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Prices of over 4,000 food and beverage products, including the Asahi Super Dry beer, will increase in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2025

Prices for 4,225 food and drink products set to rise in Japan

The price increases in April reflect rising wages and logistics costs being increasingly passed on to consumers, research firm Teikoku Databank says.
Relatives and friends of prominent Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who died after she was injured by a Russian missile strike in the city of Kramatorsk, attend her funeral in Kyiv on July 4, 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2025

Contemplating victory and defeat in Ukraine

Ukrainians and their friends still cling to hope for victory — some are idealistic, others just fueled by anger.
The headquarters of Fuji Media Holdings, Fuji TV's parent, in Tokyo's Minato Ward
JAPAN / Media
Mar 31, 2025

Fuji TV bears heavy responsibility over Nakai's 'sexual violence': panel

A third party panel's probe on a series of scandals involving the broadcaster and the TV star acknowledged the nature of his "trouble" with a woman for the first time.
A new law in Japan will prohibit IT giants from blocking the entry of other companies into the market or giving preferential treatment to their own services.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2025

Japan's FTC to regulate Google and Apple under new smartphone law

The law will prohibit IT giants from blocking the entry of other firms into the market.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2025

OpenAI says new funding from SoftBank boosts valuation to $300 billion

SoftBank said in a release that it is on a mission to realize artificial superintelligence that surpasses human intelligence.
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday that tariffs announced by the U.S. could result in a big economic crisis for Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025

Trump tariffs may spell economic crisis for Japan, Onodera says

Auto tariffs in particular would have a huge impact given the breadth of the sector's supply chain in the country, the Liberal Democratic Party's policy chief says.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025

Trump says he will be 'kind' with tariffs as deadline looms

The U.S. president promised to be "very kind" in addressing what he says are unfair trade imbalances — including with top allies such as Japan.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is launched at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 1, 2025

SpaceX eyes Starlink hub with multiple ground stations in Vietnam, sources say

The move would herald its launch in the country and would help authorities police internet traffic.
U.S tariffs on Vietnam would force Nike, one of several sportswear brands heavily reliant on the Southeast Asian nation as a production site, to absorb higher costs or hike its prices at a time when it is already discounting some items to clear inventory.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 2, 2025

U.S. tariffs on Vietnam would be a blow to Nike and other sportswear brands

Vietnam is a hub for high-tech running shoes, sportswear and outdoor apparel, with brands seeking to reduce exposure to China.
An anti-Trump sign is pictured during a rally against gender-based and sexual violence against women, in Paris in 2018.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 2, 2025

Anti-American sentiment rises in Europe as Trump fuels anger

There’s currently no country in Europe where more than half of the population has a positive attitude toward the U.S.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 2, 2025

Ghibli effect: ChatGPT usage hits record after rollout of viral feature

The viral trend saw users from across the globe flood social media with images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation outfit.
The stakes are high for the unveiling of the Switch 2 console on Wednesday, with the stock trading near its priciest level in seven years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Stakes are high for Switch 2 after Nintendo’s stock valuation surges

The company's stock is trading near its priciest level in seven years ahead of a reveal of the new console's details.
Takashi Murata, head of Japan at Warburg Pincus in Tokyo, says the private-equity firm is confident about market growth in Tokyo despite the overall depopulation of Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Warburg purchases Tokyo rental houses and plans Japan office

The New York-based private equity firm said it acquired a portfolio of 1,195 shared rental houses in the greater Tokyo area.
A report from Dai-ichi Life Research Institute shows that the cost of typical food items eaten at the gatherings known as hanami has risen 21.4% in the past six years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025

Inflation casts shadow over Japan’s cherry blossom season

A report shows that the cost of typical food items eaten at flower viewing gatherings has risen 21.4% in the past six years.
A Bank of Japan rate hike in May would likely be too early given the need to assess the impact of upcoming U.S. tariffs and ongoing wage talks, Kazuya Shimba, Secretary General of the Democratic Party for the People, said on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025

A May BOJ hike would be too early given tariffs and wages, DPP says

Most economists see the next increase in borrowing costs coming in June or July, but many have said a May hike is possible.
Japanese cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. The United States will start collecting new 25% import duties on cars and car parts from Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 2, 2025

Japan has some cards to play in trade war with the United States 

It could offer voluntary restraints on exports, or it could offer to buy more from the U.S. in order to reduce the trade surplus with that country.
Aeon launches blended rice "Nisui no Takumi" on Wednesday in the city of Chiba.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2025

Retailer Aeon to sell Japan-U.S. blended rice

Under the name "Nisui no Takumi," the blended rice will be sold from around April 10 at some 2,000 stores across Japan except the Hokkaido and the Tohoku region.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan