Search - 2022

 
 
The Nasdaq market site in New York. Dozens of Japanese startups are preparing to list on the Nasdaq in the next few years.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 2, 2023

Nasdaq helps Japan startups escape risk-averse home market

An unprecedented number of entrepreneurs turn away from an aging, risk-averse home market.
Gamers play during the first day of Europe's leading digital games fair, Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, in August 2019
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

Video game competitions should be in the Olympics

Esports is already among the world’s most popular competitive activities. Last year, the global audience totaled more than 500 million people.
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
Mori Building's Azabudai Hills complex in Tokyo's Minato Ward, which will house offices, shops, apartments, hotels and a school, is set to open in November
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 2, 2023

While Manhattan’s offices stay empty, Tokyo keeps building

Remote working has decimated offices in cities like New York and London. But Tokyo's workspaces have bounced back, also thanks to new builds.
Japan bought yen in September 2022, its first foray in the market to boost its currency since 1998, after a Bank of Japan decision to maintain an ultraloose monetary policy drove the yen as low as ¥145 per dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets / EXPLAINER
Oct 2, 2023

What intervention by Japan to stem yen weakness could look like

Aside from verbal intervention, the government has several options to stem what it considers excessive yen falls.
Hong Kong and China Gas, part of billionaire Lee Shau Kee’s business empire, is accelerating an expansion of biofuel firm EcoCeres in foreign markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 3, 2023

Hong Kong tycoon’s energy empire ramps up green jet fuel push

EcoCeres, one of Asia’s largest producers of green jet fuel, is exploring the possibility of expanding into new markets like the U.S. and the Middle East.
Central to China’s global media campaign is the aggressive use of new technologies to target and spread messages, silence critics and create a digital infrastructure that is more easily controlled.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2023

Pushing back against China’s media offensive

China is using propaganda, disinformation, censorship and covert tactics to promote its preferred narrative and suppress critical reporting.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy speaks at the Capitol after he was ousted as speaker of the House, in Washington on Tuesday. The ouster is without precedent in modern U.S. history and leaves the chamber without a leader, plunging it into chaos.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

U.S. House speaker ouster means more chaos as shutdown fight looms

Kevin McCarthy lost his post after hardliners in his party revolted over his compromise with Democrats to avert government shutdown.
Zoom controlled only about 7% of the market for communication and collaboration software as of the first quarter of the year, while Microsoft topped 42%, according to industry analyst IDC.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 4, 2023

Zoom expands tools and features in bid to compete with Microsoft

The company is adding word processing to its suite of tools and experimenting with novel features for meetings as it faces steep competition from Teams.
Parents of children refusing to go to school attend a session organized by a nonprofit support group in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023

Number of absent schoolchildren in Japan hits record high

The number of elementary and junior high school children who refused to go to school for at least 30 days in fiscal 2022 jumped 22.1%.
The number of phone fraud cases involving international calls has been rising sharply in recent months.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2023

Japan logs sharp rise in phone fraud using international calls

Over half of telephone fraud cases reported in September involved international phone numbers.
The Justice Ministry is considering revising the law that requires wills to be handwritten so that people can write them on computers and smartphones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2023

Japan considers law revision to allow computer-written wills

The Justice Ministry hopes that not requiring wills to be handwritten will both ease the burden of creating the documents and promote their use.
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest against COVID-19 measures Munich in 2022.
WORLD / Society
Oct 4, 2023

AI 'supercharges' online disinformation and censorship, report warns

Internet freedom declined for the 13th straight year, with China, Myanmar and Iran having the worst conditions of the 70 countries surveyed.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of child policies, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2023

Children's agency chief Ayuko Kato vows to tackle falling birthrate

One of the aims of the agency is to help implement the Children's Future Strategy, a plan that was announced as a way to reverse the declining birthrate.
Ozu High School in Ozu, Kumamoto Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023

Probe launched over 'serious' Kumamoto soccer team bullying

A member of the renowned school team was allegedly forced to kneel on the ground in apology while naked as he was filmed by senior members of the team.
A prescription injector for Ozempic, a weight loss drug
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Ozempic cuts alcohol cravings. Liquor companies aren’t ready.

A survey conducted by Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise research unit found that people consumed 62% less alcohol while taking weight loss drugs.
A new study defines some critical differences in certain biomarkers of people with long COVID.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Long COVID is real. Now the evidence is piling up.

In what the researchers believe is a first, they did a detailed study of the differences between people with long COVID and those who are healthy.
Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology displays its EVOGO battery swap solution at the Auto Shanghai show in April. There are concerns that the company is trying to team up with a U.S. firm to avoid U.S. sanctions.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 4, 2023

Deceptive Chinese strategies that challenge U.S. economic statecraft

The practice by Chinese businesses of using third countries to circumvent tariffs is raising concerns.
Ventforet's Sota Miura (center) attacks the Buriram goal at the National Stadium on Wednesday.
SOCCER / J. League
Oct 4, 2023

Ventforet secures historic ACL win over Buriram United

The Yamanashi Prefecture side remains undefeated in a Group H also featuring China’s Zhejiang FC and Australia's Melbourne City.
A Meteorological Agency official holds a news conference on Thursday after the agency issued a tsunami advisory for the Izu island chain. The advisory was lifted early Thursday afternoon.
JAPAN
Oct 5, 2023

Small tsunami waves reach Japan’s Izu islands after 6.6 M quake

The Meteorological Agency lifted its tsunami advisory just after 1 p.m. but it warned the public about the possibility of aftershocks.
The PayPay app now seeks to keep its pace of double-digit growth with help from other SoftBank portfolio companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 5, 2023

SoftBank’s PayPay app showcases Masayoshi Son’s clout in Japan

Seen to be next in SoftBank’s initial public offering pipeline, the startup now holds two-thirds’ share in QR-code payments in Japan.
U.S. President Joe Biden (left), Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia (center left), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan (center right) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India (right) participate in a Quad Leaders' meeting on May 20 in Hiroshima.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 5, 2023

U.S. deepening intelligence links across Asia to counter China

Washington has developed a set of separate but overlapping partnerships including with the "Quad” grouping of the U.S., India, Japan and Australia.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan head Kenta Izumi (left) and the Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki (right) attend a Rengo convention in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 5, 2023

Kishida’s attendance at union event offers hint at electoral strategy

The prime minister attended the event in his latest effort to court union members and expand his party's electoral base.
Volunteers work at a Salvation Army mobile health clinic in Montreal on Sept. 22. Canada, despite being a wealthy nation, is gripped by a surge in homelessness that has seen thousands of people living in the streets after being priced out of real estate and rental markets.
WORLD / Society
Oct 5, 2023

Homelessness explodes in Canada as rents and housing prices soar

Researchers warn government data is vastly underestimating the number of homeless across the country.
Giants manager Tatsunori Hara (left) waves to fans following his final game at Tokyo Dome on Wednesday. Shinnosuke Abe (right) will manage the team next season.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / Sac Bunts
Oct 5, 2023

Giants prepare to start new era as manager Tatsunori Hara walks away

Manager Tatsunori Hara's departure closes the book on an eventful chapter in the storied history of the Giants.
LeanIn.Org founder Sheryl Sandberg
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 5, 2023

Women are asking for promotions, but men keep getting them

Women want to be leaders in the workplace, but employers are still passing them by in favor of their male counterparts.
The Singapore skyline
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 6, 2023

The rich are flocking to Singapore as bankers stick with Hong Kong

From Singapore’s earliest years as an independent state, it has aimed to be one of the key locales through which the world’s money flows.
Buildings in Xiamen, China, seen from Kinmen, Taiwan
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 6, 2023

Even China's closest supporters in Taiwan are turning wary

The shifting attitudes reflect a generational change, with younger people wanting to protect freedom and democracy.
Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto speaks to reporters in Sapporo on Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 6, 2023

Sapporo to push back Winter Olympics bid to 2034 or later

Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto will meet with the Japanese Olympic Committee next week to request the change.
West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, in Hong Kong. A man in Hong Kong was sentenced to jail for importing children's books that portrayed the city's democracy supporters as sheep defending their village from wolves.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 6, 2023

Hong Kong man jailed for importing 'seditious' children's books

Beijing has revived a colonial-era sedition offense to jail dozens of residents, which critics have decried as political suppression.

Longform

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