Akihabara News (Tokyo) — “We will radically strengthen our country’s rocket launch capabilities,” declared Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last month.

The prime minister is concerned about Japan’s overreliance on the United States and Russia, especially since the outbreak of the Ukraine war. He wants Japan to launch more rockets into space from its own facilities.

Currently there are two existing rocket launch venues in Japan, the Tanegashima Space Center and the Uchinoura Space Center, both in Kagoshima Prefecture. These facilities are open to private companies as well as to international collaborative efforts.

However, these older launch sites are in need of upgrade. Tanegashima is slated to expand storage facilities for rocket engines and other components, which will allow for more frequent launches.

In addition, Oita Airport expects to become the first venue in Asia for the launch of a satellite into space from an airplane, which may take place as early as this year.

The Kishida administration is concerned about growing competition from other Asian nations, many of which are developing their own space ports and could draw business away from Japan.

In terms of the rockets themselves, Japan’s national efforts took off with the H-II rocket, first test launched by the now-defunct National Space Development Agency of Japan in 1994.

Its successor rocket, the H-IIA, was turned over to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as a privatization measure in 2007.

MHI and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are now hard at work to prepare the next generation H3 launch vehicle, touted as being more cost competitive. However, the inaugural launch of the H3 has been repeatedly delayed due to engine problems.

On the startup scene, Interstellar Technologies has launched several rockets to the edge of space, last year successfully delivering its first payload.

The government is planning to offer Japanese firms additional support through the placement of launch orders.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Asahi Soft Drinks is rolling out carbon offset vending machines across the country.

Beginning this month on an all-Japan scale, passersby may begin to notice that some machines have been slapped with a “Green Power” logo and an explanation, in Japanese, that these are “Carbon Offset Vending Machines.”

What it means is that the vending machine is part of the Green Power Certificate scheme, introduced by Japan Natural Energy Company, which verifies that the electricity used to power the machine has been offset elsewhere by investments in carbon reductions.

This system was established to enable companies which do not possess their own green power generation capacity to demonstrate responsible behavior, and thus contribute to increased business sector demand for solar, wind, and other renewables.

Asahi Soft Drinks last month switched over about four hundred vending machines at its own company offices, and it expects to cover almost all of them across Japan by 2025.

Some international environmental organizations question the degree of effectiveness of carbon offsets in addressing the climate crisis.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The rollercoaster saga of Japanese casino mogul Kazuo Okada has taken another bizarre and unlikely turn as the controversial billionaire seizes by force one of the largest casino resorts in the Philippines.

Okada’s career is a storied one. The soon-to-be 80-year-old mogul originally built his wealth as a producer of pachinko machines with his company Universal Entertainment Corporation. He partnered at the beginning of this century with Steve Wynn to enter the casino business, and was instrumental in establishing Wynn Resorts. Eventually, Okada’s relationship with Wynn soured and the Japanese entrepreneur made a risky move to build his own independent casino resort, Okada Manila, in the Philippine capital.

But Okada’s fortunes took a sharp turn for the worse in early 2017 when he was accused of embezzlement and misuse of company funds for personal benefit. In a true melodrama, he lost control of Universal Entertainment when his ex-wife and children voted him out.

In the following years, Okada kept up the fight. Dodging arrest warrants and losing multiple court cases in Japan, the Philippines, and elsewhere, his struggle looked increasingly quixotic.

That is, until April 27, when the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued a shocking order that Tiger Resort, Leisure & Entertainment, Inc. (TRLEI), the management company for the Okada Manila casino resort, must restore the company leadership to the state that it was in before Okada had been removed.

This appeared to contradict a 2020 verdict by the Japanese Supreme Court which had upheld Okada’s removal from the leadership of the parent company, Universal Entertainment, which is the 99.9% owner of TRLEI.

On May 31, about fifty security guards and police led by former TRLEI board member Antonio “Tony Boy” Cojuangco, acting on behalf of Okada, arrived at the casino resort and physically removed the management loyal to the current leadership of Universal Entertainment.

Lawyer Estrella Elamparo, who was on the scene, told the local media that senior executive Hajime Tokuda was dragged out of room by “goons” and effectively kidnapped before their eyes. He was eventually deposited at his home, traumatized by the experience.

Back in Tokyo, Universal Entertainment denounced what it called “serious criminal offenses,” and it vowed to take legal action.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the powerful regulator of the country’s gambling industry, waited a few days and then fully backed the Okada group’s physical takeover of the premises, downplaying allegations of physical violence.

However, video taken at the time emerged that confirmed Tokuda was indeed roughly handled and dragged out of the facility, contradicting the claims of both the Okada partisans and the government regulator.

Most recently, the Tokyo-based leadership of Universal Entertainment accused PAGCOR of “manifest bias” and “an act of graft and corruption”–very strong words indeed for a major corporation to use against a government organization.

The current situation is a confused one. Allies of Kazuo Okada now have physical control of TRLEI and its Okada Manila casino resort, with the apparent backing of the Philippine authorities. Meanwhile, the parent company in Tokyo, the 99.9% owner of TRLEI, is fiercely and loudly denouncing what it calls the violence and corruption of the takeover, trying to regain control of the property which it ostensibly owns.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The government’s energy strategy has come under fire yet again, this time from the UK-based think tank Ember. With the European Union ramping up its efforts to meet its clean energy obligations, the Ember report outlines what the government needs to do to catch up.

The EU has progressed far beyond Japan in terms of its renewable energy development.

For example, Japan’s non-nuclear renewable energy goal for 2030–38% of all energy produced in the country–is roughly the same as where Europe stands today. Meanwhile, the EU expects that 69% of its energy will come from non-nuclear renewable sources in 2030.

The EU’s ambitious goals are expected to be made possible by the widespread use of solar and wind power in particular.

Central to the EU’s solar energy strategy is the addition of rooftop solar panels, which it is considering mandating for new residential building construction.

Currently, only about 10% of Japan’s solar capacity comes from rooftop installations.

The Ember report argues that this represents a crucial area of untapped potential in Japan.

Wind power could also help Japan catch up, according to the report. The government’s current renewable energy plans for 2030 anticipate wind power usage at only about 10% of that of the United Kingdom, a goal which Ember argues is far too modest.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — During US President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Japan, one of the most important areas of bilateral collaboration highlighted was the Artemis Program, which will see the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) working together on multiple Moon missions.

The Artemis Program was signed into existence in September 2020, following former US President Donald Trump’s push for a revival of his country’s space ambitions. It seeks to establish, according to NASA, “a robust human-robotic presence on and around the Moon.”

Japan signed the Artemis Accords the same year, joining its international framework for the civilian exploration of space.

The program consists of three missions: Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight planned for this August; Artemis II, a crewed lunar flyby scheduled for May 2024; and Artemis III, a crewed Moon landing lasting approximately thirty days, and set for 2025.

JAXA will work with the European Space Agency to supply a module for an orbital station, known as Gateway, meant for use and habitation by Artemis astronauts.

Additionally, Japan’s private sector will play a role in supporting the program, building lunar rovers and landers.

Among these firms is the Tokyo-based startup ispace, which has already been selected by NASA to collect resources from space on the agency’s behalf. The company also intends to participate in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which will offer delivery from the Earth to the Moon.

As announced by President Biden, at least one of the Moon landings will include a Japanese astronaut. He stated that “to see Japanese and American astronauts walk on the Moon together reflects our nations’ shared values to explore space responsibly and transparently for the benefit of humanity here on Earth.”

The Artemis Moon missions are also conceived as being a key step toward manned missions on Mars.

The last humans to set foot on the Moon did so during the Apollo 17 mission of December 1972. Only US citizens have so far walked the Moon’s surface.

For its part, previous JAXA Moon probes have all been unmanned and have not touched down.

In December 2013, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program’s unmanned Chang’e 3 mission became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the 1970s. It was the first of a series of ongoing rival lunar missions sponsored by Beijing.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a Paris-based intergovernmental organization, emissions from SUVs have grown to become the second-largest source of carbon released into the atmosphere between 2010 and 2021.

Only the energy sector continues to produce more carbon emissions, with SUVs surpassing shipping, aviation, heavy industry, and even trucks.

In 2021, SUVs produced 900 million tons of carbon globally, meaning that if SUVs were a nation, they would rank just below Russia in terms of total emissions.

On average, SUVs produce 14-20% more carbon emissions than a medium-sized car.

“SUVs are typically around up to 250 kilograms heavier than a conventional hatchback and, being taller, have worse aerodynamics as a result of the bigger frontal area, leading to higher fuel consumption and, therefore, higher CO2 emissions,” wrote Florent Grelier in a recent report on carbon emissions released by the campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E).

T&E also noted that while the footprint of SUVs is nearly identical to most medium-sized cars, they are taller. This increased height makes them eleven times more likely to roll over during a collision. In accidents involving pedestrians, injuries are more likely to be fatal, because victims are struck in the torso as opposed to the legs.

On the other hand, most drivers perceive the higher cabin position and increased weight of SUVs as providing increased visibility and safety, despite the larger blind spot immediately in front of the vehicle.

The global fleet of SUVs has increased from about 50 million in 2010 to around 320 million in 2021. In the last year alone, the SUVs increased by over 35 million, according to the IEA, indicating that sales have remained robust throughout the pandemic.

With a powerful advertising apparatus at its disposal, automotive companies have leveraged people’s desire for safety, ruggedness, and dependability, creating a generational shift in purchasing preferences away from sedans and toward SUVs.

These automotive companies have also tapped into the market appeal of vehicles capable of operating in various terrains and weather conditions, even if the reality is that most buyers will never use their SUV outside of an urban setting.

Dynamic images of SUVs tackling off-road environments with ease in sunshine, rain, or snow has created an aura of freedom and independence that has become part of the allure of this vehicle class.

Such marketing campaigns have been successful, with four out of every ten vehicles sold globally in 2018 being a SUV, according to the IEA. In the United States, the average is even higher with SUVs being one out of every two vehicles sold, and in Europe the average is slightly lower, at one in three.

The increased popularity of SUVs, however, has come at the expense of the global climate. More fuel-efficient classes of vehicles have been replaced by an inefficient class with little regard to the impact on global warming.

While many automotive companies do promote greener vehicles, most sales are not of climate-friendly Electric Vehicles (EVs), but rather gasoline-powered.

In an interview last week with Nation of Change, a progressive news outlet based in the United States, Karen Sokol, a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, stated, “The companies are making a lot of money from SUVs, so they continue to market those, but emphasize sales of EVs at the same time. The danger is that company ads risk allowing them to continue business as usual.”

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Renewable Energy Institute, a Tokyo-based think tank, recently released a report contending that Japan’s energy goals for 2050 are too reliant on problematic Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has indicated that it will introduce a system of mixed power generation in Japan by 2050 which will see renewable energy limited to about 50–60%–a proportion that falls well below the 90% recommended by the International Energy Agency.

Japan hopes to meet its carbon neutral targets through the widespread use of CCS.

CCS denotes the storage of carbon underground in order to keep it from rising into the atmosphere and aggravating the climate crisis. CCS advocates believe that this technology has a crucial role to play in meeting climate obligations.

For its part, the Renewable Energy Institute contends that the Japanese government’s plans are overreliant on CCS as a means to preserve thermal power plants, noting that it is economically inefficient and ultimately not practical.

Indeed, CCS is losing some of the international popularity which it once enjoyed. CCS projects currently in operation are few in number due to the relatively high economic and environmental costs of implementation. Of the 31 CCS projects currently in operation globally, 28 store their carbon in land-based underground reservoirs.

As noted in the Renewable Energy Institute’s report, however, suitable onshore locations within Japan capable of storing large amounts of carbon have not yet been discovered.

Consequently, the Japanese government is now exploring the possibility of storing carbon offshore; that is, beneath the seabed.

The Renewable Energy Institute notes that any attempt to implement such a policy would be extremely costly in comparison to a land-storage system, partially due to the lack of existing research. Furthermore, the technology required to transport carbon to offshore storage sites on an industrial scale has yet to be proven.

One additional possibility that the Japanese government is exploring is to export carbon to overseas sites in Southeast Asia for processing and storage, which could lead to international complications. The Renewable Energy Institute calls this a “double vulnerability.”

The norm for most nations, the report emphasizes, is simply to phase out thermal power plants.

For Japan, earthquakes pose a special risk to CCS storage projects.

Research by the US Department of Energy has concluded that temblors could potentially cause carbon reservoirs to leak, resulting in environmental damage to soil, groundwater, and surface water. Of course, carbon leaking into the atmosphere would also cancel out the expected environmental benefits of the technology.

The report emphasizes that Japan’s current energy strategy does not include plans to research and address this potential threat.

Moreover, studies by Stanford University and the US National Research Council have concluded that CCS is itself capable of triggering earthquakes.

The Renewable Energy Institute fears that the Japanese government’s plans fall far below the emerging global standard for combatting the threat of carbon emissions, and create unnecessary risks.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Once celebrated as pioneers of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, a new report finds that major Japanese automakers such as Nissan, Toyota, and Honda are poised to capture only a meager share of the global Electric Vehicle (EV) market.

Japan currently dominates the world market for hybrid vehicles, but as automobile companies in China, the United States, and Europe push towards fully electric fleets, Japanese automakers have proven reluctant to embrace the change.

This fact has once again been highlighted once in a report issued earlier this month by the independent think tank InfluenceMap, which found Japanese brands pulling up dead last among major global automakers.

This wasn’t always the case. In fact, Nissan was the first automobile company to mass produce a battery-powered vehicle–the Nissan Leaf–which debuted in 2010. The Leaf was popular at the time and continues to be one of the best-selling EVs, unseated only recently by the popularity of the Tesla Model 3.

In past years, Nissan, Toyota, and Honda have downplayed the importance of EVs. Indeed, Toyota in particular continues to promote hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) as an EV alternative, and the government has set a target of 200,000 FCEVs on the road by 2025.

However, according to the InfluenceMap report, only 8,000 FCEVs are likely to be produced by 2029.

Despite Japan’s advocacy, FCEVs face many challenges to wide adoption, not least of which is the need for a national-scale hydrogen refueling infrastructure, which most nations are preparing.

Few others share Japan’s doubts that EVs may not be the vehicles of the future.

China and Europe are even mandating higher sales of fully electric vehicles and moving to ban sales of most gasoline-powered cars and trucks. Jurisdictions such as California and the United Kingdom already have plans to ban hybrid vehicles as well.

Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association Chairman Akio Toyoda, also the president of Toyota Motor, has repeatedly expressed skepticism about the feasibility of fully electric vehicles, a stance which puts him at odds with the mainstream of global industry opinion. Toyoda argues that the media has oversold the environmental value of EVs, noting correctly that the climate-protection benefits of EVs are compromised if fossil fuels are used to generate electricity for the national grids.

There are other reasons why Japanese automakers are hesitant to let go of hybrid technology.

According to James Edmondson, an analyst at IDTechEx, a market research firm, “For the manufacturers like Toyota, like Nissan, the hybrids are so prolific, there’s a good business case for them, so it’s in the interest of the government to keep pushing for them.”

Among Toyoda’s specific concerns are preserving the technological lead that Toyota has established in systematizing hybrid production, as well as protecting the many small- and medium-sized Japanese firms which currently act as Toyota suppliers. Many of these companies will not be needed once the less-complex EV technology is adopted.

While the instinct to protect jobs is admirable in principle, if these short-term benefits come only at the expense of further damaging the global climate and sinking the nation’s automotive industry into obsolescence, the benefit will have come at far too high a cost.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Japan’s commitment to a carbon neutral society by 2050 may be aided by the development of ammonia co-firing. As an energy-efficient carrier of hydrogen, and with successful co-firing tests already completed, the technology appears promising.

In 2017, the world’s first test of coal power generation with ammonia co-firing was conducted at the Chugoku Electric Power Company’s Mizushima Power Station.

The issue with coal-fired power generation is its production of carbon dioxide. Mixing carbon-free fuel with pulverized coal at already existing coal-fired boilers is a cost-effective means to reduce carbon emissions while maintaining stable power generation.

A subsequent test at the IHI Aioi Works in Hyogo Prefecture demonstrated stable combustion of ammonia and pulverized coal at a 20% co-firing rate. This was found to create a corresponding 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

JERA is also investigating the possibility of utilizing a 50% ammonia mix.

The main drawback of this technology is the possibility for an increased concentration of nitrous oxides (NOx) in the flue gas. NOx is the main constituent in the formation of ground-level ozone, which may result in respiratory problems. Moreover, NOx in combination with sulfur oxides contributes to acid rain, and it can also create a greenhouse gas under certain conditions.

Fortunately, the tests performed at the IHI Aioi Works showed no increase in the output of NOx at a 20% ammonia co-firing rate when using two-staged combustion.

The results of these tests appear to indicate that existing coal-fired generators in Japan can be modified to use ammonia as a combustible fuel without having to install additional facilities.

The use of ammonia as a fuel would also take advantage of existing ammonia transportation and storage infrastructure at power plants.

Globally, ammonia is already a mass produced inorganic chemical due to the role it serves as a fertilizer for agriculture. Utilizing ammonia as a fuel would therefore involve only the expansion of an already robust supply chain.

As Prakash Sharma, vice president of multi-commodity research at Wood Mackenzie, puts it, ammonia “can leverage existing infrastructure and can be used directly in power generation and as a shipping fuel.”

On the other hand, ammonia production itself can be a stumbling block towards carbon neutrality goals.

Large-scale ammonia production usually employs the Haber-Bosch process, which requires the use of large amounts of natural gas. Consequently, ammonia production of this kind releases significant quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and it is therefore known as “brown ammonia.”

But if the carbon dioxide is later returned to the ground through carbon capture and storage, then it becomes known as “blue ammonia.”

Japan is currently seeking to invest in companies that may be able to provide blue ammonia, but is also developing a third technology of this kind–green ammonia.

Green ammonia does not rely on natural gas as a feedstock for hydrogen. In this process, hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis of water, powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

In 2018, at its pilot plant in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, JCG Holdings demonstrated both the production of green ammonia as well as the generation of electricity using gas turbines fueled only by synthesized ammonia.

Ammonia fuel could become a cost-effective means to advance Japan towards its carbon neutrality objectives. As an early step, the Japanese government is seeking to phase out inefficient coal plants and looking to co-fire ammonia at a 20% rate in its remaining plants.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — At no point has the Japanese general public supported the legalization of casino gambling, and even now opposition to the unpopular initiative is unrelenting.

Two local governments, Osaka and Nagasaki, submitted at the end of April licensing applications for their Integrated Resort (IR) plans, and as these projects have come closer to realization, opponents of casino gambling appear to be stepping up their activities, sensing that this might be the last chance to head off these developments.

While the mainstream news media often takes a pro-business stance, in this case they have been unremittingly critical.

There are various factors that contribute to this stand. First, they are simply reflecting the broader views of the Japanese public. Second, the casino companies are not yet spending a lot of money on advertising, which might otherwise have compromised the newspapers’ editorial positions. Finally, foreign companies will play central roles in the early stages of IR development, and the system has always been highly allergic to foreigners exercising significant influence within Japanese society.

In this context, it’s worth noting that all of the potential IR operators backed by Chinese money were pushed out in the final round. But even the North American and European consortiums will be met with suspicion.

The Nishi-Nippon Shinbun, the leading local newspaper of the Kyushu region, once again published an editorial expressing its doubts:

The number of tourists from overseas, who are supposed to become the main customers, has decreased sharply, and the use of online casinos and international conferences has taken root. The premise of establishing businesses that build large-scale facilities and attracts customers from home and abroad is breaking down. Nonetheless, the national government has stipulated conditions for building huge hotels and international conference halls, and the two plans submitted for licensing have been prepared accordingly. Many people may wonder if this is a business that truly suits the times.

The editors of the Nishi-Nippon Shinbun are hardly alone in arguing that the national IR promotion policy may already be outdated, and that if these projects go forward and open their doors later in the 2020s, there’s a strong chance they will fail to deliver on their golden promises.

For example, Shizuoka University Professor Yoichi Torihata told the Mainichi Shinbun this week that “the world where wealthy people gather from all over the world to play at casinos has disappeared.”

While that may be overstated, there is indeed plenty of reason to doubt that mainland Chinese VIPs will be spending huge sums in the prospective Japanese IRs, especially as the clouds overhanging regional diplomatic relations have darkened and Beijing has become less tolerant of the gambling industry as a whole.

In Osaka, where the strongest IR initiative is found, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party has decided to hammer at the credentials of the ruling Osaka Restoration Association by submitting a draft ordinance to combat gambling addiction, presenting themselves as the guardians of the public welfare.

This comes amidst a national controversy regarding a young man in Yamaguchi Prefecture who claimed to have quickly lost via online gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars mistakenly sent to him as Covid relief funds by his local town office. Some commentators have seized on this incident as providing yet another example of the iniquities of gambling.

In these various ways, IR opponents continue to chip away at the legitimacy of an already shaky, vulnerable effort to build casino resorts in Japan.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Chemical manufacturing company Taiyo Holdings announced that a new 2.3MW floating solar photovoltaic farm has been switched on in Miki city, Hyogo Prefecture.

The Chuoike Floating Solar Power Plant is company’s fourteen project of the kind, spread across the seven prefectures of Aichi, Gifu, Hyogo, Kagawa, Mie, Nara, and Saitama. All of them have been completed since October 2015.

The combined capacity of the company’s floating solar projects is close to 20MW.

In its statement, the firm explained that “it is generally the case that solar panels generate less power as the temperature rises, but with floating solar the cooling effect of the water moderates such temperature rises. This is an advantage of floating solar as compared to land-mounted solar panels.”

The Chuoike plant entered full operations on May 13.

Taiyo Holdings established Taiyo Green Energy as a subsidiary in 2014 to build out and operate its solar business.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Major real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan is deepening its support for Japan’s startup community, announcing that it is expanding its workspace offering to a seventh location near Tokyo Station.

The new location, which will be called The E.A.S.T. Nihonbashi 1-Chome, is scheduled to open on July 1. Like the six existing locations, it is within walking distance of Tokyo Station, as well as the Ginza district. This new location will be located on the fifth floor of a building which is directly connected to Nihonbashi Station.

Mitsui originally launched its “co-creation project” 31Ventures in 2015 in order to become directly involved in promoting and sometimes partnering with Japanese startups. This has included facilitating meetings between innovative firms and offering funding to those startups which the company regards as the most promising.

The flagship workspace is The E.A.S.T. Nihonbashi Tomizawacho, which opened in April last year.

The seventh location at Nihonbashi 1-Chome–which like its predecessors is aimed at “adult entrepreneurs”–will feature shared spaces, private offices, two meeting rooms, and five “web booths.” The latter two features are operated under an hourly pay-as-you-go system.

Prospective tenants will be screened in an attempt to ensure that only promising ventures are allowed to enter.

The name The E.A.S.T. refers to the east side of Tokyo Station, where Mitsui Fudosan owns a great deal of property.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The announcement by Subaru that it will be building Japan’s first dedicated Electric Vehicle (EV) factory cannot disguise the fact that this nation is already far behind in an industrial race which it should be leading.

Also part of Subaru’s announcement is that it will invest a total of ¥250 billion (US$1.9 billion) over five years in EV production, with the aim of having 40% of its new global car sales be electric by 2030.

The automaker’s flagship EV effort appears set to be the Solterra model, an all-electric SUV developed in cooperation with Toyota Motor Corporation.

The EV penetration rate is a mere 1% in Japan, and in recent years it is barely growing at all.

Meanwhile, in China, about 3.4 million EVs were sold last year, and by December 2021 they were accounting for about 20% of all new car sales.

The top five EV automakers by global sales in 2021 were Tesla, Volkswagen, BYD, General Motors, and Stellantis–in other words, not a single one is a Japanese company.

This is quite a fall from grace for a nation that has been known for decades as an automotive powerhouse, and which itself led the hybrid revolution a short decade or two ago.

Rather than anticipating the direction of a global automotive market that it used to lead, Japanese industrial leaders, led by Toyota President Akio Toyoda, stubbornly refused for many years to accept that the EV era was arriving, and now they find themselves playing catch-up.

It remains to be seen if they still have the time and resources to return the forefront of global auto-making, or if the sun is setting on this vital dimension of Japanese industrial leadership as well.

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The post Japan Automakers Playing Catch-Up on Electric Vehicles appeared first on Akihabara News.

Source: Akihabara News – Japan Automakers Playing Catch-Up on Electric Vehicles