IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Despite COVID-19, the new “living laboratory” smart city project broke ground right on schedule, in full view of Mount Fuji, under the watchful eyes of Toyota president Akio Toyoda.

On February 23, Mount Fuji Day, Toyota Motors began construction on a futuristic city in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, at the foot of Japan’s most famous mountain.

Imagine a city where self-driving electric cars whiz along roads designed exclusively for them. The sidewalks are a mix of people and robots going about their daily business. A drone flies overhead to deliver your latest Amazon package of toothpaste, thankfully, as you used up the last of yours that morning. But your house knew that already, and it placed the order for you.

In fact, your smart house not only knows, but can automatically set exactly what temperature you like, your preferred mood lighting, play your TV shows when they're on or DVR when they're not, and even notify your humanoid robot to start cooking your favorite meal for you as you're on your way home from work.

Toyota is starting to build its high-tech ‘Woven City’ at a former vehicle production plant at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan.

The development was first announced in January 2020 as a “prototype city of the future where all ecosystems are connected”.

The 175-acre ‘living lab’ could eventually be home to 2,000 residents, including researchers and Toyota employees, who will be able to test and develop technologies such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes and artificial intelligence in a real-world environment.

Ambitious plans to build a utopian sustainable city at the foot of an active Japanese volcano are well on their way to completion.

First announced in 2021, Toyota has been hard at work constructing their Woven City just miles away from Mount Fuji on the island of Honshū, with the first of 2,000 anticipated residents now expected to move in before the end of the year.

The 175-acre site, built at the base of a world-admired landmark, will serve as a futuristic "living laboratory" for robotics, AI, and autonomous vehicles.

Toyota’s ambitious $10 billion (£8 billion) "smart city," Woven City, is poised to welcome its first residents later this year.

Situated at the base of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji, the 175-acre site is envisioned as a futuristic "living laboratory" for robotics, AI, and autonomous vehicles.

Women City, this is the name associated with a large project carried out by Toyota. The famous Japanese multinational engaged in the production of automobiles has in fact the objective of building a real innovative city at the foot of Mount Fuji.

The reason? Simple, to make sure that this city is a real laboratory where new technological realities can be tested and at the same time perfected. For example artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, clean energy, robotics and much more.

New smart city to serve as a test site for innovative technology

Toyota Group employees have been welcomed to a new mini city recently launched by the automotive manufacturer that acts as a real-world test course for innovative technology.

The city, called Toyota Woven City, was developed alongside Woven by Toyota, Inc. (WbyT) and officially launched in late September, two years after it was first unveiled.

Optibus’ bus scheduling software and Timetable Optimisation will transform how services are planned and scheduled in the face of bus driver retention obstacles.

Japanese public transportation operator Iwakuni Bus has selected Optibus’ transportation management platform to help optimise its 1.2 million annual passenger trips in the city of Iwakuni in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture.

The government has underscored that deeper collaboration with Japanese partners will directly support Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

This came during a high-level Kenya-Japan workshop hosted by Konza Technopolis, under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy (MICDE) in the smart city.

This strategic event focused on establishing areas for digital and technology collaboratiom between Kenyan companies and Japan enterprises.

The government will expand software-centered information and communication technology (ICT) exports, such as AI and metaverse, and promote market diversification to help domestic companies enter the Middle East, Japan and ASEAN markets as Korea's exports show signs of being impacted considerably by the U.S.-China trade dispute and the global economic downturn, officials said, Monday.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced a strategy to expand the country's high-tech exports by encouraging domestic companies to enter new markets and foster innovative companies in the software sector during a service industry development task force meeting chaired by Choo Kyung-ho, deputy prime minister for economic affairs, and minister of economy and finance.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts will agree that Bitcoin has always been big in Japan. After all, the country was last year named as one of A to Z Forex’s top 3 most Bitcoin-friendly countries in the world. Roger Ver, the so-called “Bitcoin Jesus,” has called Tokyo “the world’s most Bitcoin-friendly city” – a tag that many of the city’s tech officials have been only happy to cultivate.

But as China has recently raced ahead in the East Asian bitcoin stakes, some Japanese tech gurus are instead pinning their hopes on finding innovative uses for blockchain technology.

The Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) will continue to collaborate under the ASEAN Smart City Network (ASCN) and Smart Japan-ASEAN Mutual Partnership (Smart JAMP) programme to support the Kuching Smart City initiative through experience sharing session and personnel capacity building.

Three high ranking officials from MLIT made a courtesy visit to SMA’s office here yesterday to mark this continuous collaboration, said SMA in a statement today.

Four years ago the IT Strategic Headquarters headed by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi formulated an e-Japan Priority Policy Programme that called for the "formation of the world's most advanced information and telecommunication networks" by 2006, with a view to transforming Japan into the "world's most advanced information technology society". With this completion date looming, how has the Japanese e-government effort fared?

Das japanische Einwohnerregistrierungssystem Juki Net hat gestern, Montag, den vollen Betrieb aufgenommen. Von nun ab werden Name, Geburtsdatum, Geschlecht und Adresse eines jeden Bürgers zusammen mit Aufzeichnungen über etwaige Änderungen in einer staatlichen Datenbank gespeichert und können über einen elfstelligen persönlichen Code von den teilnehmenden Verwaltungsbezirken abgefragt werden. Dies berichtet die Japan Times heute, Dienstag.

The Cebu City government is taking a significant step in its digitalization efforts by integrating Japanese technology into its fiber loop infrastructure project.

City officials gathered yesterday to officially launch the "Smart City Project: Fiber Loop Infrastructure." The initiative is expected to enhance online communication, streamline e-governance services, and strengthen cybersecurity measures across the city.

New Clark City was cited during a recent Japan forum for utilizing best practices centered on improving its future residents’ health and wellbeing, and in promoting smart city features.

SCI-Japan, a private sector-led, non-profit organization founded by think tank Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting, as well as media group Nikkei, in July 2023 congregated smart city champions across the globe, through a forum titled: “Challenge of Japan’s Smart City Initiative Improving Citizen’s Well-being,” to introduce some of best practices and discuss how to utilize well-being indicators for policy design toward sustainable smart city business.

The field-test in the Kanagawa Prefecture fits within Japan’s wider Action Plan of the Growth Strategy to explore the role of low-speed and compact autonomous robots.

A robotic postman is set to deliver letters and parcels to residents of Fujisawa after a field test of an automated home delivery service was launched in the Japanese town.

Prime Minister Ansip elaborated on both e-voting, e-Tax Board and other more common Internet-based services in Estonia - amongst other things, the popularity of online banking. His Japanese counterpart noted that there was great interest in applications for e-government as well as for the Estonian ID card.

About a year has passed since Japan’s first commercial 5G mobile communications service was launched. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications has announced a target of increasing the number of base stations to 280,000 by the end of March 2024 and is promoting further development of the communications infrastructure.

Tests are underway to verify remote control and remote medical care, which 5G is expected to make possible, and use of the technology is steadily growing.

Residents control data to allay privacy concerns troubling US and China projects

Japan's regional cities are taking a new approach to smart cities, which use digital technology to improve functionality and livability.

In the U.S. and China, which lead the field, people's distrust of having personal information collected en masse is an obstacle to expanding smart cities. On the other hand, Japan is finding success in taking the opposite tack and making the provision of personal information optional.