"Supply Chain" Articles (48)

Cyberattacks on the Power Grid: Japan's New Rule for Solar and Battery Equipment, and How to Prepare

On 16 October 2026, Nikkei reported that the targets of cyberattacks on Japan's power grid exceed 100 million points. The government plans to require JC-STAR Level 1 certified products for solar and battery grid connections from April 2027. This article separates the disclosed facts from what could not be confirmed, and sets out what owners, operators and procurement staff can prepare now, based on public documents.

2026-10-21Ryuta Hamamoto

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UNGA 2026 General Debate: What World Leaders Said on Security

At the 81st UN General Assembly general debate (September 22-28, 2026), Japan's Prime Minister Takaichi, President Trump, China's Vice President Han Zheng and Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov set out their security positions. I sorted the original texts by topic, from Ukraine and Hormuz to the South China Sea, AI and sanctions, and note what it means for companies.

2026-10-04Ryuta Hamamoto

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China's Revised Defense Mobilization Law Takes Effect: What Applies to Companies in Peacetime

China's revised National Defense Mobilization Law (14 chapters, 82 articles) took effect on October 1, 2026. Most coverage has focused on the requisition of civilian resources, but several articles bind companies before any mobilization is declared, including a duty to supply data for mobilization-potential surveys. I walk through the text by article number and list what export control and subsidiary management teams should check.

2026-10-03Ryuta Hamamoto

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Takaichi's Cabinet Reshuffle and Economic Security | Who Stayed, Who Joined, What Changes

Japan's second Takaichi cabinet was reshuffled on September 17, 2026. Reading the official roster, the cabinet's basic policy, and the ministers' first press conferences, this article explains why the economic security, defense, foreign, and industry ministers all stayed, how the economic security portfolio was narrowed, who the ten new and returning ministers are, and what export control practitioners should watch over the next three to six months.

2026-09-18Ryuta Hamamoto

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What Alayasiki actually is: reading Japan's domestic AI defense system through standards, data sovereignty and switch-off risk

On August 27, 2026, Skygate Technologies announced Alayasiki, a domestically developed AI defense system for Japan. It claims conformance with US MIL-STD and NATO APP/STANAG/ADatP, and operation in air-gapped environments. Here is what the system does, why standards conformance and data sovereignty are argued together, and what "switch-off risk" means — drawn from the press release and Japanese government materials.

2026-08-29Ryuta Hamamoto

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What the CIA Director's Moscow Trip Actually Signals

On 25 August 2026 the CIA director flew to Moscow unannounced. The reported purpose was a warning not to attack NATO. But what US intelligence is said to be worried about is not conventional war, and that distinction changes what companies should do about it.

2026-08-27Ryuta Hamamoto

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512 Days of Hormuz Transit Data | What a 91.6% Drop Looks Like

I aggregated 512 days of daily transit counts for the Strait of Hormuz. Before the closure, 84.8 vessels a day; after, 7.1. The collapse took three days. And the partial recovery that appeared in June had disappeared again by August.

2026-08-27Ryuta Hamamoto

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From Blacklist Screening to Proof of Origin | What Pax Silica and the Silicon Highway Change

Pax Silica grew to 24 signatories at its second summit in June 2026. The Silicon Highway, backed by up to $50 million, would move trusted cargo faster using cryptographic verification and pre-approval. Export control is shifting from screening names, to tracing ownership, to proving provenance.

2026-08-24Ryuta Hamamoto

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Three years of rare metal controls: why gallium cannot be sourced away from China, and where the alternatives actually stand

Three years on from China's gallium and germanium export controls, prices keep climbing and rare earth magnet shipments to Japan fell to 111 tonnes in July. Dependence has barely shifted, and the reason is structural: gallium is not mined on its own, it is a byproduct. Working from USGS primary statistics, here is the shape of the dependence, where alternative supply actually stands, and what a company can realistically do.

2026-08-21Ryuta Hamamoto

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The day humanoids stop selling in the US: how companies handling robots should read the FCC Covered List

On July 28, 2026, the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices to its Covered List. Chinese robots are getting the coverage, but the determination says "regardless of the nationality of origin" — which puts Japanese-made robots in the same bucket. Here is what is actually prohibited, what is not, the two exemption routes, and what companies handling robots should check.

2026-08-21Ryuta Hamamoto

AI Security

What Sakura Internet's Breach Disclosure Teaches Us | Designing for the Day Your Cloud Provider Is Compromised

In August 2026, Sakura Internet disclosed unauthorized access to its hosting environment and later to its sales management system. This is not a piece about what the company did wrong. It walks through why provider-side intrusions happen, what legal duties stay with the customer, and how to read the scope of an ISMAP registration before you rely on it.

2026-08-19Ryuta Hamamoto

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What "Economic Security Management" Means in Practice — 11 Cases from METI's Collection of What Companies Actually Did

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has published a collection of concrete corporate case studies on economic security. Where the guidelines said what companies should do, this one shows what other companies actually did, across 11 cases. From a plant that stopped for a day to a firm that built up inventory and won investor confidence for it. Here is the behavior-change framework it uses, and what financial institutions say they are really looking at.

2026-08-18Ryuta Hamamoto