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November 22, 2024
 

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STARTUPS

Hackers linked to North Korea, among the most sophisticated in the business, are showing no signs of letting up in targeting the cryptosphere.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 23, 2024
North Korean hackers stalk crypto startups scrimping on security
Startups strapped for cash after a prolonged funding drought have cut security spending even as soaring digital-asset prices tempt hackers.
Phytochemical Products CEO Makiko Kato (second from right) and Chief Technology Officer and professor Naomi Kitakawa (right) at the startup's laboratory in Sendai
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 18, 2024
Tohoku University startup opens path to waste oil recycling
Its proprietary technology allows it to extract useful compounds from waste oil to produce biofuel and other products.
AI Medical Service's artificial intelligence-based endoscopic diagnostic support system is designed to help detect stomach cancer at an early stage.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 7, 2024
Tokyo startup looks to AI to boost gastrointestinal cancer detection
AI Medical Service thinks it can use Japan’s strengths in endoscopy to boost diagnosis of a condition responsible for 1 in 3 cancer deaths globally.
Teamshares, an American startup, is bringing its employee ownership succession model to Japan in its first overseas foray to offer employees path to buy small businesses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 21, 2024
MUFJ-backed startup gives employees route to take over small firms
The Teamshares model could help 2.45 million small business owners who will be 70 or over by 2025, almost half of whom have yet to identify a successor.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group. One of SoftBank's primary objectives will be to harvest returns from its huge portfolio rather than priming unprofitable startups for growth.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 14, 2024
SoftBank’s Vision Fund swaps splashy bets for ‘timid’ investing
As other tech investors have heaped money into new artificial intelligence firms, Vision Fund has stayed out of the fray.
SoftBank Group booked a profit for the December quarter after four straight quarters of losses.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2024
SoftBank swings to profit lifted by T-Mobile windfall
SoftBank recorded its first profit after four straight quarters of losses, backed by a rebound of the Vision Fund and gains from T-Mobile shares.
Orienspace's Gravity-1 rocket blasts off from a sea-based platform off the coast of Haiyang, Shandong province, China, on Jan. 11.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2024
China startup aims to close gap with SpaceX on reusable rockets
Reusable rockets are transforming space access, as companies can reuse the most expensive parts of the device with little refurbishment.
Keisuke Honda is joining an inflow of investment in Japan’s long-neglected startup scene.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2024
Retired soccer star Honda sets up $100 million Japan startup fund
In a country where celebrities shy away from speaking about their money or investments, the former AC Milan midfielder faces little competition from other sports stars.
An Xturismo bike flies over Lake Yamanaka in Yamanashi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2024
Japanese flying bike startup A.L.I. Technologies files for bankruptcy
The Tokyo-based startup had aimed to play a key role in an expected “air mobility society.”
Alex Clavel, co-CEO at SoftBank Investment Advisers, won SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son's trust as a steady hand managing and fixing SoftBank's complex or troubled transactions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 12, 2024
Behind SoftBank’s investing cleanup, a U.S. dealmaker who survived the turmoil
Unassuming problem solver Alex Clavel is Masayoshi Son's top lieutenant leading the investment group's attempt at a turnaround.
Inspectors analyze saliva collected with test kits at SalivaTech.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 8, 2024
Tohoku startup offers way to detect cancer early using saliva
SalivaTech's SalivaChecker is a test kit that provides high-precision analysis of around 10 types of salivary metabolites.
A wafer is pictured at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2023
This startup shows it won't be easy to contain China's chip industry
The story of Seida illustrates the challenges the West faces in thwarting Chinese development of advanced microchip technology.
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.
Bernadett Vejkey, marketing manager at Addionics, holds up a sheet of a porous, three-dimensional copper anode the battery materials startup has developed for electric vehicle batteries, at the company's lab in London.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2023
Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs dash for affordable cars
Legacy automakers are turning to suppliers to get their costs down and even steer clear of rare earths, a segment dominated by China.
Officials from iQPS celebrate in the city of Fukuoka in June after the successful launch of a rocket carrying a small satellite developed by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023
Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut
The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
Workers collect recyclable garbage including plastic bottles on World Environment Day in Tokyo in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2023
New solutions tackle Japan’s waste problem at its core
Issues like the plastics and climate crises seem insurmountable — until we apply "systemic design," as several Japanese initiatives are showing.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining
The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
A coworking space at Tokyo Venture Capital Hub
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2023
Tokyo’s new venture capital hub aims to boost ties among investors
Mori Building hopes that the large-scale hub for venture capital firms will ratchet up investment for startups and strengthen cooperation among investors.
Christian Sinding, chief executive officer of EQT, in Tokyo in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Private equity giant EQT buys stake in Japanese startup HRBrain
The purchase marks a rare attempt by a global private equity giant to boost returns through young enterprises in the Asian country.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is exploring more investments in mid- and late-stage tech startups, seeing room for expansion into a field that historically was shunned by relatively conservative giant lenders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023
Top Japanese bank builds startup fund as policy push lures lenders
Mars Growth Capital, co-run by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, now has around 40 to 50 potential investment deals for its recently launched equity fund.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

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

Longform

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

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