News On Japan
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East Japan Railway, or JR East, says it will launch new bullet trains with improved anti-earthquake features and other services in fiscal 2030. (NHK)

Setouchi’s coastal city of Tamano, Okayama Prefecture, is home to PowerX, a startup striving for a world-first innovation—electric transport ships. The company is betting on energy storage solutions to support the growing adoption of renewable energy.

Warm sunshine bathed the Kansai region on February 26th, signaling the arrival of spring. But with rising temperatures comes an unwelcome companion—pollen. This year, pollen season is expected to start earlier and bring significantly higher concentrations than usual.

JR Central announced on Thursday the introduction of a new test car, the 'M10,' for the maglev test track in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Visitors to the Osaka-Kansai Expo will get a glimpse of the future through an innovative pavilion featuring cutting-edge robots. The 'Future of Life' pavilion, designed with water flowing along its four walls, was unveiled on February 19th, showcasing three guiding robots named Panji, Petra, and Punica. These robots will assist visitors inside the pavilion.

yocera Communication Systems and Hokkaido University announced on February 15th that they had successfully tested a mid-speed, mid-sized autonomous delivery robot on snow-covered terrain.

At the site of Expo 2025 Osaka-Kansai, construction is underway using 3D printers to create architectural structures, including restrooms. The technology, which prints out designs in three dimensions, is being tested for large-scale applications.

JR Central has unveiled ultra-thin solar panels that can be installed on noise barriers along the Tokaido Shinkansen, aiming for deployment by 2050. Measuring just about one millimeter thick, the perovskite solar panels are lightweight and flexible, allowing them to be fitted onto the curved surfaces of noise barriers.