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TikTok is in a race to dominate e-commerce in Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
Jul 24, 2023

TikTok steps up Southeast Asia presence amid e-commerce push

As the company intermingles social media and e-commerce, it is betting that this vision of shopping will knock aside rivals in the region.
Women and children fleeing Ukraine gather in Przemysl train station on March 2, 2022.
WORLD
Jul 24, 2023

Ukraine needs its women back for a shot at economic recovery

Failure to persuade any of the 2.8 million working-age women who have fled the country to return would cost Ukraine 10% of its annual prewar gross domestic product.
Attendees gather in front of a stage at the Capcom booth during the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba in 2018.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2023

Game publisher Capcom sees 1,200% gain over decade

The company’s shares are up by a third this year, outpacing the broader Tokyo market and capping off a remarkable 1,200% surge over the past decade.
A man plays video games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday. As AI platforms advance at breakneck speeds, hundreds of thousands of jobs in the gaming sector become at risk of being replaced by the technology.
BUSINESS
Jul 26, 2023

AI is rewriting the rules of $200 billion games industry

One major Japanese studio believes that half of the company’s programmers and designers could become redundant within the next five years.
Damage to buildings in Naha, Okinawa, seen on Aug. 3, after Typhoon Khanun passed through the area
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2023

Typhoon Khanun kills one, cuts power to a third of Okinawa homes

High winds hit power lines in Okinawa Prefecture and knocked out electricity to more than 200,000 households on Wednesday morning.
This year’s Fuji Rock Festival, which took place last weekend and featured The Strokes, Foo Fighters and Lizzo as headliners, brought a cumulative total of 114,000 attendees to the mountains of Niigata Prefecture.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 4, 2023

Fuji Rock’s diversity is back — and it feels great

Millennial rock, Gen Z rap and a Sinead O’Connor tribute fill a stellar weekend of music.
Though Apple’s overall revenue of $81.8 billion came in just above Wall Street estimates last quarter, iPhone demand was weaker than predicted.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 4, 2023

Apple faces longest sales slowdown in decades as iPhone slumps

The company reported a revenue decline of 1.4% in the fiscal third quarter, hurt by an industrywide slump that has sapped demand.
Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto visits a high-speed rail project site in Ahmedabad, India, in May 2018.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2023

Scandal-tainted Japanese lawmaker sought money to buy horse

Japanese lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of receiving ¥30 million from the president of a company between 2021 and this year.
Hiroshi Mikitani, co-chief executive officer of Rakuten Medical, speaks at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's meeting in Yokohama on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023

Rakuten’s Mikitani spends a fifth of his time on biotech startup

Rakuten Medical, based in San Diego, employs about 200 people and specializes in a therapy that uses light and immunotherapy drugs to fight cancer.
Toshiba, which has know-how ranging from air conditioners and nuclear power equipment to semiconductors and quantum computing, sees a Japan Industrial Partners-led bid as a chance to regain its footing following more than a decade of scandals and management overhauls.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2023

JIP-led ¥2 trillion tender offer for Toshiba to start Aug. 8

A consortium led by Japan Industrial Partners will start a tender offer to buy all outstanding Toshiba shares at ¥4,620 per share through Sept. 20.
Hiroyuki Nagai, president and chief executive officer of Rakuten Bank (left), attends the company's listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 21.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2023

Rakuten Bank sees edge over rivals once BOJ ends negative rates

Uncertainty remains over when the Bank of Japan will scrap the policy, which has squeezed banks’ lending margins since its introduction seven years ago.
Softbank's Vision Fund unit swung to a profit of ¥61 billion in the quarter ended June, compared with a ¥2.33 trillion loss for the same period a year ago.
BUSINESS
Aug 8, 2023

Global tech stock rebound lifts SoftBank Vision Fund into profit

The fund logged a ¥61 billion profit in the quarter ended June — its first in over a year — compared with a ¥2.33 trillion loss a year ago.
A year of restraint in investments has helped SoftBank regain its financial footing, accumulating a cash pile of almost ¥6 trillion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 9, 2023

SoftBank begins making investments again but ‘timidly with fear’

A year of restraint in investments has helped SoftBank regain its financial footing, accumulating a cash pile of almost ¥6 trillion.
Sony, a key supplier of image sensors to Apple and other device-makers, has said it doesn’t expect demand in the mobile phone market to bounce back until next year at the earliest.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 10, 2023

Sony falls most in a year as smartphone demand fails to recover

The Tokyo-based company’s operating income fell 31% in the first fiscal quarter because of sharp declines in the movie and sensor groups.
Workers at a WeWork coworking office in London
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 11, 2023

Flexible work will survive despite gloomy corporate signals

A growing body of research, trend data and surveys show that flexibility matters, and that work is now a thing we do, not a place we go.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000 jet fighter landing at Hsinchu Air Base in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in April.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 12, 2023

China’s military, ‘chasing the dream,’ probes Taiwan’s defenses

Day by day, the People’s Liberation Army is turning up the pressure, deploying an ever-wider array of planes and ships.
SoftBank, which currently owns 75% of Arm, is in talks to acquire the 25% stake in the firm it does not directly own from Vision Fund 1, according to sources.
BUSINESS
Aug 14, 2023

SoftBank in talks to buy Vision Fund's 25% stake in Arm

The move would potentially deliver a win for investors who have waited years for strong returns.
A Chadian army officer reacts as cart owners transport the belongings of Sudanese people who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, while crossing the border between Sudan and Chad.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 16, 2023

Sudan 'spiraling out of control' as 1 million flee country: U.N.

Efforts to mediate a cease-fire have stalled, and those remaining in the country have faced rampant looting and long power cuts.
Afghan women during a protest against Taliban restrictions on women's freedom in Kabul in 2021
WORLD
Aug 14, 2023

Afghan women take protests online as Taliban crush dissent

Organizing through social media and messaging apps, women have posted pictures and videos of the protests, drawing attention to the worsening crisis.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 27.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2023

Starlink lifts off in Asia as satellite internet race heats up

Elon Musk's company has carved out a niche and an opportunity through the region's natural disasters and the vast sweep of its archipelagoes and islands.
A Tomahawk cruise missile is launched from a U.S. Navy warship. Australia has announced that it will buy more than 200 of the cruise missiles at a price of $830 million.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 21, 2023

Australia agrees to buy long-range Tomahawk missiles from U.S.

The move is part of a major military pivot toward long-range strike capabilities in an effort to keep would-be foes such as China at arms length.
Shinobu Yamanaka, a mom of three sons and director of a day care facility in Konan, Kochi Prefecture, serves up to eight "members" six days a week.
JAPAN / Science & Health / FOCUS
Aug 22, 2023

Kochi dementia care center aims to set new paradigm in Japan

A new generation of people with Alzheimer’s in Japan are trying to change not only dementia care but also social attitudes toward patients.
The darkened area surrounding Lahaina shows where the fire spread on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 13.
WORLD / Society
Aug 23, 2023

After Maui wildfire residents fear land grab may threaten culture

Hawaii's Office of Consumer Protection has warned of people making below-market offers, playing on fears of foreclosure and the cost of rebuilding.
A statue of Pokemon character Pikachu is seen during the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2023

Pokemon game that’s all about sleep hits 10 million downloads

Pokemon Go made billions of dollars getting people to roam the great outdoors. Now the company is trying to get people to go to bed.
A Mazda MX-30 at a dealership in the city of Hiroshima. The MX-30 is the only electric vehicle model Mazda currently sells in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Aug 28, 2023

Mazda accelerates EV shift in China, reshaping ties with suppliers

Mazda’s sales in China in the year from April 2022 halved from the previous year to 84,000 units due to a thin lineup of EVs.
The Nagor fishing harbor in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, India, in 2016
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Aug 28, 2023

Indian fishermen use smartphones to map a vanishing way of life

Port and power plant development plans could beach a flotilla of boats that trawl the waters for mackerel and sea bass.
A residential compound near the Orlen refinery on the outskirts of Plock, Poland
WORLD / Society
Aug 28, 2023

After weaponizing immigrants, Europe’s east finds it needs them

Economic reality has caught up with some of the most vitriolic anti-immigrant rhetoric on the continent.
Singer Jimmy Buffett performs during NBC's "Today" show Summer Concert Series in New York City in July 2016.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 2, 2023

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett dies at 76

Jimmy Buffett, the American singer-songwriter who went from Key West beach bum to billionaire behind the always-on-vacation "Margaritaville" commercial empire, has died at the age of 76.
Personnel from the Self-Defense Forces take part in a nuclear, biological and chemical weapons exercise at New Chitose airport in Hokkaido in July 2012.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Sep 7, 2023

Japan has plenty to offer in the field of detecting threats

With the spread of chemical, nuclear and biological weapons, the time is right to put domestic tech to good use.
An Apple store in the Huangpu district in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 8, 2023

Apple grapples with turmoil in China days before iPhone 15 launch

The bans may just be part of a longstanding trend.

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