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December 12, 2024
 

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A grapnel, used to retrieve cables, on the deck of the Leon Thevenin in Cape Town on April 30. In a wireless world, it is easy to forget the all-too-real cables that snake across the turbulent ocean floor — until they snap.
WORLD
Dec 4, 2024

When undersea cables break, a wireless world’s vulnerability is exposed

Landslides, a ship dragging its anchor, military skirmishes and sabotage can all damage cables.
If the deal goes through, the Japanese steelmaker has promised not to transfer any U.S. Steel production capacity or jobs outside the United States.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024

Nippon Steel committed to U.S. Steel takeover, executive says

"There is no global strategy without the U.S.," Takahiro Mori, the Japanese company's vice chairman, said this week.
Under a plan being put forward by JR East, the Yamanote Line's base fare will be raised from ¥150 to ¥160.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2024

JR East to raise standard fares for first time since privatization

The plan would mark the railway operator's first full-fledged fare hike since its creation through the Japanese National Railways' privatization in 1987.
Displaced Palestinians arrive in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 5, 2024

Trump's Mideast envoy in push to reach Gaza ceasefire before inauguration

Steve Witkoff met the prime ministers of Israel and Qatar separately in late November.
Major electronics firms plan to pay new graduate hires starting salaries that vary depending on skills and experiences.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024

Japanese electronics firms rethink uniform starting salaries

Panasonic Connect plans to pay an additional 10% to 20% on top of this year's starting salaries to spring 2025 recruits with past startup experiences or tech skills.
Members of the media work near the scene where the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was reportedly shot and killed in Midtown Manhattan in New York City on Wednesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Dec 5, 2024

Questions of motive emerge in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

Police in New York said it appears that UnitedHealthcare's CEO was targeted.
ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode is able to seamlessly go back-and-forth between languages with live, human-sounding responses and minimal errors.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024

ChatGPT is now a creepy cultural chameleon

This uncanny tool that can speak 50 languages with human-like candor has the potential to forever change how people around the world interact with AI.
Bitcoin has risen to $100,000 for the first time amid optimism in the market that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's administration will provide support to the digital-asset industry.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 5, 2024

Bitcoin hits $100,000 in highly anticipated crypto milestone

A price of $100,000 pushes the market value of Bitcoin to just shy of $2 trillion, making it a larger investment asset than all but a handful of public companies.
Members of the workers' union UA Zensen watch a video, during a kick-off rally for the annual "shunto" wage negotiations, in Tokyo in March 2023.
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2024

UA Zensen unveils plan to demand 6% pay hike in 2025 Shunto

UA Zensen plans to seek a 7% wage increase for part-time workers, who make up about 60% of the roughly 1.9 million workers in its member unions.
PayPay Bank is competing for funds as rates rise.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2024

PayPay Bank paying big to attract deposits, with offer of 2% on dollars and yen

The offer is many times the rates advertised by competing banks and applies to yen deposits of up to ¥5 million, with no limit for dollar deposits.
Tokyo Gas' liquefied natural gas terminal in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, last month. The utility is considering several wind power projects in Southeast Asia amid the global decarbonization push.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Dec 5, 2024

Tokyo Gas eyes wind power projects in Southeast Asia

The gas utility is expected to make final investment decisions on some of the envisaged projects as early as 2025.
The headquarters of the Bank of Japan in Tokyo
BUSINESS
Dec 5, 2024

BOJ rate hike bets retreat as traders count down to key meeting

The predictions hardly budged even after one of the policy board’s most dovish members said he isn’t opposed to higher rates.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
People demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation at the National Assembly in Seoul on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 6, 2024

South Korea's leader is likely to hang on, despite being reviled

For the impeachment movement to be successful, the opposition needs only eight of the 108 lawmakers in the ruling party to switch sides.
Koichi Katsumata is the first chef to receive a Michelin star in Japan for an 'assiette dessert' (dessert course) restaurant
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 8, 2024

Welcome to Yama, Japan’s first Michelin-starred dessert restaurant

“We don’t just serve food — we serve memories, stories and a sense of place,” says chef Koichi Katsumata.
Many of the investors who stuck with cryptocurrency through its ups and downs, its scandals and scams, are now basking in an I-told-you-so glow.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 6, 2024

Bitcoin's true believers bask in I-told-you-so glow at $100,000

The milestone marks a spectacular comeback from a “crypto winter” two years ago in the wake of the collapse of the FTX exchange in a pile of fraud.
Consumer spending dropped 1.3% in October from a year earlier, data from the internal affairs ministry showed on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2024

Japan's soft consumer spending unlikely to deter BOJ from raising rates again

Economists attributed the underlying softness in consumption to rising prices and warm weather, which held consumers back from purchasing seasonal apparel.
About $105 trillion is projected to be passed down from older generations over the next quarter century, according to research firm Cerulli Associates, an amount roughly equal to global gross domestic product in 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2024

A $105 trillion inheritance windfall is on the way for U.S. heirs

The latest inheritance projection by Cerulli is 45% higher than the 25-year forecast the firm made only three years ago.
Masato Kanda, former vice finance minister for international affairs, will start his role as Asian Development Bank's president in February.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2024

Incoming ADB chief Kanda keeping eye on U.S. policy as Trump return looms

Any changes in tariffs, taxes and immigration restrictions in the U.S. could have a major impact on Japan and other Asian economies, he notes.
Choi Sang-mok, South Korea's finance minister, during an interview in Seoul on Thursday
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Dec 6, 2024

In South Korea's crisis playbook, currency stability is paramount

In the four decades since South Korea was last under martial law, the nation has significantly evolved its systems to focus on ensuring economic stability.
A Metropolitan Police Department flyer on high-paying illegal work advertised on social media, known as yami baito
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024

Police may be able to use fake IDs to investigate yami baito

The new measures would allow investigators to sign up for shady jobs with disguised identities and make contact with individuals behind the recruitment.
Yoshiki Taniguchi (right), mayor of Aioi, Hyogo Prefecture, apologizes to Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito ahead of a meeting between prefectural government officials and leaders of municipalities in the prefecture held in Kobe on Nov. 26. Taniguchi publicly questioned whether Saito had the credentials to become governor before his election.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 5, 2024

'Old' media blames 'new' media for success of 'populist' candidates

Many young voters, especially those in their 20s, are believed to have supported Hyogo Gov. Saito due to his social media outreach.
People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
LIFE / Lifestyle / Longform
Dec 6, 2024

Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?

Japan’s suspect remedies make up 20% of the world’s market for hangover cures, but their success lies more in marketing than science.
Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2024

CDP leader calls for gradual BOJ rate hikes

Yoshihiko Noda urged the central bank to keep a close eye on economic and overseas developments when raising rates.
JR East Executive Vice President Chiharu Watari speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2024

JR East applies to raise fares by average of 7% in March 2026

The company plans to raise standard fares by 7.8%, commuter passes by 12% and student commuter passes by 4.9%.
A Ukrainian serviceman wipes a mirror at an outdoor washbasin near the Kharkiv region in November.
WORLD
Dec 7, 2024

In Ukraine, more and more exhausted soldiers abandon their posts

Since 2022, Ukraine opened nearly 96,000 criminal cases against servicemen who abandoned their positions since Russia’s invasion.
David Sacks during an event in San Francisco in 2016. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Sacks would take on the role of "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar."
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Dec 7, 2024

Trump's crypto team takes shape but questions remain over who will drive policy

Some analysts said the creation of a crypto czar, a new role, sowed ambiguity over who would drive policy and flagged the potential for clashes.
A residential area of Tokyo. Rising prices has made it difficult for the child-rearing generation to secure large houses in the capital.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 7, 2024

Tokyo government considering fund for housing support

The planned fund will provide necessary financial aid for private businesses to develop affordable housing.
Employees at large Tokyo companies who travel to the office daily to work fell to 47.4% in 2024 from 53.1% in the previous year, a survey shows.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 8, 2024

Hybrid work on the rise for Tokyo’s office employees: NRI Survey

For the July 2024 Nomura Research Institute survey, the firm polled 3,091 people from ages 20-69 who work for large companies in Tokyo.
The United Nations once projected the world’s population would peak at 10.3 billion in the 2080s, but now expects 700 million fewer inhabitants by 2100.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2024

Why falling fertility is not a crisis

The current population decline mirrors past transitions like the industrial revolution, where smaller families fueled economic growth and innovation.
Firms should quit turning foreign workers into Japanese ones
Filipino housekeepers undergo training to work for a Japanese staffing company. By applying the same criteria when hiring overseas and local workers, Japanese firms tend to underutilize the unique skills that foreign nationals can bring.
Winter chill, hot baths and the risk of heat shock: How to stay safe
A health ministry survey showed that 5,824 people age 65 and older died in a bathtub in their home or other residential facilities in 2022, more than double the number of people who died in a traffic accident.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo calls for a world without nukes
One of the representatives of 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo, Terumi Tanaka, speaks during the Nobel Peace Prize awarding ceremony in Oslo City Hall on Tuesday.
Victim of alleged staged suicide was subjected to years of abuse
Manabu Sasaki, who runs a painting company, is one of four suspects arrested on suspicion of murdering 56-year-old Osamu Takano.
South Korean police blocked from raid on president's office
Protesters attend a rally calling for the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the headquarters of the ruling People Power Party in Seoul on Tuesday.
‘Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron’ documentary meditates on auteur's creativity and legacy
“Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" provides an in-depth look into the octogenarian auteur’s creative process and personal reflections.
Yurie Collins: ‘Everyone seems sedated, fed-up … that’s why they turn to comedy’
Yurie Collins is a bilingual comedian based in Tokyo. In addition to being a prize-winning roast comic, her dating-themed "Tokyo Hoe Tales" shows have proven to be a hit with women of all nationalities.
As Japan nears new climate goal, criticism of policy process ramps up
The government is preparing to set Japan’s new Nationally Determined Contribution, an emissions reduction commitment made by members of the United Nations climate framework's Paris Agreement.
Winter chill, hot baths and the risk of heat shock: How to stay safe
A health ministry survey showed that 5,824 people age 65 and older died in a bathtub in their home or other residential facilities in 2022, more than double the number of people who died in a traffic accident.
It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?
By Thu-Huong Ha

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

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