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The European Commission informed Google parent Alphabet in a "preliminary view" that its search engine treated its own services more favorably compared to rivals.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 20, 2025

EU skewers Google and Apple over tech rules — despite Trump threats

The moves risk opening up a new front in the already fraught relationship between the EU and U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, at the White House on Feb. 24. American conservatives want Europe to take on more military responsibility but often scorn its structure, making France the strongest candidate for leadership.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2025

Why U.S. conservatives should fall in love with France

For American conservatives who sincerely want a capable Europe, just supporting European populism is not enough.
A CPC Corporation logo in Taipei. The energy giant on Thursday signed a letter of intent to buy liquefied natural gas from the U.S. state of Alaska, government officials said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 21, 2025

Taiwan signals intent to buy Alaskan natural gas

Alaskan natural gas "can meet our needs and ensure our energy security," said Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
The ignition button of a Hon Hai Precision Industry Foxtron Model N electric vehicle
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2025

Hon Hai gets first major EV-making client in Mitsubishi Motors

It is unclear when production will actually start, but the first cars to roll off the assembly line would target Australia and New Zealand.
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025

Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year

The average wage increase is key for the central bank, which is counting on steady raises as it ends a decadeslong experiment in ultraloose monetary policy.
Novelist Genki Kawamura wrote in the dedication to his “One Hundred Flowers” novel that his grandmother’s memories “bloomed like a hundred flowers” at the close of her life.
CULTURE / Books
Mar 22, 2025

'One Hundred Flowers': A moving exploration of loss, love and living with dementia

Author Genki Kawamura drew inspiration from his grandmother's experiences to thoughtfully portray a woman suffering from dementia in his novel.
Climate change mitigation demands collective action from all levels of society, not just billionaires with private jets, as systemic change is necessary for meaningful progress.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2025

Billionaire’s private jet angst won’t save the world

Data center emissions in the U.S. already rival those of the domestic airline industry and are growing far quicker.
Eddie Kato, president and managing director of Astroscale Japan, at the company's office in Tokyo in February
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2025

Japan's space debris firm Astroscale to tie up with Indian companies

India has opened the country's space sector to private players beyond the state-owned Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered major ad firm Tokyu Agency to pay a fine of ¥200 million for bid-rigging over the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2025

Tokyu Agency fined ¥200 million in Tokyo Games bid-rigging case

In the same case, former Tokyu Agency director Mitsuo Yasuda, 62, was given a prison sentence of one year and six months, suspended for three years.
U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 22, 2025

Trump rejects idea that Musk should have access to top-secret China war plans

The U.S. president also denied a report that such a briefing had been planned to be held at the Pentagon on Friday.
A passenger plane makes its landing approach to Heathrow International Airport on Saturday.
WORLD
Mar 22, 2025

Travel disruptions linger as flights resume at London’s Heathrow

Heathrow Airport in London, one of the world’s busiest air hubs, resumed full operations Saturday.
A kitchenware recycling team collects equipment at a closed hotpot restaurant in Beijing last month.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 22, 2025

China's restaurants race to the bottom in deflation-hit economy

A restaurant in China has an average lifespan of just about 500 days, analysts say, falling to as low as a year in Beijing.
Demonstrators hold signs near the White House as they protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2017.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 22, 2025

What the $660 million Greenpeace verdict means for U.S. activism

Legal experts warn the decision could significantly deter other environmental groups from protesting oil and gas companies around the U.S.
One of Vladimir Putin’s key conditions for ending the Ukraine conflict is a “complete cessation” of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv — in other words, stripping it naked of any ability to resist.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 23, 2025

I don’t believe a single word Trump and Putin say about Ukraine

One of Putin’s key conditions for ending the conflict: Cut all foreign aid and leave Ukraine defenseless.
Fukui Gov. Tatsuji Sugimoto has approved Kansai Electric Power's revised road map for shipping spent nuclear fuel from aging reactors in the prefecture.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025

Fukui's governor allows three aging reactors to continue operations

All three reactors have been in operation for more than 40 years.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura experiences an evolved version of the "human washing machine" during a media preview of the Osaka Expo's Healthcare Pavilion on Sunday.
JAPAN
Mar 25, 2025

Expo Healthcare Pavilion displays iPS tech and 'human washing machine'

A preview ceremony was held Sunday for the Osaka Healthcare Pavilion to be run by the prefecture and city of Osaka at the 2025 World Exposition, which begins next month in the city.
Katsunori Tanaka, an ex-Goldman Sachs analyst who now heads hedge fund Ariake Capital, is betting big on Japan's smaller regional banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025

Ex-Goldman analyst’s hedge fund reaps 300% returns on small Japan banks

Katsunori Tanaka spent years at Goldman Sachs scrutinizing Japan’s biggest banks. Now at Ariake Capital, he obsesses over much smaller regional lenders.
Pigeons — and their droppings — can be extremely difficult to manage once they settle in.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Mar 25, 2025

A new year, a new home and new unexpected guests: pigeons

They might seem harmless at first, but their droppings pose serious health risks to humans and the birds can be extremely difficult to manage once they settle in.
The BYD logo is displayed at the Beijing Auto Show on April 25, 2024. The Chinese battery and carmaker saw a surge in revenue last year, a stock filing showed on Monday, surpassing the $100 billion mark and beating rival Tesla as the Shenzhen-based firm accelerates its overseas expansion.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 25, 2025

BYD sales top Tesla as tech focus wins over Chinese drivers

BYD has risen quickly to the top of China’s car market — the world’s biggest and most competitive for electric vehicles.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waits for a session of the House of Councillors Budget Committee to begin at the Diet in Tokyo on March 14.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 25, 2025

Parties still at odds over corporate donations as deadline for agreement looms

The prospect of reaching a decision on whether to ban, restrict or continue to accept donations by the end of the month appears slim.
Sixteen-year-old Jun’s (Katsuya Kobayashi) life spirals downward after his refusal to stand and sing the national anthem is misconstrued as a political statement in “Boy.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2025

‘Boy’: An ambitious portrait of alienated youth

Director Yuji Dan brings a decades-old project to a close with his portrayal of a young man coming of age amid turmoil in the late 1990s.
Masuo Fukuda, head of Citigroup’s investment banking business in Tokyo, says the hiring in Tokyo started in December targeting various levels of bankers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

Citigroup hiring dealmakers in Japan with fee pool seen reviving

The Wall Street firm is expanding its investment banking team in Japan as it bets the country’s deal fee pool will finally rebound.
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's CK Hutchison has entered into a deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to sell ports in Panama and elsewhere, putting his conglomerate’s flagship entity in the crosshairs of U.S.-China tensions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2025

China pauses new deals with Li Ka-Shing family after Panama ports plan

The directive was issued to state-owned enterprises last week at the behest of senior Chinese officials.
A survey of 12,817 companies by Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute found that only 51% committed to base wage hikes, the think tank announced on Thursday.
BUSINESS
Mar 27, 2025

Japan’s wage growth isn’t as rosy as Rengo’s data indicate

The broader picture for pay trends may not be as rosy as the union group expects, according to one think tank.
The interior of a Sindbad submarine vessel at sea off Hurghada, Egypt, in August 2024, in this still image obtained from video.
WORLD
Mar 28, 2025

Tourist submarine sinks in Red Sea off Egypt, leaving six people dead

The Red Sea Governorate said the submarine, named Sindbad, had 50 people onboard.
While car production helped transform Germany, Italy and France after World War II, its influence in East Asia has been even more profound.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Mar 28, 2025

U.S. auto tariffs take aim at pillar of East Asian economies

Automakers form the nucleus of vast networks of group companies that impact almost every facet of working life in Japan and South Korea.
China's female gamers are finding the male leads of Love and Deepspace more enticing than real-life partners.
LIFE / Digital
Mar 29, 2025

'Better than real life': In China, virtual boyfriends are emotional aids

For many, virtual companions offer more than entertainment — they provide emotional fulfilment.
Brooklyn Kura's Catskills, a "junmai daiginjō" (sake with rice polished down to at least 50%), is made with water from the New York region of the same name.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Mar 28, 2025

New York's Brooklyn Kura becomes first U.S. sake exporter to Japan

The brewer’s initial exports are “relatively small,” but it hopes drinkers in Japan are "open to trying" American-made sake.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (above) and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance plan to merge in April 2027.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2025

Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance to merge with Aioi Nissay Dowa

The merger will create the biggest nonlife insurer in Japan, overtaking current industry leader Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said fees for average households that use 260 kilowatt-hours of power per month will increase by ¥436 from March to ¥9,031 next month.
JAPAN
Mar 29, 2025

Japan household electricity bills to rise in April

Fees for the average household will go up by between ¥385 and ¥465 in April, due mainly to the end of government subsidies to curb inflation.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight