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Atsuyoshi Koike of Japan's Rapidus co-developing with IBM new 2 nanometer chip for production in 2026, wafer by wafer in 15 days instead of in batches taking 50 days. Koike says he will charge a Shinkansen fee referring to the bullet trains in Japan. He sees the failure by Japan to join the US in co-producing chips as a mistake, ceding ground to Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung. Japan's government supports Rapidus with $600 million in funding and anotehr $1.7 billion comes from Japanese companies Sony, NTT and others. By comparison TSMC will invest $56 billion to produce advanced chips in scale in 2026. Japan is step by step getting back into the chip business by making a joint effort with the US.

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Yuriko Koike is elected the first woman governor of Tokyo, in a three way race, winning by over a million votes. She was Minister of Defense in the first government of prime minister Abe in 2007 which lasted only a short time. She was a news anchor before being elected to parliament in 1992 and supporting conservative causes. As a student she studied overseas learning Arabic at the American University of Cairo, and getting a degree in sociology at the University of Cairo. At 64 she is relatively young compared to a LDP candidate who was 76. The previous two governors resigned from office in financial scandals. Her immediate task is preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and keeping the costs down for Tokyo residents.

 

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Governor Yuko Koike has set 2050 as the date for Tokyo to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has put out the plan in "Tokyo Zero Emissions Strategy." All vehicles will be using electricity or fuel cells. And all buildings will use solar and other forms of renewable energy. The govenor called on all Tokyo residents to fight climate change. Also planned is an effort to reduce use of plastic and other materials that consume large amounts of energy.

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Tokyo enters a lockdown as Governor Koike warns of the danger of public complacency after the cherry blossom season. She called for the public's cooperation. She asked residents to work from home. The Tokyo metropolitan region has about 30 million people in a densely crowded area. 

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Picture of a weather sign outside a Pharmacy in Paris shows the heat wave hitting Europe- the Temp. 44 degrees C. This is 111 degrees Fahrenheit. In places loike Seville, Spain the temperature can get even hotter. Europe is woefully under airconditioned with many hospitals and public facilities lacking airconditioning. The US is far ahead in airconditioning. Conservative parties in Europe are accusing the liberals in power of not doing enough. In London Sadiq Khan is Mayor and housing construction rules require considering other cooling design options before putting in air conditioning. Some members of parliament call this "ridiculous."  In France the opposition parties say the government "is out of touch." Consider government views in France. Energy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher says heat from large-scale air conditioning would make heat waves worse. “It’s a bad solution, We should air-condition for vulnerable people to give them a break, but on the other hand we shouldn’t do it everywhere.”  ...

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Japan's governing LDP party wins over two thirds of the seats in parliament in a snap election called one year before the end of the term in office. Prime minister Abe's popularity by summer 2017 dropped to about 30%, and yet with a divided opposition he managed to win the election with a large majority. The opposition led by the Democratic Party and Tokyo Governor Mrs Koike fragmented with the formation of new parties, Yuriko Koike's Party of Hope, and the Consitutional Democratic Party. Mrs. Koike failed to keep the opposition united with some missteps including asking for a loyalty pledge from candidates. This election win makes it possible for Abe to get a third term as leader of the LDP and eventually becoming the prime minister with the longest term in office. Abe had a poor start during his first effort as prime minister when he resigned in less than a year. This is a comeback for Shinzo Abe from that difficult period. Yet the constitutional changes to support Japan's Self Defense Forces with the growing threat from North Korea are not getting the same level of support. Opinion remains divided on that issue.  One aspect of this election is that very few women candidates are running for parliament. In contrast to the election in Britain with more women running for office and getting elected, in Japan's 2017 snap election less than 10% of candidates elected are women. ...

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North Korea launched a missile that landed within 125 miles of Japan's northwest coast. The Japanese Defense Ministry stated the additional time to reach the Japanese shoreline was 20-30 seconds. North Korea said it did this to protest the U.S. and South Korea setting up a THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul to intercept North Korean missiles. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe reshuffled his cabinet and appointed Tomomi Inada, a conservative who supports revision of the Japanese constitution to improve Japanese capabilities for defense. She is the second woman to take up the defense ministry position after the newly elected Tokyo governor, Yuriko Koike.

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This wonderful report in the DW.com looks at what may be the defining game of the Nations League Soccer in 2020- the Germany loss to Spain, Spain winning with 6 goals. It shows pictures of moments for each of 6 goals by Spain and detailed descriptions of each. Coach Joachim Low's strategy for his players of sitting deep in his half so as to remove the possibility of inviting space backfired says DW.com. Toni Kroos of Real Madrid team who was one of the few seasoned players on a new team for Germany put together by Low, says that they tried both being more aggressive in the second half after sitting deep in the first half, and both approaches failed. The Spanish team was well coordinated, faster and tougher throughout the game.  At key moments the Germany defenders were nowhere near the Spanish players as they moved the ball one way and quickly the opposite way the next moment. Ferran scored a hat trick with 3 goals and some of his goal kicks were very quick and fast. As it says here Ferran reacted faster than anyone to score. In three consecutive moments Germany was slow to react to the speed of the Spanish players. For most of the game the Spanish players controlled the ball with pinpoint passing in the midst of many of the German players. It was not that Neuer the German goal keeper was not quick enough, he was beaten by the speed and angles, and the movement of the ball from different directions with Spain's rapid passing. For Spain Ramos, Morata, Ferran, Koke and Rodrigo, Olmo, played a critical role with a German team not looking like this since the 1930's, even though coach Joachim Low had put together a new German team. This could be a formative moment for Germany and coach Joachim Low as the German team looks for its form that eluded it completely this time.  ...