and muons for use in research in such fields as subatomic physics and nuclear physics. 11. Intellectual Property Rights / Technology Transfer / Alliances DRAM Technology And Patents For New Governmental Taiwan Firm (March 09, 2009) Taiwan will set up a company to attract overseas technology, including from Japan, for the manufacture of dynamic random access memory chips in a bid to rescue the island's DRAM industry. The Ministry of Economic Affairs' plan to establish the ''Taiwan Memory Co.'' The company's primary goal will be to solicit overseas DRAM technology and patents -- especially from Elpida Memory Inc., Japan's biggest chipmaker, and U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc. -- in exchange for aid or financing from Taipei. With overseas patents and technology from Elpida and Micron in its possession, the company would be positioned to share those assets with local chipmakers. Science & Technology News from Japan, Template 2009 • Felix Moesner, Science & Technology Attaché Page 26 of 28
Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft Confédération suisse Confederazione Svizzera Confederaziun svizra Embassy of Switzerland in Japan State Secretariat for Education and Research SER German-Japanese Joint Development Of Emergency Auto Call System (March 18, 2009) A prominent Volkswagen shareholder will meet the president of Toyota Motor Corp. in Japan to propose the joint development of an emergency auto call system. Christian Wulff, who holds a 20% stake in the German carmaker, will meet President Katsuaki Watanabe to suggest cooperating on the call device, which the European Union will eventually require to be installed in new vehicles. In the event of a serious accident, the device would automatically report the location to emergency responders via GPS. 12. General Interest Early Retirement At Companies Increase (March 10, 2009) A total of 81 listed companies have either announced voluntary early retirement plans or have started soliciting interest in such programs since the start of the year, already exceeding the 68 firms that did so in all of 2008. According to data by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd., 70 of these businesses have disclosed the exact numbers of employees they have asked to retire early -- a total of 6,665. Seeing this trend growing further among major manufacturers, Tokyo Shoko Research expects a record number of employers to offer early retirement packages this year. Science Students Change Future Employment Perspective (March 12, 2009) Sony Corp. replaced Toyota Motor Corp. for the first time in six years as the most popular company among science and engineering university students in Japan in a recent annual survey by Mainichi Communications Inc. Toyota fell to seventh place in the latest survey of science students who are looking for companies to employ them upon their graduation in the spring of 2010. Other automakers also saw their popularity dwindle, including Honda Motor Co. that dropped from 10th place last year to 11th and Nissan Motor Co. from 39th to 57th. Skeleton From Lately Stranded Whale For Museum Museum staff and students excavate the skeleton of a sperm whale that became stranded on a beach in Minami-Satsuma four years ago. The 16-meter, 48-ton male whale died shortly after the crew of a fishing boat found it here in July 2005. It was buried where it lay. The excavators unearthed more than 100 bones, including a 4-meter jawbone that required several people to carry away. The whale’s entire skeleton will be preserved by the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, and shown at a marine life exhibition in summer 2010. (March 13, 2009) Only Third Find Of Life-Size Dinosaur Skeleton (March 20, 2009) Researchers have unearthed enough fossil fragments from a previously unknown carnivorous dinosaur to create only the third life-size skeleton of a prehistoric animal in Japan. The dinosaur is likely a new member of the genus known as Dromaeosaurus. The fragments were found at Katsuyama in 120-million-year-old rock from the Cretaceous period. The team unearthed 160 fragments--including leg and head bones--comprising roughly 60% of the animal's skeletal structure, estimated to be about 1.7 meters long from head to tail. The unusually large size of the discovery will enable the researchers to create a full-scale model. Record Decline Of Women Because Of Emigration (March 23, 2009) The number of females in Japan fell for the first time on record as of October last year. The female population was estimated to be 65.44 million as of Oct. 1, down 20,000 from a year earlier to mark the first decrease since 1950, when comparable data were first recorded. More Japanese women are going abroad for extended periods, and this is thought to be one of the reasons. Japan's estimated total population was 127.69 million on Oct. 1, 2008, down 79,000 from a year before and logging the first decrease in three years. There were 7,000 more female births than female deaths during the period. But the number of Japanese women going abroad surpassed the number of women entering Japan by 27,000, accounting for the shortfall of 20,000. Science & Technology News from Japan, Template 2009 • Felix Moesner, Science & Technology Attaché Page 27 of 28
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