Regulatory Environment

Japan’s Regulatory Environment

Mount Fuji Shizuoka Industry Zone

The Japanese Industrial Standard: Ensuring Quality and Safety, Facilitating Global Trade

The Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) is a set of standards for manufacturing, engineering, and other industrial processes in Japan. These standards are used to ensure consistency and quality in products, and they are also used to facilitate international trade. The JIS was first established in 1949, just after the end of World War II. At that time, Japan was rebuilding […]

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Japan Bitcoin Innovation

Japanese Regulation Paves the Way for Bitcoin Innovation

Japan has undoubtedly become one of the world’s leading bitcoin hubs in recent years. Through a combination of popular interest, major exchanges and regulation, the country has not only established itself as a cryptocurrency authority, but it has started to lead the way in terms of innovation. Indeed, since the Financial Services Agency gave its seal of approval to bitcoin […]

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PMD Act Japan

Planning to Enter the Medical Device Field in Japan? Get Familiar With the PMD Act

By Frank Piller, General Manager Products at TÜV Rheinland Japan   After basic regulations for pharmaceuticals and medical devices had remained unchanged for a long time in Japan, the country enacted the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Act or PMD Act in November 2014. Officially called “The Act on Securing the Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Regenerative and […]

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Old Japanese House

Japan Moves Quickly Toward Energy-Efficient Buildings

By Hiroyuki Arie, General Manager, Business Stream Systems at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Fire, typhoon and earthquake resistance of buildings has long been of paramount importance in Japan. This is partly because for a long period of time, the majority of structures were lightly made of wood. If a house caught fire in the Edo period (1603–1868), firefighters often chose […]

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ISO 14001 in Japan

ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Standard Trends in Japan

By Hiroyuki Arie, General Manager, Business Stream Systems at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Twenty years have passed since the 1996 establishment of ISO 14001, the standard for environmental management systems (EMSs). By now, there are over 25,000 ISO 14001-certified organizations in Japan. This is second only to the number in China, and demonstrates that the concept of the environmental management […]

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TUV Rheinland Cybersecurity Japan

Japan’s Approach to Tackling Cybersecurity Challenges

By Hiroyuki Arie, General Manager, Business Stream Systems at TÜV Rheinland Japan   On Nov. 28, I was working on this article about cybersecurity in Japan, when shocking news spread quickly across the nation. Major news media, including Kyodo News, simultaneously reported that the Ministry of Defense (MOD) had suffered a cyberattack. Ministry sources announced that a hacker had penetrated […]

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Battery Safety in Japan - Lithium Ion Battery

Ensuring Lithium Ion Battery Safety in Japan

by Kazushi Arima, General Manager, Mobility at TÜV Rheinland Japan   With their large output and long service life, lithium ion batteries power a broad variety of products from smartphones to electric vehicles. At the same time, there are frequent reports of safety problems that come with these batteries. Just recently, a South Korean smartphone manufacturer has garnered much unwanted […]

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Wind Energy Windmill

Japan Eyes Wind Farms to Power Energy Needs, Sets Ambitious Goals

By Ramesh Nadarajah, Vice President Industrial Services Asia-Pacific at TÜV Rheinland Asia-Pacific   Renewable energy is one of the most important factors in the transformation of Japan’s energy mix by 2030. This article provides a closer look into what has happened in the area of wind energy, one of the most promising renewable energy sources, and tries to identify some of […]

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Smart Grid - Electricity - VPP

Internet of Things: Better Electricity Supply and Demand Efficiency in Japan – Part 2

By Frank Piller, General Manager Products at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Demand response and virtual power plants (VPP) are expected to play a crucial role in the future, as outlined in METI’s latest Innovative Energy Strategy whitepaper. This article continues our discussion started here. Communication Standards for Demand Response In May 2013, a METI-sponsored workshop established the “Demand Response Interface […]

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Electricity Supply and Demand - Grid

Internet of Things: Better Electricity Supply and Demand Efficiency in Japan – Part 1

By Frank Piller, General Manager Products at TÜV Rheinland Japan   In recent years, the Japanese government has vigorously promoted energy conservation through various actions, including installing the feed-in tariff system for renewable energy, deregulating electricity and promoting the Smart House concept. For its part, in 2015 the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has formulated its Long-term Energy […]

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Japanese Smart House Technologies

The Smart House – Japanese Technology and Standards

By Frank Piller, General Manager Products at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Protecting the environment, conserving energy and reducing carbon emissions are global challenges. In Japan too, various sectors, including the government, are aggressively addressing these difficult issues. The Japanese government has recently introduced a variety of measures to reduce energy consumption at home, in order to promote energy conservation by […]

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Electricity Deregulation - Mount Fuji

Energy Regulations and Electricity Deregulation in Japan

By Frank Piller, General Manager Products at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Renewable energy. Energy efficiency. Energy conservation. Energy storage. Hotly discussed topics all of them – indicating that energy has become one of the most important issues of our time. The Paris Agreement at COP21 and the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference last November are evidence of global momentum. […]

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Avoiding Work-Related Accidents - Sparks Flying

Toward Fewer Work-Related Accidents: Japanese Regulations

By Hiroyuki Arie, General Manager, Business Stream Systems at TÜV Rheinland Japan   The year 2016 started with a number of news items that remind us of the importance of safety and quality management. From the tour bus incident and repeated food scandals we learned that we should always use a process approach to ensure safety and quality and limit […]

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IoT - Ind40 - Smart Factory

Safety Measures for the Industrial Workplace – Present and Future

By Yoshihiro Sugita, General Manager, Industrial Service at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Industrial accidents in Japan According to recent statistics by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of industrial accident fatalities is decreasing constantly, except for the extraordinary rise in 2011 because of the Great Kanto Earthquake and the following nuclear power plant accident. The number reported […]

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Toyota Coms in EMC laboratory

Electric Cars: The Role of Standards in Japan and Abroad

by Kazushi Arima, General Manager, Mobility at TÜV Rheinland Japan   Research on electric cars In 2011, TÜV Rheinland organized a global opinion survey about electric cars. The result showed that people are generally positive in their acceptance of and expectations toward so-called e-mobility. More than half of the people surveyed in 10 out of the 12 countries studied expressed […]

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