Akihabara News (Tokyo) — In a stunning development, the special committee of the prefectural assembly examining the project to build a ¥470 billion (US$3.6 billion) casino resort at Marina City in Wakayama has voted it down.

The committee vote was five members in favor and ten against, with the Japan Communist Party representatives joined by most of the Liberal Democratic Party committee members.

The plan was that the committee would pass the initiative followed by a plenary vote in the full chamber. It is now unclear what will happen, especially since the deadline for the project to be submitted to the national government for licensing is April 28, just over a week away.

Even if some method is found to secure the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly’s consent before the deadline, the credibility of the project, especially in regard to the financing arrangements, has suffered a serious blow, making it less likely that the national government authorities would issue a license.

The Clairvest Group-led consortium has had chronic difficulty convincing local leaders that they have access to sufficient funds to bring the project to a successful conclusion.

Questions have also been raised about whether or not the prefectural administration provided false testimony to the committee, and an investigation has been launched. This appears to center on the question of whether it was falsely testified that Shinsei Bank had agreed to help finance the project.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — On a single day, ceremonies were held in Japan regarding two large-scale biomass power plants, revealing the brisk development of this form of renewable energy derived from plants and animals.

In Fukushima Prefecture, the completion ceremony for the 112MW Fukushima Iwaki Biomass Power Station was held.

The power plant, operated by Able Energy, entered commercial operation on April 1.

It includes investment from Kansai Electric Power Company and Kyudenko.

Wood pellets imported from North America are used as fuel by the plant, and the energy produced will be sold to the Tohoku Electric Power Company.

At the ceremony, Yukihide Sato, the president of the company, said that “we aim for operating the safest and most secure power plant in Japan with a strong sense of teamwork.”

On the same day–April 15–that the completion ceremonies were being held in Fukushima Prefecture, groundbreaking ceremonies were being held for another 112MW biomass plant, this time in Aichi Prefecture.

The Tahara Biomass Power Plant will be constructed by Chubu Electric Power Company and Toho Gas, with wood once again expected to be the primary fuel.

Full-scale construction of this plant will start in June, with operations scheduled to start in September 2025.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The plan to build a US$3.5 billion Integrated Resort (IR) including a casino at the Huis Ten Bosch theme park passed a major hurdle yesterday as the Sasebo City Council voted overwhelmingly to accept the proposal and to send it forward to the prefectural and national governments for licensing.

If it receives the national license, the consortium led by Casinos Austria International Japan will be authorized to construct its IR on a 32 hectare parcel of land adjacent to the existing Dutch-themed park, which is already the top tourist attraction on the island of Kyushu.

Construction would likely begin in the latter half of 2023 with an aim to open in autumn 2027. The expected number of annual visitors is anticipated to approach 7 million once it has operated for a few years.

The main point of concern—as is the case in Wakayama—is whether or not the operating consortium actually possesses the financial resources to build the facility as promised.

According to the plan that the businesspeople submitted to the local government, Casinos Austria is prepared to invest approximately 32%, or ¥140 billion (US$1.1 billion), of the needed amount; major Japanese companies, including some in Kyushu, will cover about 8%, or ¥35 billion (US$278 million); and the final 60%, or ¥263 billion (US$2.1 billion), will be borrowed from banks and other financial institutions.

CBRE Group, a US commercial real estate services and investment firm, would be involved in these funding arrangements, according to the documentation, but the names of the banks and financial institutions have not been released.

While commitment letters have been submitted that appear to cover the US$3.5 billion plan, there remain plenty of skeptics about the ultimate financial viability of the Nagasaki IR.

With passage by the city council, the plan must still receive the endorsement of the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly and then be submitted to the national government before the April 28 deadline.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — A hydrogen fuel station jointly developed by Eneos and Toyota is expected to open in the Woven City in the 2024-2025 time frame.

The hydrogen delivered at the Woven City station is expected to be “green hydrogen”; that is, produced entirely by renewable energy.

The partners have also indicated that the hydrogen fuel from this station may also be connected to a community pipeline where it could supply energy for local homes.

Woven City, where the station will operate, is billed by Toyota as “the prototype city of the future.” It will essentially be a research camp in which renewable energy and high-technology devices will be tested in a real-life setting.

Among the technologies to be featured will be hydrogen vehicles, as well as autonomous driving.

The Woven City concept was unveiled by Toyota in 2020, and it is currently under development at a location in Susono city, Shizuoka Prefecture. Construction broke ground in February last year.

The community will be home to 360 residents in its initial stage, including Toyota employees and their families, as well as senior citizens and scientists involved in the project.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Consumer electronics firm Lenovo is throwing its weight behind Japanese professional gaming team V3 eSports, hoping to bring new energy to competitions.

Specifically, President and CEO of Lenovo Japan David Bennett and professional gaming organization V3 eSports recently announced an official partnership to develop promising Japanese players active in the esports industry.

V3 eSports is a professional eSports team owned by Kobe High Tech School that has active rosters in first person shooter games such as PUBG: Battlegrounds and Apex Legends. However, the roster that has met with the most success is their League of Legends squad, with domestic league titles and world championship appearances under their belt.

Based on these domestic and international successes, V3 eSports has been aiming to improve the Japanese esports environment and to foster top-class talent in order to make a stronger impact on the international stage.

The partnership between Lenovo and V3 eSports will ensure that many young athletes will be able to obtain Lenovo’s top-of-the-line gaming personal computer “Legion.”

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — With the deadline for licensing applications coming at the end of the month, the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly must make its final decision on whether or not to go forward with the casino resort construction plans.

The decision on the Integrated Resort (IR) will be made by the assembly in an extraordinary session to be held from April 14 to 20.

Reiko Mori, chairman of the assembly, stated that “the IR is an important matter with pros and cons. Because of the keen interest of the citizens of the prefecture, I would like it to be discussed rigorously.”

The primary point of contention is the financing plan of the consortium led by the Canada-based Clairvest Group, which many observers believe to be lacking in credibility.

For his part, Wakayama Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka continues to strongly urge approval.

At his press conference on April 6, he was even more insistent than usual, declaring that “if the prefectural assembly were to crush the plan at this stage, it would be a huge matter. I absolutely want them to vote for the future of Wakayama.”

He added, ”It is my responsibility to get approval from the national government, but if it is cast away now, there’s no chance at all.”

Nisaka says that he is not concerned about the soundness of the financial plan that the consortium has put forward.

The Wakayama City Council gave its consent to the project on March 30. The approval of the prefectural assembly is the last hurdle remaining before the prefectural government would submit its licensing application.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Insurance company Sompo Japan is offering strong support to the satellite startup Synspective through financing and a business alliance.

Synspective, a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data and solutions provider, announced at the end of March that it had raised US$100 million in its Series B funding round, and that Sompo Japan Insurance was the leading contributor.

The startup aims to put thirty SAR satellites into service by around 2026 that will enable wide-area, high-frequency observation of the Earth.

Sompo Japan believes that these satellites will be instrumental in its future insurance business, greatly assisting it in monitoring those who are affected by floods, windstorms, and other related natural disasters through the satellite data. If all goes to plan, the acquired data will also identify potential damage areas, predicting each location’s susceptibility to natural disasters.

Masachika Nakao, managing executive officer of Sompo Japan, states, “Taking the opportunity of the capital tie-up with Synspective, we will cooperate to create social value through the new services development that deliver peace of mind to our customers, those who are affected by a disaster, as soon as possible by encouraging them to make insurance claims.”

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Nissan Motor has repeatedly delayed the launch of its fully-electric sports utility vehicle Ariya, citing problems in the supply chain.

It is now nearly a year since the successor to the venerable Nissan Leaf was supposed to have launched, and the latest projected date for the offering within Japan is now May 12.

The supply chain problems include, but may not be limited to, the global shortage of semiconductors, which has dogged much of the world’s automakers over the past couple years.

The Nissan Leaf had been the best-selling plug-in-electric car of all time until 2020, when it was finally surpassed by the Tesla Model 3. The Japanese automaker had thus gotten out to a global lead in electric vehicles in the early 2010s, only to forfeit its position by failing to follow up with any new offerings.

The Ariya is supposed to be Nissan’s belated effort to get back in the electric vehicle market, but its release, originally set for mid-2021, has still not been achieved.

According to current information, Ariya sales are expected to begin in Europe in the summer and in the United States in the autumn.

With a 100% electric powertrain, the Ariya is billed as having powerful acceleration and smooth, quiet operation. It has an estimated range of up to 610 kilometers.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — PSG eSports is competing in the Japan’s Rainbow Six Siege League for the spring season, bringing the firepower of a highly successful international outfit into domestic Japanese competition.

The new PSG team debuted on March 26, and it is composed of the entirety of the former Yoshimoto Gaming Lamy lineup

Paris Saint-Germain, more recognizable by its acronym PSG, is a professional football club with its headquarters located in Paris, France. The club competes in the top division of French football and is very successful.

The overwhelming success and brand recognizability of PSG has prompted it to expand into other areas, one of which is the esports market, resulting in the launch of the PSG eSports division in 2016.

PSG has fielded several rosters in different countries, playing a number of popular esports titles, including a Thai roster in Arena of Valor, a Japanese and Singaporean duo in Brawl Stars, and a Chinese-French roster in FIFA.

Additionally, PSG’s partnership with Hong Kong esports organization Talon eSports fostered a League of Legends squad that consistently dominates the Taiwanese league and makes regular appearances in international tournaments.

Moreover, LGD, a Chinese esports organization, formed a joint venture with PSG to create PSG.LGD for Dota 2. Like its League of Legends roster, its Dota 2 team also regularly competes at a high level.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Executives of US casino operator Bally’s Corporation were in Japan this week and have expressed interest in joining the emerging Japanese casino market—although most of the reporting about Bally’s intentions proved inaccurate.

At least three senior Bally’s executives were on the Japan tour: Chairman Soo Kim, President of Retail George Papanier, and Vice-President of Corporate Development Christopher Jewett.

The misleading reporting about Bally’s purposes was largely the result of press conference on March 30 at the Hotel Okura Fukuoka, which was sloppily organized by members of the local business community, but was largely presented to the audience as an event held by the Bally’s team.

The relationship between the speakers was not clearly explained, and about halfway through the event the Japanese-English interpretation disappeared, leaving frustrated Japanese journalists trying to ask questions directly to the Bally’s team of American executives, but instead having them fielded by a local consultant who was himself not in full command of the facts.

What the Japanese media took from the event was that Bally’s was jumping into the process at the eleventh hour—two months before the national deadline for licensing applications—with the aim of opening a major Integrated Resort (IR) in Fukuoka by 2028.

This notion was clearly preposterous to anyone familiar with all of the political steps that would be need to be accomplished to meet the deadline, as well as the fact that the Fukuoka governor is already committed to supporting Nagasaki’s IR bid through a number of all-Kyushu organizations.

Moreover, a series of concept drawings for a Fukuoka IR offered by another speaker, Kelly DeVine of HBG Design, were presented to the audience as if they were part of a Bally’s plan, when in fact it seems that the US casino executives had never even seen them before.

As for why the Bally’s team was actually in Japan, it was simply to scope out the country for future opportunities.

Evident in their generalized platitudes about how “this area has tremendous potential as a host community for an Integrated Resort” and Papanier’s inability to correctly pronounce the name of the host city was that Bally’s has no commitment at this stage to this particular municipality.

The most enlightening explanation for the actual motives and purposes of the Bally’s executives’ tour of Japan at this time came from Jewett, who stated (though his message was lost in translation) that “we are aware that the existing national process to select Integrated Resort candidates will conclude at the end of April. There is the possibility that after the national government assesses the initial round of proposals, that it will choose to reopen the bidding process.”

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Honda’s Asimo robot has been retired after a two-decade long career as one of the company’s mascots, extending a national trend toward the mothballing of iconic humanoid robots.

After its release in 2000, Asimo became a symbol of Japan’s anticipated future as pioneering robot society. Asimo proved capable of performing human motor functions such as walking, running, speaking, moving objects around, and more.

However, with the company’s priority now shifting towards Artificial Intelligence and perhaps a lack of practical applications for its skills, Asimo’s plug has been pulled, and all development of the humanoid robot is being discontinued.

The company hosted a retirement ceremony for Asimo, where it gave a final performance for fans and staff.

Asimo’s fate follows that of counterpart Pepper. Like Asimo, last June the iconic SoftBank humanoid robot also saw the curtains come down after a storied career as a public entertainer.

Pepper’s retirement was attributed to its lack of commercial viability and an overall drop in sales.

With Pepper and now Asimo leaving the stage, an era in Japanese robotics appears to have come to an end.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Tokyu Railways Company has announced that all its lines will run entirely on solar and renewable energy sources from next month, making it the first Japanese railway company to achieve this goal.

Tokyu Railways said it will purchase non-fossil fuel certificates for its electricity supplies along all its lines in the Tokyo area. This marks the first time a Japanese railway company has decided to go fully green.

This move may achieve a carbon dioxide reduction equivalent to the emissions of approximately 56,000 households per year.

Non-fossil certificates are issued by local governments, and are used to prove that a certain amount of energy has been produced by renewable energy. These certificates are available for purchase by companies, and this demand for green energy in turn pushes utilities and suppliers to expand renewables production.

Tokyu has assured its customers that the increased costs for acquiring electricity will not influence train fares, as the firm plans to introduce new electricity-efficient train models in the near future.

Tokyu plans to cut its overall company emissions by 46.2% by 2030 and aims to eliminate CO2 emissions entirely by 2050.

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Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Osaka Prefectural Government has released its awaited “Road Map” on the development of the eVTOL industry.

It is a 27-page PDF document, which is at this juncture available on the prefecture’s website, but only in Japanese language.

The part of the report highlighted most prominently by the domestic news media was the timeline envisioned by the prefectural government.

Vertiport construction is to begin next year and to be completed in 2024.

The next few years will also be occupied by various demonstration events and an effort to educate local residents, preparing the ground for social acceptance of flying vehicles in the urban environment.

As has been previously noted, it is the 2025 World Expo on the manmade island of Yumeshima in Osaka Bay at which the age of the eVTOL will be proclaimed to the nation and the world.

The Road Map goes on to specify that even after the World Expo closes, eVTOLs should continue to run along various routes in Osaka for sightseeing and other purposes.

Around 2030, the Road Map foresees a gradual shift toward automatic flight without pilots, as well as on-demand flight based on user reservations. Moreover, this is likely to be the period when eVTOL flight areas expanded from central Osaka to the whole of the Kansai region.

Finally, around 2035, Osaka Prefecture expects that eVTOLs will come into daily use by a significant portion of the population, no longer seen as a curiosity or something out of the ordinary.

The Road Map explains that the prefectural government’s interest in proactively promoting the eVTOL industry derives from the fact that these vehicles, when compared to helicopters or conventional aircraft, are likely to become less noisy, better for the climate, and cheaper than the existing options. Vertiports will also require much less ground space than the major airports in use today.

As the report puts it, “As a means for daily and short-distance transportation, eVTOL have the potential to bring new value to people’s lives and the towns they live in. They are expected to be used for a wide range of applications such as urban transportation, tourism and leisure, critical care, and disaster response.

The prefecture also has its eye on some of the positive knock-on effects that might attend the development of the eVTOL industry, such as the creation of new manufacturing and service jobs in the local economy.

Specifically, these could include the training of eVTOL pilots and mechanics to support commercial operations, aircraft and airframe maintenance jobs, and new opportunities for the insurance business.

On the same day as the Road Map was released, the Osaka Prefectural Government also hosted the 6th meeting of the Osaka Roundtable on a Moving Revolution Society in the Sky.

This event included presentations by a number of private firms that are making their own proposals. Namely, there were presentations by SkyDrive (an eVTOL developer), ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines (which are collaborating with foreign eVTOL makers to bring eVTOL services to Japan); as well as FaroStar and Mitsui & Co. (which are promoting air traffic management systems).

The Osaka Roundtable on a Moving Revolution Society in the Sky was launched on November 17, 2020, with the Osaka Prefectural Government and 41 private companies and organizations as its inaugural members.

Osaka’s initiative was in turn based upon the Public-Private Conference for Future Air Mobility, an initiative jointly launched in August 2018 by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

Osaka Prefecture has a population of over 8.8 million people and is the traditional rival within Japan of the capital city, Tokyo. The city’s leaders believe that the eVTOLs can help them take the national lead in a strategic forward-looking industry.

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