This picture taken on June 30, 2026 shows Yasuo Yamazaki, a representative of a citizens' group expressing concerns about the construction of a data centre, speaking while pointing toward the site of the project in Hino, Tokyo prefecture. 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. 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. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP via Getty Images) / To go with 'JAPAN-TECHNOLOGY-AI-POLITICS,FOCUS' by Kyoko HASEGAWA.