Smartphone apps that help farmers monitor crops and control costs are becoming popular as the rapid graying of the population continues to thin the ranks of skilled veterans in agriculture. Software developers are interested in developing applications for agriculture because the threat perceived from the ...
Having vowed to "revolutionize the rocket world," aerospace engineer Yasuhiro Morita saw his promise fulfilled with the recent takeoff of Japan's new solid-fuel rocket Epsilon, utilizing an innovative mobile launch control system. Morita felt a rush of exhilaration on Sept. 14 while watching the launch ...
An American entrepreneur has embarked on a project to invigorate rural communities in Japan and create new jobs by reusing abandoned school buildings for his IT business. Smart Technology Partners, founded in 2010 by Carl Sundberg and now employing 30 people, opened its first data ...
ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido (Kyodo) In Bibai, Hokkaido, a block of condominiums boasts the world's first snow-fed air conditioning system. The snow, which cools the condos more cheaply than conventional air conditioning, is a selling point for the complex, built in 1999. Bibai gets more snow than anywhere ...
ASAHIKAWA, Hokkaido (Kyodo) In a snow-covered field on the outskirts of Wassamu, Hokkaido, lie lush green cabbages harvested in the fall but preserved in snow until spring. "Cabbages do not freeze even if the temperature drops to minus 20," said cabbage farmer Yuko Arai, 43. ...
