Osaka University's QIQB and Fixstars achieved the world's largest quantum chemistry circuit simulation using 1,024 NVIDIA H100 GPUs on Japan's ABCI-Q supercomputer. Breaking the previous 40-qubit barrier, they simulated H₂O with 42 spin orbitals and Fe₂S₂ with 41 qubits — accelerating quantum algorithm development before fault-tolerant quantum computers arrive.
Tohoku University spinoff Space Quarters has successfully demonstrated electron beam welding in simulated zero-gravity and lunar gravity environments aboard an aircraft. The company achieved a world-first by welding sintered lunar regolith — the sandy material covering the Moon's surface. With its ultra-compact 7 kg welding system and JAXA partnership, this breakthrough brings humanity one step closer to building infrastructure in space.
Power Diamond Systems demonstrated the world's first actual power conversion using a diamond MOSFET in a DC-DC converter circuit. Following their recent 200V/1A switching milestone, this breakthrough advances diamond semiconductors from device-level testing to real circuit operation.
Japanese esports team ZETA DIVISION partners with the University of Tokyo to scientifically extend pro player careers through neuroscience research on reflexes, cognition, and motor control. Fighting game legends Momochi and Higuchi join the study.
Japan's Power Diamond Systems, a Waseda University spinoff, achieved the world's first 200V/1A switching operation with a diamond MOSFET. With 550V breakdown voltage and 0.8A drain current in a single device, diamond semiconductors could surpass SiC and GaN as the ultimate power semiconductor for EVs and renewable energy.
Japanese fusion startup Helical Fusion has announced that Phase 1 of its final demonstration device Helix HARUKA will be built at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS). With energization tests planned for 2027, the company is betting on Japan's unique helical approach to beat global rivals including Commonwealth Fusion Systems and TAE Technologies in the race to commercial fusion power.
Quemix CEO Yuichiro Matsushita achieved a world-first in quantum chemistry simulation on Japan's Fugaku supercomputer. This report explores how researcher autonomy drove the breakthrough, Quemix's partnerships with Honda and Asahi Kasei, and Japan's growing quantum startup ecosystem including QunaSys and Fixstars Amplify.
Spider silk — five times stronger than steel by weight — is finally becoming a mass-produced reality. U.S.-based Kraig Biocraft targets 10 tons per month while Japan's Spiber partners with 45+ brands. Explore Super Silk's potential in fashion, medicine, and defense, and how this bio-revolution is unfolding.
Japanese startup Orizuru Therapeutics has begun clinical trials transplanting iPS cell-derived islet cells into diabetes patients. The first-ever transplant surgery succeeded in February 2025, with company-sponsored trials planned in Japan and the US. Over a decade after Professor Yamanaka's Nobel Prize, Japan's regenerative medicine enters the practical stage.
Oxide Corporation, an optical crystal maker in Hokuto, Yamanashi, began selling Frequad-K, a 302nm UV laser source for quantum computers, on March 9, 2026. The wavelength is what excites ytterbium atoms into the Rydberg states neutral-atom machines need, and the first unit went to a domestic customer. We look at why 95% world share in semiconductor wafer inspection crystals transfers to quantum, and at the 436nm quantum communications laser Oxide shipped to LQUOM in July.
Shibaura Institute of Technology and AIST have measured the stable carbon isotope ratios of PFOA and PFOS, a world first for PFOS, using an Orbitrap that reads the chemical fingerprint without burning the sample. River spike tests proved it works on real environmental water, opening a path to identifying PFAS pollution sources. The bench work was a senior thesis. Japan made its 50 ng/L tap water standard legally binding in April 2026.
A Japanese research team from Fukui, Tohoku, Chiba, and Tokyo universities has theoretically proposed a new method to detect Majorana particles using spin currents. Not an observation but a proposal, it opens a fresh window onto the quasiparticle behind topological quantum computing, the same goal Microsoft's Majorana 1 chip pursues.
Chiba Institute of Technology has achieved the world's first ground combustion test of thrust vector control (TVC) using a gas hybrid rocket. Part of the Hestia Project, which aims to launch small satellites via balloon-based "Rockoon" method, this breakthrough demonstrated successful thrust vectoring at 2.0 kN over 8 seconds — opening a new path for affordable space access.
A Japanese research team has developed OrthologTransformer, a generative AI that treats DNA like a language and redesigns genes to work better in new organisms. The result? Plastic-eating bacteria that are up to 10x more effective. Published in Nature Communications, this breakthrough could reshape how we fight plastic pollution worldwide.
Japan's DNP invests in Rapidus to accelerate EUV photomask development for 2nm chips. Explore how EUV photomasks have become a bottleneck in advanced semiconductor manufacturing, Japan's dominant position with HOYA and Toppan, and the roadmap toward 1.4nm and beyond.
Researchers at Kyoto and Hiroshima Universities created iPS cells from bonobos, chimpanzees, and gibbons, then achieved the world's first differentiation into limb bud mesoderm cells. Inside Japan's Whole-Zoo iPS Cell Project and its work on primate evolution, conservation, and zoo veterinary medicine.
wo wooden walls are bolted to the ground and pulled against each other until one breaks — welcome to Japan's Kabe-1 Grand Prix, where earthquake engineering meets combat sports. Born after the 1995 Kobe earthquake, this competition pits universities, construction giants, and house builders in an all-out battle for the title of Japan's strongest wall. We report on the 2025 tournament with all its humor and hardcore engineering.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have built the CUBIC Organ/Body Atlas — a 3D map of every single cell across all organs and the entire body of mice at single-cell resolution. Combining the CUBIC tissue-clearing method with a custom light-sheet microscope, the team pinpointed roughly 610 million cells in a newborn mouse. Published in Cell, this breakthrough could reshape pathology and drug discovery.
Hitachi and Tokyo Institute of Science have achieved a 280x improvement in coherence time and 99.1% gate fidelity using ordinary silicon — no special isotopes needed. Unlike IBM and Google's superconducting approach, Hitachi's silicon-based quantum computer leverages existing chip-making infrastructure. With cloud access planned for 2027, Japan is carving its own path in the global quantum race.
Kyoto Institute of Technology and Chuo University have developed a cooling-free infrared sensor using semiconductor carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with 11x greater sensitivity than conventional materials. Building on Japan's legacy in CNT research since their 1991 discovery at NEC, this breakthrough could transform autonomous driving, security screening, and medical imaging. Here's what it means and how Japan is reacting.