Masayoshi Son, long known as a free-spending benefactor who encouraged startup founders to pursue their dreams even if it meant losing billions of dollars, had a different message for entrepreneurs last month: Your dreams had better be profitable. The chief executive officer of SoftBank Group ...

Kizuna Ai, the most popular streamer in Japan, is an anatomically exaggerated, perpetually adolescent girl in frilly thigh-high socks and a pink hair ribbon. She's also an entirely virtual character, given life by the actions and voice of an invisible actress. In the home of ...

Chipmakers have spent two decades pouring investment into a revolutionary new technique to push the limits of physics and cram more transistors onto slices of silicon. Now that technology is on the cusp of going mainstream, thanks to a secretive Japanese company that's mastered ...

When Japan decided to pick a fight with South Korea last month, it dug deep into the supply chain to impose sanctions on three obscure materials made by a handful of Japanese companies few have ever heard of. The most powerful weapon in Tokyo's campaign ...

Uber Technologies Inc.'s strategy for Japan, where ride-sharing is banned, is as unique as the country itself — think grandma in running shoes delivering ramen noodles. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi was in Japan last week to stress the importance of the market, where the ...

Less than a decade after stunning workers at his tech giant with an edict to learn English, billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani wants to do the same with computer programming. Rakuten Inc. may soon expect its more than 17,000 employees to know how a computer compiles a ...

After two decades in development, chipmakers are making a costly bet on a technology that will cram even more transistors onto silicon. Their success may hinge on a little-known company in Yokohama. Lasertec Corp. is the world's sole maker of equipment that tests glass squares ...

Line Corp. is betting that tie-ups with Japan's biggest financial institutions will help convince its 78 million users to entrust the free texting app with their money. The operator of Japan's most popular messaging platform plans to introduce the Line Securities equities trading service jointly ...

The surprise arrest of Huawei Technologies Co.'s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is about to impact one of the Chinese company's suppliers in Japan. Yaskawa Electric Corp., which supplies industrial robots for Huawei's smartphone and telecom gear factories, saw all orders for its machines put ...

Panasonic Corp. has carefully cultivated a culture befitting its 100-year history, with many employees starting the day doing calisthenics and singing the corporate anthem. Now, Yasuyuki Higuchi is supposed to shake up those traditions. Higuchi, 60, last year took charge of the connected solutions business, ...