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Gunma Bank's video message in English is geared toward those from overseas who are flocking to Japan to buy up stocks, bonds and real estate as the nation’s assets emerge from decades of slumber.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024

English video shows Japanese regional banks opening up to overseas investors

Foreigners are flocking to Japan to buy up stocks, bonds and real estate as the nation’s assets emerge from decades of slumber.
Passengers line up for security at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024

The five most exciting innovations coming to an airport near you

Updating an existing airport terminal is time-consuming, expensive work that often costs hundreds of millions of dollars — and sometimes billions.
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.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp.'s first Japan factory, in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, will be operated by JASM, a subsidiary of TSMC.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 24, 2024

Chip giant TSMC shifts away from hot spot Taiwan with Japan plant

The chipmaker's new plant in Kumamoto will boost the resilience of global supplies of the crucial hardware, founder Morris Chang told an opening ceremony.
With concerns over economics cutting across party lines, the preferred degree of toughness on China tends to be a policy rather than partisan divide.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Feb 25, 2024

Biden or Trump, hawkish economic approach on China to intensify

With concerns over economics cutting across party lines, the preferred degree of toughness on Beijing tends to be a policy rather than partisan divide.
Toru Nakashima, CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, says he is considering an expansion of the bank’s alliance with Jefferies Financial Group into Asia.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2024

Sumitomo Mitsui may expand Jefferies pact into Asia amid focus overseas

The partners won more than 30 deals since expanding their tie-up last year, in which Sumitomo Mitsui agreed to triple its stake in the U.S. bank.
Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, at his office in Burbank, California
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2024

Disney reshuffles leadership at troubled namesake movie division

New President David Greenbaum oversaw the release of Oscar nominated "Poor Things" and previous winners such as "The Shape of Water" and "Nomadland."
Yakitori chain Torikizoku will open outlets in Taiwan and Hong Kong as part of its planned expansion into the Asian market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2024

Restaurant chain Torikizoku to open branches in Taiwan and Hong Kong

Specific details regarding the number of restaurants and finalized opening dates in Hong Kong and Taiwan are yet to be determined.
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, arrives following a break during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024

Mark Zuckerberg meets with Kishida to discuss AI

The Meta Platforms CEO is in Japan as part of an Asia tour, during which he will also travel to South Korea and India.
Close-up of a silicon wafer. The Japanese government is funding a range of projects from research to advanced chip manufacturing, making an ambitious $67 billion bid to reclaim a central role in the semiconductor industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024

Apple and Tesla veterans aim to help Japan design AI chips

The aim is to provide customers with an alternative to the semiconductor leaders Nvidia and Arm.
Apple started working on a car around 2014, setting its sights on a fully autonomous electric vehicle with a limousine-like interior and voice-guided navigation.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 28, 2024

Apple to wind down electric car effort after decadelong odyssey

Many employees on the team will be reassigned to focus on generative artificial intelligence projects, an increasingly key priority for the company.
The Bank of Japan is facing hardly any signs of opposition to scrapping its negative interest rate as the strongest price growth in decades weighs on households and businesses.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2024

BOJ should make straightforward policy shift, top finance professor says

Exiting policy should be like business as usual, said Hiroshi Yoshikawa, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and a friend of BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda.
Aeon plans to spend about ¥102.3 billion to acquire a 13.6% additional stake in Tsuruha from Hong Kong-based hedge fund Oasis Management.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2024

Retailer Aeon to merge with drugstore chains Tsuruha and Welcia

The three companies said they will seek to expand their businesses outside Japan.
On display at the new 7-Eleven store in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, are about 2,000 additional products that aren’t usually carried in 7-Elevens, including fresh fruit, diapers and hair-care products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 29, 2024

Seven & I Holdings explores market for bigger 7-Elevens

Its new store in Chiba Prefecture will have more than twice the number of products and is almost double the size of regular outlets.
Immersive Fort Tokyo holds a ceremony on Thursday ahead of its Friday opening in Tokyo's Odaiba area.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2024

Immersive Fort Tokyo seeks to update theme park experience

The park could become a new landmark in the Odaiba district by the Tokyo Bay as it seeks to update the typical theme park experience.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West President Masaaki Moribayashi (center) bows at a news conference in Osaka on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Feb 29, 2024

NTT West president to resign over customer information theft

NTT West has been slapped with administrative guidance by the communications ministry for insufficient supervising.
Currency dealers work in front of an electronic board showing the Korean Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at a dealing room of a bank in Seoul. Officials in South Korea are taking a cue from Japan, where a push for corporate reforms has been one of the key drivers for a world-beating equity rally.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Mar 2, 2024

South Korea faces long road in unlocking corporate value like Japan

As global investors scrutinize South Korea’s plans, they note a key hurdle — the prevalence of family-controlled businesses, or chaebols.
The Fair Trade Commission will demand Nissan take measures to prevent a recurrence of unfair reductions in payments to subcontracting auto parts makers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 4, 2024

Japan FTC to warn Nissan over payments to parts suppliers

The reductions are estimated to total about ¥3 billion for more than 30 suppliers over the past several years.
Fox Chief Executive Officer Lachlan Murdoch
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2024

Fox's Lachlan Murdoch targets 5 million subscribers for new sports venture

The streaming service will feature all of the sports programming from the three media giants, including ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and channels such as TNT.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said it is already managing to enhance its tolerance to an anticipated rise in yen interest rates.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 6, 2024

Japan’s biggest bank readies for BOJ shift on rate policy within weeks

Hiroyuki Seki, head of global markets business at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, predicts that the BOJ will raise rates not once but twice by October.
The Bank of Japan in January. The BOJ is monitoring wage trends closely for signs of a virtuous cycle linking higher pay with demand-led price gains.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2024

Japan wage growth beat forecasts in January, in fastest rise since June

The data comes as annual wage negotiations between firms and unions are reaching their climax, with the first results expected next week.
Google's cybersecurity center in Tokyo will focus on enhancing cybersecurity policy discussions, spearheading educational initiatives, developing resources and supporting research with Japanese institutions.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 7, 2024

Google opens Asia-Pacific cybersecurity research center in Tokyo

The center's launch comes as Japan endeavors to ramp up its online security systems following major cyberattacks.
Junko Nakagawa, a member of the policy board at the Bank of Japan (BOJ), in Tokyo in January
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 7, 2024

BOJ policymaker upbeat on stimulus exit amid encouraging wage news

"We can say that prospects for the economy to achieve a positive cycle of (rising) inflation and wages are in sight," said board member Junko Nakagawa.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in Sao Paulo in February.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2024

BOJ bets swing toward March rate hike

Bets on the March 18-19 meeting are gaining traction.
A representative from Honda's labor union submits a demand for spring negotiations to management last month in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 8, 2024

Japan Inc. set to offer bumper pay hikes, paving way for stimulus end

Economists see negotiations resulting in an average increase of around 3.9% in pay for union workers at major firms.
Kazuo Ueda, governor of the Bank of Japan, speaks at a fintech summit in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Mar 8, 2024

Bank of Japan leaning toward exiting negative rates in March

Many BOJ policymakers are closely watching the outcome of big firms' annual wage negotiations with unions on March 13.
Rescuers clear debris from a multistory building heavily damaged following a drone strike, in Odessa, Ukraine, on March 3.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Mar 10, 2024

The $1 trillion race to rebuild Ukraine is slowly getting going

Firms are boosting their presence in Ukraine, in anticipation of the conflict's end — and the biggest investment opportunity since at least World War II.
Philippine Coast Guard personnel film a China Coast Guard vessel during a supply mission in the disputed South China Sea on March 5.
BUSINESS
Mar 11, 2024

U.S. key to Philippines’ plan to tap oil and gas in South China Sea

Manila is seeking to parlay its deepening security ties with Washington into broader economic benefits, the Philippine ambassador to the U.S. said.
Dai Karasawa, president of SSE Pacifico K.K., a joint venture of U.K. energy group SSE and Japan's Pacifico Energy, speaks about their plan to develop offshore wind farms in Japan during an interview in Tokyo, last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024

SSE's Japan unit aims to develop 6GW offshore wind farms

Japan is aiming to become a major offshore wind power producer, with the government targeting 10 GW by 2030 and up to 45 GW by 2040.
Some 38% of Bank of Japan watchers in a survey believe the central bank will end its negative rates next week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 12, 2024

Half of BOJ watchers still see April rate hike while bets on March move jump

The proportion of 50 economists forecasting an end to the world’s last negative rate in April slipped to 54% in the latest survey from 59% in January.

Longform

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