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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory currently under construction in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 21, 2023

TSMC eyes third Japan chip plant with cutting-edge 3 nanometer tech

Another plant in Japan, this one making advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) chips, would potentially turn Japan into a major global chipmaking hub.
The health ministry's drug enforcement officials investigate a retailer in the city of Osaka on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2023

Japan to ban marijuana-derived substance found in gummy candies

An expert panel at the health ministry decided to officially add the HHCH synthetic compound to a drug list, with the ban taking effect from Dec. 2.
A worker cleans a table in an empty McDonald's restaurant in Cairo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 23, 2023

Boycott campaigns over Gaza hit Western brands

Companies are feeling the impact in Egypt and Jordan, and there are signs the campaign is spreading in some other Arab countries.
Hang Dara, an electrician-turned-fisherman, passes the two active coal-fired power plants in Sihanoukville’s Steung Hav district.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 26, 2023

Cambodia's big bet on the dirtiest fossil fuel faces major delays

Large projects are facing long delays amid uncertainty over foreign funding.
Christian Sinding, chief executive officer of EQT, in Tokyo in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023

Private equity giant EQT buys stake in Japanese startup HRBrain

The purchase marks a rare attempt by a global private equity giant to boost returns through young enterprises in the Asian country.
A view of a plaza within Shibuya Sakura Stage, what Tokyu Land Corporation is calling the final puzzle piece in its redevelopment of the area around Shibuya Station.
BUSINESS
Nov 30, 2023

Shibuya Sakura Stage to cap once-in-a-century redevelopment around station

The new complex is part of an ambitious urban renewal endeavor by Tokyu Land Corporation in the area around Shibuya Station.
Daikin plans to start introducing the custom chips in high-end air conditioners from 2025 and is looking at using them in about a fifth of units by the end of the decade.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 1, 2023

Japan air conditioner king Daikin eyes custom chips for energy savings

Bespoke silicon costs more than off-the-shelf alternatives but offer better efficiency and allow a reduction in the use of other components.
The Idaho National Laboratory, Materials and Fuels Complex. Researchers there were the first to generate electricity from splitting the atom back in 1951, and countless scientists have since visited the remote site to test reactor designs.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2023

The future of nuclear energy will be decided in Idaho

It’s been 50 years since the last reactor was switched on there, which speaks to the challenges of harnessing a fission reaction.
If we let writers and translators be replaced by AI tools such as ChatGPT, we lose control over language and how it shapes us.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 30, 2023

When we abandon language to AI, we abandon our humanity

Not only does AI threaten writers' and translators' jobs, giving it control over how we shape and are shaped by language is detrimental to who we are.
A pharmacist holds a box of Novo Nordisk A/S Wegovy brand semaglutide medication.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 7, 2023

Can Wegovy fight alcoholism? For Big Pharma, this isn’t a priority

Reluctance underscores reasons why no new treatment has been approved for alcoholism in nearly 20 years.
Lawyers representing a consumer advocacy group speak to reporters on Wednesday after filing a cease and desist lawsuit against online travel agency Agoda.
BUSINESS
Dec 7, 2023

Saitama consumer group files lawsuit against travel agency Agoda

The group said the firm’s terms of service that limit it from being liable for compensation violate consumer protection laws.
Hunter Biden departs the federal courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 8, 2023

Hunter Biden faces federal tax charges in Los Angeles

The new criminal case could reveal more evidence that supports corruption allegations levied by Republicans.
Delegates arrive at Dubai's Expo City during COP28 on Saturday
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Dec 9, 2023

Oil is everywhere at COP28, vexing those seeking its demise

To many of the activists in attendance, the prominence of the oil and gas industry is a travesty.
Mena Kato, Microsoft's new director of Japan partnerships for Xbox, during an interview in Tokyo on Nov. 29
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

Microsoft taps PlayStation veteran to champion Xbox in Japan

Mena Kato is counting on her dealmaking skills, Microsoft’s global reach and local connections to make the Xbox a relevant player.
Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive (right), arrives to testify at an antitrust case against Google in Washington on Oct. 30. A trio of antitrust cases on the docket threaten to reshape Google’s business and sap its profits.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

Google’s antitrust loss to Epic could preview its legal fate in 2024

The San Francisco case was the first test of how Google might fare in the antitrust gauntlet it faces in the United States — and the company was routed.
Media mogul Jimmy Lai, the founder of now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and one of the most prominent Hong Kong critics of China's Communist Party leadership, has faced a salvo of litigation since a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 15, 2023

China crackdown on Hong Kong in focus as Jimmy Lai goes on trial

Media tycoon faces possible life imprisonment on charges he colluded with foreign forces, including the U.S.
Baseball player Shohei Ohtani speaks during a news conference on his presentation after signing a 10-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 15, 2023

Dip Corporation shares rise after Ohtani named brand ‘ambassador’

Shares in the internet job agency gained by as much as 8.9% in Tokyo trading after the firm announced its tie-up with the star baseball player.
A worker inspects semiconductor chips at a chip-packaging plant in Ipoh, Malaysia, in 2021. Malaysia currently accounts for 13% of the global market for semiconductor packaging, assembly and testing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 18, 2023

Chinese firms look to Malaysia to assemble high-end chips

Dearth of advanced chip-packaging services in China leads firms to venture abroad amid U.S. sanctions.
In Toshiba, JIP takes on a sprawling company far bigger and more complex than any it acquired before.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Dec 19, 2023

In buying Toshiba, JIP takes on corporate Japan's toughest job

While the fund has quietly built up a track record by carving out businesses from big manufacturers, Toshiba is more complex than any it acquired before.
The Shimbashi area of Tokyo's Minato Ward is crowded with office workers on Friday.
BUSINESS
Dec 20, 2023

Pubs in Japan thriving again as year-end parties return

On Friday night, many drinking places in the Shimbashi district of Tokyo's Minato Ward were packed with customers.
Officials from the transport ministry enter Daihatsu Motor's headquarters in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, on Thursday for inspection after a scandal regarding safety data manipulation emerged at the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 21, 2023

Daihatsu offices raided after scandal halts all car shipments

The raid followed revelations that the carmaker and supplier had manipulated the results of various collision safety tests dating as far back as 1989.
Shoppers at a market in Kyiv on Tuesday
WORLD / Politics
Dec 21, 2023

With Ukraine’s aid in doubt, companies say they’re the Plan B

Ukrainian companies making products are ensuring their survival while contributing to the war effort.
Inspectors analyze saliva collected with test kits at SalivaTech.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 8, 2024

Tohoku startup offers way to detect cancer early using saliva

SalivaTech's SalivaChecker is a test kit that provides high-precision analysis of around 10 types of salivary metabolites.
The U.S. head office of TikTok in Culver City, California
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2023

Whoever designed TikTok Shop should get coal for Christmas

With TikTok Shop's debut holiday season, is sees a mixed bag of success and struggles.
Subsidies in China turned the country into an electric vehicle giant but produced weed-infested graveyards of abandoned EVs.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2023

No one wants used EVs, making new ones a tougher sell too

In the $1.2 trillion secondhand market, prices for battery-powered cars are falling faster than for their combustion-engine cousins.
An Aladdin X staff member plays Suika Game on its home projector in Tokyo on Friday. Suika Game was originally developed for the company's line of home projectors.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 25, 2023

Suika Game: How a Japanese home projector app became a viral hit

The puzzle game has ranked No. 1 in Nintendo Switch software downloads, topping titles such as Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Bottled and canned cocktails are predicted to be worth $21.1 billion (about ¥3 trillion) in the U.S. alone by 2027.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 31, 2023

Are canned cocktails poised for a meteoric U.S. rise?

The bottled and canned cocktail market is predicted to be worth $21.1 billion (about ¥3 trillion) in the U.S. alone by 2027.
The No. 6 and No. 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture in April 2021
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2023

NRA lifts ban on operations at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant

When the plant will be reactivated remains uncertain as Tepco, the operator, needs to gain consent from local governments as well.
Salesforce headquarters in San Francisco.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 29, 2023

Software companies finally had to care about profit in 2023

The pressure was acute for money-losing companies.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son speaks at the SoftBank World 2023 corporate conference in Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 31, 2023

Will generative AI speed up Japan's digital transformation?

An initially cautious attitude has given way to wider acceptance in the public and private sectors, providing a boost to digitalization efforts.

Longform

Totopa in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward was picked by consultants TTNE as the best sauna of the year.
Japan’s sauna movement: Relax, refresh, repeat