In Japan, everybody on the street is now discussing “Ms. Obokata-issue”. I’m fully aware of the fact a lot of my friends all over the world reads this weblog, who aren’t familiar with social affairs in Japan such as this one. However, I won’t take this opportunity to deepen the discussion on the above mentioned hot issue around Ms. Obokata. Instead of that, I just want to ensure innovation as such never stops in Japan, even though every Japanese scientist seems to shrink into himself. The point is innovations of industrial use always begins not in huge, eminent laboratories like the RIKEN, but in tiny, unknown and private shacks, as it was the case for Thomas Edison.

Besides my capacity as analyst of global macro, I’m actually incubator of innovations. The reason why I can move around as incubator in Japan is as follows:

– Innovation in early stage needs really a huge amount of money. Private sector can’t afford to finance it. Public sector should be in charge of that. As a former career diplomat, I still maintain a broad human network in the Japanese bureaucracy, which indeed helps innovators to get in touch with decision makers in the public sector.

–Innovataion needs public acceptance. When they begin in authoritative laboratories such as ones at the Harvard University, nobody doubts their authenticity. The problem emerges, when they come up in unknown, private laboratories I described above. Without watching innovative phenomena at first hand, people voice their doubt and begin to eliminate brandnew innovations and discoveries from public scenes. To move forward against that, effective advocate is essentially important for unknown innovators. As author and contributors to Japanese mass media, I’m capable of play the role of such an advocate for innovations.

This is a Japanese version of “Tri-sector Leadership” I mentioned before on this weblog.  Even before the discourse on it began in US, I have been a practitioner and pioneer of this kind of leadership in Japan. Actually, I’m proud of that.

In this regard, I’m now wondering whether my foreign friends, who are somehow dealing with problems concerning waste and sustainable energy, seeks to opportunities to find out related innovations in Japan. What I want to introduce to you is a splendid invention of the so-called “atomic carbon” by a Japanese venture called “EEN”. The unique techniques the company has been innovating can be described as shown below:

– All you need is wastes of organic matter. You will put them in the machine called “EE21”, which then activates nitrogen treatment at low temperature.

– Having finished the treatment, you will get a certain amount of “atomic carbon” with very low cost. As you might know, carbon normally exists as a part of chemical compound. “Atomic carbon” is atomic, that is to say, it has much more distinguishing charasteristics of carbon than normal one.

For example, you can make unprecedented batteries with this “atomic carbon”. First of all, just make a voltaic cell, into which you pour only a drop of water and 1 gram of this “atomic carbon”. To be astonished, you will generate a 9-volt current, while conventional voltaic cells can reach 2 or 3-volt maximum. Furthermore, this voltaic cell with “atomic carbon”, keeps to generate electricity for three months! To revitalize it, you need only to pour another drop water into it.

Do you know how much electricity you need to let a electric vehicle run? The answer is about 400-volt current. With 40 kilogram of “atomic carbon”, which is originally made from wastes in cities and factories, you can drive a car. No more fuel-cell vehicle is needed. All you need is wastes of organic matter. That’s really all.

This is only an example of how you can make use of “atomic carbon”. The venture “EEN” just succeeded to make compounds of metal and “atomic carbon”, I just heard. A traditional textbook of chemistry explains any metal can’t be coupled carbon, while “atomic carbon” is apparently an exception for that.

To minimize fuel expenses, car industry all over the world is now trying hard to lighten car’s body. Let’s imagine how to make an ultralight body made with “atomic carbon”. With that, you can monopolize the market, I would say.

Mr. Kunimichi SATO, CEO of this venture, told me a Canadian local government just decided to import an EE21 plant for sustainable treatment of wood waste. In addition, a Brazilian local government will soon dispatch a fact finding mission to EEN in order to check whether it can be used for effective disposal of tremendous amount of municipal wastes.

Because of the rigid bureaucratic regulations and policies of waste disposal in Japan, Mr. Kunimichi SATO and his team have still difficulties to implement the sustainable eco-system between wastes, energy and resources in Japanese cities. What they can try now is to gather satisfactory results and achievements with EE21 in foreign countries and to bring them back to Japan. For this trial, those who are in charge of waste disposal and sustainable energy in political and bureaucratic scenes abroad are urgently needed. Of course, those who want to be alliance partners are also welcome.  Send me a message via wordpress. I’ll respond A.S.A.P.

Once again, “INNOVATION IN JAPAN NEVER STOPS”. For the sake of the better world in our common future, I’ll continue to run around as incubator and advocate of innovations in Japan. What will come up then?? Stay tuned…