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State Minister of Finance Kenji Kanda (left) and Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki attend an Upper House session in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

State minister of finance resigns in further blow to Kishida

Kenji Kanda submitted his resignation after admitting that his firm had failed to pay fixed asset taxes.
U Moe Zaw Oo, the deputy foreign minister of the National Unity Government of Myanmar, a shadow government seeking recognition as the legitimate leadership of the country, at the group’s headquarters in Washington on July 17
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 13, 2023

Fighting to govern Myanmar, from a teeny office in Washington

The U.S. capital attracts political refugees from all over the world who hope proximity to power will draw attention to their national plights.
A Komatsu dump truck at the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Khanbogd, the South Gobi desert, Mongolia
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 14, 2023

China tightens grip on copper, key to world’s energy transition

China’s copper smelting capacity will increase by another 45% by 2027
Major ports handling nearly 40% of Australia's freight trade may be crippled for days, officials said on Monday, three days after a cyberattack blocked the key gateways.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 14, 2023

The growing cybersecurity threat to global shipping

An attack on DP World's ports — which handle 40% of Australia's freight trade — was the latest in a series of breaches around the world in recent years.
Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and chairman of Insilico Medicine, poses at his research facility in Suzhou, China, on Oct. 31.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 14, 2023

Race for first drug discovered by AI nears key milestone

Insilico Medicine's AI-developed drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is in midstage trials in the U.S. and China.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House on Sept. 25, 2015. Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 14, 2023

Behind public assurances, Xi Jinping spreads grim views on U.S.

Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.
A giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington during one of its last days on American soil. Pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and Xiao Qi Ji were returned to China on Nov. 8 upon Beijing's request.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 14, 2023

Pandas don’t play diplomatic hard ball like China does

Panda diplomacy is endangered, with the forced return of three bears from Washington to China an exercise in "dumb power."
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced a $2.6 billion share buyback program after fiscal second-quarter profit tripled.
BUSINESS
Nov 14, 2023

Japan’s largest banks to buy back shares after profits soar

Japan’s biggest banks have unveiled plans to boost shareholder returns after posting record first-half profits, thanks in part to a cheaper yen.
AOG, an obscure London-based company, has been accused by aviation regulators of falsifying paperwork and supplying unauthorized components for turbines that power aircraft such as Boeing and Airbus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023

U.S. DOJ joins probe of fake-parts scandal gripping aviation industry

The U.S. Justice Department's involvement marks the first indication of scrutiny by law enforcement into the issue.
Japan Airlines is planning to pay a winter bonus equivalent to three months' salary in this fiscal year, up from the 1.7 months' salary for the fiscal 2022 winter bonus.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023

JAL to pay highest winter bonus since 2012 relisting

The planned bonus is up sharply from the 1.7 months' salary for the fiscal 2022 winter bonus.
Toru Yamano, chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, tastes Koshihikari brand rice from Niigata Prefecture that contains immature grains, during a news conference in Tokyo on Nov. 9.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2023

Torrid summer heat hits crop production in Japan

The extreme weather over the summer is now leading to lower shipments and sharp price increases.
A Tsuruha Holdings store in Otaru, Hokkaido. The drug store chain is considering selling the entire company for about $4 billion or even more, sources said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 15, 2023

Japan’s Tsuruha weighs sale after proxy battle with Oasis

The company is working with an adviser on the potential transaction and has reached out to some private equity firms to gauge their interest.
Kuomintang head Eric Chu, Hou Yu-ih, the party's presidential candidate, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and the People’s Party chief Ko Wen-je posing for a group photo in Taipei on Wednesday. The two parties have agreed to team up to take on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the January election.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 15, 2023

Taiwan opposition unite to challenge presidential front-runner

The island's two main opposition parties have vowed to renew talks with China even as the ruling party decries interference from Beijing.
Tourists in Tokyo's Asakusa district earlier this month
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2023

Visitors to Japan in October exceed pre-COVID level for first time

Visitor numbers improved to 100.8% of levels seen in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19 led to travel curbs around the world.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed David Cameron as foreign secretary, a shock return to government for a man who previously led the country and whose legacy is defined for calling the Brexit referendum.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 15, 2023

Sunak’s gamble on former U.K. leader Cameron is an act of desperation

The return of the former prime minister creates an unprecedented imbalance at the summit of U.K. power.
Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura has said that trade talks with China could help stabilize relations.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2023

Japan and China to hold regular talks on trade, media reports say

Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the talks could help stabilize relations.
People pass an electronic board showing the rate of the yen against the dollar on a street in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Nov 15, 2023

Former currency czar sees structural factors behind yen weakness

"I wonder whether overseas investors may be thinking what's in it for investing in Japan," said Rintaro Tamaki.
Armando Aroca, environmentalist, former guerrilla and current nursery manager of the Common Community Multi Active Cooperative (COMUCCOM) farm, points to a mural with the image of murdered environmentalist Jorge Santofimio in Puerto Guzman, Colombia, on June 27.
ENVIRONMENT
Nov 16, 2023

How the murders of activists hurt Colombian ecological preservation

Conservationists are targeted as their work poses a threat to illegal activities
Tunnel construction for the Hokkaido Shinkansen has proved slow in some areas due to geological reasons and the difficulty of blasting through the earth.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hokkaido
Nov 20, 2023

Tight labor market puts Hokkaido Shinkansen 2030 goal in doubt

The 212-kilometer route now under construction will link cities between Hakodate, at the southern tip of the prefecture, and Sapporo.
A worker supervises construction work on a wave breaker in the port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico, on Oct. 9, as part of expansion works on the Interoceanic Railway that connects the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
BUSINESS
Nov 16, 2023

Mexico building rail rival as water shortages drain Panama Canal

By 2028, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor should see 300,000 cargo containers transit every year, with 1.4 million by 2033.
Professional groups may lobby for regulations to control artificial intelligence and steer it toward labor-augmenting uses rather than labor-replacing ones.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 16, 2023

Managing the AI backlash: Lessons from the past

The history of professional guilds in Europe provides clues as to how workers may react to AI-caused disruptions.
Bears doing yoga? If you’re in the city, why not?
PODCAST / deep dive
Nov 16, 2023

Bear goes the neighborhood? Japanese wildlife is on the move.

This week, Alex K.T. Martin joins us to discuss why people are encountering bears, boars and other wildlife in the most unlikely of places.
Rakuten Securities President Yuji Kusunoki
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 17, 2023

Rakuten Securities sees payoff from free trading plan after a year

The firm plans to make up for the decrease in domestic stock trading commission fee revenues by expanding its financial services such as margin trading.
China trails Musk in low-Earth orbit — a zone within 2,000 kilometers of the planet’s surface that’s become increasingly attractive for companies such as SpaceX offering high-speed internet access.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2023

China’s rivalry with Musk’s SpaceX moves to even lower orbit

Beijing is looking to deploy satellites in very low-Earth orbit, a so-far untapped region within an altitude of 450 kilometers.
Japanese startup Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada poses next to the firm's moon rover on Thursday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 17, 2023

Ispace to launch second moon mission following crash

The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as the northern hemisphere winter of 2024.
Deputy Finance Minister Ryosei Akazawa speaks to reporters on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 17, 2023

Specific yen level not used to decide intervention, official says

"We won't intervene just because the yen is weakening," Deputy Finance Minister Ryosei Akazawa told parliament.
An offshore wind turbine, operated by Swancor Holding stands in the Taiwan Strait off the coast of Miaoli County, Taiwan, in 2018.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2023

Japan firms exit Taiwan offshore wind projects amid industry woes

Shikoku Electric Power decided to pull out of the Yunlin Offshore Wind Project in the Taiwan Strait due to delays threatening its profitability.
Bifacial photovoltaic solar panels at a solar plant in Texas. According to a study, net zero pledges are often directly undermined by the lobbying activities of the companies making them.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Nov 17, 2023

Study finds ‘net zero greenwash’ is common in corporate world

A London-based nonprofit found that 58% of the companies it analyzed advocate on climate policy in a way that’s at odds with their stated net zero goals.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway sold yen bonds at lower costs in its second Japan deal of the year as speculation mounts that the billionaire investor may put more money into the nation’s share market.
BUSINESS / Markets
Nov 17, 2023

Berkshire sells yen debt amid talk it’s eyeing more Japan stocks

Berkshire is one of the largest overseas issuers of yen debt, and 32 out of its past 40 bond deals have been in the Japanese currency.
Tomoko Yoshino, president of Rengo, attends a meeting in 2022.
BUSINESS
Nov 17, 2023

Japan's largest labor union to seek worker pay hikes beyond 2024

Rengo said last month it will demand wage hikes totaling 5% or more next year.

Longform

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