KUSATSU, Japan -- Panasonic's commercial interests span sectors and continents -- from making batteries for carmaker Tesla to washing machines for Latin America. But Masahiro Shinada, chief executive of the Japanese group's appliances division, sees a big part of the company's future in this rural town in its home country's mountainous interior.
At a vast factory in Shiga Prefecture that employs 5,000 people, Panasonic makes high-tech air conditioners with a very relevant feature -- they generate nano-sized water particles that work against the coronavirus and other viruses and bacteria as well as pollutants in the air. The technology to generate hydroxyl radicals, or atmospheric detergent, is now used in cars, elevators, buses and trains in Japan.
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