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BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda at a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 23. In it, he delivered a consistent message about the bank's intentions moving forward.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 29, 2024

BOJ's Ueda finds his mojo as rate message cuts through

After some growing pains, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda finally delivers a clear message on the bank's intentions. He should keep at it.
The Marines' Roki Sasaki pitches in the bullpen during spring camp in Okinawa on Thursday.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball / NPB NOTEBOOK
Feb 9, 2024

Roki Sasaki gets back to business after weeks of speculation about future

After weeks of rampant rumors, the "Monster of the Reiwa Era" is back to the business of baseball, and the MLB questions are back on the shelf for now.
Japan’s latest growth figures are set to confirm it slipped to become the world's fourth-largest economy last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 13, 2024

Japan GDP set to confirm slip to world’s fourth-largest economy

Figures for the calendar year are almost certain to show the value of output falling behind Germany’s in dollar terms.
An Asiana Airlines passenger aircraft lands at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, on Dec. 20, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024

Korean Air wins EU’s approval for $1.4 billion Asiana deal

Korean Air is expected to be ranked as one of the world’s top 10 airlines once the deal is completed.
An electronic board displays the value of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 16, 2024

Nikkei stock index nears all-time high

The index closed at 38,487.24, up by 329.30 points and near the all-time high of 38,915 recorded in December 1989.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (left) speaks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a plenary session of the Lower House in Tokyo on Jan. 30.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 17, 2024

Japan finance chief eyes future rise in interest rates, report says

"The Bank of Japan holds jurisdiction over monetary policy. But there will be a phase when interest rates go up," Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said.
The Nikkei 225 on Thursday broke through a record high set just before the country's asset bubble catastrophically burst in the early 1990s.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2024

Congratulations Nikkei, now don’t screw it up

Those skeptical of the current boom argue that this is nothing more than a another instance of a once-in-a-decade cycle.
Jeff Bezos — the world’s second-richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Ranking — is investing in a business that’s developing human-like robots.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 24, 2024

Bezos and Nvidia join OpenAI in funding humanoid robot startup

The startup Figure AI is raising about $675 million in a funding round that carries a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion.
In early February, the Finance Ministry announced that government debt at the end of last year had reached a record high of ¥1.2 quadrillion.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 27, 2024

With downfall of Abe faction, some see a shift in Japan’s debt debate

The faction has long promoted fiscal stimulus, but its demise combined with wider economic conditions could open up space for a different approach.
Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang displays products onstage during the annual Nvidia GTC Artificial Intelligence Conference at SAP Center in San Jose, California, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 19, 2024

Nvidia unveils 'superchip' successor to all-conquering AI processor

The new chip, multiple times faster at handling AI models, will be the basis of new computers being deployed by the world’s largest data center operators.
People visit the Huawei stand at the 2024 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2024

U.S. weighs sanctioning Huawei’s secretive Chinese chip network

Any move would come after the Chinese telecom giant notched a significant technological breakthrough last year.
Giant cut-outs of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders are positioned beside a road in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Feb. 25.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2024

Hardships and broken promises no hindrance for Modi in India's rural north

If India's prime minister earns a third term in office, it will be in spite of the state of the rural and farming economy — not because of it.
The Bank of Japan's recent decision to abandon negative interest rates is seen more as a symbolic shift.
COMMENTARY
Mar 21, 2024

BOJ finally ditches negative rates, but this is no liftoff

It's the end of an era for the Bank of Japan as negative interest rates are phased out.
Signs of a decline in hedging demand suggest that local investors are less concerned the yen will rebound sharply.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 26, 2024

Lower hedging costs reveal Japan investors' confidence in weak yen bets

Three-month yen basis swaps, which indicate decreasing demand for hedging the more they rise, closed last week at their highest level since January 2022.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2024

Will Boeing leadership shake-up redeem plane-maker with airlines and fliers?

The embattled manufacturer has announced one of the most dramatic overhauls in its century-long history, with three top executives set to depart.
General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for a news event with members of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Chinese and Foreign journalists at The Great Hall of People in October 2022 in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 27, 2024

Xi meets with U.S. CEOs in push to restore confidence in China’s economy

Whipsawing tensions with Washington, a shaky economic recovery and raids on consulting firms have damped investor enthusiasm.
Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), speaks at an election night party in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 22, 2023. The resounding victory of far-right ideologue illustrates the shift in public opinion in the Netherlands since 2022.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024

Populism is scaring away big businesses in the Netherlands

Among the various firms uneasy with the current state of affairs in the Netherlands, tech companies are the most influential.
Residential skyscraper buildings beyond luxury villas on the waterfront of the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai
BUSINESS
Mar 28, 2024

Dubai’s glitz dims for Russians on costs and U.S. sanction pressures

Two years ago, Dubai became a hot favorite with Russians looking to park money or build new lives after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Max Lange, 19, a plant mechatronics engineering trainee from Oederan, stands next to a solar panel rolling off the assembly line as part of the last production of solar modules at the Meyer Burger Technology AG plant, due to an announced closure of the plant, in Freiberg, Germany, on March 12.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 16, 2024

Lacking support in battle with China, European solar firms head to U.S.

This week the European Commission has launched a voluntary charter for governments and companies to sign in support of solar manufacturing plants.
More than half of respondents in a recent survey say they would continue to buy a product at the same supermarket even if prices rose by 10%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 22, 2024

Higher price tolerance among Japan's shoppers supports further BOJ rate hikes

A recent survey by an inflation expert showed that more than half of respondents would keep buying a supermarket product even if prices rose by 10%.
With U.S. protectionism hindering Chinese electric vehicle makers' overseas expansions, Japanese giants like Honda are poised to capitalize.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 24, 2024

Japan is poised to fill an EV gap left by China

A new Honda facility in Canada shows that Asia’s auto industry is ready to meet North American needs.
Canadian singer Avril Lavigne attends the opening ceremony of Gap Flagship Ginza in Tokyo in 2011, three years before releasing her music video for the Japan-inspired track “Hello Kitty.”
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Apr 26, 2024

Avril Lavigne walked so today's influencer tourists could Mario Kart

Ten years ago, the pop star’s ‘Hello Kitty’ video drew outrage from the West, but she wouldn’t be the last visitor to use Tokyo as a backdrop for content.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2024

Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills

The move reflects both the burgeoning costs of his war in Ukraine and the firm control he has over the Russian elite.
Traders edged back from record bets on yen weakness this past week, in a period that included a likely bout of intervention by Japan to prop up the currency.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 4, 2024

Traders spooked by intervention risk trim record yen shorts

Traders edged back from record bets on yen weakness this past week, in a period that included a likely bout of intervention by Japan.
Presidential candidate Jose Raul Mulino (left) poses with ex-President Ricardo Martinelli during the general election, in Panama City in this photo released Sunday. Mulino was named the winner of Sunday's presidential election.
WORLD / Politics
May 6, 2024

Ex-minister Jose Raul Mulino wins Panama presidential race

Jose Raul Mulino, the protege of a graft-convicted former head of state, was declared Panama's president-elect after elections Sunday.
Cars pass Chinese flags on a highway ahead of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit in Belgrade, Serbia, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 6, 2024

China’s billions help Xi make useful friends in Eastern Europe

China's ties with Serbia and Hungary highlight how it's helping transform a corner of Europe when much of the continent views Beijing as a strategic rival.
Ryo Wakabayashi, a distal myopathy patient, lives alone in the city of Fukushima.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
May 20, 2024

Persistence pays off with approval of distal myopathy drug

The disease is estimated to affect only 300 to 400 people in Japan.
SoftBank is regaining its footing just as founder Masayoshi Son readies sizable investments in artificial intelligence and semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 13, 2024

SoftBank to get more aggressive on AI after profit and asset sales

The company earned a better-than-expected net income in the March quarter, helped by investment gains.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is greeted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping before the opening ceremony at the Expo Center at the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia summit in Shanghai in May 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 15, 2024

Putin to visit Xi amid U.S. threat of China sanctions over Ukraine

The two sides are set to discuss ways to challenge the U.S.-led global order while bolstering Moscow’s economic resilience amid its war in Ukraine.
Gloomy economic conditions, especially weak consumption, raise questions over whether the Bank of Japan will be able to take further steps toward policy normalization.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 15, 2024

Japan GDP data expected to show contraction for first quarter

The preliminary data is expected to show that spending by consumers and companies fell, while net exports dragged on growth for the first time in a year.

Longform

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