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March 31, 2025
 

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GAMES

A figurine of the character Link from the Nintendo video game series The Legend of Zelda is displayed inside the Nintendo Tokyo store in the Japanese capital in November 2019.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 29, 2025
Nintendo announces Legend of Zelda film for 2027
Nintendo made the announcement on "Nintendo Today!", a new app for fans that was launched on Thursday.
China's female gamers are finding the male leads of Love and Deepspace more enticing than real-life partners.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 29, 2025
'Better than real life': In China, virtual boyfriends are emotional aids
For many, virtual companions offer more than entertainment — they provide emotional fulfilment.
While mobile games such as Pokemon Go are at the core of Scopely’s business, the company is developing or considering acquiring PC and console titles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 26, 2025
Behind the $3.5 billion Pokemon deal lies a consolidation strategy
While mobile games such as Pokemon Go are at the core of Scopely’s business, the company is looking into PC and console titles.
Releasing on March 20, Assassin's Creed Shadows excels in atmosphere and open-world gameplay but falls short of narrative expectations.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 19, 2025
Assassin’s Creed Shadows puts samurai style over substance
Ubisoft’s latest game is a gorgeous jaunt through feudal Japan entirely unworthy of the controversy surrounding it.
After nine years, the Square Enix Cafe is finally closing up shop.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 15, 2025
Square Enix Cafe had everything going for it, except the ability to adapt
On March 31, the themed cafe just steps from JR Akihabara Station will close for good.
Nintendo shares sank as much as 9.8% in Tokyo Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump doubling levies on China means game consoles, mostly made in China, could have higher selling prices in the United States due to heftier import costs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 7, 2025
Nintendo shares plunge on tariff fears as foreign investors retreat
Nintendo sank 9.2% in Tokyo, its biggest intraday drop since the stock market rout on Aug. 5.
On March 21, 1925, a front page headline announced that the Tokyo Radio Broadcasting Bureau, the precursor to NHK, had begun operations with a communications range of 50 kilometers.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Mar 1, 2025
Japan Times 1925: Government sanctions official broadcasting station, the precursor to NHK
Japan’s first official broadcasting station began operating 100 years ago, setting a new precedent for the speed of communication and news.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found the tax nonpayment after asking information, such as a list of companies, from the tax authorities of Singapore based on the Japan-Singapore tax treaty and analyzing the collected data.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025
Tokyo tax bureau seizes ¥1.8 billion from Hong Kong game firm over unpaid tax
The company, which operated its Mafia City online game via a platform based in Singapore, failed to pay consumption tax associated with revenue from in-game spending.
In the most recent expansion to the long-running Warframe, Alpha Takahashi voices cyborg mechanic Aoi Morohoshi.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Feb 15, 2025
Alpha Takahashi: ‘The world of video games was tied to my upbringing’
The Tokyo-born actor has voiced Psylocke in Marvel Rivals, Hanako Arasaka in Cyberpunk 2077 and many more since breaking into the industry in 2013.
Sony has prioritized acquiring more content and intellectual property rights at a time when the company’s hardware efforts are stagnating.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2025
Sony lifts forecast on expectations of game and music improvement
Sony has prioritized acquiring more content and intellectual property rights at a time when the company’s hardware efforts are stagnating.
South Korea's Choi Min-jeong (center) competes in the women's short track speedskating 1,000-meter final during the Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, on Sunday.
MORE SPORTS
Feb 10, 2025
Choi Min-jeong grabs three golds for South Korea at Asian Winter Games
Short track is one of the few sports with genuine world class competition at the Winter Asiad.
Sony PlayStation's online services came back online on Saturday, the Japanese group said, after a 24-hour outage.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 9, 2025
PlayStation network back online after 24-hour outage
The network's failure prevented many owners of Sony consoles including the PS4 and the PS5 from playing multiplayer games such as the hugely popular "Fortnite" and "Call of Duty."
After starting out as a games journalist, John Davis found opportunities in marketing and consulting that led him to work in the Japanese gaming industry.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Feb 8, 2025
John Davis: ‘At its core, indie is about creative freedom’
The co-founder of BitSummit, Japan’s biggest indie gaming showcase, shares how he pivoted from journalism to gaming after moving here.
The bestselling Switch has a confirmed successor, but what little we know about the Switch 2 console so far raises some concerns about its longterm viability in a crowded gaming market.
LIFE / Digital
Feb 6, 2025
Making sense of Nintendo’s tight-lipped Switch 2 reveal
Nintendo will remain mum on details until April, but questions on how its new console fits into the modern gaming landscape abound.
Japan's Kaori Sakamoto celebrates after finishing in third place at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Grenoble, France on Dec. 7, 2024.
OLYMPICS / Winter Sports
Feb 6, 2025
Olympics on horizon as China hosts Asian Winter Games
The Games crucially come just a year ahead of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
Nintendo announced in January that it will release the console's hotly anticipated successor — the Switch 2 — in 2025, but stopped short of revealing details such as pricing.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2025
Nintendo cuts net profit forecast as Switch sales slow
Nintendo said it will release the console's hotly anticipated successor — the Switch 2 — in 2025 but stopped short of revealing details such as pricing.
Nintendo Switch controllers for sale at a game shop in Tokyo on Jan. 16.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 1, 2025
Mario Kart may help Nintendo rally outlast flight from AI tech
The Mario Kart creator’s focus on success in games, while leveraging its intellectual property into movies and theme parks, makes it look like a safe bet for tech investors.
Dress-up games and dating sims were once forgotten genres, but now expanded player bases are helping to generate major profits.
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Feb 1, 2025
Gaming’s feminine side is starting to make big bucks
Two recent releases — a sci-fi dating sim and a souped-up dress-up simulator — are starting to change the conversation around previously dismissed genres.
Upon the release of Dragon Quest VII in 2000, hundreds of customers lined up outside stores in Tokyo to secure a copy of the new game. With a remake of a 1988 title, the rest of the world is understanding why Japanese gamers love the series so much.
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2025
Japan’s love affair with Dragon Quest spreads worldwide
The remake of a 1988 game serves as the latest chance for the rest of the world to learn why Japan loves Dragon Quest so much.
Japan's biggest beef bowl chain Sukiya to shut nearly 2,000 stores after rat and bug contamination
Zensho Holdings, operator of fast-food chain Sukiya, said it will close all of its stores in Japan, except for a small number in shopping centers, between Monday and Friday following recent contamination incidents.
School-age suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
In Tokyo, Pentagon chief provides assurances that Japan-U.S. alliance remains robust
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (left) and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth review an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo ahead of their talks Sunday.
Japan, South Korea and China vow to strengthen trade ties amid looming U.S. tariffs
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto (left), South Korean Trade Industry and Energy Minister Ahn Duk-geun (center) and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao during a trilateral meeting in Seoul on Sunday
A Canadian made a weekend trip to Costco a Japanese pastime
Under the watchful eye of Ken Theriault, Costco representative director and Japan country manager, the American membership-model wholesaler has flourished in Japan.
Tokyo tech failures lean into misfortune, mistakes and missteps
Tsuyoshi Domoto in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on March 28. As an entrepreneur, Domoto experienced plenty of setbacks but maintains a positive attitude and continues to pursue his dreams.
Who among the opposition would join the ruling coalition?
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Friday.
Traveling the Three-Star Road, the tourist route made from thin air
Scenes like this snow-covered bridge leading to the village of Shirakawa-go are what make the Three-Star Road worth traveling — its name notwithstanding.
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan
By Johan Brooks

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