Australia-Japan News | December 2021

Australia-Japan News | December 2021

This page collates links to interesting articles that provide a picture of what is happening in Japan and in the Australia-Japan relationship, with brief summaries of their content.

While we don’t claim this list to be comprehensive, and some of the articles may be behind paywalls, we hope it will evolve into a valuable resource that assists members and subscribers in keeping up to date and provides a record of key developments.

* indicates the article is behind a paywall.

December 2021
Japan aims to put a person on the moon by late 2020s

Japan revised the schedule of its space exploration plans – the government aims to put a Japanese astronaut on the moon by the latter half of the 2020s, Prime Minister Kishida said at a meeting of the Strategic Headquarters for Space Development. Read more >

Japan economy to expand in 2022, but pandemic, chip crunch to weigh

Analysts predict Japan’s economy will see strong growth especially in the first half of 2022 as private consumption and business investments recover. However, economists say the economic recovery may be hampered by the spread of Omicron variant and the worldwide chip shortage. Read more >

The SUISO FRONTIER commences its maiden voyage to Australia, marking the start of the World’s First Demonstration of International Transporation of Large Volume Liquefied Hydrogen

SUISO FRONTIER (built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries), the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier, left Kobe Japan for Australia on December 24 to pick up liquefied hydrogen generated from brown coal and is scheduled to return to Kobe in middle/late February 2022. Read more >

Rio Tinto ships 2 billion tonnes of iron ore to Japan from Western Australia

Rio Tinto reached the historic milestone of shipment of 2 billion tonnes of iron ore to Japan from its Pilbara operations in WA. Read more >

Japan, U.S. and Australia to build 5G networks in South Pacific

Japan, U.S. and Australia made an announcement to jointly fund and cooperate on the development of 5G networks in the South Pacific. Read more >

Santos agrees sale of 12.5% interest in Barossa project to JERA

Santos signed a binding Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) to sell a 12.5% interest in the Barossa project to an Australian subsidiary of JERA (joint venture of TEPCO and Chubu Electric Power). JERA aims to maintain security of stable supply of LNG through this acquisition, as production at the Bayu-Undan gas field is expected to end within a few years. Read more >

Useful resources

Japan’s border control measures

OECD Economic Surveys Japan (Published in December 2021)