Japan’s Self-Driving Cars Geared to Seniors

choi

Mike Ramsey, Miho Inada and Yoko Kubota, Japan’s Self-Driving Cars Geared to Seniors; Car makers attempt to tackle safety problems common to aging population. Wall Street Journal, Jan 22, 2016.
www.wsj.com/articles/japan-road- ... s-mobile-1453357504

four paragraphs:

"SUZU, Japan—It has been a decade since the train stopped running in a sleepy town at the tip of Japan’s Noto Peninsula, and bus routes have dwindled. The trend limits mobility options for the city’s dwindling rural population of 15,000, nearly half older than 65.

"However, Suzu city officials and researchers may have a solution: vehicles that drive themselves.

"For months, a white, self-driving Toyota Prius has been zipping along the city’s winding seaside roads. The test car attracts plenty of attention from the community. A bulky spinning sensor mounted to the roof helps the vehicle make critical decisions instead of relying on a researcher from Kanazawa University who is sitting in the driver’s seat.

"The societal challenges that come with Suzu’s graying population are common throughout Japan, which leads the world in aging, with one in four people older than 65, compared with 15% in the U.S. and 8% world-wide. The trend is particularly prominent in the countryside, where the young often flee to big cities.

My comment:
(a) There is no ned to read the rest.

(b) Suzu, Ishikawa  石川県 珠洲市
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzu,_Ishikawa
(at the northeastern-most tip of the Noto Peninsula)
(i) The ja.wikipedia.org says the ancient name of this place was after 須須神社 (where 須須 is pronounced "suzu"), which in turn got its name from 鈴 (whose Japanese pronunciation is "suzu") that was used to 地を鎮める (Chinese: 鎮地). Later the better feeling 珠洲 (which sounds close enough but not the same) was chosen as a replacement.
(ii) suzu  鈴
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzu
(iii) The kanji 州; 洲 have Chinese pronunciation "shū" (meaning state or continent) and Japanese pronunciation "su" (meaning sandbar).
(iv) Noto Peninsula  能登半島
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noto_Peninsula
(section 1 Name)

(c) Kanazawa University  金沢大学
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanazawa_University
(1949- ; a national university located in the city of Kanazawa 金沢市, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture)