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The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Many analysts say the central bank would want to avoid rushing policy moves as policymakers probably don’t want to be seen as being forced to act to boost the currency.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 12, 2024

Yen jump eases pressure on BOJ to tighten its policy, analysts say

If the Bank of Japan raised interest rates and announced fewer bond purchases, it could risk being seen as only driven by the volatile yen.
Japanese businessman Kazunori Takishima, seen at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has attended four Summer Games and four Winter Games since his first in 2006.
OLYMPICS
Jul 12, 2024

Japanese superfan with Olympic-sized wallet eager to make new memories in Paris

The 48-year-old Tokyo native spends large chunks of his disposable income on Olympic tickets.
Everyone should relax as Japan’s capital, Tokyo, isn’t ripping out thousands of trees to redevelop the famed Jingu Gaien park. Quite the opposite is planned.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 12, 2024

Tokyo's Jingu Gaien is at the center of an urban debate amid a redevelopment rift

Concerns about plans for Tokyo's Jingu Gaien may be exaggerated, as key trees will be preserved and more green space will be created post-development.
Marketing and PR Director at MSC Cruises Japan Kathy Knowles believes inbound tourism in Japan is likely to increase, and hopes more people will want to explore the country by sea.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Jul 13, 2024

Kathy Knowles: ‘I would never have been able to see so much if it weren't for this job’

Going on a cruise can be a fun summer travel option, so much so that this industry executive has made a career out of it.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speak to reporters in Berlin on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 13, 2024

Japanese and German leaders deepen ties with new economic security framework

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and German Chancellor Olaz Scholz agreed on the new mechanism during the Japanese leader's first visit to the country as PM.
A worker passes a sign for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Friday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 13, 2024

Republicans to anoint Trump at party convention

The 78-year-old billionaire will be the star of the show as Milwaukee rolls out the red carpet for the Republican National Convention.
A supermarket in Tokyo. A Bank of Japan survey showed that 87.5% of respondents believe that prices will be even higher in one year's time.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 13, 2024

95% in Japan feel impact of rising prices, BOJ survey shows

The figure for June rose from the 94.4% reported three months earlier.
Narita International Airport will accept imported jet fuel to deal with a fuel shortage.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 14, 2024

Narita Airport to accept imported jet fuel amid Japan shortage

The move comes as Japan witnesses a sharp rise in the number of foreign travelers, partly attracted by the yen trading at a 38-year low.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 15, 2024

Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve

Despite a boost and a favorable drop in U.S. bond yields, the yen still ended last week up less than 2% against the greenback.
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024

China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected

Underwhelming data for the second quarter puts pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to lift confidence at this week's twice-a-decade policy meeting.
Kansai International Airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture. The upper limit on the number of takeoff and landing slots at the airport as well as Kobe Airport in Hyogo Prefecture will be raised in spring next year ahead of the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 15, 2024

Kansai airports to increase takeoff and landing slots ahead of Osaka Expo

The increases at Kansai International Airport and Kobe Airport are to meet demand for air travel during the six-month event, which begins in mid-April 2025.
Goki Kusunoki, CEO and co-founder of Samansa, with the company's Loverse app in Tokyo on May 10. The app allows interaction only with generative artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2024

Tiny Japanese startup is bringing AI dating to the masses

Loverse is the latest in a long line of digital solutions to Japan’s loneliness crisis.
The potential of AI in fighting climate change is immense. It can accelerate progress by redesigning industrial processes, optimizing transport systems, maximizing energy efficiency and significantly reducing emissions.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 16, 2024

Embracing the AI-energy-climate nexus

AI's potential to fight climate change is immense. It can accelerate progress by redesigning industrial processes, maximizing energy efficiency and reducing emissions.
An Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. facility in Fujairah, which uses technology developed by 44.01, a startup backed by Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 16, 2024

Sam Altman-backed startup scaling technology to store CO2 in rocks

A type of rock found under every continent holds the potential key to permanently trapping planet-warming carbon dioxide under the Earth’s surface.
An electronic screen displays a graph showing yen exchange rates surging against the U.S. dollar amid an alert to the possibility of intervention in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2024

Japan keeps up yen warnings as two-day intervention suspected

Bank of Japan data released on Tuesday suggested Tokyo may have spent ¥2.14 trillion ($13.5 billion) intervening on Friday last week.
Shares in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple and Nvidia supplier, closed 2.4% lower on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 17, 2024

Trump says Taiwan should pay for defense, sending TSMC stock down

The U.S. is Taiwan's key international supporter and arms supplier, although there is no formal defense agreement between them.
Nikon President Muneaki Tokunari in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Nikon fields ‘remarkable’ demand for older chip tools in China

Nikon is making a strong marketing push in China with its new argon-fluoride lithography machines, released earlier this year.
Taro Kono, Japan's digital transformation minister, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Jul 17, 2024

Taro Kono says central bank needs to raise rates to lift yen

Kono’s remarks could add to pressure on the Bank of Japan’s policy board to raise interest rates when it meets at the end of this month.
Passenger aircraft operated by All Nippon Airways at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ANA has developed an autonomous driving vehicle to tow cargo containers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 17, 2024

Tokyo airport trials driverless cargo vehicle

The trial, the first of its kind at a Japanese airport, is part of government-backed efforts to innovate the air transport industry.
Illustrious historical figures swoop in to save Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic in “What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2024

‘What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister’: A historical dream team underperforms

Esteemed figures from Japan’s past are digitally reincarnated to lead the country through a time of crisis in Hideki Takeuchi’s flat-footed comedy.
The International Monetary Fund lowered its 2024 growth estimate for Japan by 0.2 point to 0.7%, citing temporary production suspensions at some automakers over their vehicle test cheating, as well as weak private investment.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2024

IMF cuts Japan's growth forecast, upbeat on consumption prospects

The IMF says it expects Japan's economy to expand 0.7% this year, down 0.2 percentage point from its forecast in April, after an 1.9% increase in 2023.
Unionists hold a rally in Tokyo in April. Households' real cash earnings have been falling year on year for more than two years, with the weakening of the yen making the situation only more difficult as prices of imported goods increase rapidly.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2024

Japan’s minimum wage might not budge much if corporate fears prevail

While households desperately need a big raise, smaller businesses might not be in a position to handle an increase as they struggle with the weak yen.
The background footage shows a Chinese Coast Guard ship using a water cannon against a Filipino resupply vessel, during a news conference at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila in August 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2024

The risky business of standing up to Beijing

Philippines faces balancing act between economic interests and territorial rights.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) speaks to the press next to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin on June 11.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Germany says it will halve its military aid for Ukraine

German aid to Ukraine will be cut to €4 billion ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around €8 billion in 2024.
The S&P 500 drops from all-time highs amid a selloff in chipmakers.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 18, 2024

High-flying chipmakers see worst plunge since 2020

Concern about tighter U.S. restrictions on chip sales to China spurred a selloff in the industry that has led the bull market in stocks.
Ukrainians walk past the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee to protest the organization's plan to have Russian athletes compete in Paris under a neutral flag.
OLYMPICS
Jul 18, 2024

Russian athletes headed to Paris break IOC’s rules, NGO says

A total of 33 out of 59 athletes were in violation of the IOC’s guidelines on participation, a report from The Hague-based Global Rights Compliance concluded.
Japan’s exports grew for a seventh consecutive month in June, government data has shown.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 18, 2024

Japan’s exports rise for seventh month, supporting growth

Exports gained 5.4% in June from a year ago, led by chip-making gear and nonferrous metals.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance applaud on the second day of the Republican National Convention, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 18, 2024

Trump's running mate J.D. Vance set to take spotlight in convention speech

The Republican campaign was dramatically altered four days ago when Trump narrowly survived an attempt on his life at a political rally in Pennsylvania.
The yen rose to the ¥155 range against the dollar, the highest in almost two months, in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 18, 2024

Yen rally shakes markets, sending dollar to weakest level since May

There is ongoing speculation that authorities could intervene again to prop up the yen.
Saga Indonesia Dreams players speak with Yuji Fukuhara, who set up the unique Kyushu-based club, during a training session last month in Takeo, Saga Prefecture.
BASEBALL
Jul 18, 2024

Kyushu team nurturing 'baseball evangelists' to spread game in Asia

Kyushu club hopes its players, mostly hailing from parts of Asia where baseball is not popular, will help promote the sport in other parts of the continent.

Longform

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