Japan looks to sell ‘smart’ cities

There were gadgets and robots galore at Japan’s premier electronics show. There wasn’t anything you could touch - an energy efficient city of the future.

For the first time, the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, better known as Ceatec, devoted one area of the show floor to selling a vision of urban life in 2020 and beyond.

The Japanese version of the so-called “smart city” exists in a post-fossil fuel world. Alternative sources like the sun, wind and nuclear power are harnessed in mass quantities. That power is then distributed to buildings, homes and electric cars connected to each other through “smart grids”, which monitor usage throughout the network to maximise efficiency.

The goal is to drastically cut carbon emissions, which many scientists believe cause global warming - ideally to zero.

The bigger dream is for the smart city to become Japan’s next big export, fuelling new growth and ambition at a time when the country finds itself in an economic rut and eclipsed by China as the world’s second-biggest economy behind the US.

The city of Yokohama, just south-west of Tokyo, is the site of a social and infrastructure experiment to create a smart city for the rest of the world to emulate.