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Ryosuke Kunisawa hopes his "concept brewpub" serves as a focal point to an image change for the salaryman epicenter that is the Shimbashi neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jun 30, 2024

Craft beer, craftsmanship and a family of reinvention

On the first two floors of his family’s slender eight-story building, Kunisawa launched the Kunisawa Brewing Company, Shimbashi's first beer brewery, in May 2022.
Inside the TikTok office in Singapore in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 1, 2024

China’s AI startups head to Singapore in a bid for global growth

Singapore offers many Chinese artificial intelligence startup companies better access to global investors and customers than China does.
Sumitomo Corp. President Shingo Ueno speaks during an interview at the company's head office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 1, 2024

Sumitomo looks to tap U.S. shale boom despite exiting production

The company will seek to boost sales of pipelines used in U.S. shale fields.
Several examples of rare and expensive fruits at Melissa’s Produce in Los Angeles on May 22.
BUSINESS
Jul 3, 2024

The world of luxury fruit: Does a $156 melon taste sweeter?

The United States is developing an appetite for luxury fruits long known in countries like Japan and South Korea.
The PayPay app had about 60 million registered users as of October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2024

SoftBank group firm PayPay Securities aims to double accounts

The company has been in the red since February 2021, with a net loss of ¥4.6 billion ($29 million) for the 2023 fiscal year.
Europe's Ariane 6 rocket takes off in Kourou, French Guiana, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2024

Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket goes retro in challenge to SpaceX

Reusable rockets and frequent launches "were once aspirational but are now minimal requirements" to compete commercially, said the Rocket Lab CEO and founder.
When Microsoft took a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI's board in November, it triggered unease among antitrust watchdogs in the European Union, Britain and the United States over how much control it exerts over the artificial intelligence startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 11, 2024

Microsoft ditches OpenAI board observer seat to avert antitrust scrutiny

The move comes amid concerns among British and U.S. antitrust watchdogs over Microsoft's influence over OpenAI and the latter's independence.
Yuki Kusumi, CEO of Panasonic Holdings, during an interview in Tokyo last week
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 16, 2024

Panasonic managers need ‘sense of crisis’ over low profitability, says CEO

The comments are unusually harsh in Japan, and especially at Panasonic, where the notion of lifetime employment was embraced for years.
A worker at Sakai Seisakusyo prepares to transport metal rods at its factory in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, on July 8.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Jul 16, 2024

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail

The shift in thinking is a clear departure for a country that has typically sought to avoid bankruptcies and protect existing jobs at the cost of productivity.
Artwork is displayed in the home of Mikiko Watanabe, who was killed in an arson attack at a Kyoto Animation studio in 2019, in Shiga Prefecture on June 11.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2024

Mother of Kyoto Animation arson victim continuing to deliver lectures

Tatsuko Watanabe's 35-year-old daughter Mikiko was an art director at the anime company.
Namibia is emerging as an oil exploration hub with major finds by different oil giants, which could significantly boost the country's economy.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 18, 2024

African outpost Namibia gets ready to become new oil hotspot

Massive oil finds 180 miles off Namibia’s coast have seen an 80% success rate since 2022 — an almost unprecedented achievement.
Dai Nippon Printing's "Midokoro viewer" system displays 3D images of cultural assets on a touch screen.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Japan firms working on digital cultural assets

Major printing company Toppan has produced more than 60 virtual reality images since launching its digital cultural assets project in 1997.
The inside of the No. 2 reactor building of the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture in June
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024

Tohoku Electric puts off Onagawa nuclear reactor restart to November

Tohoku Electric expects its ordinary profit for fiscal 2024 to decrease ¥8 billion ($50.9 million) from the projected level due to the postponement.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention on Thursday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 20, 2024

Nippon Steel hires Mike Pompeo to help clinch purchase of U.S. Steel

Pompeo, who served as the U.S.’ top diplomat under Donald Trump, will be an adviser to the Japanese company for its $14.1 billion purchase.
Nippon Steel is dissolving its joint venture with China's Baoshan Iron & Steel, ending two decades of cooperation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2024

Nippon Steel to dissolve joint venture with China's Baoshan

Nippon Steel did not provide a reason for dissolving the partnership originally established in 2004.
Nidec separately announced it signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday with Tata Elxsi, an Indian technology service provider, to develop software programs for India and other markets.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 23, 2024

Japan's Nidec lifts annual profit outlook after first quarter

The company raised its expectations for operating profit in the financial year to the end of March 2025 to ¥240 billion ($1.53 billion).
Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024

Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry

The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
A Google logo at the company's campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2. Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Google illegally monopolized search options, judge rules

The judge's decision will "lay the blueprint for other tech cases going forward,” an antitrust professor said.
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.
Itochu is buying back ¥150 billion worth of its own shares.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 6, 2024

Itochu to buy back shares and take full control of apparel and chemicals units

The deals are part of a trend of dissolving dual listings of parent and subsidiary companies to enhance corporate governance and improve operational efficiency.
Shiseido's sales in China are still sluggish as consumers remain reluctant to buy Japanese products over the discharge of treated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2024

Shiseido posts steepest drop since 1987 on anemic China demand

The company reported a January-June operating loss of ¥2.7 billion ($18.4 million), compared with profit of ¥13.6 billion a year earlier.
A petrochemical plant in China. Asia's producers face the toughest outlook, with oversupply likely to persist.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Aug 9, 2024

Petrochemical makers enter survival mode amid global glut

Major petrochemical producers in Asia and Europe are selling assets, shutting older plants, and retrofitting facilities.
The Kirin Holdings logo. B9 Beverages — backed by Kirin — is building a new brewing facility in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which, once completed, will become India’s biggest beer factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 10, 2024

Kirin-backed Indian brewer seeks more clout with new factory

B9 Beverages is building a new brewing facility in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which, once completed, will become India’s biggest beer factory.
There are now more than a dozen apps aimed at helping users keep tabs on their individual emissions.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Aug 12, 2024

Steps, calories … CO2? Emissions-tracking apps are on the rise

Carbon-tracking services walk a fine line between highlighting purchase emissions and suggesting individuals alone can solve the problem of climate change.
The tradition of koromogae, which involves changing storage spaces for clothes according to the season, is becoming less common, largely due to the increasing adoption of Western-style closets that accommodate all clothing year-round.
BUSINESS
Aug 13, 2024

Mothball makers innovate amid shrinking market

The market has been diminishing as synthetic fibers, which are resistant to insect damage, have become widely used in clothing.
A Plug Power hydrogen plant in Woodbine, Georgia
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Aug 14, 2024

Why almost nobody is buying green hydrogen

Many of the projects now touted with great fanfare by countries vying to become 'the Saudi Arabia of hydrogen' will likely never get built.
Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., speaks at the Milken Institute's Global Conference on May 6 in Beverly Hills, California.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 15, 2024

Musk’s free speech mantra collides with crackdowns on hate speech and disinformation

Since taking over, Musk has largely abandoned X’s prior efforts to curb misinformation, instead asking users to police themselves.
A wall mural depicting Nintendo's Super Mario characters in an underground walkway in Kyoto. The company will open the Nintendo Museum in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 20, 2024

Nintendo to open museum showcasing video game history this fall

The museum in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, will feature vintage video games and an interactive shoot-em-up with Super Mario characters.
Tourists enjoy the beach in Malaga, Spain, on Aug. 14.
BUSINESS
Aug 20, 2024

Package deals make comeback in Europe among budget-conscious sun seekers

The combination of a cost-of-living crisis and disruption from strikes and glitches has added to the appeal of a fixed-price package without unexpected add-on costs.
An employee pulls a trolley containing boxes of LD Ultra-Slim cigarettes ready for shipping at the Japan Tobacco cigarette plant in the town of Senta in Serbia. JT Group is buying U.S. discount cigarette-maker Vector Group.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 22, 2024

JT Group plans to buy U.S. cigarette-maker Vector for ¥348.6 billion

The move will address a loss of anticipated growth due to Russia's war in Ukraine, and will boost Japan Tobacco's U.S. market share from 2.3% to about 8%.

Longform

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