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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reviews soldiers of the German armed forces in Berlin on Thursday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2024

Between the U.S. and a hard place, Germany's Scholz reheats China ties

With Germany's economy slumping, the nation hopes to gain fairer access to China's markets despite promises to "de-risk" from them.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a meeting on AI strategy held at the Prime Minister's Office in December. Japan is beginning to draw global attention for its potential as an AI market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Google alums go big in Japan with months-old startup Sakana AI

Sakana is setting out to train low-cost generative AI models using small datasets, unveiling three AI models for Japanese speakers last month.
Japan's emissions in fiscal 2023 represents a 23% reduction from 2013 levels, but it’s still a way off from the 46% reduction the government has pledged to make by 2030.
BUSINESS
Apr 12, 2024

Japan’s annual emissions drop as industrial pollution shrinks

Emissions slipped 2.3% in the year ending March 2023 to 1.085 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the environment ministry said.
U.S. President Joe Biden escorts Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to their trilateral summit at the White House in Washington on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 12, 2024

Biden vows 'ironclad' defense of Philippines and Japan as China tensions rise

Biden reiterated Washington’s commitment to defending the Philippines from any attack in the South China Sea.
Global banks are responding to increased demand for information about Japan’s companies and markets amid a resurgent stock market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 12, 2024

Global banks ramp up roadshows for clients eager to bet on Japan

Foreign investors bought the most Japanese equities since 2013, last week.
Sweden is known for its generous parental leave system, with parents allowed to share 480 days of leave per child and 90% of fathers taking such time off.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 12, 2024

Swedish-style paternity leave could unleash Japan’s potential

In Sweden, most new fathers take paternity leave, with direct benefits for the economy and families — an approach that holds important lessons for Japan.
U.S. Steel said that over 98% of the votes were in favor of the deal under which Nippon will pay $55 per share, an amount that represented a hefty premium when the takeover was announced in December.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 13, 2024

U.S. Steel shareholders approve $14.9 billion buyout by Nippon Steel

The move takes the merger one step closer to completion even as political opposition to the deal mounts.
The departure hall at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Now with inflation at its strongest in decades, Japanese are starting to realize that years of static wages leave many of them budgeting each month before their next pay check.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

Japan’s young workers head abroad as huge wage gap persists

The outflow is also a sign that many Japanese aren’t buying into the nation’s economic optimism as it exits from decades of deflation.
U.S. President Joe Biden during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (not pictured) in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2024

It's inflation, stupid: Biden faces renewed election threat

The cost of living is rising more quickly again, just when he thought he had put the issue behind him to get a clear run at November's vote.
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.
Noto Airport in the city of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Apr 14, 2024

Japan to revise guidelines for airport operators in times of disaster

The BCP revisions come on the heels of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan. 1.
Passengers wait at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport after Lebanon closed its airspace to all flights on Sunday following an attack by Iran on Israel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Airlines confront new Iran-Israel risks as disruption grows

Several Middle Eastern countries temporarily closed their airspace as Iran launched drones and missiles.
Rapidus' semiconductor foundry construction site in Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Chip plant wizard weathers Hokkaido’s bitter cold in latest test

Construction firm Kajima is plowing through a series of challenges to get a chipmaking factory built on time in snowy Hokkaido.
A woman in the Tokai region posts her meals on social media and gives advice to young people suffering from eating disorders.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional voices: Chubu
Apr 22, 2024

Woman with eating disorder looks to help young sufferers via social media

The woman is letting people know that a person’s value is not determined by their body shape.
The National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

China says Hong Kong must 'tightly hold' national security line to safeguard development

Some countries have criticized Hong Kong's new national security laws as a tool for authorities to clamp down on dissent.
Some analysts say machinery orders are on track for a recovery as core machinery orders rose 7.7% in February from the previous month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 15, 2024

Machinery orders rise sharply, possibly easing domestic demand worries

Some analysts say machinery orders are on track for a recovery.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. Japan's life insurers will lay out their investment plans for the new fiscal year starting this month.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 15, 2024

Investment plans for Japan’s insurers will likely favor JGBs

Companies will lay out their plans for the fiscal year starting this month.
Leaders of intelligence agencies testify before a congressional committee about worldwide threats in Washington on March 11.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 15, 2024

Campaign puts Trump and the spy agencies on a collision course

Some former officials fear that Trump, if elected again, would try to weaken intelligence agencies or undermine their independence.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warns he’s ready to take action in the foreign exchange market after the yen fell further past ¥154 to the dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 16, 2024

Japan’s tepid warning on yen fuels renewed weakness ahead of IMF

The finance minister’s comments come after the yen set a fresh 34-year low of ¥154.45 following stronger than expected U.S. retail sales figures.
In a Kyoto long past, the "hyakki yagyō" (100 demon night parade) haunted a sleepy corner of Kyoto. Now, one enterprising monster enthusiast has won a small batttle to keep the march alive.
LIFE / Travel
Apr 17, 2024

Kyoto’s demon night parade lives to haunt another day

Held this year on April 20, an ancient Kyoto monster march has overcome obstacles to continue going bump in the night.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inside 10 Downing Street in central London on Sunday
WORLD / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

British PM Sunak's Rwanda deportation plan set to pass Parliament

Britain's prime minister says he is "highly confident" his plans to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda will work.
Yen traders are bracing for 160 to the dollar or even further declines.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 16, 2024

Yen traders brace for 160 level even as intervention risks rise

The yen weakened 1% last week alone as fears of higher-for-longer U.S. borrowing costs spurred a stampede to the dollar.
Lee Hsien Loong might not stray far from politics, having said previously that he will remain at the "new PM’s disposal” after the handover.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

Singapore charts new path after half-century of Lee family rule

Lee Hsien Loong announced that he will step aside next month after 20 years as prime minister and hand the reins over to Lawrence Wong.
Shoppers at the Dadar market in Mumbai, India. Indian equities now trade at around 23 times next year’s expected earnings, exceeding even the U.S.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 16, 2024

‘Expensive’ India lures investors avoiding China risks

Powerful rallies in Indian and Japanese equities during China’s slump have reset Asia’s financial-market landscape.
A nationwide survey by Japan Press Research Institute released in October found that 74.6% of respondents see or hear news a few times a week on the internet. Meanwhile, 87.6% receive news through private broadcasters.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 21, 2024

How to deal with influence operations in the era of generative AI

A significant number of people in Japan don't care about where online news is sourced from, one poll found.
People listen to a campaign speech in Tokyo's Koto Ward on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 16, 2024

Unpacking the chaotic by-election in a scandal-hit Tokyo district

The residents of Tokyo's No. 15 district — which corresponds to the city’s southeastern Koto Ward — will head to the polls for the third time in a year.
Kioxia Holdings plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as October.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2024

Kioxia plans to list as early as October as merger talks stall

Kioxia faces a June deadline to refinance as much as ¥900 billion worth of loans, and a public listing will help its negotiations with banks.
Hideyuki Sakamoto, executive vice president for manufacturing and supply chain management at Nissan, speaks during a media briefing at the company's plant in Yokohama on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2024

Nissan looks to Tesla’s style of carmaking to build cheaper EVs

The carmaker will use machines with about 6,000 tons of force to make the rear floors of EVs to be sold from fiscal 2027 onward.
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.
Workers clean argeli bark in the Ilam district of eastern Nepal. Thousands of miles away, in Japan, the bark will be used to make yen notes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 16, 2024

On Himalayan hillsides grows Japan’s cold, hard cash

One of the poorest pockets of Asia supplies a primary ingredient for the economy in one of the richest.

Longform

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