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September 10, 2024
 

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Elizabeth Beattie
A Daiso shop in New York in September 2022. While Daiso originally entered the U.S. in 2005, it has scaled these efforts up over the past few years — the retailer now has about 120 stores across seven states.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 11, 2024
Daiso banks on ‘brand Japan’ for U.S. expansion
The discount store chain plans to open 65 stores in the U.S. in 2024, and over 100 next year.
Google's cybersecurity center in Tokyo will focus on enhancing cybersecurity policy discussions, spearheading educational initiatives, developing resources and supporting research with Japanese institutions.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 7, 2024
Google opens Asia-Pacific cybersecurity research center in Tokyo
The center's launch comes as Japan endeavors to ramp up its online security systems following major cyberattacks.
Japan's benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average surpassed the 40,000 mark for the first time on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 4, 2024
Japan's Nikkei index surpasses 40,000 points for first time
The Nikkei’s smashing of previous records is credited in part to the weakness of the yen against the dollar.
While Tokyo and Washington have maintained strong ties under U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida amid intensifying concern over China’s regional ambitions, Japanese officials are still hedging their bets by sending out feelers in the event of another term under Donald Trump.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 28, 2024
Ex-senior Trump official reassures Tokyo over possible comeback
A former deputy assistant to the ex-president swatted away concerns, saying Trump's 2024 White House bid "is a very different effort than 2016."
Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms, arrives following a break during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 27, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg meets with Kishida to discuss AI
The Meta Platforms CEO is in Japan as part of an Asia tour, during which he will also travel to South Korea and India.
A screen in Tokyo shows the level of the 225-issue Nikkei stock average after it posted an all-time closing high on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 26, 2024
Japan’s Nikkei index sets record high for second consecutive day
The Topix was also up 0.49%, closing at 2,673.62.
Flags of the Solomon Islands and China near the Tiananmen Gate in Beijing in last July
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 26, 2024
China’s expansive diplomatic network still outstrips that of U.S.
Beijing had a larger footprint last year than Washington in key areas of geopolitical interest including the Pacific, East Asia and Central Asia.
Japan's Nikkei stock average hit an all-time high during Tokyo trading Thursday, surpassing its previous record set in December 1989.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 22, 2024
Nikkei index surges past 1989's all-time high
The Nikkei index has performed strongly this year — driven up in part by the weakness of the yen against the U.S. dollar.
Daiso Industries founder Hirotake Yano
BUSINESS
Feb 20, 2024
Hirotake Yano, founder of ¥100 chain Daiso, dies at 80
The retailer capitalized on a shift in spending habits after Japan's economic bubble burst, launching Yano onto the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The exact timing of the roll out of Rakuten Mobile's commercial satellite-to-mobile service is uncertain, but the plans for coverage encompass mountainous and remote areas across Japan.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 16, 2024
Rakuten plans satellite mobile service across Japan in 2026
The service, to be rolled out in partnership with AST SpaceMobile, will be directly accessible by regular smartphones and won’t require a terminal.
Gross domestic product contracted 0.4% on an annualized basis in the October-December 2023 quarter, following a 3.3% contraction in the previous quarter.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 15, 2024
Japan loses spot as No. 3 economy after surprise GDP contraction
Analysts caution that the data is perhaps not as bad as it seems, given solid readings from other economic indicators.
Canned ready-to-drink cocktails, including Asahi Breweries' 9% Clear Cooler Strong chūhai produced in conjunction with Seven & I Holdings, at a 7-Eleven store in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Tuesday
BUSINESS
Feb 13, 2024
Asahi calls time on new strong chūhai amid low-alcohol shift in Japan
New versions of the canned fizzy cocktails with alcohol content of 8% or higher will not be launched in order to “reduce inappropriate drinking.”
A tsugumi (dusky thrush). Bird-watching increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Feb 11, 2024
How a new flock of bird-watchers is contributing to science
The hobby increasingly plays a critical role in mapping bird behaviors and paving the way for policy and conservation initiatives.
In the quest for immortality, some researchers believe mind uploading will be our ticket to an eternal existence.
PODCAST / deep dive
Feb 8, 2024
Japan’s take on immortality; problems in Palworld
As scientists and technologists attempt to tackle the problem of aging and death, we discuss Japanese ideas about immortality.
Emperors sought eternal life for centuries, but scientists believe our physical bodies have limits. That's where technologists come in.
BUSINESS / Tech / Longform
Feb 3, 2024
The digital beyond: Is an eternal existence within grasp?
Immortality has been a dream for centuries, but scientists doubt its possibility. Can technologists and coders find a virtual path instead?
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son is a longtime investor in WeWork, sticking with the company throughout its many ups and downs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024
SoftBank swoops in to rescue WeWork Japan
The development comes just four months after the troubled coworking business — once valued at $47 billion — filed for bankruptcy in the U.S.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s new factory in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, in May 2023
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 29, 2024
Can Japan again master semiconductors to relive its glory days?
Competition in the sector is fierce, with many countries pushing to develop their own capabilities and insulate supply chains from geopolitical tensions.
Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 17
BUSINESS
Jan 23, 2024
World Bank chief eyes 'bigger' institution to tackle climate crisis
Ajay Banga said the bank is working to widen the way it looks at problems and increase collaborations with other institutions.
TV screens in Osaka show news of a large earthquake hitting a wide area of the Sea of Japan coast in central Japan and subsequent tsunami warnings in the affected regions on Jan. 1.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 19, 2024
How Japan’s quake information apparatus springs into action
Lessons from 3/11 led to greater urgency in communications and centralization of information, while tech continues to shape the approach.
Books published by Tuttle Publishing on a bookshelf in Infinity Books in Tokyo's Sumida Ward on Saturday
CULTURE / Books
Jan 3, 2024
Asia publishing mainstay Tuttle rides new wave of interest in Japan
The back catalog of Tuttle, which traces its history in Japan to 1948, is in high demand, and it has even branched out to graphic novel versions of classic Asian literature.
Small Hokkaido town ranked most comfortable place to live in Japan
Asahidake in Daisetsuzan is located in the town of Higashikawa, Hokkaido, which ranked as the most comfortable municipality in 2024.
After U.S.-South Korea nuclear drills, North girds for ‘long-term’ faceoff
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits O Jin U Artillery Academy in the country on Friday.
Maestro Seiji Ozawa’s prayer for peace lives on in Hiroshima
Maestro Seiji Ozawa (center) lays flowers at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in October 2005.
Unpacking Japan’s messy leadership election
The Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race is expected to have a record number of candidates.
Panasonic ready to start making next-gen EV cells at Japan plant
Panasonic’s 4680 cylindrical lithium-ion cell
Unpacking Japan’s messy leadership election
The Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race is expected to have a record number of candidates.
‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
No talking, no eating, no standing: Inside sumo's ring purification ceremony
A sumo referee performs the dohyō matsuri, or ring purification ceremony, in January 2017 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
Demand for Calrose rice rises amid Japanese rice shortage
Shuzo Fukushi, who heads Rice Meister Kojimachi in Tokyo, shows a bag of Calrose mixed with domestic rice at his store on Thursday.
Pasocom Music Club returns to the pure pleasures of the dance floor
Pasocom Music Club’s “Love Flutter” marks an important moment for Japan’s electronic community as project members Aoi Shibata (left) and Masato Nishiyama step into a role other artists once held for them — scene veterans who are inspiring the next generation.

Podcast

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

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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