News Headlines - 18 December 2020

▽Japan's review of Avigan as COVID-19 treatment draws blank | The Japan Times

Japanese health authorities have been unable to reach a conclusion on the effectiveness of antiviral drug Avigan in treating COVID-19 patients based on the results of clinical testing by its developer, government sources said Wednesday... Some medical experts have opposed the use of Avigan, also known as favipiravir, for treating patients with COVID-19.

▽Japan to downsize elementary school classes to 35 students by 2025 | The Japan Times

Finance Minister Taro Aso and education minister Koichi Hagiuda agreed Thursday to reduce the maximum number of students per class at public elementary schools to 35 by fiscal 2025 from the current 40... The government will aim to secure enough teachers to deal with the smaller classes over the five years from April 2021. The reduction in class sizes will be implemented gradually, starting from lower grades.
The maximum number of elementary school children currently allowed in one class stands at 40, except for first-grade classes, whose number was reduced to 35 in fiscal 2011.
The planned move will be the largest-scale elementary school class size reduction in about 40 years.

▽Japan eyes bold new target for offshore wind power output : The Asahi Shimbun

Offshore wind farms will generate the equivalent amount of electricity produced by 30 to 45 nuclear reactors by 2040 under ambitious plans announced Dec. 15 to promote sources of renewable energy.
The goal is to raise output from the current 10 to 20 megawatts to 30 to 45 gigawatts over the next two decades... The target is part of a green growth strategy to be compiled by the year-end to achieve Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s recently stated goal of bringing down greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

▽¥60 billion wind power project off Fukushima to be dismantled | The Japan Times

The government said Thursday it will remove the two remaining wind power turbines it installed off Fukushima Prefecture citing lack of profit in the project, which cost ¥60 billion ($580 million).
The project was widely seen as a symbol of the reconstruction of the northeastern prefecture following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.
The decision came despite Japan’s goal of raising its offshore wind power generation to up to 45 gigawatts in 2040 from a mere 20,000 kilowatts at present as part of efforts to fight climate change. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

▽Traffic Halt on Expressway in Japan Enters 3rd Day - JIJI PRESS

Some 1,000 vehicles remained stranded on the Kan-Etsu Expressway in eastern Japan for the third consecutive day on Friday due to heavy snowfall.
Traffic was at a standstill on a Tokyo-bound section of the expressway linking the Japanese capital and Niigata Prefecture, central Japan, according to East Nippon Expressway Co., or Nexco East.