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GMO Internet Group is making a foray into the artificial intelligence and robot business to spread the use of such tech products and services in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2024

Japan’s GMO takes aim at labor shortage with AI and robotics company

It will focus on matching robot and drone manufacturers and AI developers with businesses.
Netflix is ramping up local production in Southeast Asia, aiming to boost its subscriber base in the region even as U.S. rivals are pulling back.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2024

Netflix uses ‘Squid Game’ playbook for untapped Southeast Asia

Asia Pacific, accounting for just 11% of Netflix's 2023 revenue may offer significant growth potential due to its large, young demographic.
A member of the Sinaloa Cartel shows capsules with methamphetamine in a safe house in Culiacan, Mexico, in 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 19, 2024

Chinese 'underground bankers' launder Sinaloa drug money

24 defendants have been charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine and money laundering offenses.
Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe holds a news briefing at the Japan Mobility Show 2023 in Tokyo on Oct. 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2024

Honda CEO apologizes to shareholders for test fraud

Shareholders voted to approve a proposal to reappoint Toshihiro Mibe and other directors to Honda's board.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on Thursday
WORLD / Politics
Jun 20, 2024

Vietnam welcomes Putin in boost to ties, ignoring U.S. criticism

Vietnam and Russia have ties going back decades to the Soviet Union.
Sailors from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower assist distressed mariners rescued from the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier M/V Tutor that was attacked by Houthis in the Red Sea on Saturday.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2024

Shipping industry urges Red Sea action as Houthis sink second vessel

A Greek-owned coal carrier attacked by Yemen's Houthi militants in the Red Sea last week has sunk, salvagers confirmed.
The People's Bank of China (PBOC) building in Beijing on May 29. The authority may soon start trading government bonds in the secondary market, according to a speech made by its chief on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 20, 2024

PBOC’s new tools may spur big shift in how it manages money

The PBOC is also considering narrowing the interest rate corridor within which market rates are allowed to fluctuate, to signal a clearer policy target.
Beijing’s response to the European Union's proposed tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles looks more like the targeted playbook it deployed against Australia a few years ago. The government and state media are already publicly identifying specific products that could get taxed.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2024

China eyes trade war targets across Europe for counterstrikes

Among the possible targets: brandy, pork, wine, dairy products and cars.
JPX CEO Hiromi Yamaji says the number of companies in the Topix index will be reduced to about 1,200 in the next review of the index, in 2028.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 20, 2024

Japan’s Topix to include broader range of companies, but fewer of them

The Topix index currently includes more than 2,000 stocks, with at least ¥83 trillion ($526 billion) of assets were linked to the gauge as of last year.
A Thai soldier takes cover near the 2nd Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge during fighting on the Myanmar side between the Karen National Liberation Army and the Myanmar junta's troops on April 20.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2024

Myanmar armed groups accuse junta of breaking the cease-fire

Beijing brokered the truce between the junta and the "Three Brotherhood Alliance" in January.
Japan Post Bank will expand investment into long-term government bonds to take advantage of rising yields.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 20, 2024

Japan Post Bank to buy more bonds in light of BOJ taper plan

Japan Post Bank has ramped up investment in JGBs with the balance of holdings totaling ¥5.15 trillion as of March, expanding 1.5-fold from levels in December last year.
Electric cars are stacked for export at the international container terminal of Taicang Port in Suzhou, China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 20, 2024

Europe’s EV battery plans fade on China price war and U.S. subsidies

As electric-vehicle sales slow, companies including Volkswagen, Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz are scaling back or refocusing battery projects.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has recently said that Japan was in the severest security environment since the end of World War II.
BUSINESS
Jun 20, 2024

Japan's Kawasaki Heavy to make ventilators for underground shelters

The announcement comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defense pledge.
Film director Hirokazu Kore-eda (left) and actor Lily Franky arrive for a photocall to promote the Official Selection feature film "Shoplifters" at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September 2018.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2024

Japanese film startup aims to change industry working conditions

K2 Pictures is seeking to raise the money from domestic and foreign investors.
Japan's core inflation accelerated in May due to energy levies but an index that strips away the effect of fuel slowed for the ninth straight month, complicating the central bank's decision on how soon to raise interest rates.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2024

Energy costs drove up inflation in May, backing case for BOJ rate hike

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.5% in May from a year ago, quickening from 2.2% in April, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a report released Thursday that it has placed Japan, which runs a large trade surplus with the United States, back on its monitoring list over currency practices.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 21, 2024

U.S. adds Japan to currency watchlist amid struggles with weak yen

Japan spent a record ¥9.8 trillion ($62 billion) earlier this year to prop up the yen.
The Oku knife "hooks or wraps elegantly along the edge of a plate or board," designer Kathleen Reilly says.
LIFE / Style & Design
Jun 22, 2024

A playfully subversive knife from a rising Scottish design star

The Scottish artist fuses East and West in a new knife design crafted in and inspired by Niigata Prefecture’s Tsubame-Sanjo.
The Mioya Shuzo brewery was damaged by the 2024 New Year's Day earthquake — but not to the extent that it couldn't serve as a shelter of sorts for the region's many sake breweries.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Jun 22, 2024

To Miho Fujita, ‘rules are meant to be broken in the sake world’

Miho Fujita knows the old songs sung by sake brewers by heart, but she's updated the tradition in her own way, infusing the age-old craft with a modern twist.
Military vehicles carrying DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Square during a military parade in Beijing in October 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 21, 2024

U.S. and China held first informal nuclear talks in five years in March

Beijing's representatives told their U.S. counterparts that they would not resort to atomic threats over Taiwan, according to two American delegates.
Tourists walk through Nakamise shopping street near Sensoji temple in Tokyo. This year is expected to bring 33 million travelers to Japan, an unprecedented surge and a 30% increase from last year.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 21, 2024

How an arrival tax could stem the overtourism tide

How can Japan ensure that tourism benefits locals and travelers alike? There's no silver bullet but an arrival tax of around $40 could be a good starting point.
The administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday approved this year's honebuto economic and fiscal policy guidelines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 21, 2024

Japanese government restores 2025 primary budget surplus target

In its economic blueprint, the Kishida administration has pledged a balanced budget other than interest payments by fiscal 2025.
A group of Chinese tourists walks through the Ginza district in Tokyo.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 22, 2024

Japan and Thailand top list of travel destinations for Chinese tourists

The return of Chinese tourists is being closely watched, as their numbers and spending are crucial for the tourism industry’s recovery.
The dollar’s reign has wreaked havoc across currency markets, especially in Japan where ultralow interest rates have sent the yen spiraling down more than 11% against the greenback this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 22, 2024

Dollar winning streak extends into fifth week as yen slumps

The dollar’s reign has wreaked havoc in Japan where low interest rates have sent the yen spiraling down more than 11% against the greenback this year.
Digital crime in Sweden has doubled since 2021 and become a growing risk for the Nordic economy.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 22, 2024

Ditching paper money makes Sweden a haven for digital criminals

Digital crime in Sweden has doubled since 2021 and become a growing risk for the Nordic economy.
Foreign investors, who helped push up Japanese stocks to a record high just a few months ago, became net sellers for a fourth straight week through June 14.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 23, 2024

Global investors turn cautious on once favorite Japanese stocks

Foreign investors, who helped push up Japanese shares to a record high just a few months ago, became net sellers for a fourth straight week through June 14.
Amid AI chip juggernaut Nvidia's staggering successes, startups seeking the attention of Silicon Valley venture capitalists are being asked to innovate — but without a clear indication of where the next chapter of AI will be written.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jun 23, 2024

Beyond Nvidia: the search for AI's next breakthrough

Startups are being asked to innovate — but without a clear indication of where the next chapter of AI will be written.
Nissan's Hyper Force at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on May 3
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2024

Nissan closes car plant in China

The closure on Friday came amid the rapid spread of electric vehicles in China, which has led to serious sales slumps for Japanese automakers.
Seaweed in the ocean off Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Local residents aim to restore seagrass and seaweed beds suffering from marine desertification, and their project has also been certified to receive "blue carbon" credits.
ENVIRONMENT / OUR PLANET
Jun 23, 2024

Japan looks to 'blue carbon' to cut emissions — and restore its coasts

The nation's net zero goal has driven interest in these ecosystems, but verifying the amount of carbon stored by seaweed presents a challenge.
While a weaker yen is seen pushing up fiscal 2024 profits by 1.9% at large companies with capital of ¥1 billion or more, it is expected to have a negative impact of 1.3% for small companies with capital of 10 million to ¥100 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2024

Impacts of weaker yen vary by company size: estimates

The profit disparity arises apparently from the inability of small companies to offset rising import costs with their limited-scale exports and direct investments abroad.
Japan Ground Self-Defense Force tanks take part in a live fire exercise near Gotemba on May 26.
JAPAN
Jun 23, 2024

EU seeks defense industry partnerships with Japan and South Korea

These would mark the EU's first such security and defense-related collaboration with Asian nations.

Longform

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