Science and technology in Japan

Lexus LFA

PRO-HDV JVC camera

Presently, science and technology in Japan is mostly focused and prominent in consumer electronics, robotics and the automotive industry.

Electronics

Main article: Consumer electronics in Japan

Japan is well known for its automotive and electronics industries throughout the world, and Japanese electronic products account for a large share in the world market, compared to a majority of other countries. Japan is one of the leading nations in the fields of scientific research, technology, machinery and medical research with the world's third largest budget for research and development at $130 billion USD, and over 677,000 researchers. Japan has received the most science Nobel prizes in Asia (see List of Nobel laureates by country)

Japan has large international corporate conglomerates such as Fuji (which developed the nation's first electronic computer, FUJIC, in 1956) and Sony. Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Sharp, NEC, Epson and Toshiba are among the most well-known electronics companies in the world. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nintendo, and Subaru are also very well known companies in the world.

Transportation and robots

N700 Series Shinkansen

Main article: Automotive industry in Japan

Some of Japan's more important technological contributions are found in the fields of electronics, machinery, robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals. Japan leads the world in robotics, possessing more than half (402,200 of 742,500) of the world's industrial robots used for manufacturing. It also produced QRIO, ASIMO, and Aibo. Japan is also home to six of the world's fifteen largest automobile manufacturers and seven of the world's twenty largest semiconductor sales leaders. Japan is also considered to have one of the most advanced trains, notably the Shinkansen and maglev trains. In 2003, the maglev MLX01 reached 581 km/h. This is the fastest record achieved by a maglev as well as a fastest train, slightly beating France's TGV attempt in 2007 (by about 7 km/h).

Aeronautics

Japan has also made headway into aerospace research and space exploration. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducts space and planetary research, aviation research, and development of rockets and satellites. It has developed a series of rockets, the latest and the most powerful of which is H-IIB. H-IIA/B rockets which have the capability of carrying 8-ton payload to the GTO at maximum are now managed by the private-own company Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. It also built the Japanese Experiment Module, which was launched and added to the International Space Station during Space Shuttle assembly flights in 2007 and 2008 and the HTV to transfer payloads to the station in 2009.

Nobel Laureates

Japanese researchers have won several Nobel Prizes. Hideki Yukawa, educated at Kyoto University, was awarded the prize for physics in 1949. Sin-Itiro Tomonaga followed in 1965. Solid-state physicist Leo Esaki, educated at the University of Tokyo, received the prize in 1973. Kenichi Fukui of Kyoto University shared the 1981 chemistry prize, and Susumu Tonegawa, also educated at Kyoto University, became Japan's first (and, as of 2007, only) laureate in physiology or medicine in 1987. Japanese chemists took prizes in 2000 and 2001: first Hideki Shirakawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology) and then Ryoji Noyori (Kyoto University). Masatoshi Koshiba (University of Tokyo) and Koichi Tanaka (Tohoku University) won in physics and chemistry, respectively, in 2002. Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Masukawa, and Yoichiro Nambu who is an American citizen when awarded, shared the physics prize and Osamu Shimomura also won the chemistry prize in 2008.

See also

• Japanese consumer electronics industry
• Japanese automotive industry
• Neodymium magnet

Japanese scientists

• Shibasaburo Kitasato
• Kiyoshi Shiga
• Jokichi Takamine
• Umetaro Suzuki
• Hantaro Nagaoka