Nipponica

Scheduled to open a hotel at Koiwai Farm in Shizukuishi, Iwate Prefecture, in spring 2026, JR East plans to use flying cars for transfers to and from Morioka Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen line. The company also plans to provide aerial sightseeing tours of Koiwai Farm and Mt. Iwate, intending to establish the service as a new tourism resource.

JR East formed a capital partnership in May with SkyDrive Inc., a startup that develops flying cars. For commercial operations, the company plans to use SkyDrive’s aircraft, which can carry a pilot and two passengers for a total of three people.

Nice to see that the future sky traffic jams are coming to the Inaka too.

Certain chips shipped before 2017 are vulnerable, Sony said, acknowledging the issue after inquiries from Kyodo News. Over 1.8 billion FeliCa chips have been produced so far, powering transit cards as well as employee and student identification cards.

Cybersecurity experts warn attackers could alter transit cards, disrupt electronic payments or forge passes for sensitive facilities, with one analyst describing it as an "extremely serious" problem that undermines trust in infrastructure.

While it is good that the cards that have this flaw are almost a decade old, it is still a big vulnerability. The move to digital cards and (unfortunately) QR codes is pressing forward, but FeliCa is still the core of the Japan transit network.

They allege that the service gathers and utilizes news articles without permission, and are seeking an injunction to stop the alleged copyright infringement as well as 2.2 billion yen ($14.97 million) each in damages. The filing follows a similar lawsuit by The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings, highlighting how legal action against AI operators, first seen at overseas news outlets, is now spreading to Japan.

The fight back continues.

Even after the full transition to My Number health insurance cards began in December last year, the usage rate has remained low, standing at 30.64% of all health insurance card and certificate uses through online eligibility confirmation as of June this year.

Many elderly individuals have been reluctant to adopt the new cards, as they are often unfamiliar with both facial recognition and the entry of personal ID numbers, one of which is required to use the system.

In addition, medical institutions have frequently reported cases in which My Number health insurance cards became unusable due to expired electronic certificates, according to the national federation of health insurance medical practitioners' associations.

I’ve said for a decade now that the problem with My Number is not with the tech, but instead with educating the public on how to use it and how it will improve their lives. The e-services themselves are quite excellent and are always improving. But if people don’t know how to access them, the whole endeavor is pointless

Japan is set to join Estonia's housing construction project by supplying façade materials for an 18-unit apartment building in the city of Brusyliv, Ukraine, under JICA's new initiative to engage Japan's private sector in Ukraine's reconstruction. The building's façade materials will be procured from NICHIHA Corporation, one of Japan's leading producers of fiber cement material.

The joint JICA-ESTDEV project in Brusyliv will deliver a modern, eco-friendly modular timber-frame apartment building, designed with energy efficiency, Passive House principles and solar readiness at its core.

This is what international leadership looks like. Not funding violence. Not prioritizing politics. It is caring for people.

The visitor toilet accreditation system in Gunma Prefecture began in 2003, with conditions at 259 bathrooms meeting its standards as of fiscal 2024. Facilities are judged on cleanliness, safety, ease of use and other factors based on around 25 points, with certified lavatories bearing a plaque with the prefectural mascot Gunmachan.

Please don’t let the rating system be a touch screen installed by the toilet paper.

The app, named Bears, allows users to report bear sightings by accessing the city’s official LINE account, which is linked to the app, then tapping “Bear Information” followed by “I saw a bear! (Report).” Users then input their name, their phone number, the date, the time, the number of bears sighted (selecting adult or cub), and the location (searchable on a map) to submit the report. The process takes about one to two minutes to complete.

Serious commentary: This is actually a good idea to build upon LINE, something that basically everyone already uses to disseminate information like this. Should also be simple to spread this to other municipalities that are having the same problems.

Unserious commentary: This is a shameful example of LGBT discrimination in Japan. Leave bears alone!

The lawsuit filed Thursday is one of a slew by media companies worldwide against AI firms using their material and is the first by a major Japanese news organization, Yomiuri said.

The lawsuit filed in Tokyo seeks damages of ¥2.2 billion ($14.7 million), equivalent to 120,000 Yomuiri articles used "without permission" between February and June.

Tech firms think they have to break the law to 'innovate' and that they are justified to do so. Let's teach them otherwise.

The Mobile Software Competition Act is expected to come into force by December 2025. With Japan joining the EU and UK, there are now three jurisdictions where Apple will be required to permit browsers to run their own engines. As Japan prepares for enforcement, it is likely studying the regulatory approaches and challenges already unfolding in Europe and the UK.

As the EU and UK have already shown (UK MIR, CMA SMS case, EU DMA enforcement), enforcement will be a long and difficult process.

Now that Japan, the EU, and the UK all require Apple to support third-party browser engines, 2026 may become the decisive year in restoring browser competition on iOS. But much depends on regulators’ resolve, and on Apple’s willingness to comply in substance, not just form.

First person to port IE6 to iOS gets a free case of Mountain Dew Code Red on me.

A July survey in Japan found that 84.2% of respondents make use of code payments for purchases, using a barcode or QR code displayed on a smartphone. The survey was conducted by Kufū Company Holdings on 2,559 users of its household budgeting app and related services.

Code payments have become a standard for cashless transactions in Japan, even surpassing the 76.3% of respondents who use physical credit cards. The next most popular form of payment, at 69.8%, is electronic money, which includes systems used on public transportation such as Suica and Pasmo, or money issued by retailers like Aeon. Meanwhile, only a minority of respondents, at 14.7%, use debit cards.

QR and barcodes seem like a step back when we already have contactless payments like Suica. It is more expensive to support FeliCa but all terminals support it by now.