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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Japan should develop its own generative AI.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024

Nvidia to support development of AI based on Japanese language data

The move is seen helping local efforts to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen industrial competitiveness without relying on other countries.
The surprise 19% price increase comes even as PlayStation 5 sales have slowed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2024

Sony hikes PlayStation 5 price in Japan citing cost volatility

The surprise move comes even as PS5 sales have slowed and Sony is widely expected to refresh its offering with a revamp of the console in coming months.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a green transformation (GX) conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 27, 2024

Japan to discuss 10-step process for decarbonization strategy rollout

The list includes ways to make it easier for businesses to invest in carbon-free power sources such as renewable energy and nuclear power.
A police officer distributes leaflets on Osaka's revised ordinance to eliminate organized crime groups in the city's Minami entertainment district on July 1.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 28, 2024

Osaka steps up drive to ensure expo and casino resort free of organized crime

The revised ordinance also targets the sex work industry, street solicitation and scouting.
People shop at a flea market hosted by Bunjang, an e-commerce platform for secondhand sales, in Seoul on Aug. 3.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 28, 2024

South Korea's birth rate drive struggles to sway 'YOLO' generation

Asia's fourth-largest economy plans to launch a new government ministry dedicated to demographic challenges.
A fireworks display was part of the 2024 Paralympic opening ceremony at Place de la Concorde in Paris on Wednesday.
PARALYMPICS
Aug 29, 2024

Paris Paralympics open with colorful ceremony and message of inclusion

The colorful and hope-filled ceremony that marked the start of 11 days of competition in a city still riding the wave of the successful Olympics.
The Kia Tigers' cheerleaders a racking up millions of views on social media with one of their dance routines.
BASEBALL
Aug 29, 2024

Korean baseball team's cheerleaders taking over TikTok with viral dance

The dance has spawned numerous imitators, who, smitten by the cutesy number and its accompanying ear worm, mimic the cheerleaders’ blank stares and hip swivels.
Core consumer prices in Japan's capital rose 2.4% in August from a year earlier, accelerating for the fourth straight month and keeping alive market expectations of further interest rate hikes in coming months.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 30, 2024

Inflation accelerates beyond forecasts in Tokyo, boosting case for rate hike

Analysts say the data shows that the real economy and its fundamentals are continuing to recover but at a slow pace.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (center) addresses a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday to discuss the issue of treated water released from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean and measures to support the fisheries industry.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 30, 2024

Japan discusses aid for fisheries industry amid China ban

The government reiterated its commitment to taking full responsibility until the discharging of treated water from the Fukushima No.1 plant is completed.
People at bubble tea chain Mixue Bingcheng in Beijing on Thursday. Bubble tea is wildly popular in China, where people sipping through straws from large plastic cups is a common sight across the country.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2024

Penny-pinching youth transforming China's bubble tea craze

Bubble tea is wildly popular in China and a common sight on high streets and in shopping malls across the country.
Japanese firms' capital expenditure rose 1.9% in the three months through June from the previous quarter.
BUSINESS
Sep 2, 2024

Japan’s firms lift outlays in sign of modest domestic demand

Capital expenditure on goods excluding software rose 1.9% in the three months through June from the previous quarter.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrives to attend a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on Aug. 6. Lammy said the decision to suspend the licenses did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved those that could be used in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 3, 2024

U.K. suspends 30 of its 350 arms export licenses to Israel

The suspension is due to the risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, its foreign minister David Lammy says.
Cars are assembled at a Maruti Suzuki manufacturing plant in Manesar, India, in September 2023. Suzuki is one of the success stories for Japanese manufacturers trying to establish joint ventures in India, having become a household name in the country.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024

For Japanese companies in India, local staff are an invaluable resource

The roots of Japanese investment in India go far back, to 1958, when the latter became the first country to receive official development assistance from Japan.
Ryobi Holdings has hired Kyosuke Suzuki, a former currency trader at Societe Generale, to set up an artificial intelligence-powered hedge fund specializing in forex.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Bus group Ryobi sets up forex fund to survive population fall

The move follows its previous investments in real estate, supermarkets and other areas as it tries to secure funds to maintain its bus fleet and grow.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the combined profits at both the manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors marked record highs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Japanese companies mark record combined profits in April-June

Nonfinancial companies' internal reserves at the end of fiscal 2023 grew 8.3% from a year earlier, topping ¥600 trillion for the first time.
The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen at the main plant of the group in Wolfsburg, northern Germany, in March 2022. German automotive giant Volkswagen said Monday that it could close production sites in Germany as the auto industry struggles to manage rising costs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Volkswagen weighs first-ever German plant closures amid EV transition woes

Profit margins at the carmaker's underperforming passenger car brand are getting squeezed amid the shift to EVs and a consumer spending slowdown.
When it comes to trade disputes between the U.S. and China, not even the game of golf is spared.
BUSINESS
Sep 3, 2024

U.S. golf cart industry reveals how China tariffs are a blunt instrument

In factories and shops around the country, finding complaints about cheaper Chinese competitors is easy — but reaching a consensus on how to combat them is harder.
A stock board at the Tokyo Stock Exchange
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 3, 2024

Japan FSA to examine bank risks in ‘world with interest rates’

In its annual policy guidance released on Friday, the Financial Services Agency pointed to uncertainty over the global economy and markets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh attend an official welcoming ceremony in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 4, 2024

Putin gets lavish welcome in Mongolia despite ICC warrant

An ICC arrest warrant against Putin obliges the court's 124 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to the Hague if he sets foot on their territory.
Government Pension Investment Fund in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 4, 2024

GPIF watchers say $1.75 trillion fund may buy more Japan stocks

GPIF is likely to have reclaimed its position as the world’s largest pension fund, thanks to the yen’s rebound after a brief slip earlier this year.
Empty shelves of rice are pictured in a supermarket in Tokyo on Aug. 27 with a notice asking customers to buy one brand a day for a family.
JAPAN
Sep 4, 2024

Agricultural Ministry holds meeting on rice shortage in stores

As of the end of June, private-sector rice inventories in the country stood at 1.56 million metric tons, the lowest since comparable data became available in 1999.
Held annually in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom is the world's largest gaming convention, meaning it attracts attendees and exhibitors from near and far.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Sep 7, 2024

Traveling to Germany is ‘worth the cost’ for Japan’s indie studios

"Nothing beats seeing players' faces as they play our game in person, and getting to ask them directly about their experience, both positive and negative.”
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 8, 2024

‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’

There’s no denying the cultural significance of the ‘onigiri’ (rice ball). But there comes a point where an onigiri is surely just an onigiri.
Sumitomo Chemical President Keiichi Iwata
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 6, 2024

Sumitomo Chemical sells hybrid bond at widest spread this year

Sumitomo Chemical priced ¥100 billion of hybrid debt at 280 basis points over Japanese government bonds.
Customers try peaches from Fukushima Prefecture at Harrods in London on Saturday.
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2024

Harrods starts selling Fukushima peaches

The sale is part of a campaign by Tokyo Electric Power Company to promote food from Fukushima, an effort to help the prefecture recover from the March 2011 earthquake.
Fireworks are fired on the Stade de France roof during the closing ceremony of the Paris Paralympics on Sunday.
PARALYMPICS
Sep 9, 2024

Paris Paralympics close with festive ceremony as France celebrates 'historic' summer

International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons said the Paris Paralympics had shown that "change starts with sport."
A steel plant in Shanghai operated by Baoshan Iron & Steel. Nippon Steel said in July it will dissolve its joint venture with the Chinese firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024

Japanese firms sour on China after long years of brushing off risks

Almost half of Japanese firms in China polled in a recent survey said they won’t spend more or will cut investment this year.
Panasonic’s 4680 cylindrical lithium-ion cell
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 9, 2024

Panasonic ready to start making next-gen EV cells at Japan plant

The site will become the main facility for production of Panasonic’s 4680 cylindrical lithium-ion cell with output beginning as soon as a final evaluation is completed.
California has ambitious climate policies. But the state should shift more green energy-related costs from electricity bills to taxes to promote fairness and sustainability.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024

California's crushing power bills challenge its climate goals

California is incredible, but making it livable, what with its droughts, floods, fault-lines and wildfires, has never been cheap.
Ashwini Vaishnav (left), the Indian minister of electronics and information technology, and N. Chandrasekaran, the chairman of Tata Sons, take part in the foundation stone laying ceremony for India's first AI-enabled semiconductor fabrication facilities in Dholera, Gujarat, India, on March 13.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 9, 2024

Could India become an alternative to China in the ‘chip war’?

As decoupling from China gains traction, the U.S. and its allies are betting on India for supply chain restructuring and semiconductor development.

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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