The Tokyo metropolitan government has said that it will introduce a system requiring newly built homes to be fitted with solar panels from fiscal 2025 in a bid to reduce carbon emissions from the household sector. From a report: The first mandate of its kind in Japan comes as a revised ordinance on environmental security to introduce the system was passed Thursday by a majority vote on the final day of a regular Tokyo metropolitan assembly session.

According to the metropolitan government, major housing construction firms will be required to install solar panels on buildings with a total floor area of less than 2,000 square meters. Home buyers will also be required to cooperate, and those privately contracting the construction of a residence 2,000 square meters or more will be obligated to fit it with solar panels. The system will take effect in April 2025 after residents have been informed and preparations have been made with relevant businesses. The metropolitan government estimates that the 980,000 yen ($7,200) initial cost for installation of the 4-kilowatt panels can be covered within 10 years from electricity sales revenue and can be further reduced down to six years with subsidies it will provide. Subsidies for the initial costs will also be provided to leasing firms to reduce the burden on home buyers, the metropolitan government said.

Tim Cook has tweeted an admission that Apple uses Sony image sensors in its iPhones as part of the CEO's supplier tour of Japan. "We've been partnering with Sony for over a decade to create the world's leading camera sensors for iPhone," Cook tweeted, and thanked Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida for showing him around the Kumamoto facility. The Verge reports: Apple largely keeps tight-lipped about the specifics of the hardware components that go into each iPhone, so outright confirming that it's used Sony camera sensors for over a decade is notable. Apple's website tends to just list the specs of each iPhone's camera -- such as resolution, aperture, and field of view -- rather than the specific components used. But hardware specifics have tended to matter less in the age of computational photography.

Tim Cook's visit to Sony's facility suggests this partnership isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and a recent report in Nikkei Asia offers some clues as to what the companies are working on for future iPhones. Sony is said to have developed a new image sensor that uses a new semiconductor architecture to capture more light and reduce both over- and underexposure. The new sensor is expected to feature in Apple's next generation of iPhones, but will also ship to other smartphone manufacturers.

Japan and the Netherlands have agreed in principle to join the US in tightening controls over the export of advanced chipmaking machinery to China, Bloomberg News reported according to people familiar with the matter, a potentially debilitating blow to Beijing's technology ambitions. From the report: The two countries are likely to announce in the coming weeks that they'll adopt at least some of the sweeping measures the US rolled out in October to restrict the sale of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, according to the people, who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. The Biden administration has said the measures are aimed at preventing Beijing's military from obtaining advanced semiconductors.

The three-country alliance would represent a near-total blockade of China's ability to buy the equipment necessary to make leading-edge chips. The US rules restricted the supply from American gear suppliers Applied Materials, Lam Research and KLA. Japan's Tokyo Electron and Dutch lithography specialist ASML Holding are the two other critical suppliers that the US needed to make the sanctions effective, making their governments' adoption of the export curbs a significant milestone. "There's no way China can build a leading-edge industry on their own. No chance," said Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon.

South Korea, Japan and the EU see America's electric-vehicle subsidies as discriminating against non-American manufacturers, and are "rebuffing" restrictions on exporting sensitive semiconductor technology to China, reports the Wall Street Journal. (Alternate URL here.)

The EU's executive arm complains that newly-passed U.S. subsidies constitute "a market-distorting boost, tilting the global level playing field and turning a common global objective — fighting climate change — into a zero-sum game." There's a grand bargain to be had here: the U.S. makes its allies eligible for its EV subsidies and those allies join its semiconductor controls. The politics and details of any such bargain are, of course, difficult, maybe insurmountable. Yet such an accommodation, if it happened, would entail almost no economic cost to the U.S. or its allies — and potentially large long-term gains....

The U.S. Treasury Department could use its administrative discretion to phase in the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions or define content to allow more of these manufacturers' products to qualify. It could also interpret "free-trade agreement" to include not just formal bilateral treaties but broader pacts such as the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or the Minerals Security Partnership, both of which include Japan, South Korea, and the European Union but not mainland China or Russia.

If the U.S. bends to its allies on electric vehicles, its allies should bend to the U.S. on semiconductors.... Meanwhile, business as usual entails its own — potentially significant — costs. China's long-term goal is self sufficiency in all advanced technology, including semiconductors. It does business with Western companies until its own national champions can displace them first in China and then abroad. It has already followed the script in high-speed rail, power generation and telecommunications equipment. If China has its way, the market share that South Korean, Japanese and European semiconductor companies are trying to preserve will be gone a few decades from now.

A Japanese billionaire picked his crewmates for the first-ever artist-centered mission. Space.com reports: Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune as an online fashion retailer, announced the eight people who would be flying with him on the dearMoon mission, which aims to use a SpaceX Starship to fly around the moon as soon as next year. "I hope each and every one will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, travelling to the moon and back," Maezawa says in the video in Japanese, with a translation provided in-video.

Riding along with Maezawa will be:
- Steve Aoki, D.J., producer and electronic dance music artist with several Billboard-charting studio albums;
- Tim Dodd, YouTube creator of the "Everyday Astronaut" channel (Dodd has interviewed SpaceX founder Elon Musk multiple times on camera);
- Yemi A.D., artist and choreographer known for his work with JAD Dance Company and with Ye (formerly Kanye West);
- Karim Iliya, photographer whose publications include National Geographic Magazine;
- Rhiannon Adam, a photographer who has been supported by the BBC/Royal Geographical Society and won multiple awards, according to their website;
- Brendan Hall, filmmaker on projects such as the two-hour documentary "Blood Sugar Rising" about diabetes in the United States, according to the Internet Movie Database;
- Dev Joshi, an "Indian television actor known for portraying the role of Baal Veer in Sony Sab's Baal Veer and Baalveer Returns," according to the Internet Movie Database;
- T.O.P., a South Korean rapper known as the lead for the boy band Big Bang;
- Two backup members: dancer Miyu, and snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington.

Each member of the dearMoon crew was briefly quoted in a video from the dearMoon YouTube channel, and the announcement was confirmed on Dodd's and Maezawa's Twitter feeds.

"FTX Japan is looking to restart withdrawals," reports CoinDesk, "after a plan to return deposits was approved by its parent, the failed FTX exchange."

"If the plan works out, the collapsed crypto exchange's users in Japan might be some of the first customers to get their money back...." In a notice posted on its website, FTX Japan said it was able to confirm with the company's bankruptcy lawyers in the U.S. that Japanese customers' funds "should not be part of FTX Japan's estate given how these assets are held and property interests under Japanese law." FTX Japan had been working on the plan to restart withdrawals for the last two weeks, and says it was approved by the FTX Trading management team....

"As part of the plan, we are incorporating controls, security audit, reconciliations and reviews to put in place a robust and secure process," the notice said.
Meanwhile, America's Department of Justice "has requested that an independent examiner be appointed to review 'substantial and serious allegations of fraud, dishonesty' and 'incompetence'," reports CNBC: FTX's bankruptcy case demands an independent review, the Department of Justice said, because of allegations of fraud and dishonesty which could damage the entire crypto industry. Andrew Vara, the U.S. bankruptcy trustee for FTX's case, said Sam Bankman-Fried and his team mismanaged the company or potentially engaged in fraudulent conduct.

The DOJ is seeking an independent examiner to investigate what happened...
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti told CNBC that the move "shows a level of interest and attention that they're paying to this that should be troubling to Mr. Bankman-Fried."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) says a team of researchers fabricated the results of an experiment, led by one of its astronauts, that sought to simulate daily life on board the International Space Station (ISS). JAXA stated that it would subject astronaut Satoshi Furukawa to disciplinary action over data tampering, Japanese media reported. The experiment in question, conducted between 2016 and 2017, involved 40 participants who were confined to closed environments to simulate what astronauts experience during spaceflight.

The participants spent about two weeks at a facility in Tsukuba, a city northeast of Tokyo, after which time their stress levels and mental well-being were to be assessed by the overseeing researchers. Or at least, that was the plan. Instead, the two researchers responsible for conducting the interviews fabricated the data, compiling psychological assessments without actually having done the interviews and rewriting the diagnosis of the participants, according to NHK World-Japan. The researchers also claimed that three of them had conducted the interviews, when in fact it was just the two.

JAXA began investigating the results of the research in November 2020 upon noticing that something wasn't quite right with the data, and subsequently suspending the 190 million yen ($1.4 million) experiment. The researchers involved claimed that they were too busy to dedicate enough time towards the data gathering for the experiment, according to to JAXA vice president Hiroshi Sasaki and as reported in Kyoto News. The Japanese space agency will reprimand 58-year-old astronaut Furukawa, who was overseeing the experiment as project supervisor. However, since Furukawa was not personally involved in fabricating the data, his upcoming mission to the ISS in 2023 will not be affected. JAXA also stated that it would look into returning the grant it had received from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for the experiment.

The governor of Tokyo has urged people to wear a turtleneck this winter to stay warm and reduce energy consumption. Yuriko Koike said wearing turtleneck jumpers could help reduce energy bills. From a report: "Warming the neck has a thermal effect. I'm wearing a turtleneck myself and wearing a scarf also keeps you warm. This will save electricity," Yuriko Koike told reporters on Friday. "This is one of the tools to get through the harsh winter energy climate together." She said the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was "taking a lead in wearing turtlenecks."

Japan has long conducted an annual "cool biz" campaign, in which a casual dress code is encouraged in offices to save energy during the country's sweltering summers. The winter version is labelled, appropriately enough, "warm biz." Japan -- which is aiming to become carbon neutral by 2050 -- has faced a squeeze on its energy supply like many countries since Russia's February invasion of Ukraine.

Japan's core consumer inflation accelerated to a 40-year high in October as a weak yen pushed up the cost of imported commodities, which were already surging due to global supply constraints. From a report: The data suggests Japanese companies may be shaking off their deflationary mindset as they gradually raise prices of everything from fuel to food while coming under pressure from cost-push inflation. The nationwide core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food prices but includes energy, rose 3.6% year on year in October, versus a 3.5% rise expected by economists, and accelerating from the prior month's 3.0% gain. The jump marked the fastest gain since February 1982.

It also confirmed CPI growth remained above the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) 2% inflation goal for a seventh straight month. Despite broadening price pressures, which are a growing concern for households, however, the BOJ would not join a global trend of tightening monetary policy through rate hikes. BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda reiterated on Thursday a pledge to maintain monetary stimulus to support a fragile economy facing still weak inflation and reeling from the COVID downturn.

Google announced today that it's introducing a slew of new Maps, Search and Shopping features. The company revealed a majority of the new features during its Search On event in September and is now starting to roll them out to users. TechCrunch reports: Search
Starting today, users will be able to use Search to find their favorite dish at a restaurant near them. For example, you can search "truffle mac and cheese near me" to see which nearby restaurants carry the dish on their menu. Once you find a specific dish that you're looking for, you can get more information about its price, ingredients and more. Another new Search functionality lets you use Google's multisearch feature to find specific food near you. Say you see something tasty-looking online, but don't know what it is or where to find it. You can now use Lens in the Google app for Android or iOS to snap a picture or take a screenshot of a dish and add the words "near me" to find a place that sells it nearby. Later this year, Google is going roll out an update to its Lens AR Translate capabilities so users can more seamlessly translate text on complex backgrounds. Instead of covering up the original text like it currently does, Google is going to erase the text and re-create the pixels underneath with an AI-generated background, and then overlay the translated text on top of the image.

Maps
As for the new Maps features, Google is launching a new visual search experience called Live View in London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. [...] In addition to displaying information about where places are, users will be able to see key information about each spot overlaid, such as whether the location is busy, if its open, what the price range is, etc. Another new Maps feature makes it easier for EV owners to find the best charging station for their vehicle. Now, you can search for "EV charging stations" and select the "fast charge" filter. You can also filter for stations that offer your EV's plug type. Google also announced that it's expanding its "accessible places" feature globally after initially launching it in the U.S., Australia, Japan and the U.K. in 2020. The feature is designed to help people determine whether a place is wheelchair accessible.

Shopping
Google has announced a new AR shopping feature that is designed to make it easier to find your exact foundation match. The company says its new photo library features 148 models representing a diverse spectrum of skin tones, ages, genders, face shapes, ethnicities and skin types. As a result, it should be easier for shoppers to better visualize what different products will look like on them. [...] Users can now also shop for shoes using AR.

Japan said on Friday it will invest up to 70 billion yen ($500 million) in a new semiconductor company led by tech firms including Sony and NEC as it rushes to re-establish itself as a lead maker of advanced chips. From a report: "Semiconductors are going to be a critical component for the development of new leading-edge technologies such as AI, digital industries and in healthcare," Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a news briefing. The new chip company will be named Rapidus and aims to begin making chips in the second half of the decade, he added.

As trade friction between the United States and China deepens and Washington restricts Beijing's access to advanced semiconductor technology, Japan is rushing to revive its chip manufacturing base to ensure its carmakers and information technology companies do not run short of the key component. Japan is also concerned that China may attempt to take control of Taiwan, the global hub for advanced chip production.

WeWork said Thursday that it was going to close roughly 40 "underperforming" locations in the United States and tempered its revenue forecast for the year, highlighting the challenges the co-working company still faces after its near collapse and subsequent bailout in 2019. The New York Times reports: For the third quarter, WeWork said it lost $568 million, an improvement from the same period last year, when it lost $802 million. Revenue of $817 million in the latest quarter was more than 20 percent higher than the $661 million reported a year earlier. WeWork does not own its buildings but leases office space and parcels it out to its customers, which include individuals, small businesses and larger companies. Memberships rose in the third quarter. But occupancy was only slightly higher in WeWork's 647 consolidated locations around the world, rising to 71 percent in the third quarter from 70 percent in the second.

The company said it expected revenue of $3.35 billion to $3.37 billion this year. The upper end of that forecast is lower than the forecast it issued last quarter, when WeWork projected up to $3.5 billion in 2022 revenue. One factor leading to the pared back forecast, the company said, was "slower than expected growth" in its operations in the United States, Canada and Japan. WeWork said closing the locations was likely to reduce revenue but would benefit the company by cutting costs. The company has lost more than $12 billion since the end of 2018.

Demand for office space has plummeted since companies started letting employees work from home during the pandemic. But WeWork considers this trend an opportunity. Because it offers space for shorter periods than traditional landlords, the company has claimed that it provides businesses more flexibility. "The headwinds in the office sector are really benefiting the flex model," Sandeep Mathrani, WeWork's chief executive, said Thursday on a call to discuss third-quarter results. Still, large companies' share of memberships has fallen, to 47 percent in the third quarter from 49 percent a year earlier. The enormous costs of WeWork's office leases and the expenses involved in running the locations have led many investors to express skepticism about WeWork's turnaround plan. The company's stock has lost more than three-quarters of its value since WeWork went public last year, giving it a market capitalization of $1.9 billion, a small fraction of the $47 billion value that private investors placed on the company in 2019.

Studio Ghibli, the beloved animation producer behind worldwide hits like Spirited Away, Ponyo, My Neighbor Totoro, and Grave of the Fireflies, is teaming up with Lucasfilm, home to the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, for a mysterious new project. Polygon reports: On Thursday, the Japanese studio tweeted a cryptic video teaser, with the Lucasfilm and Studio Ghibli logos back to back and... maddeningly nothing else. The video is silent, so there are no John Williams-penned themes to work from here. But suffice it to say, the teaser is most likely for an animated project based on a Lucasfilm property, and Star Wars seems like a safe bet. Lucasfilm and Disney have multiple animated Star Wars series, including the recently released Tales of the Jedi and -- the most likely candidate for Studio Ghibli -- Star Wars: Visions.

A second season of Star Wars: Visions is coming to Disney Plus in spring 2023. And while Disney and Lucasfilm have not revealed much about who is contributing to it, Star Wars: Visions Volume 2 is pitched as a "global tour, celebrating the incredible animation happening across countries and cultures."

Google today announced it's expanding its user choice billing pilot, which allows Android app developers to use other payment systems besides Google's own. The program will now become available to new markets, including the U.S., Brazil and South Africa, and Bumble will now join Spotify as one of the pilot testers. From a report: Google additionally announced Spotify will now begin rolling out its implementation of the program starting this week. The company had first announced its intention to launch a third-party billing option back in March of this year, with Spotify as the initial tester. Since then, the program has steadily expanded. Last month, for example, Google invited other non-game developers to apply for the user choice billing program in select markets, including India, Australia, Indonesia, Japan and the European Economic Area (EEA). The company also introduced a similar policy for developers in the EEA region in July, but the new guidelines raised the commission discount from 3% to 4% for developers who opted in. With today's expansion, user choice billing will be made available to 35 countries worldwide. Google says it's been working with Spotify to help develop the experience and now the streaming music service will begin to put the new features into action in supported markets. The experience could still change over time, Google warned, as this is still the early days of the pilot test.

IBM has engaged in talks with the Biden administration on potential export controls for quantum computers as the company continues investing in the emerging technology. From a report: IBM recommended that any regulations, if developed, cover potentially problematic uses of quantum computing rather than limiting the technology based simply on processing power, said Dario Gil, head of IBM Research. Quantum technology will likely be subject to constraints like export controls, Gil said. "We will continue to be an active participant in that dialogue," he said.

Quantum computing is an experimental field with the potential to accelerate processing power and upend current cybersecurity standards. The Biden administration is exploring the possibility of new export controls that would limit China's access to quantum along with other powerful emerging technologies, Bloomberg News reported last month. IBM has installed quantum infrastructure in countries like Germany and Japan, but not China, Gil said. Big Blue has invested millions in the field, and is unveiling a new quantum processor this week that is more than three times more powerful, measured by qubits, than its version announced last year.

Japan Today reports: As reported by Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in a meeting on Nov 2, the Energy Conservation Subcommittee of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry resolved to begin working group discussions with the aim of gaining the ability to remotely turn down privately owned air conditioner/heater units. The goal would be to decrease energy usage during expected power shortages, which the committee feels are a growing concern as Japan attempts to shift towards renewable energy sources such as solar power, where the amount generated can be affected by day-to-day climate, making it difficult to stabilize the amount of total power available. The ministry says that AC unit usage accounts for roughly 30 percent of household electricity consumption in Japan.

From a technical standpoint, the plan wouldn't be particularly difficult to implement. Japanese air conditioner units have long had remote controls, so external inputs aren't a problem, and many models now allow the owner to turn the system on and off or adjust temperature settings through the internet. By asking manufacturers to extend such access to government regulatory organizations, and granting those organizations override functions over other inputs, the plan could easily be put into practice for internet-connected AC units, and water heaters are another home appliance the committee is looking to gain the ability to throttle back. [...] According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the committee is currently working under the concept that the government would only be able to turn down AC units if their individual owners have agreed, in advance, to grant that authority.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Two of the largest meat companies in the U.S. have invested in a smartwatch app that allows managers to track and monitor worker's movements. According to a report by Investigate Midwest, a non-profit newsroom covering the agri-business industry, JBS and Tyson Foods have backed Mentore, a start-up that claims it uses surveillance data and AI to improve worker productivity and reduce workplace injuries. Once paired with a compatible smartwatch, Mentore's application uses sensors to collect data on the force, rotation, speed, and directional movement of a worker's arm as they repeatedly complete the same task. The company's algorithm then analyzes that data to determine if those movements are safe and alerts the individual if they are found to be using too much speed or force. According to the report and Mentore's co-founder, Apoorva Kiran, the watch can also detect dehydration.

This raw watch data is then converted to real-time metrics that are made visible to supervisors on a dashboard. At the moment, it seems that Mentore plans to combat uncertainty and issues about transparency about the app by allowing workers to access their current and historical "injury risk" scores, but it's unclear whether they can do anything to challenge the real-time metrics on the watch itself. The app can also differentiate between "intense active motion" and "mild active motion." According to Mentore's site, this kind of data can "improve productivity, turnover, and safety at scale in real-time." [...] According to Investigate Midwest, the system has already been installed on about 10,000 devices across five industries in four different countries, including the U.S, Canada, Chile, and Japan. The move mirrors similar controversial tracking practices that many other companies, including Amazon, have tried to implement over the years in a bid to increase worker productivity. "Besides the tracking and the invasion of somebody's privacy, there is this real safety and health issue," Mark Lauritsen, an international vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) and head of the union's meatpacking division, told Motherboard. He says that requiring workers to wear a watch or any other jewelry would be in violation of health and safety policies, opening them up to workplace injury and potentially leading to contamination of the product.

"We're not going to allow their need to have more money and more productivity endanger people's lives and limbs just so they can make an extra dollar," Lauritsen said. "It's just not gonna happen."

The U.S. is urging allies including Japan to follow its lead on restricting exports of advanced semiconductors and related technology to China, likely intensifying the impact of Chinese-American tensions on chipmakers worldwide. From a report: Tokyo has begun internal discussions on the issue at Washington's request, a Japanese government insider said. Officials are weighing which restrictions can be adopted in Japan, and will watch how other U.S. allies such as the European Union and South Korea respond. The sweeping export controls announced Oct. 7 by the U.S. Commerce Department span chipmaking equipment, design software and even engineers who support semiconductor manufacturing in China.

"We were talking to our allies. No one was surprised when we did this, and they all know that we're expecting them to cover likewise," Alan Estevez, undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, said during an event Thursday hosted by a U.S. think tank. The curbs allow companies to apply for exemptions, but with a presumption of denial, meaning such requests are unlikely to be granted. Violators may face civil and criminal penalties.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The White House is bringing together three dozen nations, the European Union and a slew of private-sector companies for a two-day summit starting Monday that looks at how best to combat ransomware attacks. The second International Counter Ransomware Summit will focus on priorities such as ensuring systems are more resilient to better withstand attacks and disrupt bad actors planning such assaults. A senior Biden administration official cited recent attacks such as one that targeted the Los Angeles school district last month to underscore the urgency of the issue and the summit. The official previewed the event on the condition of anonymity.

Among the administration officials planning to participate in the event are FBI Director Christopher Wray, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. President Joe Biden is not expected to attend. Participating countries are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, the European Commission, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Pioneering Sega developer Rieko Kodama has passed away at the age of 58. Eurogamer reports: A memorial message for her was spotted in the credits of the Mega Drive Mini 2 and later confirmed by Sega producer Yosuke Oskunari. Sega subsequently confirmed Kodama passed back in May, but was unable to share details in respect to her family, as reported by IGN. "We pray that the deceased will rest in peace, and we offer our gratitude for her enormous contributions to Sega," said Sega of Japan.

Kodama worked on some of Sega's most celebrated games, including Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Skies of Arcadia, and Alex Kidd. She's perhaps best known as one of the creative leads on the Phantasy Star series, directing Phantasy Star 4. In 2019 she won the Pioneer Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards for her 35-year career in an industry dominated by men.