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November 09, 2025
 

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Elizabeth Beattie
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.
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.
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.
Workers walk past an underconstruction area with completed office towers in the background in Shenzhen's Qianhai new district on Aug. 25, 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 1, 2024
China's strained economy casts shadow over 2024
Last year, the economy was roiled by a real estate crisis, falling consumer confidence, deflation and the disappearance of foreign investment.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2018
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Dec 17, 2023
A made-in-Japan solution for space junk that goes against the grain
As space junk clogs Earth's orbit, a Kyoto University team has a new solution: wooden satellites.
A Chinese national flag flutters at the headquarters of a commercial bank on a financial street near the People's Bank of China in Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 6, 2023
Officials hit back after Moody’s downgrades China's credit outlook
The ratings agency downgraded its outlook from stable to negative, saying a need for bailouts could weigh on the country’s economic strength.
The Toyota buyout is a major test for Japan’s reforms
Akio Toyoda, chairman of Toyota Motor, speaks during a media preview at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 29. Minority investors are challenging the carmaker's bid to take affiliate Toyota Industries Corp. private.
New satellite images suggest 'mass graves' in Sudan's El-Fasher
A general view of a berm construction in Kinin Village near El-Fasher.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
High-speed rail is expensive and difficult, but seen as a key to growth
Achal Khare, former managing director at India’s National High Speed Rail Corporation, gives a presentation during the IHRA Forum 2025 in Tokyo on Oct. 23.
Takaichi calls for the updating of Japan's economic security law
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to a panel on promoting economic security in Japan on Friday.
These are the hottest lower-division rikishi to watch right now
Fukazaki (right) grapples with Enho at the IG Arena in Nagoya on July 13.
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
“Mother Bhumi” takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
Takaichi’s balancing act: Supporting Taiwan and stabilizing China ties
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi shakes hands with Lin Hsin-i, Taiwan’s presidential adviser, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday in this image posted to Takaichi's official X account.
From 1973 to 2025: A Japanese American skater’s long ride to recognition
Judi Oyama at Winchester Skatepark in San Jose, California, in January 1979. The Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee and Guinness World Record holder still skates and hopes to inspire older women.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo

Podcast

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

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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