For Kazuaki Nagata's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
NTT Docomo Inc. said Friday that sales and profits dropped in the first quarter compared with the previous year, on slumping voice call revenue and discounts for two-year contracts. The telecom giant posted ¥1.07 trillion in sales, down 3.4 percent, ¥209 billion in operating ...
The manager of the Fukushima No. 1 plant admits some of the tanks storing its radioactive water were built with used parts.
The government probably can’t take credit for the increase in the number of foreign tourists. Many of its projects to attract visitors, such as inviting foreign travel agencies to Japan, participating in trade shows overseas and various advertising campaigns, are ineffective.
New mobile phone entrant Ymobile Corp. unveiled monthly fixed-price service plans Thursday that include voice calling and Internet access to woo newcomers to smartphones with simpler and cheaper contracts. The SoftBank subsidiary, launched in June in a merger with eAccess, which runs Emobile, and ...
Japan is a step closer to resuming suspended nuclear power operations, after the Sendai plant in Kyushu becomes the first to meet strict new safety standards.
Anti-nuclear groups warn that the Sendai plant’s reactors are far from ready to go online, despite Kyushu Electric Power Co. clearing a major hurdle toward their restart.
Employing all-purpose robots endowed with artificial intelligence as a workforce in the manufacturing industry is the solution to staving off any impending labor shortage in Japan, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said Tuesday. “Technology can even solve the labor population problem,” Son said during an ...
Smartphones may be convenient, but there’s one thing about them that bugs many people: their costly monthly data plans. Seizing this opportunity, noncarrier firms have broken into the market in the past several months with low-cost plans and handsets. Here are some questions and ...
Robotics engineer Yoshiyuki Sankai, 56, has been driven by his passion for innovative technology for about half a century. “Since my childhood, I’ve been thinking about how technology can be applied to people and society to help them,” said Sankai, CEO of Ibaraki-based Cyberdyne ...
The life-sized Gundam figurine in Tokyo’s Odaiba district is an impressive sight as it towers a full 18 meters above its visitors and has grown into a popular tourist attraction since it was erected in 2009. Built to mark the 30th anniversary of the ...
