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Kyoto Financial Group's early bets on Nintendo and other Kyoto-based startups are now bringing huge gains to the regional bank.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 3, 2023

Early bets on Nintendo and Nidec yield big gains for Kyoto bank

Kyoto Financial Group has equity holdings worth almost ¥903 billion thanks to investments made decades ago.
Japanese police investigators arrive at Phnom Penh International Airport on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 8, 2023

Japanese fraud suspects extradited from Cambodia

Investigators say the suspects made fraudulent phone calls from Cambodia posing as nursing home staff and lawyers, aiming to scam victims in Japan.
Sony Group has raised its full-year outlook after its media divisions outperformed.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 9, 2023

Sony raises sales and profit outlook as media helps offset mobile

The adjustments suggest resilient consumer spending and a weaker yen are stabilizing the business.
Mizuho Financial Group will raise its stake in Rakuten Securities to nearly 50%.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 9, 2023

Mizuho said to raise Rakuten Securities stake to almost 50%

The banking group plans to increase its investment in Rakuten’s online securities arm, which isn’t proceeding with an initial public offering for now.
Humane has officially launched its long-awaited Ai Pin. The device will be available to order starting Nov. 16.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 10, 2023

Humane's Ai Pin launches its campaign to replace phones

The device can magnetically clip onto clothing and will cost $699 with a $24-a-month subscription — which will come with unlimited data and phone calls.
A man, who said he was jailed for two years, speaks on condition of anonymity in temporary housing for former prisoners in Tokyo. Criminal recruits in Japan are being "exploited and disposed of as pawns" by gang leaders, the National Police Agency has said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 24, 2023

Why Japan's gangs are recruiting online

For Japan's criminal underworld, social media offers an anonymous way to connect with anyone willing to commit crimes to earn money.
Injured children at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Oct. 12 following Israeli air strikes
WORLD
Nov 19, 2023

WHO says Gaza's Shifa hospital a 'death zone,' urges evacuation

The World Health Organization said Sunday it had led an assessment mission to Shifa hospital in Gaza City and determined it was a "death zone," urging a full evacuation.
Communicating over the phone, a necessity for businesspeople, is a headache for many young people.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Nov 27, 2023

Many young people in Japan scared of telephone calls

For some, their heart skips a beat when they hear phones ringing and they hesitate to make calls, fearing they might be considered a nuisance.
A recently implemented tracking system shows the real-time position of all horses during the live broadcast of the spring Tenno Sho on April 30.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Nov 24, 2023

New technology enhances fan experience

A jockey camera and a tracking system introduced by the Japan Racing Association this past spring have proven popular with horse-racing fans.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s CEO Jun Ohta died Saturday. He was 65.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2023

Sumitomo Mitsui CEO Jun Ohta, who pushed Asia expansion, dies at 65

Ohta’s well-being attracted attention when he missed an earnings briefing earlier this month, with the bank citing health reasons.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addresses a news conference during an artificial intelligence safety summit in Milton Keynes, England, on Nov. 2.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 29, 2023

Foreign policy and defense concerns in the age of AI

Researchers warn of the potential 'signaling risks' artificial intelligence poses to global politics and military conflict.
Yuki Fukui (center) squares up against a student during a training session at a judo dojo in Thimphu, Bhutan.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Dec 2, 2023

'The people of Bhutan think differently, and that has changed me'

Originally from Sendai, 26-year-old Yuki Fukui is the fifth Japanese judo coach for the Bhutanese national team.
Yoshiaki Saito
ESG CONSORTIUM
Dec 4, 2023

How Nomura Research Institute cultivates local entrepreneurship

Creating a startup ecosystem is easier said than done, especially in rural areas.
SoftBank has agreed to buy a majority stake in Irish software developer Cubic Telecom for around €473 million.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023

SoftBank buys majority stake in Irish car software developer

SoftBank will acquire 51% of Cubic Telecom, which provides a platform for automakers to update software functions in cars globally and in real time.
The building at 245 Park Avenue, which housed the headquarters of Bear Stearns in the 1980s, in New York. Mori Trust bought a 49.9% stake in the building from SL Green Realty in June.
BUSINESS
Dec 6, 2023

Japanese buyers snap up New York and London buildings in spree

Investors see attractive prices stemming from the real estate downturn, even as the yen’s weakness reduces purchasing power.
A radar facility set up for coastal surveillance by the Ground Self-Defense Force's Yonaguni base on Yonaguni island in Okinawa Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 14, 2023

Acquiring counterstrike capabilities is no simple matter for Japan

Under its defense and security strategies, deterrence by denial and deterrence by punishment are the essence of Japan’s deterrence capabilities.
An attendee plays Fortnite, made by Epic Games, during the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2023

Legal defeat for Google threatens $200 billion app store industry

Until now, Google and Apple have charged commissions of as much as 30% to software developers who typically have had few other options.
Since starting out as a venue for short, silly lip-syncing videos, TikTok has emerged as an incubator for consumer trends, with millions of people trying on clothes and reviewing products.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 13, 2023

TikTok Shop sees early success, taking aim at giant Amazon

In a sign of how seriously Amazon is taking TikTok, the company cut deals with Pinterest, Meta and Snapchat to let users shop without leaving those apps.
Matt Boyle of the Greater Manchester Police speaks to reporters after missing teen Alex Batty returned to the U.K. on Saturday.
WORLD
Dec 17, 2023

British teen Alex Batty arrives in U.K. six years after vanishing

The teen was found in the middle of the night by a delivery driver after he had walked along a road for four days.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have conducted an escalating series of attacks against merchant shipping in the region using drones, ballistic missiles and commandos on helicopters and speedboats. 
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2023

U.S.-led naval force might not end Houthi ship attacks

U.S. Navy commands Operation Prosperity Guardian, a global coalition formed to counter the Iranian-backed Houthis.
Desi Permatasari, 32, comforts her daughter, Sheena Almaera Maryam, 5, who was prescribed contaminated cough syrup last year in their home in Bogor, Indonesia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Dec 24, 2023

When children take toxic cough syrup — and live

In Indonesia, one of the places most impacted by the contamination, families struggle to care for survivors while taking action against those responsible.
A designer at work at Vietnamese internet firm VNG in Ho Chi Minh City
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 24, 2023

'Beyond our borders': Vietnam tech firm VNG takes on world best

Beyond gaming, VNG also dabbles in fintech and AI, with a mission to show the world what Vietnam and its engineers are capable of.
Fire fighters put out a fire at a disposal site for oversized trash in Koto Ward, Tokyo, in November.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 26, 2023

Tokyo residents urged to hold on to large waste due to disposal site fire

Operations at the facility in Koto Ward were suspended following the fire, and the alternative facility handling the extra waste is nearing capacity.
An Afghan woman holds her newborn child at a maternity hospital in Khost, Afghanistan. According to the latest World Health Organization figures, from 2017, 638 women die in Afghanistan for every 100,000 viable births, compared with 19 in the United States.
WORLD / Society
Dec 28, 2023

For women in Afghanistan, every birth carries heavy risks

Afghanistan is among the worst countries in the world for deaths in childbirth, "with one woman dying every two hours," according to the U.N.
A Khudi Bari tiny home in Char Shildaha, Bangladesh
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2023

Bangladesh's tiny houses tackle giant flood challenge

The Khudi Bari — resilient tiny homes made on bamboo stilts rising out of the floodwaters that are also easy to move to safer locations when needed — offers hope to millions.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung falls after being stabbed in the neck with a knife during his visit to Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 4, 2024

Knife attack on opposition leader raises alarms in polarized South Korea

Politics of hatred is said to have become a norm, and tensions are unlikely to ease anytime soon as rival parties gear up for parliamentary elections in April.
The Sapporo Snow Festival offers outdoor dining, markets, sports, ice sculptures and more across three event sites.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 6, 2024

Asia's winter festivals: Snow, fire and spectacle galore

The ancient city of Nara wards off the wintertime darkness with an unusual tradition: lighting a local mountain on fire.
Humanitarian and medical aid boxes are loaded into a plane to be airdropped by the French and Jordanian air forces for a field hospital set up in Gaza's second city, Khan Younis, at Zarqa airport in Jordan on Friday.
WORLD
Jan 7, 2024

For civilians or Hamas? 'Dual use' issue complicates aid efforts

The issue of which items do or don't get through has become more urgent and contested as the war has unfolded.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, hold a news conference in a bomb shelter in Kyiv, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 7, 2024

Japan foreign minister promises aid for Ukrainian anti-drone system

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Tokyo to provide the war-torn country with a drone detection system via a contribution to a NATO fund.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location in this picture released Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 10, 2024

North Korea's Kim calls South ‘principal enemy,’ turning up heat

Kim pledged he was ready to fight a war but had no intention of starting one. Tensions have soared after the North fired artillery near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.

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