author

 
Menu
Search
 
December 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Min Jeong Lee
A demonstrator reacts after lawmakers passed a motion to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 18, 2024
South Korea’s ‘hurry hurry’ culture helps bring down a president
The swiftness of Yoon Suk Yeol's fall gestures at the country's culture of taking a head-on approach to solving conflict.
SoftBank Group will make a tender offer allowing OpenAI employees to cash in shares if they choose.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024
SoftBank seeks to buy $1.5 billion OpenAI shares from employees
SoftBank will make a tender offer for the stock, allowing OpenAI employees to cash in shares if they choose.
Jensen Huang (left), co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, and Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group, during a fireside chat at the Nvidia AI Summit Japan on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 13, 2024
SoftBank plans first supercomputer with Nvidia Blackwell chips
Nvidia’s chips have become a prized commodity for the world’s biggest tech companies, which use the components to develop and run AI models.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the SoftBank World event in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2024
SoftBank’s Son envisions AI running households in the next few years
Masayoshi Son's rosy view of AI's potential often comes with a warning to skeptics that they may be left behind if they do not embrace the technology.
E-scooter startup Lime has launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated neighborhoods
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024
Uber-backed e-scooter startup Lime enters Japan after Korea exit
Lime, which has a global fleet of around 200,000 e-bikes and scooters, on Monday launched its service in some of Tokyo’s most densely populated areas.
The listing ceremony of Ola Electric Mobility at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai, India, on Aug. 9
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 19, 2024
Mumbai debuts deliver for SoftBank after market retreat from AI trims gains
Three firms backed by SoftBank have made solid debuts in the past week, in a positive sign after the Vision Fund fell to a loss of ¥204.3 billion in the June quarter.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is preparing a big artificial intelligence bet.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024
SoftBank to log slim profit ahead of Masayoshi Son’s next AI bet
Emerging from a month of sharp selloffs, the investment firm is expected to report a net income of ¥1 billion for the June quarter.
Even small and indirect sums from the Government Pension Investment Fund would help startups to get their businesses going.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024
Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments
More sources of funding would help the country’s on-again-off-again quest to monetize pioneering research.
Renesas Electronics CEO Hidetoshi Shibata
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 3, 2024
Ex-banker behind chipmaker Renesas targets $100 billion value
Renesas’ push coincides with an aggressive campaign by Japan to turn the world’s fourth-largest economy into a chip powerhouse.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Tokyo last Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 27, 2024
SoftBank to back AI startup Perplexity at $3 billion valuation
SoftBank will invest between $10 million and $20 million in the firm, which aims to use AI to compete with Alphabet’s Google search.
Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son speaks during the annual general shareholders' meeting in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 21, 2024
SoftBank’s Son aims to create ‘super’ AI in new investment drive
He envisions a future when Arm Holdings chips support an ecosystem of technology that can collectively cure cancer, clean houses and play with children.
SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son says the conglomerate is ready to make its next big move, without fear of whether that’ll be a hit or miss.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2024
After losses, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son says he's ready for his next big bet
The billionaire has warned that his next big endeavor could be a big hit or a bad flop — but that SoftBank has no choice but to try.
SoftBank is regaining its footing just as founder Masayoshi Son readies sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024
SoftBank to get more aggressive on AI after profit and asset sales
The company earned a better-than-expected net income in the March quarter, helped by investment gains.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024
SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips
Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
Japanese startup Turing plans to unveil a self-driving car with at least 30 minutes’ driving range next year and develop a fully autonomous car by 2030.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024
An AI star seeks to bring self-driving cars to Japan by 2030
The mind behind an AI algorithm that beat a shogi master now has his sights set on a fully self-driving vehicle by 2030.
OpenAI Japan’s president Tadao Nagasaki speaks at a news conference about the opening of its first Asia office in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024
OpenAI taps ex-Amazon executive to head enterprise push in Japan
The artificial intelligence darling is opening an office in Tokyo as it releases a custom GPT-4 model catering to Japanese language users.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a meeting on AI strategy held at the Prime Minister's Office in December. Japan is beginning to draw global attention for its potential as an AI market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024
Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI
Sakana is setting out to train low-cost generative AI models using small datasets, unveiling three AI models for Japanese speakers last month.
The New York Stock Exchange in New York. Japanese startups have been turning to the United States where institutional investors are more willing to bet on innovative technologies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 10, 2024
New York Stock Exchange trying to get Japanese companies to list in the U.S.
South Korean, Indonesian and Singaporean companies from across various sectors are also looking to list in the U.S..
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the SoftBank World event in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 17, 2024
Masayoshi Son aims to launch a $100 billion AI chip venture
The SoftBank Group founder is looking to create a chip venture to compete with Nvidia and supply semiconductors essential for AI.
SoftBank Group booked a profit for the December quarter after four straight quarters of losses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024
SoftBank swings to profit lifted by T-Mobile windfall
SoftBank recorded its first profit after four straight quarters of losses, backed by a rebound of the Vision Fund and gains from T-Mobile shares.
Freed anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France
U.S.-Canadian anti-whaling environmental activist Paul Watson, who was released from prison in Greenland's capital Nuuk after five months in detention, arrives with Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy-en-France, near Paris, on Friday.
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

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

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER