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May 09, 2024
 

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Elizabeth Beattie
Li Keqiang, former Chinese premier and head of China's Cabinet, served under President Xi Jinping for a decade from 2013, retiring in March.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 27, 2023
Li Keqiang, the former No. 2 to Xi Jinping, dies at 68
The former Chinese premier had found himself overshadowed by Xi's expanding grip on power.
A banner at the entrance to Shibuya’s Center Street makes it clear this is no place for a party.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 26, 2023
The specter of Itaewon has Shibuya spooked
One year on, Elizabeth Beattie joins us to discuss where Itaewon stands after its Halloween disaster, and what its legacy means for celebrations in Japan.
SkyDrive displays its eVTOL flying car at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2023
Japan’s largest auto show returns with focus on mobility
The organizer has renamed the event for the first time since 1964, with the Japan Mobility Show replacing the Tokyo Motor Show.
A pedestrian walks past an electronic signboard showing data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and on the Japanese yen after the currency rebounded slightly after hitting ¥150 to the U.S. dollar in overnight trading, along a street in central Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2023
Germany set to eclipse Japan as No. 3 economy in 2023, IMF says
The yen’s widely watched depreciation has played an outsized role in its projected slide in position.
Elon Musk, owner of the X social media platform and carmaker Tesla, attends the opening ceremony of a new Tesla factory in Gruenheide, Germany, in March 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 18, 2023
X unveils ‘Not a Bot’ paid program and new Japan feature
The new “Not A Bot” subscription method is Elon Musk’s latest way of nudging users toward paying for the platform.
Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is allowing child sexual exploitation material to rampantly proliferate, according to Australian regulators, the latest in a growing list of legal challenges the company is facing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023
Australian regulators latest in series of legal woes for Musk's X
X is allowing child sexual exploitation material to rampantly proliferate across the platform, according to Australian regulators.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of social media site X, attends the Viva Technology conference in Paris in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 11, 2023
EU warns Musk over 'illegal' disinformation on X after Israel attack
Everything from video game and movie clips to old images of conflicts are being used to push false narratives across Elon Musk's platform.
Dendrobium orchids — highly sought after due to their use in traditional Chinese medicine — growing in the wild in Nepal.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Oct 8, 2023
The orchid obsession: How science and smuggling meet in a global trade
Love of the flowers has a dark side, with the desire for rare varieties underpinning a robust illegal trade believed to have wiped out entire species.
Japan’s currency reached ¥150.16 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday in New York trading, its weakest value since October 2022. Then, within seconds, it rebounded to ¥147.43 per dollar.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 4, 2023
Yen rebounds from ¥150 to dollar as Japan mum on intervention
The yen quickly strengthened to ¥147.30 against the dollar, with its swift recovery sparking chatter that a quiet intervention had occurred.
Johnny & Associates' outgoing head Julie Keiko Fujishima and its new chief, Noriyuki Higashiyama, bow to express their apology during a news conference in Tokyo last month.
BUSINESS
Oct 1, 2023
Johnny's looks toward a revamp as it seeks to salvage tarnished brand
Recent attempts to distance the agency from the long shadow of its namesake have been met with public backlash.
BlackTech, a Chinese government-linked group that has been active since 2010, breached company headquarters through the infiltration of international subsidiaries, according to Japanese and U.S. security agencies.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 28, 2023
Japan and U.S. warn of corporate hacking by China-linked group
BlackTech, a group that has been active since 2010, was said to have targeted a variety of sectors including technology and telecommunications.
ASML is the world’s only maker of very high-end semiconductor lithography equipment and is one of Europe’s most valuable technology companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 27, 2023
ASML to open Hokkaido facility as Japan's chipmaking push gathers steam
The maker of high-end chip equipment, which currently has eight sites in Japan, plans to grow its headcount by around 40%.
Mitsubishi Chemical’s plan for a new semiconductor materials plant comes as the government makes investments in the domestic sector.
BUSINESS
Sep 25, 2023
Mitsubishi Chemical to open new semiconductor materials plant
Details on when or where it will be built or how much it will cost have not been decided, but Fukuoka Prefecture is reportedly a candidate location.
Burnt olive groves following a wildfire in the village of Dikella, west of Alexandroupolis, Greece, on Aug. 29. Nature-based investment aims to back projects that tackle land degradation, rectify biodiversity loss and combat climate change.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 22, 2023
Japan an outlier as interest in nature-based investment grows
Such investments aim to back projects that tackle land degradation, rectify biodiversity loss and combat climate change.
Cinema staff prepare servings of popcorn during an "all you can eat popcorn for 199 baht" campaign in front of a cinema inside a department store in Bangkok in November 2022.
BUSINESS
Sep 21, 2023
Southeast Asia cinema chains thrive as other markets struggle
Local box office records are being set, filmmaking grants are being unveiled and large cinema chains are shifting into expansion mode.
Attendees view "Lizard and Cigarette" by He Xiangyu during Art Basel in Hong Kong in March.
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2023
Pace Gallery's Marc Glimcher surveys an Asian art scene in flux
The art market in Asia is growing increasingly competitive, with a new space in Tokyo for the New York-headquartered gallery adding to that dynamic.
A rendering of the planned Pace Gallery, scheduled to open in the first half of 2024, at the Azabudai Hills complex in central Tokyo
CULTURE / Art
Sep 5, 2023
New York’s Pace Gallery plans Tokyo expansion in 2024
The move comes as Japan looks to more seriously position itself as an art market hub, with officials seeking to capitalize on Tokyo’s cultural cache.
Workers unload sacks of onions from a truck at a wholesale market in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, on April 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 4, 2023
How these grocery staples became emblems of inflation in Asia
From war to disease to the effects of climate change, global food prices have been shaken by various factors in recent years.
A woman stands on one side of the wall texting in front of a nightclub while, on the other side of the wall, a man works in an izakaya.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 24, 2023
One night out in Tokyo
As the last trains leave the central hubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya for the suburbs, much of the city heads home. However, Tokyo never sleeps.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Feb. 27.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 18, 2023
Starlink lifts off in Asia as satellite internet race heats up
Elon Musk's company has carved out a niche and an opportunity through the region's natural disasters and the vast sweep of its archipelagoes and islands.
Tokuryū, a new crime menace in Japan, emerges from the shadows
The National Police Agency coined the term "tokuryū" to classify individuals involved in dark part time jobs and quasi-gangsters, using the words "tokumei" (anonymous) and "ryūdo" (fluid) to reflect their characteristics.
Thanks, tourists. Views of Mount Fuji are now blocked.
Tourists pose in front of a convenience store with Mount Fuji on Friday in the town of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Local residents are upset over littering, overcrowding and the inconvenience caused by the visitors.
Is Modi’s party heading for a stunning election loss?
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign tactics have escalated, including anti-Muslim rhetoric and fearmongering, reflecting his ruling party's desperation.
Two more arrested over brutal murder of couple in Tochigi
A vehicle carrying Seiha Sekine, the 32-year-old common-law husband of the deceased Tokyo couple's first daughter, leaves a police station in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward on Tuesday.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Stormy seas ahead as Beijing and Manila trade barbs over secret deal
Philippine Marines wave to Philippine Navy personnel and the media during a resupply mission at their military outpost, the BRP Sierra Madre, a warship run aground in the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, in the South China Sea, in March 2014.
Unlike 10 years ago, Japan's new security bill sparks little debate
The Lower House starts discussing a security clearance bill on April 19 in Tokyo.
After blockbuster boxing victory, what next for ‘Monster’ Inoue?
Naoya Inoue celebrates his victory over Luis Nery in their IBF-WBA-WBC-WBO super bantamweight title boxing match at Tokyo Dome on Monday.
Xi bristles as Macron and von der Leyen urge China to do more on Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen walk after their meeting in Paris on Monday.
How a Japanese scientist is turning the climate crisis into music
A screencap of a performance of Hiroto Nagai's “String Quartet No. 1 ‘Polar Energy Budget’” by the PRT Quartet

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

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view
Cultural properties:A Fujiya Hotel insider’s view

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