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January 21, 2025
 

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Takashi Mochizuki
TDK CEO Noboru Saito said the Tokyo-based company plans to start mass production of its third-generation silicon-anode cells from late summer.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 6, 2025
iPhone supplier TDK rolls out new batteries to keep pace with AI
From late summer, the Tokyo-based company plans to start mass production of its silicon-anode cells, which carry more energy than conventional ones.
Sales of Ibiden's AI-use substrates are robust, with customers buying up all the company can sell.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 30, 2024
Nvidia supplier Ibiden weighs faster expansion for AI demand
Sales of the 112-year-old company’s AI-use substrates are robust, with customers buying up all that Ibiden can sell, CEO Koji Kawashima said in an interview.
A poster depicting the characters of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" in Tokyo's Shibuya Station in 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 28, 2024
Sony's Crunchyroll finds its early lead in anime under attack
Netflix, Walt Disney and Amazon are all digging into their deep pockets to license shows, making it more expensive for anime-steaming site to compete.
Scale is becoming important even for distributors like Macnica Holdings, which sells chips made by the likes of Intel’s Altera.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024
Japan’s top chip distributor eyes acquisitions in China and India
Macnica Holdings is eyeing an overseas acquisition to better hold its own against bigger competitors.
Kunihiro Tanaka, CEO of Sakura Internet, says the firm's data center under construction in Hokkaido will likely be fully booked by the time it comes online in three years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2024
Sakura Internet loads up on Nvidia gear for data center project
Sakura’s current capacity is now fully booked, with a waiting list that extends for years.
Toshiba may eventually form an alliance of companies that would corner 30% market share in the world’s power chip market, a company executive says.
BUSINESS
Oct 29, 2024
Toshiba aims for double-digit power chip market share by 2030
Toshiba could eventually form an alliance of companies that would corner 30% of the industry.
Ubitus, which received funding from Nvidia earlier this year, joins a growing list of tech companies at the forefront of a global revival in nuclear power.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 18, 2024
Nvidia-backed firm eyes a data center near nuclear power in Japan
The Nvidia-backed company Ubitus joins a growing list of tech companies at the forefront of a global revival in nuclear power.
Attendees play an online game on computers in the Bandai Namco Entertainment booth at the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba in September.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2024
Bandai Namco cuts jobs and culls titles as game sector woes deepen
The firm is a storied name in the industry, tracing its roots back to the introduction of the Pac-Man arcade title in 1980.
Gilles Langourieux, chief executive officer of Virtuos, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024
Game developer Virtuos seeks acquisitions and growth in Japan
The Singapore-based company, which has been involved in such major franchises as Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid, is in active talks with multiple studios in Japan.
The U.S. has been pressuring Japan to impose additional restrictions on the ability of firms to sell advanced chipmaking tools to China, as part of a long-running campaign to curtail China’s semiconductor progress.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2024
China warns Japan of retaliation over potential new chip curbs
One major concern is that Beijing could cut off Japan’s access to critical minerals that are essential for automotive production.
Attendees play the For All Time mobile game on smartphones at the NetEase Games booth at the Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 30, 2024
Tencent and NetEase rethink Japan approach as game strategy stalls
The companies are reconsidering or scaling back many of their investments in Japanese studios, after years of spending yielded few hit games.
The surprise 19% price increase comes even as PlayStation 5 sales have slowed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024
Sony hikes PlayStation 5 price in Japan citing cost volatility
The surprise move comes even as PS5 sales have slowed and Sony is widely expected to refresh its offering with a revamp of the console in coming months.
A Mitsubishi Electric employee prepares a robotic arm for a demonstration of the firm's artificial intelligence technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 23, 2024
Mitsubishi Electric fights to keep up with AI data center demand
The Tokyo-based maker of factory automation is a key supplier of optic fiber communication devices that link servers to one another.
Goki Kusunoki, CEO and co-founder of Samansa, with the company's Loverse app in Tokyo on May 10. The app allows interaction only with generative artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2024
Tiny Japanese startup is bringing AI dating to the masses
Loverse is the latest in a long line of digital solutions to Japan’s loneliness crisis.
Nikon President Muneaki Tokunari in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024
Nikon fields ‘remarkable’ demand for older chip tools in China
Nikon is making a strong marketing push in China with its new argon-fluoride lithography machines, released earlier this year.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 7, 2024
At Computex, Nvidia billionaire Jensen Huang showcases Taiwan's tech dominance
With this year’s raucous Computex — the world’s biggest computing conference — Taiwan sent a message: If you want AI, you need Taiwan.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang gives a presentation on Sunday night before Computex Taipei’s official opening to talk about the chipmaker’s strategic plans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 4, 2024
Nvidia and AMD square off in fight to take control of AI
The heads of both companies employed different tacks in conveying their expertise during back-to-back shows at the world’s largest computing conference this week in Taipei.
Sony Group is missing analyst expectations for sales as demand for its PlayStation 5 hardware wanes.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2024
Sony sales outlook misses estimates on waning demand for PS5s
Shares in Sony have been under pressure this month amid mounting speculation about the terms of its potential $26 billion bid for Paramount Global.
Takuya Hirai, head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s digital promotion working group
JAPAN
Apr 26, 2024
Facebook scams demand stricter online rules, Japan lawmaker says
Lawmakers in the Diet are considering summoning Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to testify before them regarding fake ads on Facebook.
The Fair Trade Commission took an administrative action against Google for using tactics that limited Yahoo Japan’s ability to compete in targeted search ads.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024
Japan watchdog says Google hurt local rival’s ability to compete
From 2015 to 2022, Google blocked Yahoo Japan from technology needed to receive targeted ad revenue from searches on mobile devices, the FTC said.
Chinese buyer of Okinawa island to make visit in summer
Yanaha Island in Okinawa Prefecture as seen from a ferry.
Japanese firms weigh fallout from Trump tariff pledges
Economists, legal experts and business leaders concur that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to implement fresh tariffs — whether directly aimed at Japan or not — could hurt the country's export-reliant machinery and automobiles industries while shattering the global economy.
Cedar pollen is already in the air in Tokyo
Climate change and urbanization are believed to have contributed to the earliest ever observation of cedar pollen in Tokyo, on Jan. 8, an expert says.
More bird flu cases found in Japan; 1.44 million birds to be culled
Officials with the agriculture ministry hold a news conference in Nagoya on Friday following an outbreak of avian influenza in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, earlier this month.
Fuji TV loses more advertisers amid inquiry into host’s behavior
Fuji TV is losing more advertisers following allegations about inappropriate behavior by a celebrity host and questions about its handling of the case.
Japan looks to learn from the past with bid to build Australian warships
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami frigate, of the class of the same name, is anchored at the MSDF's naval base in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in September 2022.
Amid rising world hunger, a Japan-inspired group in Kenya is making a big impact
Wawira Njiru, the founder of Food4Education, serves food during the opening of a new kitchen in Mombasa County, Kenya, in 2022. The organization started in 2012 by feeding 25 children out of a single kitchen. Now it feeds nearly half a million every day.
From Tokyo to Manhattan, Takuma Watanabe stirs up a stiff drink
It's taken Takuma Watanabe little time to establish himself as one of New York's hottest bartenders.
For tourists in search of seasonal sights, Yamagata makes its case
For some time away from Tokyo's suffocating urban sameness, Yamagata Prefecture is home to a soothing array of natural abundance.
A slow dive into ‘a moment and an eternity’ with Ryuichi Sakamoto
From the mid-2000s onward, Ryuichi Sakamoto created a number of installation works, often in collaboration with Shiro Takatani, of multimedia art collective Dumb Type.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go
By Kazuaki Nagata and Richard Meyer

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers
mission sustainability vol.14 : Unicharm Corp.Unicharm recycles diapers back into diapers

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