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The logo of language-learning app, Duolingo, on a smartphone
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2024

Duolingo cuts contractors by 10% amid AI content shift

The company said no full-time employees were affected by the cutback.
Ohkawara Kakohki President Masaaki Okawara speaks to reporters on Dec. 27 in front of the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 10, 2024

Authorities challenge ruling over machinery export probe

A Dec. 27 Tokyo District Court ruling determined that the arrests of three people in the case lacked reasonable grounds.
British lawmakers are calling for billions of dollars of government contracts with Fujitsu to be reexamined amid public outrage over the scandal, ignited by a hit TV drama aired last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2024

Japan tech firm Fujitsu in firing line over U.K. Post Office scandal

Its faulty software had resulted in hundreds of local post office managers being wrongly convicted for theft and false accounting between 1999 and 2005.
Meiji's canned liquid baby formula is in high demand following the New Year's Day quake that hit central Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 11, 2024

Meiji to boost liquid baby formula production after quake

The company has received more than twice the usual number of orders for such products so far this month.
A Boeing 737 Max 9 plane that lost part of its fuselage midair is parked at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday announced it had opened an investigation into whether Boeing failed to ensure that the plane was safe and conformed to the design approved by the agency.
WORLD
Jan 12, 2024

Boeing faces U.S. safety probe over 737 midair blowout

The investigation stems from a midair blowout of a so-called door plug on a 737 Max 9 jet operated by Alaska Airlines on Jan. 5.
The natural attractions and the friendly locals convinced Norihiro Kanzawa and his wife, Zoe, to set up a business, Niyodo Adventure, in Kochi Prefecture.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jan 13, 2024

Norihiro Kanzawa: 'Smiles are always a great source of inspiration'

An adventure tourism professional and soon-to-be father shares his journey into making canyoning and packrafting his full-time job.
Resonac CEO Hidehito Takahashi says the company may buy a stake in chip materials maker JSR.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 15, 2024

CEO who drove $7 billion deal is eyeing Japan chip linchpin JSR

Resonac's Hidehito Takahashi believes Japan's chip materials sector needs to consolidate to stay competitive against overseas rivals.
The Horizon IT system, built by a U.K. company Fujitsu acquired in the 1990s, resulted in hundreds of post office managers in the U.K. being wrongly convicted for theft and false accounting between 1999 and 2005.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2024

Fujitsu’s silence is making a tech scandal worse

Top-level executives at Fujitsu have so far stayed mum about the firm's involvement in the U.K. Post Office scandal, letting public outrage shape the narrative, unimpeded.
A worker builds a home in Lillington, North Carolina, in June. Appetite among Japanese companies in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2024

A $4.9 billion Japan deal for a U.S. builder heralds more M&A

Appetite among Japanese buyers in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
Nippon Steel's plant in Kamisu, Ibaraki Prefecture. The firm submitted a cash offer to acquire U.S. Steel for $55 a share on Dec. 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 25, 2024

Sweetened offer in final hours clinched U.S. steel deal for Nippon

Nippon Steel executives submitted a sweetened cash offer to acquire the Pittsburgh-based company for $55 (¥8,120) a share on Dec. 16.
The U.S. push to undermine Beijing’s semiconductor ambitions has increasingly singled out ASML, drawing the ire of the Dutch company's outgoing head Peter Wennink and some local lawmakers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2024

ASML’s China sales surged despite secret Dutch deal with U.S.

The deal, which hasn’t been reported before, stumbled as ASML turned to Beijing to compensate for weak demand elsewhere.
Tokyo Metro plans to go public in the fiscal year that starts in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2024

Tokyo Metro to go public as Japan seeks to reap benefits of buoyant stock market

The company, which is owned by the national government and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, will be listed in the year that begins in April.
Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft under construction in Renton, Washington, in 2017
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2024

Boeing under a microscope for safety issues as it reports results

Boeing shares have fallen 21% this month, putting them on track for their worst January since at least 2017.
Elon Musk
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024

Musk’s $55 billion Tesla pay package struck down, threatening status

Worth some $51.1 billion, Musk's Tesla options were one of his most valuable assets. Without them his net worth would drop to $154.3 billion.
The severed trunk of a roadside tree in front of a Bigmotor dealership in the city of Saitama, in July. Police authorities have received 51 reports of damage apparently caused by the company's practices of felling and killing with herbicides trees on the streets in front of its stores.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2024

First Bigmotor employee arrested over alleged removal of roadside trees

Toshiyuki Kamohara, 51, is believed to have instructed staff at the company's Kawasaki outlet to cut down trees near the store.
A Boeing 737 Max 7 during an FAA evaluation flight at Boeing Field in Seattle in September 2020
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 3, 2024

How a roller-coaster week left Boeing's credibility on the line

The tumult is not over. U.S. investigators are soon expected to release a preliminary report on the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines blowout.
Eisai's Alzheimer's drug Leqembi
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 5, 2024

Eisai sees 'huge' growth potential for Alzheimer's drug in China

The Japanese pharmaceutical firm aims to roll out its groundbreaking Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi to 1,500 people in China later this year.
Foreign investors are seeking more English-language disclosure from companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 6, 2024

Foreign investors want more English info from TSE firms

The TSE plans to make Prime firms release key information in Japanese and English simultaneously.
Toyota raised its annual net profit forecast to a record high ¥4.5 trillion in the year ending in March.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024

Toyota raises annual net profit forecast as chip shortage eases

But scandals involving rigged engine and safety tests at subsidiaries led the firm to slightly revise down its sales target for the financial year.
A fight over Benefit One is the latest in a growing number of takeover deals in Japan, spurred in part by the Tokyo Stock Exchange pushing for improved corporate governance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024

Dai-ichi Life gets Pasona's nod on Benefit One acquisition

The agreement with Pasona Group, which owns 51.16% of Benefit One, is crucial for Dai-ichi to win the battle against digital health care provider M3.
Honda now projects an annual net profit of ¥960 billion ($6.45 billion), up ¥30 billion from the previous forecast.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024

Honda and Nissan release robust earnings reports

Honda upgraded its annual profit forecast while rival Nissan said its net profit almost tripled year-on-year.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launchpad SLC-40 at the Kennedy Space Center on NASA's PACE mission in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Feb 13, 2024

Apollo to Artemis: Why America is betting big on private space

While it has seen some successes, the move could put the U.S. at risk of falling behind its principal space rival, China, in achieving major milestones.
Canned ready-to-drink cocktails, including Asahi Breweries' 9% Clear Cooler Strong chūhai produced in conjunction with Seven & I Holdings, at a 7-Eleven store in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2024

Asahi calls time on new strong chūhai amid low-alcohol shift in Japan

New versions of the canned fizzy cocktails with alcohol content of 8% or higher will not be launched in order to “reduce inappropriate drinking.”
Nvidia's shares slipped 0.17% on Tuesday, leaving its stock market value at $1.78 trillion, eclipsing Amazon's $1.75 trillion value after the online shopping and cloud-computing heavyweight's stock declined 2.15%.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024

Nvidia market cap threatens Alphabet after overtaking Amazon

The chipmaker's stock market value at the end of Tuesday's trading session was $1.78 trillion, while that of Google's owner was $1.81 trillion.
Nissan's Ariya electric crossover sport utility vehicle assembled by robots at the company's plant in Kaminokawa, Tochigi Prefecture
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2024

Japan carmakers forge ahead with EV investments despite slowdown

Outside of Japan, signs of a scaling back are everywhere, with the exception of China.
ASML engineers walk past a High NA EUV tool at ASML’s headquarters in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on Nov. 20, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 20, 2024

Dutch say China seeks military advantage from ASML tools

Netherlands-based ASML, Europe's largest tech firm, dominates the world market for lithography systems, needed by computer chipmakers.
Daiso Industries founder Hirotake Yano
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2024

Hirotake Yano, founder of ¥100 chain Daiso, dies at 80

The retailer capitalized on a shift in spending habits after Japan's economic bubble burst, launching Yano onto the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Teamshares, an American startup, is bringing its employee ownership succession model to Japan in its first overseas foray to offer employees path to buy small businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2024

MUFJ-backed startup gives employees route to take over small firms

The Teamshares model could help 2.45 million small business owners who will be 70 or over by 2025, almost half of whom have yet to identify a successor.
Brooklyn-based startup HEVO is working with other firms to develop wireless EV charging systems.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

Wireless charging for electric cars is inching closer to reality

Major hurdles include slow charging speeds and the money and interest needed to build stations and get more carmakers on board.
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology

Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?