Nipponica

Japan's JR East looks to roll out an autonomous train-operating system by 2035 on its Yamanote line, which loops around the heart of Tokyo, with plans to bring similar systems to shinkansen bullet trains around the same time.

The company, officially called East Japan Railway, seeks to fight growing labor shortages by enhancing operational efficiency and optimizing staffing under a business plan unveiled Tuesday.

"Driving jobs will be eliminated, but tasks that need to be performed by humans will only increase," President Yoichi Kise told a news conference the same day.

Now this has a great chance of success. Rail has less variables to deal with compared to free range vehicles (but still a complicated problem). Once Yamanote is perfected, this can be debuted anywhere.

Can they do it? Sure. Will it be successful? I have my doubts. 7-Eleven has an image problem in the States and overcoming that is going to be the biggest issue to face.

Over the next five years, Seven & i is considering investing more than $13 billion to expand overseas. In the United States, this means initiatives like refreshing existing sites, adding more than 1,000 in-store restaurants and building a network of companies to provide more of its 7-Eleven brand prepared foods.

“And we’re launching the egg sandwiches,” Mr. Dacus said. They are, he noted, the top item purchased by the millions of American visitors descending on Japan each year and visiting 7-Eleven stores.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. on Tuesday introduced worker robots to one of its convenience stores in Tokyo, with the trial part of an automation push necessitated by Japan's worker shortage.

One robot will take over tasks such as stocking bottled drinks and canned alcohol, while others will clean the store's floors and windows.

One way of dealing with a shortage of workers. Might work in low traffic stores but packed ones in tourist heavy areas would probably not allow for enough maneuvering space for a robot. But who knows, Japanese robot innovation has surprised me before.