The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is Japan's version of NASA. I recently got to go to a meeting in Tokyo in which they announced they were developing a new next-generation Supersonic Jetliner to provide commercial service between Japan and the US.

I asked the president of JAXA (Tachikawa-san) why he thought Japan would be able to make a commercially viable supersonic jetliner when British Airways and Air France had both cancelled their entirely due to never making it profitable. (Russia also had a brief failure Concordski).

Tachikawa replied without hesitation: "Because our supersonic airplane is entirely different than theirs. It's a completely different engine design, as different from conventional jet engines as the Toyota Prius Hybrid is from conventional automobiles." And in fact, the first tests have shown that the new Japanese supersonic jetliner is faster, quieter, far more fuel efficient, pollutes less, and carries more passengers than any of the now defunct first-generation Concordes did.

It may be a while before it's commercially available. (Maybe 2015 or so.) But man, what a difference it would make. I have to fly every month back and forth between San Francisco and Tokyo (economy class). I would love to get there in two hours instead of eleven.

More information here: http://www.ista.jaxa.jp/res/a01/0a00.html