Japan's Fugaku supercomputer is tackling some of the world's biggest problems
Japan’s Fugaku supercomputer — which in June ranked first in the global Top500 list of such machines, the first time for a Japanese machine in about nine years — was surprisingly not created with the aim of excelling in numerical benchmarks, unlike some of its rivals.
Instead, it was born with an “application-first philosophy,” meaning that its exclusive purpose is to dedicate its computational excellence to tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges, such as climate change, says Satoshi Matsuoka, 57, the mastermind behind the project.
“Benchmark excellence is not our priority,” he said in an interview conducted in near flawless English. Instead, he said, its success is assessed “based on how much we can accelerate the applications that are important in society.”
As the director of Riken’s Center for Computational Science, Matsuoka and his team have set out nine application areas for Fugaku to work on that are of importance to society, such as medicine, pharmacology, disaster prediction and prevention, environmental sustainability and energy.
Matsuoka began leading the team developing the next-generation supercomputer in around 2010, just before its predecessor K computer became the world’s fastest supercomputer in the Top500 benchmark by conducting more than 10 quadrillion calculations per second.
Fugaku, set to be officially launched in 2021 at Riken’s facility in Kobe, won international acclaim for becoming the world’s first supercomputer to grab the top spot in all four Top500 categories — raw computational speed, big data processing, deep learning with artificial intelligence and practical simulation calculations.
News On Japan - Nov 24
It's Shichi-Go-San, the Japanese festival season for celebrating the healthy growth of children, with Aibo the robot dog giving prayer at a shrine in Fukuoka, on Friday.
HISTORY - Nov 24
Japan has had multiple incidents that may have included the work of aliens. See more in this compilation from Ancient Aliens.
tweaktown.com - Nov 23
Minecraft isn't just a game where you can let your imagination and creativity run wild; it can also be used to demonstrate real-world projects, or at least that is what Japan's government appears to be doing.
newsonjapan.com - Nov 21
For many of us, particularly those of a certain age, Japan is the country that built the gaming industry.
NHK - Nov 20
The operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it finished the third round of the treated and diluted water discharge into the sea as planned.
News On Japan - Nov 18
Honda is set to launch an unmanned autonomous taxi service in Tokyo's Odaiba area in about two years.
NHK - Nov 18
Japan's space agency says it aims to make a second attempt to launch the country's new flagship H3 rocket by the end of next March.
News On Japan - Nov 17
The Japan Pharmaceutical Association will begin experimental sales of "emergency contraceptives," aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancies, at approximately 150 pharmacies nationwide starting from Nov 28 as part of a feasibility study to make them available without a doctor's prescription.
News On Japan - Nov 17
The new island that emerged off the coast of Iwo Jima last month continues to spew ash and lava every few minutes.
News On Japan - Nov 16
Last year's average global concentration of greenhouse gases recorded their highest levels since statistics began in 1984, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
NHK - Nov 16
Japan's Environment Ministry says levels of tritium in seawater off the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant remain below detectable amounts.
newsonjapan.com - Nov 15
The main goal for any business is considered to be to increase the growth of sales or service delivery.
NHK - Nov 15
Japanese astronaut Onishi Takuya, a former passenger jet pilot, will head to the International Space Station around 2025.
ndtv.com - Nov 14
Recently, Japan's McDonald's has introduced an innovative system in some locations where washrooms have a slot designed to sanitise our phones.
Nikkei - Nov 14
Japan will ease regulations on clinical trials for new drugs developed overseas, Nikkei has learned, scrapping the rule that in principle drugs' safety must be tested on Japanese before they can be launched in the domestic market.
Running2Redline - Nov 12
The V8 engine is one of the best formats out there, and when Japanese manufacturers gave it a try, the result was incredible. In this installation of the engine tier list series, we find out which of the Japanese V8s comes out on top!