The more Yoriko Kitagawa learns of a massive data centre to be built near her home in Hino on the outskirts of Tokyo, the more she worries.<\/p>\n
“This is a terrible plan,” the 94-year-old told AFP.<\/p>\n
The explosion in resource-hungry data centres — housing the hardware “brains” of artificial intelligence — is fuelling unease worldwide, with New York State and Australia the latest jurisdictions to announce new rules.<\/p>\n
Opponents of data centres in the United States have called for a “national day of protest” on Saturday to “protect our hometowns, our wallets, and our way of life”.<\/p>\n
Japan, with some of the most densely populated cities among advanced economies — 80 percent of the country is mountains — has a particular problem: a shortage of suitable urban space to build the facilities.<\/p>\n
One centre is even planned next to the famous Tokyo Tower.<\/p>\n
In Hino, the height of two of the three planned buildings has been cut by a fifth to 63.5 metres (208 feet), but they still will tower over nearby houses, blocking the sun for some.<\/p>\n
“As someone who lives next to the site, I’m most worried about a fire that could be triggered by the massive amount of batteries,” said 69-year-old campaigner Yasuo Yamazaki.<\/p>\n
“Heat from the data centre is also worrisome, as well as noise,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
He also frets about a potential explosion due to a stockpile of fuel on site for a backup generator.<\/p>\n
Developer Mitsui Fudosan plans a “green buffer zone” of up to 78 metres with trees and a stream, reducing the noise, the heat and the “oppressive feeling”, said project manager Toshitsugu Jouzuka.<\/p>\n
“One approach is to set the building back from the street and… to arrange greenery so that, at eye level, its presence doesn’t feel so overwhelming,” Jouzuka told AFP.<\/p>\n
–\u00a0AI-friendly –<\/p>\n
Trillions of dollars are being spent on data centres to train and run AI models and provide cloud storage for humanity’s zettabytes — a unit equivalent to a trillion gigabytes — of digital information.<\/p>\n
Japan has big plans in the field, including for 10 million AI robots operating by 2040, aiming to become “the most AI-friendly country in the world”.<\/p>\n
It wants to develop its own sovereign AI models and infrastructure to avoid over-reliance on the United States and China, the sector’s runaway leaders.<\/p>\n
Partly to meet a projected increase in power demand from AI, Japan is moving to revive its nuclear power sector, 15 years after the Fukushima disaster.<\/p>\n
But despite being a large and politically stable economy with good telecoms infrastructure, Japan has “important constraints”, said Trung Ghi, energy and utilities consultant at Arthur D. Little.<\/p>\n
“Suitable large-scale land near demand centres is limited, particularly because Japan is mountainous and major demand is concentrated around dense urban areas,” Ghi told AFP.<\/p>\n
Having data centres near end-users is important — not least for the ultra-speed of response needed for financial trading, streaming or gaming.<\/p>\n
According to real estate company JLL, around 90 percent of Japan’s data centres are concentrated in the greater Tokyo and greater Osaka areas.<\/p>\n
Electricity is key though, and over time the “winning locations” may not be closest to cities but where there is “reliable, affordable and increasingly low-carbon power at speed”, said Ghi.<\/p>\n
“Power, grid, cooling, land-use, fibre, regulation and community engagement need to be planned together,” he said.<\/p>\n
– ‘Feeling of oppression’ –<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Tokyo commuter town Inzai already has at least 10 data centres including one used by Google, but residents have launched legal action against a proposed new facility.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit says that locals’ “peaceful daily existence… will be destroyed by violations of their right to sunlight, the ruin of the landscape, a feeling of oppression, noise, vibrations, hot air, traffic hazards, and large-scale construction work”.<\/p>\n
Contacted by AFP, the defendant Japan ERI, which granted the certificate for the construction plan, declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Critics say Japan also differs from many other countries by having out-of-date building regulations that can classify data centres as offices and not industrial facilities.<\/p>\n
Japanese law “is not catching up with the situation”, said Satoshi Oikawa, a lawyer for Inzai’s residents.<\/p>\n
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