CICC TOKYO DAYORI vol.96

April to May are months of good weather, and we get outside and become
more active in Japan. Bears also come out of hibernation and move around
actively in search of food.
In recent years, there have been many reports of bear attacks in various
regions from Hokkaido to western Japan. In FY2023, a record 219 people
were affected, with Akita Prefecture having the highest number of
affected people at 70. In Akita Pref., last month, two police officers,
who were trying to transport a man who had entered the mountains to pick
bamboo shoots and died after being attacked by a bear, were also
attacked by a bear and seriously injured.
Originally bears were afraid of humans and lived in mountain forests,
but in recent years, due to a bad harvest of nuts for food and
an increase in abandoned farmland, bears have invaded human living
space.
The distance between humans and bears has grown closer.
The Ministry of the Environment has put together policies to prevent
bears from entering human habitats and to provide emergency response
when they do, and has stated that it will enhance information gathering
through the use of digital technology.
Toyama City had begun monitoring with cameras with AI, and in 2024,
Toyama Prefecture hopes to expand the scope of monitoring using cameras
installed by the national and prefectural governments on rivers and
roads, leading to an early response.
In Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, when a camera detects an animal
using a heat sensor, it takes a picture, and if the AI analyzes the
image as a bear,
the officer in charge is contacted, leading to a response
such as chasing away the bear or capturing it in a trap.
The response to the damage caused by the bear, which is said to be the
worst on record, is the same as disaster prevention measures for floods
and others: gather and analyze information, predict and prepare for it.

Hiroko KAWABATA

<Topics of Government>

(1)“Cyber/Physical Security Guidelines for Factory Systems [Appendix:
Key Considerations for Promoting Smartification]” Formulated
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2024/0404_002.html

(2)DX Stocks 2024, Noteworthy DX Companies 2024 and DX Platinum
Companies 2024-2026 Selected
https://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2024/0527_001.html

<Topics of Industries>

(1)NEC Introduces Face Recognition System for Store Payments and
Admission Control at Expo 2025
https://www.nec.com/en/press/202405/global_20240523_02.html

(2)NEC Develops High-speed Generative AI Large Language Models (LLM)
with World-class Performance
https://www.nec.com/en/press/202404/global_20240424_01.html

(3)NEC develops marketing strategy planning & effectiveness simulation
technology using generative AI
https://www.nec.com/en/press/202403/global_20240325_02.html

(4)Hitachi High-Tech and Hitachi have started collaborating on digital
transformation of materials development with ITRI, contributing to
improvements of Taiwan's industrial standards
https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2024/05/240520.html

(5)Hitachi and Google Cloud Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate
Innovation and Productivity with Generative AI
https://www.hitachi.com/New/cnews/month/2024/05/240529a.html

(6)Release of “Fugaku-LLM” - a large language model trained on the
supercomputer “Fugaku”
https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2024/0510-01.html

(7)Fujitsu develops technology to convert corporate digital identity
credentials, enabling participation of non-European companies in
European data spaces
https://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/2024/0419-01.html