Data Center Construction Causing Friction with Locals in Japan

Chiba, July 23 (Jiji Press)–While demand for data centers is surging amid spreading use of artificial intelligence technology, plans for their construction have created friction with local residents. The residents are concerned about the negative effects the facilities may cause on their living environment, including waste heat, noise pollution and their right to sunshine. Their pushback also reflects the lack of regulations and systems for the data centers. Data centers for AI, which processes massive data, require large amounts of equipment and electricity. With more facilities likely to pop up in areas outside big cities, gaining agreements with local residents will be a major task for data center operators. The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, or JEITA, predicts that the Japanese market for data center-related services will expand to 5,654 billion yen in 2030 from 4,345.3 billion yen in 2025. According to the communications ministry, about 90 pct of data centers in Japan are in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas. “Dispersing (data centers) to regional areas has become increasingly important,” an official of NTT West Inc. said. Meanwhile, the recent string of data center construction projects has brought about friction with local residents. The city of Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, houses many data centers. In March this year, local residents filed a lawsuit seeking the cancellation of building certification for a project to build a data center in front of Chiba Newtown Chuo Station on Hokuso-Railway Co.’s Hokuso Line. The plaintiffs took issue with the classification of the data center as “other structures,” not as a factory or a warehouse, in the building certification. Those classified as factories and warehouses cannot be built in front of train stations. One of the plaintiffs said that the envisaged data center, which would be operating 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, is “effectively a factory or a warehouse.” Others complained about a lack of explanations during the planning stages. A similar lawsuit has been filed over a data center project in the neighboring city of Shiroi. NLI Research Institute analyst Soichiro Shimada said that the data center dispute is similar to the NIMBY, or not in my backyard, issue, in which public interest clashes with a sense of burden felt by hosting areas over projects to build such facilities as a garbage disposal center. Although data centers are a key social infrastructure that supports the digital society, local residents do not use such facilities in a direct sense. “It’s hard for those living in the areas to realize why (the data centers) have to be built in that particular place,” Shimada said. As there are insufficiencies in regulations and systems, such as the ambiguity in the definition of data centers under the building standards law, it is difficult for residents to assess the impact of such facilities on their living environment. In May, the Japan Data Center Council, an industry group, released guidelines for business operators. Under the guidelines, the industry group called for detailed discussions with nearby residents and local governments when considering where to build data centers. “We need to create a system in which residents can be involved in the plan from an early stage,” Shimada said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]