Interesting story. Saw more on NHK video. They got the idea from Taiwan but company in Taiwan did not realize how to improve it.
Japanese startup makes limestone-based paper to save our future - Tech Wire Asia
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Thats a nice change of events, japanese stealing taiwanese tech 
refreshing actually. Seems they forgot to pay the consultant on patent importance hehe. I wonder how this still ends up benefiting some taiwanese business guy. There must be an angle.
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Seems this, from link above, seems Taiwanese company had a chance to improve it to Japanese Standards but did not
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The Taiwanese stone paper was 40% heavier than normal paper. A hurdle for distribution. Yamasaki asked the makers to improve their production methods, but the conversation didnāt go well.
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They didnāt have the ambition to go global with their product. From their perspective, Japanese customers were too demanding. No one else had a problem. I was convinced that, as things were, nothing would change. The product would never be improved.
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A question I have is is this paper really made from stone or plastic ? It uses a plastic to bind it together. Itās properties seem to suggest it is essentially plastic but the calcium carbonate may allow it to be printed on or written on? Pay attention to the properties described.
Polyolefins are a family of polyethylene and polypropylene thermoplastics. They are produced mainly from oil and natural gas by a process of polymerisation of ethylene and propylene respectively. Their versatility has made them one of the most popular plastics in use today.
Just because he claims it breaks down within a few days doesnāt mean we should automatically believe that. It is claimed the product is fully water proof and wonāt tear (essentially plastic properties). So how will it break down 'witihin a few days ā ?
Iāve worked in the environmental products areas and thereās a hell of a lot of green washing and barefaced lying that goes on.
At the end he mentions polylactic acid products (can be made from corn starch). This is a much more environmental product and from my experience it does break down quite well. Interestingly the key innovator and a key global supplier for producing PLA products was a Taiwanese guy who spent about 20 years at it before he made any money .
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I think just improved on an existing idea.
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Yes, haha. It took a thousand plus years! In my life, it seems we gone from paper to glass screens, who know what is next.
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It looks like a shopping list 
.
Has it been deciphered ?
The real question is: Can paper made from stone beat scissors?
Anyways, itās a cool technology and a bit of a shame that the taiwanese scientists didnāt push it further.
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One of the oldes texts is a customer complaining about the quality of copper he bought.
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Bringing an idea to production and market is arguably as difficult as discovering the idea in the first place. Its SUPER difficult for most of us to bring our ideas to consumers on scale. Sad reality.
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Absolutely anybody who has worked in business will have seen this , especially scaling up a small company to be profitable.
Vast majority of usable inventions are iterations of previous work . It does take Significant time and money to make it work. The first innovator often goes bust.
It doesnāt surprise me that the Japanese wanted a different level of quality .
I used to sell chemicals to Japan and they would go through.the batches with microscope looking for foreign material. Nobody else did this ! Then they would spend fifteen minutes showing the photos and asking us what we were going to do and to identify what is was. .The first time we were completely mystified because we had never even known about it in the first place.
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I have seen this exact same situation with bio samples, wood and ag products with japanese customers a well. Much like you. They even like to fly here, or to the source, with equipment, to inspect on sight. When the reaction to the ccp virus started closing airports, many companies lost japanese customers because they couldnt fly people in to inspectā¦a massive distrust of the suppliers! I dont disagree with how they do that however. In fact i respect it and strive to match, or even surpass it. Its always the goal anyway. Whenever i am helping or consulting with a company in taiwan or north america and this happens, half my time is spent letting the supplier know that they acually cant cut corners and are required to actually do their jobs properly, as advertised. Many an owner is a bit peeved of this notion of quality assurance. Which is pretty frightening when one thinks about it!
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Iāve been using stone paper and Iām not so sure itās as environmentally friendly as they market it because they use plastic and the paper will not decompose properly. Also the paper canāt be reused so, in the end it may actually be worse for the environment.
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Essentially what I wrote above.
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Yes, quote cool tech