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April 26, 2024
 

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RARE EARTHS

Globally, the area covered by mines has doubled over the past three years, driven by demand for critical minerals, according to a 2023 study.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2024
For mineral-rich Philippines, green metals rush is a balancing act
The county has the world's fourth-largest copper reserves, fifth-biggest nickel deposits and is also rich in cobalt — which are important for clean energy.
Mining magnate Dan Gertler in Congo in 2012
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 20, 2024
China's dominance of EV metals prompts U.S. to revisit stockpile 'panic button'
Budget cuts have shrunk U.S. strategic reserves to record lows, leaving it facing shortages of the raw materials needed to execute an energy transition.
Vietnam is sitting on around 17% of the world’s known rare-earth reserves, second only to China. 
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2024
Vietnam should seize a 'rare' opportunity to take on China
Vietnamese officials have approved plans to supercharge rare-earths production, aiming to process as much as 62,500 tons of the minerals by 2030.
Workers disassemble vehicle battery packs in a workshop in Dongguan, China.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 22, 2023
China bans export of rare earths processing tech over security
China has significantly tightened rules guiding exports of several metals this year, in an escalating battle with the West over control of key minerals.
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 building housing a rare metal-related company in Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in July 2020
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 23, 2023
Chinese employee of Japan firm held over alleged rare metal info leak
The move comes as the Chinese Communist Party-led government steps up export controls on the materials essential for cutting-edge technologies.
A lithium mine near Itinga, Minas Gerais state, Brazil
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 6, 2023
We’re not even close to running out of green minerals
Rising reserves challenge fears of mineral shortages in green transition.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 19, 2023
Explorer Victor Vescovo says deep sea mining numbers don’t add up
Vescovo said the technological and financial uncertainties of mining metals far from shore and deep below the ocean surface have been grossly underestimated.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 13, 2023
A showdown in Jamaica is deciding the fate of the deep ocean
Seabed mining has the potential to become a trillion-dollar industry as the transition to electric vehicles spurs demand for metals like cobalt and nickel.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 6, 2023
Xi’s metal curbs risk backfiring as G7 seeks China alternative
China’s decision to control the export of two key metals showed it has some power to retaliate against the U.S., Japan and Europe, but the measure is also a double-edged sword.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 23, 2023
Magnets will be minting tomorrow’s billionaires
“Lodestones” started out as lightning-infused magical rocks that could cure baldness. Now they’re an essential part of our machine-driven world.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 22, 2023
Sole U.S. rare earth producer will ship to Japan in new deal that skips China
Output from the Mountain Pass mine in California has typically gone to China for processing, with Japanese companies purchasing from there.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 14, 2023
We’re not even close to running out of green minerals
A U.S. Geological Survey suggests concerns over the securing of materials needed to shift to cleaner energy such as lithium, cobalt, copper and others may be overblown.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 11, 2023
U.S. seeks critical-mineral pacts with Japan and U.K. to curb China
Washington is looking to create a 'critical minerals buyers club” with allies like the EU and Group of Seven to ensure they are not reliant on China.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2023
Germany's Olaf Scholz visits South America in race with China for lithium
Nations like Germany are competing fiercely for increasingly scarce resources, and access to metals and rare earths is crucial for the transition to cleaner and more advanced economies.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 7, 2022
EV battery-makers face emissions challenge, Panasonic unit head says
Customers are now adding carbon footprints as a measurement when assessing batteries, the senior executive said.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Aug 27, 2022
China-linked bots attacking rare earths producer ‘every day’
Fake social media accounts linked to the Chinese Communist Party are targeting U.S. and Australian collaboration on critical mineral supply chains, experts say.
Japan Times
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Feb 8, 2022
The complex road to ending the dependence on Chinese rare earths
China is the global leader in rare earths mining, refining and component manufacturing, controlling about 37% of world reserves and 58% of mine production in 2020, sources show.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2022
U.S. bill would block defense contractors from using Chinese rare earths
The bipartisan legislation would force defense contractors to stop buying rare earths from China by 2026 and use the Pentagon to create a permanent stockpile of the strategic minerals.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 23, 2021
China cements rare earths dominance with merger to create new global giant
The country controls most of the world's mined output of rare earths, a broad group of 17 elements that are used in everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds
Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
Princess Aiko makes debut at imperial garden party
Princess Aiko attends an imperial garden party in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Yen inches closer to intervention point as BOJ meeting starts
The rate of the yen against the U.S. dollar is displayed in the trading room at foreign exchange brokerage Gaitame.com in Tokyo on Thursday.
For amateur sumo, a fresh start offers hope against time-wasting and gamesmanship
Wrestlers prepare for the start of a bout at the 2023 Sumo World Championships in Tokyo. Starting this month, placing one hand on the clay first is no longer allowed.
LDP veteran Nikai's youngest son expected to succeed him in Wakayama
Toshihiro Nikai, former secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, announced in March that he would not run in the next Lower House election to take responsibility for the political funds scandal that rocked his party and his own faction.
New workers name Shohei Ohtani as 'dream boss' for two years running
Shohei Ohtani has been overwhelmingly voted as the “dream boss” for people who started working in April, according to a survey.
A craft beer crawl through Tokyo’s top bars, brewpubs and dives
If all you drink is Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin, you're depriving yourself of some of the best craft beer Tokyo has to offer — and there sure is a lot of it out there.
'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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