New Tokyo research center aims to boost Japan's 'Fourth Industrial Revolution'

The newly established Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Japanese capital aims to update old regulations that hinder effective usage of cutting-edge technologies and accelerate social change by developing appropriate policy frameworks for a rapidly changing society, said Chizuru Suga, who heads the institution. "In short, what we are trying to do is like determining the size of a soccer goal before playing the game. We are trying to set up common policy frameworks that help people play a fair game," she said during a recent interview with The Japan Times. "Today's technology has been advancing so fast that no one could have been able to catch up with the most up-to-date movement and set the rules … to benefit as many people as possible," said Suga, originally from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The Tokyo facility, which opened Monday, is the first sister institution of the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco.