Search - 2023

 
 
Police officers issue a warning to a person riding a modified bicycle during a traffic crackdown conducted in Tokyo's Nakano Ward in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 17, 2024

Police report surge in moped and powered bicycle violations

When questioned, many riders claim to be unaware of the requirement for a license to operate such vehicles.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event at the Scranton Cultural Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Apr 17, 2024

Biden seeks higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum

The president was set to reiterate that United States Steel should remain American-owned.
Berkshire Hathaway's latest yen debt deal is the biggest since its debut sale in the currency in 2019, raising bets it may boost holdings of Japanese stocks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2024

Berkshire sells ¥263.3 billion of bonds in its biggest yen debt deal since 2019

The seven-tranche deal priced at tighter premiums than Berkshire’s deals over the past two years.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024

Latest Biden chip deal highlights U.S. semiconductor successes

Samsung is the latest beneficiary of Washington’s efforts to shore up precarious supply chains and protect its national security interests.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Apr 19, 2024

Bills and quarterback Josh Allen prepare to move ahead without Stefon Diggs

The Bills traded Diggs to the Texans and also moved on from No. 2 wide receiver Gabe Davis, who landed in Jacksonville as a free agent.
Boxes of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 developed by Walvax Biotechnology and Abogen Biosciences
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Apr 20, 2024

China's drugmakers can't sell mRNA shots but haven't quit yet

While Chinese firms are pursuing new targets for the novel messenger RNA technology, they face a tough path, crimped by a lack of revenue.
Giants starter Tomoyuki Sugano pitches against the Tigers at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, on April 18.
BASEBALL / Sac Bunts
Apr 22, 2024

Resurgent Tomoyuki Sugano off to strong start on mound for Giants

Sugano is off to a 2-0 start in three outings this season.
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2024

'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam

The 25-year-old swindled three men out of ¥159 million, which she spent on a Kabukicho host she fell in love with.
A dealer works in the trading room at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo on March 28. An overwhelming majority of respondents who currently work remotely in some capacity say they wish to continue to do so.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2024

Hybrid work takes root in Japan, survey finds

While remote working has declined with the end of the pandemic, many of those who adopted a hybrid work model are sticking to it.
The start of the 2023 edition of the Mount Fuji 100
MORE SPORTS
Apr 23, 2024

Iconic Mount Fuji 100 enters new era with World Trail Majors

The race — perhaps now more than ever — is a bucket list event for countless runners around the world.
Yum China, which operates KFC and Pizza Hut, plans to add more than 5,000 outlets by 2026 with more than 50% of them outside megacities.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 23, 2024

China’s small towns thrive as more opt out of demanding megacity life

As an economic downturn in China’s biggest cities prompts layoffs and competition for remaining posts, many are finding a better quality of life elsewhere.
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024

Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds

The Tohoku region takes the top spot in both the number and percentage of municipalities at risk of disappearing due to a sharp population decline.
Japanese project Serani Poji, founded and operated by musician Tomoko Sasaki, was a relatively under-the-radar group during the early 2000s. Thanks to short-form video platforms such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts, however, it has suddenly become one of the most successful Shibuya-kei groups in terms of streaming numbers.
CULTURE / Music
Apr 25, 2024

Serani Poji’s retro Shibuya-kei sounds find viral fame

The video game-related pop project gets a second life after online listeners rediscover chipper cuts from a 2002 album.
A ship, identified by the Royal United Services Institute as the North Korean registered cargo ship Angara, is seen docked alongside a larger vessel at the Zhoushan Xinya Shipbuilding Co. wharf in Zhoushan, China, in February.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 25, 2024

Images show China harboring ship tied to Russian arms transfers

Satellite images show China is docking a ship that has moved containers believed to be full of North Korean munitions around Russia.
Members of a group of former second-generation Jenovah's Witnesses speak during a news conference in Tokyo in November.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 26, 2024

Japan finds 47 cases of abuse of 'second-generation followers'

Victims were temporarily taken into protective custody in 19 of the total cases.
A key aspect of AI technology that is often forgotten is that it requires an enormous amount of energy to develop and run. And that’s where utilities come in.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 28, 2024

AI boom’s secret winners? The companies expected to power it

Across the U.S., utilities are preparing for historic increases in electricity demand led by data centers and AI.
Chika Kon asks a question at a mock assembly session organized by the town assembly of Zao, Miyagi Prefecture, in July. Kon is now a member of the assembly.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 29, 2024

Local councils in Japan take measures to counter candidate shortfall

Efforts are being made to encourage participation to avoid undermining essential functions such as administrative oversight.
Manahel al-Otaibi wears western clothes in the Saudi capital Riyadh in September 2019. Human rights groups have denounced an 11-year prison term recently handed down by a counterterrorism court to the Saudi fitness instructor and women's rights activist.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024

Saudi Arabia cracks down on online speech, jailing critics for decades

Fitness influencer Manahel al-Otaibi was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison after criticizing male guardianship laws and women's dress requirements.
A guide stands next to a CV9040 infantry fighting vehicle and other military hardware at an exhibition displaying equipment captured by the Russian army from Ukrainian forces in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at the Victory Park open-air museum on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024

Russians who fled war return, in boost for Putin’s war economy

Many Russians are returning to their homeland after finding countries abroad have become less accommodating for them — a gain for the domestic economy.
An <i>awamori</i> distillery in Okinawa Prefecture. Shipments of the rice spirit in 2023 dropped more than 50% from their peak in 2004.
JAPAN
May 3, 2024

Okinawa's rice spirit industry seeks rebrand amid falling shipments

Producers are seeking to devise new marketing strategies to make awamori appealing to both young consumers and international markets.
Members of the Polish military train with the Patriot air defense system at an airport in Warsaw in February 2023.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 4, 2024

Missile defense successes fuel global urgency to acquire systems

Experts say the practical and political incentives of investing in the systems will be too hard to ignore — and intensify arms races.
With Apple’s business making up more than half of the company's revenue, investors are watching Hon Hai for clues on iPhone sales.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2024

iPhone maker Hon Hai hits a record high buoyed by AI and Apple

Hon Hai makes most of the world’s iPhones, but is now diversifying to focus on building datacenter server racks and other equipment for AI clusters.
Law enforcement officers walk along the Kremlin wall near Red Square in Moscow on Dec. 31.
WORLD / Politics
May 7, 2024

U.S. says soldier who went to Russia detained for ‘misconduct’

A U.S. soldier was detained in eastern Russia on "charges of criminal misconduct,” the U.S. Army said Monday, a potential new flashpoint in relations between the nations already at a low since Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
Despite logging a record net profit in the year to March, helped by the weak yen, Nintendo expects net profit to drop nearly 40% in the current financial year.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2024

Nintendo says announcement on Switch successor 'this fiscal year'

Players and investors have been hungry for news about a successor to the Switch, and the company said a statement was finally forthcoming.
Urawa Reds Ladies celebrate with their fans after winning the league championship at Urawa Komaba Stadium on June 3, 2023.
SOCCER
May 9, 2024

Urawa Reds Ladies to vie for Asian supremacy amid controversy over AFC's actions

Final to go ahead after backlash forced AFC to reverse earlier decision to cancel match.
Nissan's net profit nearly doubled in the business year that ended in March, as demand rose at home as well as in North America, Europe and China.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024

Nissan's annual net profit nearly doubles on-year

Net profit totaled ¥426.6 billion ($2.7 billion), up 92.3% on-year.
Having succeeded her father, Akira Mori, Miwako Date has been CEO of real estate development firm Mori Trust since 2016.
BUSINESS / WOMEN AT WORK
May 19, 2024

Leading a major property developer with an eye on art and culture

Third-generation CEO Miwako Date is making her mark with Mori Trust's regional luxury hotels.
A host promotes lipstick on TikTok Shop
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 10, 2024

Livestream shopping foils high-tech tools from stopping counterfeits

The sheer volume of violations means e-commerce infringement enforcement can feel like a game of "whack-a-mole" for those who monitor the internet.
Philippine and U.S. Marines watch as a projectile hits a target at sea during a live-fire exercise against an imaginary "invasion" force as part of the annual joint military drills, on a strip of sand dunes in Laoag on Luzon island's northwest coast, on May 6.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 11, 2024

U.S. builds web of arms, ships and bases in the Pacific to deter China

With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.
Special fraud cases in Tokyo in which stolen money was sent via online banking services grew some fivefold from the previous year in 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2024

Money stolen via online transfers up fivefold in Tokyo

Since many people use online banking services on a daily basis, the number of fraud cases involving such services is expected to grow.

Longform

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