An ardent Japanese desire...

"A therapy for heart disease could be the first iPS-cell clinical breakthrough that Japan so ardently desires. The country shouldn’t sell short the promising technology or the patients who hope to benefit from it."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05284-w

Ignoring the fact that they call the above mentioned trial the second clinical application of iPS cells, it is very obvious that iPS cells have become a matter of national pride for the Japanese.

Norio Nakatsuji speaks it out on Twitter (30/01/2018)
"[...] Unlike Japan, the leadership who gathers knowledgeable research and applied experts of industry, academia and government is operating wisely and efficiently. [...]"
15 mins later he added:
"In the United States and Europe, trials using human ES cells (spinal cord injury, retinal diseases, type 1 diabetes etc.) are proceeding smoothly, but clinical application of iPS cells is progressing. This is a report by Australian biotechnology companies that clinical trials in the UK using iPS cell-derived mesenchymal stem cells yielded promising results. Incidentally, Fujifilm also owned this company in more than 10% of the stock. "
https://twilog.org/norionakatsuji/month-1801

FujiFilm has the opportunity to give them what they "so ardently desire" - a second to none iPS-cell derived treatment in GvHD, using "allogeneic iPS cells supplied by the Fujifilm subsidiary and leading company in iPS cell development and manufacturing, Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.".
http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n160905.html
In case you were wondering, the word "iPS" gets mentioned 14 times, "mesenchymal stem cells" on the other hand only 7 times

See also FujiFilm's sustainability report from 31/12/2017:



That is what the Japanese media has picked up on (of course):
https://cynata.com/news/cynata-in-the-japanese-media/

FujiFilm taking up the licence is not a matter of "if", but "when".
A whole country is counting on them!