As utopias go, Panasonic’s new smart town works if you’re keen to be green and don’t mind a heavy corporate presence.

On Thursday, the electronics maker inaugurated the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST), a subdivision southwest of Tokyo focused on solar power and other environmentally friendly technologies.

The community’s goals include a 70 percent cut to CO2 emissions compared to 1990 levels, reducing water use by 30 percent compared to 2006 and achieving 30 percent renewable energy usage.

The town is built on a 19-hectare plot along Kanagawa Prefecture’s Shonan coast that once hosted a Panasonic factory for TVs and refrigerators. Fronted by a 400-meter-long series of solar panels along a thoroughfare, it now consists of rows of new, Western-style houses, each with rooftop solar panels, as well as a posh bookstore in a lavish community center. A public square centers on a giant sundial, a symbol of its aspirations.

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