A drone flies over a railroad track during a trial in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Tuesday. It was the first drone flight above a railroad track out of the sight of an operator in an inhabited area in the country. The test was conducted jointly with Deloitte Tohmatsu. Sagawa Express and East Japan Railway cooperated with the test. The drone flew in an area of 3.5 kilometers from east to west by 2.4 kilometers from north to south.

Convenience store chain Lawson Inc. and Japanese cybermall operator said Friday that they will organize a demonstration test on Oct. 31 for drone delivery services in an area devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and the subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. The test will be conducted in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, utilizing a Lawson outlet, a mobile shop and Rakuten's drone. When the traveling shop visits areas some 2.7 km from the convenience store, it will take orders from local residents and deliver products from the outlet, including warm cooked food. The service will be available only on Thursdays during the test, and the experiment will be conducted over a period of six months. The drone can carry up to 2 kg of products and deliver them in about seven minutes.

FUKUSHIMA – In a world first, a drone successfully delivered a flask of hot soup to surfers on Thursday during a test of an unmanned flying vehicle traveling a preset route of more than 10 km. The industry ministry and the Fukushima Prefectural Government were among those conducting the test in a coastal area of Minamisoma in the prefecture, north of the crisis-hit Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Traveling at 43 kph, the drone took 15 minutes to cover the 12 km from the Fukushima Hama-Dori Robot Testing Zone to Kitaizumi, a popular surfing spot. It was the first test of its kind in the world involving a drone flying for more than 10 km on a programmed route to make a delivery, according to the prefectural government. The robot testing zone is a designated area for testing robots to be used during post-disaster relief activities. An official of the prefecture said that as Japan has only a limited number of areas where long-distance drones can be tested, Fukushima will invite robot- and drone-related businesses to the prefecture as part of efforts to recover from the nuclear accident.