Search - sales

 
 
Hong Kong Stadium during the first day of the 2022 Hong Kong Sevens tournament in November 2022
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Apr 5, 2024

Hong Kong holds Rugby Sevens as international visitors return

The three-day competition will be the tournament's first sell-out since the pandemic, organizers said.
Since the original 2010 release, visual novel series Danganronpa has spawned eight mainline games (and several other titles) for a total 5 million copies sold worldwide.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Apr 6, 2024

Are visual novels ready for a great leap forward?

Where reaction time and manual reflexes are in other genres, visual novels prize critical thinking and the ability to interpret characters’ motivations.
An Ariens Company employee works on the assembly line at the company's plant in Brillion, Wisconsin.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 5, 2024

U.S. employment boom leaves factory workers behind

There is a stark contrast between U.S. factory employment and the four-year boom in the wider job market
During a rally in New York on Nov. 6, protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza. U.S. President Biden should ensure that Israel abides by a March 25 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 8, 2024

Biden must show Netanyahu that enough is enough

How can the U.S. president take the moral high ground if he allows Netanyahu to continue disregarding civilian life in Gaza, while arming Israeli soldiers?
Daihatsu Motor President Masahiro Inoue speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2024

Toyota tightens oversight over scandal-hit Daihatsu

Daihatsu will streamline the way it reports on development and certification to its parent Toyota Motor.
Despite Japan’s strict anti-scalping laws, tickets for premium seats to sumo tournaments are being offered at massive markups on resale sites.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Apr 10, 2024

Scarcity of tickets leaves foreign sumo fans out in the cold

Almost as soon as general ticket sales began on Saturday for the upcoming May Grand Sumo Tournament, the entire meet was sold-out.
Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's headquarters in Osaka
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 11, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma troubles reverberate in Taiwan as firm assists with recall

Taiwan is the only place outside of Japan to have seen reports of people falling ill after consuming the company's beni kōji.
An evening launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit as seen from Encinitas, California, on April 1.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Musk's undisclosed Starlink costs undercut profitability claims

Despite Elon Musk's claims of profitability, Starlink is spending more than it earns, those familiar with the company's finances say.
An AA patrol for electric vehicles in Birmingham, England. Fewer than 10% of the U.K.’s 236,000 auto mechanics are qualified to work directly on EV batteries or their cases, according to the Institute of the Motor Industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 13, 2024

EVs head for junkyard as mechanic shortage inflates repair costs

High costs are prompting underwriters to total cars with relatively benign damage — prematurely consigning electric models to the junk heap.
Honda has lagged behind European and U.S. competitors such as General Motors and Volkswagen in ramping up EV sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024

Honda to launch next-generation EVs in China by 2027

The carmaker added that it also planned to roll out a total of 10 Honda-brand EV models in China by 2027.
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.
The legality of products that contain cannabinoids, a group of substances derived from the cannabis plant, has been somewhat murky in Japan.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 21, 2024

Japan’s cannabis market growing rapidly amid regulatory shift

Robust sales of products using CBD, a compound found in marijuana, are attributed to rising demand for products that offer relaxation and stress relief.
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.
People backing Ukraine gather outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. The Senate on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to approve a long-stalled $95 billion package of aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 24, 2024

Congress passes Ukraine aid bill in boost to Kyiv — and Taipei — after long delay

The package, which had been delayed amid objections from Republican hard-liners, could be signed into law as soon as this week.
Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
WORLD / Politics
Apr 26, 2024

Israel prepares forces as conflict with Hezbollah intensifies

Israeli forces have been exchanging cross-border fire with Hezbollah almost daily since October as the potential for an all-out war only grows.
Palestinian children stand amid the debris of a house destroyed by overnight Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Some U.S. officials say Israel may be violating international law in Gaza

A joint submission from four U.S. bureaus raised "serious concern over non-compliance" with international humanitarian law.
A liquefied natural gas tanker arrives at a Tokyo Gas LNG terminal in Yokohama. Despite a decline in domestic gas demand, Japanese companies are looking to maintain their stake in overseas LNG markets, especially in Asia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 29, 2024

The double standard of Japan’s energy companies abroad

In Japan, energy companies like Tokyo Gas are striving to cut emissions. But overseas, they're shoring up LNG markets, making for a very different picture.
Samsung's Seocho building in Seoul on Tuesday. The electronics company said that its first-quarter operating profits had risen nearly tenfold year-on-year — a 931.8 percent increase — amid recovering chip prices and growing demand.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2024

Samsung says AI to drive technology demand in second half after strong Q1

The upbeat outlook sent its shares 1.8% higher after it reported a more than 10x rise in first-quarter operating profit.
Japan's industrial production rose 3.8% in March from February, as demand picked up after two straight months of declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024

Japan’s factory output records weakest quarter since pandemic

The yen’s plunge to a fresh 34-year low versus the dollar could spur a resurgence of cost-push inflation via higher costs for imports of food and energy.
The weak yen impacts the airline industry multiple ways, as it boosts foreign currency revenue from international flights but negatively affects travelers from Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2024

Japan firms reach pain threshold as yen keeps testing lows against the dollar

The currency's sustained decline makes planning difficult for all firms and can add costs across the whole supply chain.
Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel is set to open in June in the theme park's new section featuring areas based on "Frozen," "Tangled" and "Peter Pan."
BUSINESS
May 7, 2024

Tokyo DisneySea taps ‘Frozen’ and 'Peter Pan' in ¥320 billion expansion

The expansion, which opens to the public June 6, is expected to help boost total annual sales by ¥75 billion.
Stellantis premium brand Alfa Romeo reveals the Milano, its first fully electric car, during an event in Milan on April 10.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 7, 2024

EU election could force sharp turn in electric car policy

Europe's right-wing parties have made cancelling the 2035 deadline to phase out sales of internal combustion engine cars a rallying cry.
A Towa Bank employee's suicide in 2017 has been recognized as a work-related accident.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

Towa Bank employee suicide linked to overwork and harassment

Findings from the Labor Standards Inspection Office showed the man was under extreme stress due to unmanageable work pressures.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024

SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore

Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
Futures of robusta coffee beans have hit their highest price in over 40 years, while cocoa prices have more than doubled this year.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024

Cocoa’s dizzying volatility is spilling into the coffee market

Many major traders deal in both commodities, so soaring cocoa prices are squeezing market players for cash and forcing them out of coffee trading.
Attendees arrive for Microsoft's event on AI technologies in Jakarta on April 30.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
May 11, 2024

Tech giants start to treat Southeast Asia like the next big thing

After decades of playing second fiddle to China and Japan, the region of about 675 million people is drawing more tech investment than ever.
PRESS
May 17, 2024

New Japan Times Archive release: Early Showa Era publication “The Japan Times Weekly” now available

The Japan Times (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Chairperson, Publisher and President: Minako Suematsu) has now digitized the archival publication "The Japan Times Weekly" and made it available via "Japan Times Book Viewer," a platform that allows users to search and browse the newspaper’s archives...
Visitors line up near a billboard for a Honda electric vehicle at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2024

Honda moves to cut China workforce with voluntary layoffs

Honda's move marks the latest setback for Japan's legacy car brands in China.
Shipping containers at Pier J at the Port of Long Beach wait for processing in Long Beach, California, in 2018.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 16, 2024

U.S. efforts to reshape global supply chains gathers pace in Asia

Investment flows are shifting along with trade, with global firms investing in Southeast Asia to avoid U.S. tariffs on China.
A residential area under development by Country Garden in Shanghai in February.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 17, 2024

Old for new: China's latest property market plan off to a poor start

More than 50 cities have launched their own versions of the "swap old for new" program.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat