Asleep at the wheel

Plus: Disruption,Space 🚀, Stocks

🗞 NUGGETS 🗞 

Autonomous Deregulation: The Nikkei’s big story this week looked at autonomous driving through the lens of deregulation. While Japan is rarely the country to deregulate anything first, it has moved to allow level 3 autonomous driving nationwide. Honda will be the first automaker to launch a level 3 or “conditional autonomy” vehicle. The technology has been around for a while – Audi unveiled its “Traffic Jam Pilot” in 2017 – but it was never equipped due to regulatory issues. All eyes will be on Japan to see if deregulation leads to more, or hopefully less, traffic accidents.  

Read: Nikkei Asia

Watch: Level III Mercedes in Action

Amateur Space Race: With those pros at NASA sending back stunning videos from the surface of Mars, interest in space is growing among amateurs in Japan. Amateur builders and launchers, including office workers and students, are challenging the idea that outer space is the sole domain of professionals, or famous billionaires! In Japan, there are about 50 known space startups and Morgan Stanley estimates the global market for commercial space will exceed $1 trillion by the 2040s 

Read: Japan Times

Digital watch: The COVID-19 pandemic was a shot in the arm for the publishing industry last year. While print sales fell by 1%, digital sales climbed 28%. It is tempting to think that we all got a little bit wiser, staying at home and delving into a good book. Some people did – digital book sales rose 14% to ¥40 billion. However, the real reason for the growth in publishing revenue was the explosive popularity of the manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – digital comic sales rose 32% to ¥340 billion.  👻⚔️

Read: Nippon.com

Well said:

My job is my life. Humans die if they give up their jobs. 

Suzuki Motor's 91-year-old chairman, Osamu Suzuki, upon retiring from his company 

Melting ICE: In yet another death knell for the internal combustion engine, Komatsu announced that it is developing a hydrogen fuel cell version of its 300-ton dumper truck. The fuel cell will replace the vehicle’s diesel engines with a high-voltage cell that can store over 1,000kWh of energy – that is equivalent to around 25 Nissan Leafs. In related news, Itochu and Air Liquide agreed to develop a new hydrogen plant in Japan. It will be able to make around 30 tons of liquid hydrogen a day, enough to power 42,000 fuel cell vehicles.  

Read: Mining Magazine

The cold chip war: US President Joe Biden may unwind many of his predecessor's policies, but not the America First policy. Diversifying supply chains out of China for strategically important products continues, to the benefit of Taiwan, Korea and Japan. The US accounts for just 12% of semiconductor chip production now, down from 37% in 1990. Taiwan is the global leader at 22% but boosting supply further would increase supply chain risk. Japan, with its skilled workforce and tech knowhow (although to be fair the chip industry has seen better days) will be a big beneficiary.  

📈 TOP MOVERS 📈 

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🔺+34% Rozetta (6182, Mkt Cap $270mn), provider of AI driven translation services, rose after its subsidiary, MATRIX, announced a real time Virtual Reality translation service. The company will hold a press conference on March 9 to announce more deets. 

🔺+25% Feedforce (7068, Mkt Cap $300mn), a provider of digital marketing services, announced a full year upward revision, with operating profit now expected to double. No surprise, but business has been boosted by the shift online due to COVID-19.  

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🔻-24% BASE (4477, $2.2bn) the online shop creation platform, or Japan’s version of $SHOP, was hit after SBI Securities downgraded the stock to Sell on valuation grounds and concerns over its growth potential.