Japan, the third largest economy in the world is considered one of the most efficient nations. Having attained a remarkable growth in 2nd half of 20th Century following the devastating effects of the World War II, today, Japan has grown in leaps and bounds. Its role in international community cannot be underrated. Japan is a leading manufacturer of a variety of products including automobiles and electronics. It is also a major aid donor and a great source of global credit and capital.
More than 75 percent of the Japan’s population lives in the sprawling cities especially on the coastal fringes of its four mountainous and heavily wooded islands. Many countries have been attempting to acquire the position of a global class technological nation. Technological innovativeness of a country shows its power and status in the global scale.
A nation that has advanced technologically can achieve many goals including peaceful relations with the other nations and a reliable source of credit to other nations. Japan is known to be superior when it comes to technology. It comes out with many scientific inventions every time.
In the recent times, Japan has been spearheading talks for a technological innovation dubbed Dimensional Elevators that is capable of moving people from one building floor to another in just a blink of an eye. This kind of elevator creates an experience similar to one you get when travelling in a time machine. Japan also has a laser technology in its gun devices, which means that a gun can fire lasers in air.
Not only that, a company designing and building the Japanese giant has hinted that it may build a lift or elevator that reaches the space by 2050. The company known as Obayashi claimed that it intends to build a lift that takes a length of 96,000 kms to reach beyond earth. In the event that this plan becomes successful, it means a trip to outer space would be easier and this could change the global economy. The lift would be made using carbon nanotubes, according to Yoji Ishikawa, Obayashi’s research and development manager.
Recently, Japan also replaced almost half of its nuclear energy capacity with more efficient power. Following a devastating earthquake that struck in March 2011, Japan found itself in a seemingly impossible situation. About 20 percent of earthquakes that occur in the world take place in Japan. This country sits on boundaries of close to three tectonic plates, which make it susceptible to earthquakes.
The March 2011 tsunami unleashed devastating damages and to date, Japan is still feeling and coming to terms with the effects— not to mention the aspect of starting over the nuclear energy programme following the crippling of Fukushima plant, which was closed after the earthquake. The conventional power generation, that’s the nuclear fleet became unavailable following the earthquake, and this caused the country to experience a very risky situation of power cuts in times of summer consumption peaks.
However, in just weeks, the country miraculously managed to prevent the rolling power cuts, which many people thought that they were inevitable. Japan tapped the cheapest yet most widely available energy source and other strategies. It encouraged energy efficiency strategies such thinning lighting by doing away with some tubes and bulbs, closing big screens, and cutting back the interior lightings in offices— all these strategies enabled the country to reduce its power demands by almost overnight.
While these were temporary measures taken to save the situation, they have proven to offer long-term impacts. Through these impromptu strategies perceived as temporarily solutions, they have dramatically created more awareness on the need to save energy and use the energy efficiency tips both in homes and in workplaces. Large companies began operating on high profile efficiency programs to cut down the power demands in offices and commercial premises.
A combination of what is perceived as common sense in energy saving led to development of permanent solutions in saving energy— and in the process; Japan energy strategists thought that it would be wise to replace nuclear fleet with some cheap coal for energy generation.
Moreover, the manufacturing efficiency as well as the fuel economy have brought a huge success for the Japan’s automobile industry. Japan is one country, which has managed to commandeer a considerable share in selling its automobiles to other countries including America. In the American consumer community, two Japanese car brands are very familiar—Toyota and Nissan. All this success in penetrating the America’s automobile market is because of efficiency in car making that has been adopted in Japan.
The Toyota manufacturing process and procedures for instance, established by Ohno are a reflection of how companies can become more competitive in the larger automobile market. The push manufacturing processes where taken up by pull or in time manufacturing systems in Toyota plants.
Conservation, which is the foundation of energy policy in Japan, is very much rooted in the sense of resource scarcity. In 1993, he New Energy Development Organization (NEDO) brought in new implementations including the New Sunshine Project, which aimed at coordinating domestic renewable research as well as development programs. The main focus was on energy conservation in both the commercial and residential sectors.
Japan’s energy use programs are the most efficient often applying efficiency models in product manufacturing including the strive to improve automobile fuel efficiency by the year 2015. And, as Ichiro Sumikura from the Japan's Environment Ministry recently said, Japan wants to take a bold initiative to build a leading yet low carbon society while at the same time stepping out of recession earlier than any other country in the world. These were worlds that were spoken in times of global crisis, which saw many countries go into recession from 2007.
Japan has not become a superpower in efficiency by coincidence but due to lessons it has learned in the past. It has been confronted with difficult situations since the World War II to the modern age. Its technological development and willingness to adapt new measures in reducing wastage has resulted in impressive results in enhancing efficiency in productivity, energy, automobiles, and other sectors.
