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January 22, 2025
 

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Shery Ahn
Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani says the company sees an opportunity in Japan, which has been a laggard in the adoption of digital and artificial intelligence-powered technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 21, 2025
Rakuten founder defends costly mobile foray with big AI bet
Rakuten Mobile and its 8 million-plus users help train an AI poised to expand the conglomerate’s business, according to billionaire founder Hiroshi Mikitani.
Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2025
Rakuten’s Mikitani wants to sell bonds to Japanese investors
Market pricing indicates that views on Rakuten are improving after years of losses and a stretched balance sheet.
Cables connect to servers at a data center. The rapid global adoption of AI has triggered a boom in demand for the energy-hungry data centers on which the technology depends, putting power grids to the test.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024
Fossil fuels initially needed for AI boom, Tepco adviser says
While electricity demand has been trending downward in Japan, experts have suggested that the decline could be reversed as the nation builds more data centers.
Hiroyuki Okuzawa, chief operating officer of Daiichi Sankyo, during an interview in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2024
Daiichi Sankyo eyes newer cancer drugs to stave off rivals
The Japanese drugmaker has emerged as a leader in ADC, a type of cancer therapy that targets cancerous cells while sparing the healthy ones.
An Nvidia Quantum-X800 InfiniBand Platform designed for artificial intelligence on display in Taipei in June
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024
Nvidia-backed Sakana AI eyes strategic partnerships in Japan
Growing geopolitical risks are heightening interest in the Tokyo-based startup.
South Korean flags in Mokpo, South Korea, on Aug. 16
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 26, 2024
South Korea sees U.S. by its side regardless of who is in White House
North Korea, meanwhile, sees U.S. policy toward it as remaining hostile regardless of who is in the White House.
Taro Kono, Japan's digital transformation minister, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2024
Taro Kono says central bank needs to raise rates to lift yen
Kono’s remarks could add to pressure on the Bank of Japan’s policy board to raise interest rates when it meets at the end of this month.
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2024
Microsoft’s Japan chief sees country accelerating its use of AI
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsukasa sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of tech.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during an interview with KBS at the Presidential Office in Seoul on Sunday. The handbag incident has cast a shadow over Yoon as his conservative People Power Party is trying to wrest control of parliament in an April election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 8, 2024
South Korean president says Dior bag incident was a political move
Yoon Suk-yeol breaks his silence over a video showing his wife receiving a luxury handbag from a Korean-American pastor in September 2022.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 19, 2023
Interest in Japan spilling into its startups, VC investor says
Fears of sudden tech crackdowns in China have prompted investors to re-evaluate Tokyo’s slower pace of change.
Trump pledges to save U.S. from 'decline,' vowing new 'golden age'
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
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.
What went wrong at Fuji TV's news conference on allegations against Nakai?
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato speaks at a news conference on Friday in Tokyo.
BOJ likely to raise rates this week in absence of immediate Trump tariffs
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda is still signaling caution ahead of the central bank's January meeting.
Survey finds 80% of people want to take leftover restaurant food home
52.0% of people questioned in a survey said they want to use containers to take leftovers home if they are provided free of charge, and 28.8% showed willingness to use takeout containers whether they are free or not.
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

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