Commitment and Perseverance Lead to Success

"With rising debt servicing costs, many governments are facing tough decisions.

More needs to be done to support vulnerable emerging markets and developing economies."

The head of the IMF stressed the importance of resolving the debt problem.

Many of the nations are buckling under massive debts. Sri Lanka is shouldering an external liability

that's over 3-and-a-half times greater than its government's revenue.

The situation led the country to effectively default on its debt last year.

Amid the economic strain, Sri Lankans are struggling to survive.

"Most people have meals only two times a day.

That's not an ideological argument."

Ghana also plunged into a virtual default last year as it suspended payments on most of its foreign debt.

The World Bank says the external debt of developing economies more than doubled over a decade to 9 trillion dollars.

Data from the IMF shows that 10 out of 70 low-income countries are already in debt distress, while 26 are at high risk.

The dire situation has arisen from a perfect storm of events.

The coronavirus pandemic reduced government revenue while increasing spending,

and poorer nations had to lean on external loans.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine only made things worse,

with countries relying on energy and food imports facing soaring prices.

Higher inflation also led major central banks such as the US Federal Reserve to implement aggressive interest rate hikes.

That weakened currencies in developing nations, making their foreign debts all the more expensive.

The heavily burdened countries want their repayments to be made more manageable.

Major creditor China is central to talks on providing debt relief.

But it's unclear how far Beijing is willing to go.

An expert says it's usually difficult for lenders to reach a consensus.

"Nobody wants to agree to take a loss unless everybody else is also going to take a loss.

And then of course they argue about how big that loss should be.

So it's a challenging cooperation problem."

With people in heavily indebted countries facing growing hardships,

creditors need to find a way of easing the burden before it becomes too much to bear.

At this coffee exhibition held in Tokyo in September,

businesses and coffee lovers came looking for ways to make the perfect cup.

Japan ranks fourth in the world for coffee consumption.

Producers from about 30 nations and regions around the globe promoted their beans at the event.

But there are growing concerns that coffee production is at risk from climate change.

Some surveys indicate that by 2050, the area of land suitable for cultivating "coffea arabica,"

which accounts for over 60% of the world's coffee supply, could fall by half.

The effects are already being felt in Brazil, the world's largest coffee grower.

This farm there produces about five thousand tons of the beans annually.

In recent years, it has been experiencing extreme weather such as frequent droughts and heavy rain.

And there's also the increasing problem of pests.

They eat away at leaves, scarring the crop.

This reduces the area available for photosynthesis, resulting in poor bean growth.

The changes have left the farm scrambling for solutions.

It's now trialing about 160 bean varieties, including from other parts of the world,

aiming to find those most resistant to drought and other challenges.

"Even regions ideal for coffee cultivation might be made unsuitable for the crop due to rising temperatures.

We need to find varieties that can withstand climate change, pests, disease and other problems."

Coffee cultivation requires a certain amount of daylight and soil,

so most plants are grown in an area known as the Coffee Belt.

Now, technology is being used to bring cultivation to Nagano Prefecture in Japan.

The company behind the move is the country's top car engine piston manufacturer.

Amid the shift to EVs, the firm has been exploring other opportunities.

The company decided to apply its expertise in production management to bean cultivation.

They use a special freezing process for coffee seeds, growing saplings that have become resilient to temperature changes.

The company monitors temperature, sunlight duration, and other factors in real time.

Based on the data, greenhouse windows are programmed to open and close automatically to optimize the environment.

The firm will continue to test its process, aiming to have its beans on the market in two years.

"Coffee could become extremely expensive by around 2050, and very difficult to get.

We believe our company can help prevent this from happening with our technology."

As coffee producers try to adapt, the situation should serve as a wakeup call about the climate change that underlies the problem.

A new treatment device that is providing much needed pain relief.

And a type of sugar with nearly zero calories.

The long wait is over as both of these products are now available to consumers.

Today's On-Site Report features two men whose years of dedication and hard work

have paid off with ground-breaking innovations.

This clinic located in Tokyo specializes in chronic pain management.

For most of her life, Hashimoto Hiroko has been suffering from fibromyalgia,

a disease that causes pain in muscles and joints throughout the body.

"I have pain everywhere.

It's so bad, I've subconsciously grinded my teeth to the point that I've ruined all 8 of my molars."

From fibromyalgia to arthritis, a variety of conditions can lead to persistent, long-lasting pain.

In Japan alone, there are said to be over 22 million people suffering from chronic pain.

Hashimoto recently started using this device for treatment.

It uses electrodes to emit low level magnetic fields at specific areas for pain relief.

"It's so effective, it's almost unbelievable."

"It really works that well!"

The treatment device was developed by a business venture based in the southwestern city of Kumamoto.

CEO Kishita Iwao has spent 40 years of research and development on perfecting this device.

Early in his career, Kishita worked as a technician operating medical equipment during surgeries.

This environment exposed him to seeing patients suffering from different types of pain.

"When someone suffers from long-term pain, it can be emotionally exhausting and even lead to depression.

I made it my goal to do whatever I could to to help!"

At the age of 30, Kishita decided to use his knowledge of medical equipment to develop a pain suppression device.

After trying various methods such as ultrasound and heat treatment,

he finally settled on a method that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerves.

He began experimenting with this method by seeing how nerve cells placed in a petri dish responded to being exposed to magnetic fields.

He conducted long-term testing of tens of thousands of combinations of strength and duration.

The results showed that extremely weak magnetic fields could reach and stimulate nerves.

"It really worked!"

"At first, I was surprised that such a weak amount of magnetism could actually be effective."

The device utilizes the pain suppression mechanisms that are naturally present in the human body to treat or reduce pain.

When the brain senses excessive discomfort, it releases neurotransmitters

such as serotonin and beta-endorphins to alleviate or inhibit pain.

Kishita's device uses weak magnetic fields to activate this natural response mechanism and bring pain relief.

After nearly 40 years of experiments and numerous prototypes,

Kishita finally succeeded in creating a device that was ready for market in January of 2022.

In addition to devoting himself to several decades of research and development,

he even sold some property he owned as well as his own apartment in order to fund his project.

"I had to ask my wife for permission to sell our condo, and if that wasn't enough,

I was ready work another job if that's what it took to keep the research going."

Dr. Oka Hiroshi, a leading expert in pain management recently began using Kishita's device on some of his patients.

To be honest, at first I was doubtful that it would work.

But after trying it on 10 different patients who found painkillers ineffective, this device produced extremely positive results.

I believe it can really help a lot of people in dealing with chronic pain.

The device has already been certified by the government,

and treatment with it is set to be covered by health insurance from June of this year.

Major medical institutions such as the National Cancer Center are already using it.

"I bet that 97 or 98% of all research results in failure.

Scientists and researchers will never be able to succeed

if people expect that successful new discoveries are something that come quickly and easily."

Some of the most popular goods at this bakery located in Takamatsu City are made with a type of "rare sugar."

"These products are popular with people who are more health conscious."

As the name suggests, a "rare sugar" is a type of sugar that can be found in the natural world only in very small quantities.

This type, called D-allulose, is about 70% as sweet as standard sugar, but has nearly zero calories.

It can also inhibit glucose absorption, helping suppress blood sugar levels after meals and even promotes fat loss.

Kagawa University professor Izumori Ken developed a method to artificially produce the difficult to find rare sugar.

"When I first started my work no one paid any attention to rare sugars,

and very little research was being done on them.

But I believed that since they existed in nature, they must have a role to play."

Professor Izumori began his research on rare sugars over 40 years ago.

An expert on enzymes, he wanted to apply his knowledge towards finding a way to artificially produce the hard-to-find sugar.

He and his team spent 10 years traveling across Japan,

testing the soil in over 5,000 different locations in search of rare-sugar producing enzymes.

After years of searching, they finally found the type of enzyme they were looking for,

in a patch of dirt located behind the university cafeteria!

A microbe from right here gave me the gift I was looking for!

The enzyme it produced could convert fructose, a simple sugar naturally found in fruits and vegetables,

into the rare sugar D-allulose, by making a small change to its molecular structure.

This discovery made it possible to artificially produce D-allulose.

This is the only research labratory in the world that's using enzymes to produce rare sugars.

In 2007, a venture business partnership was formed between Kagawa University, local businesses, and the local government.

In 2013, a production facility was built and shortly after, they began selling a syrup containing locally produced D-allulose.

In addition to potential uses as a low-calorie substitute for standard sugar,

research on potential pharmaceutical uses for rare sugars is also underway.

One possible application is for use in a cancer-fighting drug.

Researchers have found that certain types of rare sugar have been shown to suppress the proliferation of cancer cells.

After 40 years of unwavering dedication to rare sugars...

"We are still finding unexpected new applications for rare sugars

and our young researchers are diligently carrying on with our missions.

I hope they continue to do so and look forward to what they'll discover next."