Urban Apartment Revival

Chinese firm BYD started selling its electric SUV in Japan on Tuesday.

It's priced at about 34,000 dollars...

almost 8,000 dollars cheaper than similar offerings from Japanese companies.

I think it has all the performance characteristics I would want at this price level.

BYD was founded in 1995 as a battery maker in Shenzhen, it only began producing cars in 2003, and EVs in 2009.

With supportive policies from Beijing, it's grown at a breakneck pace.

The firm already sells electric vehicles in about 70 countries and territories.

The Chinese automaker has now set its sights on Japan.

The firm plans to open more than 100 showrooms in the country by the end of 2025.

Executives view the market as a key stepping stone to other countries.

If we can be accepted by Japanese consumers, not only is it a great honor, but it also shows the rest of the world that our vehicles are high-quality products.

Other foreign manufacturers have also been introducing their own EV's in Japan one after another.

The trend has some worried Japan's carmakers could be left in the dust.

Japan is home to international players in the auto industry.

But none are in the top five global EV sales ranking, which is dominated by US and Chinese firms.

Toyota last year sold more cars than any other company in the world.

But its fully electric vehicles made up less than a quarter of a percent of its entire unit sales.

This is Toyota's EV lineup!

Faced with criticism for being too slow to adapt to the rapid rise of EVs, Toyota appears to be making big changes to better compete.

I think I am an old generation.

For Toyota to enter a new chapter of what the future of mobility should be, I think I should take a step back.

In late January, the 66-year-old grandson of the automaker's founder said he is passing the baton to a younger generation to make the transition.

The firm also reportedly plans to overhaul its electric vehicle strategy.

An industry expert says it won't be a smooth ride for Toyota to overtake Tesla or BYD.

I think It's clearly true that Toyota is going behind in terms of developing EVs.

They want to sell like 3.5 million EVs by 2030 and it's going to be very very difficult.

Yet to be seen how quickly and how strongly they can catch up all those EV makers.

The race to lead the electric vehicle market is intensifying amid the global shift to EVs.

The entry of China's auto giant into Japan could potentially reshape the auto industry.

This private market in Mexico City has been held twice a month for the past two years.

Stalls sell a variety of items, from food made with natural ingredients to handmade figures.

The participants know each other well, and make products they believe people will want to barter for.

A unique local currency is used to help smooth transactions.

It's meant to eliminate the profit motive, and help ensure people are only making what the community needs.

The system is based on the concept of "prosumidor," a Spanish term that combines the words for producer and consumer.

Currencies such as the Mexican peso, the US dollar, and the Japanese yen make our lives miserable due to failed speculation, debt, and the destruction of nature.

We are building trusting relationships and a sense of solidarity by creating our own currency and using it within our community.

The prosumidor concept is even found at an elementary school in the city of Queretaro that's teaching environmental education.

At the beginning of the school year, each student receives the same amount of verdillete, a currency only valid at the school's annual market.

Children make products for the event that they sell to each other, as well as their parents and teachers.

Each grade works together to come up with an item that they think will be both needed and good for the environment.

The students previously researched commercial soaps.

Some complained that they irritate the skin, are artificially scented, and expensive.

So the kids decided to produce something nicer for daily use that's made from natural ingredients.

This fourth grade class has started getting its product ready, preparing a list of the ingredients they'll need.

A spoonful of baking soda, and four spoonfuls of cornstarch.

The students decided to make a deodorant cream.

It uses only natural ingredients, including coconut and essential oils, which the children gathered from local markets.

It smells good!

The students used recycled glass bottles instead of plastic containers to be more environmentally friendly, and they designed the label themselves.

They even created their own advertising.

The item proves to be popular among parents, who buy it using verdilletes.

It quickly sells out.

I really like this one.

It's gentle on the skin, smells good, and is long-lasting.

My daughters love it.

We thought a lot about our product, and felt it was possible to help save the earth with it.

We think it's important to be prosumidor.

Local Mexican communities are embracing the roles of being both consumers and producers.

It's a concept that's helping them go beyond money to gain a greater understanding of each other and their impact on the world.

Many of the massive apartment complexes built across Japan in the 1970s are seeing vacancies increase as the country's population continues to shrink.

However, those empty rooms are finding new tenants in the form of fish farms and craft breweries.

Today's On-Site Report shows how bringing new businesses into vacant rooms is helping to revitalize some of Japan's aging apartment complexes.

Built in 1974 on the western side of Kobe City, this mammoth 91-building, 2500 unit complex is suffering from the effects of Japan's declining birthrate and rapidly aging population.

We're seeing more and more vacancies.

This complex used to be full of all sorts of shops and businesses, but most have left or closed down for good.

"UR," the agency responsible for managing the properties here, has made finding uses for the empty rooms one of its main priorities.

Last year, they finally found a new tenant for a unit that had been empty since 2016.

We're raising over 1,000 shrimp here.

It's also home to two types of fish that are considered to be delicacies in Japan.

In total, the aquaculture company has set up three water tanks inside of the 135㎡ rental space.

Since we were looking for different ways to make use of our vacant facilities and outdoor spaces, one of the ideas that was suggested was land-based aqua-culture.

The tanks make use of a closed-loop circulation system that features a patented bacteria-based purification device that cleans the water before re-circulating it.

This allows them to re-use a majority of the water, only needing to replace the small amounts that are lost naturally to evaporation.

The system was developed by Will-Stage.

CEO Otani Hiroshi, finds unused buildings such as abandoned schools as ideal locations for land-based fish farms.

We knew there'd be some challenges, but buildings originally designed for human habitation also offer benefits - like insulation, which helps in maintaining stable temperatures.

This allows us to create an ideal environment for growing large, healthy fish.

Since only three months have passed since the project began, it's too early to label it a success.

However, early-on some clear advantages can already be seen.

By setting up a fish farm in the middle of a city like this, we can drastically reduce transportation costs while increasing delivery speeds.

While technology and automation can handle things like water temperature and purity management, staff are still needed for other tasks like feeding and cleaning.

With many retired elderly residents living in and around the complex, the project expects to have all open positions filled soon.

I find the job to be quite enjoyable!

After a while, you start getting attached to them!

By choosing fish shrimp and fish that are popular delicacies in Japan, Otani expects this project to profitable from the start.

Since they're all very high quality, we expect to do quite well - the shrimp alone will probably bring in over $8,000.

I heard that residents here usually pay about $5,000 dollars a year in rent, so even after expenses this project should still result in a decent profit for us as well as for UR.

A peek inside one of the rooms of this 50-year-old apartment building reveals - a gluten-free vegan bakery!

In another room - a ukulele maker.

Instead of private residences, the building is now home to a variety of small businesses and community-use spaces.

At its peak, this apartment complex was home to more than 4,000 people.

Since then, the number of residents here has dropped to less than half that number.

In 2017, UR decided to sell 10 of the buildings to a consortium of companies primarily consisting of housing developers.

When it came to deciding how to redevelop the area, Munakata city officials asked that the voices of local residents be considered.

Community members expressed a desire to create a space that would promote multi-generational interaction.

Company representatives like Magome Kentaro took their words to heart.

Because we had a real collaboration between the city government, members of the community, and the businesses involved, we came away with a positive idea of how to move forward.

Of the ten buildings that were sold, it was decided that nine would be torn down to create space for entirely new developments.

One building, however, would remain standing - to represent the spirit of the local residents.

Dubbed "Hinosato 48," it was kept to serve as a focal point for the community.

On the first floor there's a craft beer shop that even creates its own brews using local malts.

And the area around the building is used as a venue for regularly held community events such as seasonal festivals and live music performances.

With plenty of open spaces that are free for local residents to use, it has also become a popular place for children to gather and play.

It's like a little oasis.

The kids always have so much energy, and I think some of that rubs off on the older residents like myself.

At the request of some local children, "Hinosato 48" even added a rock climbing wall and paid for it entirely with crowd funding.

I doubt there's another apartment complex in Japan that has a climbing wall like this!

I think it serves a symbol of what we have achieved with this project.

As for the land where the other nine buildings used to stand?

A new housing development with 64 single family residences was built.

So far, most of the buyers are young families with children.

I think we've already sold about 70% of the houses here in this development.

Many of our sales agents say that the buyers really liked "Hinosato 48" and that it was big in factor in deciding to live here.

The surrounding area is also seeing a gradual increase in residents.

"Hinosato 48" has become the focal point of this community.

And since the pandemic started, many people now place a lot more value on outside recreation areas, so it seems like this project was made with the new normal in mind before we even knew about it!