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The Kestrel I Suborbital Launch Vehicle, operated by AtSpace, sister company of Taiwanese rocket startup TiSpace, at an AtSpace facility in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jul 25, 2024

Taiwanese rocket startup may bolster Japan's space hub ambitions

A planned launch has faced regulatory hurdles and delays amid questions over whether Japan should embrace overseas business as it works to grow its space industry.
Men inspect an electric car at a showroom in Riyadh in June. Although the EV market in Saudi Arabia remains small compared with the United States and China, it tripled last year to nearly 800 cars.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 25, 2024

EV adoption gathers steam in fossil fuel-rich Saudi Arabia

The kingdom's EV market tripled last year to nearly 800 cars, according to Saudi business news outlet Al-Iqtisadiyah.
While Japan’s media may influence global perceptions of robots as friendly and lovable, the near-future robots will likely not match the capabilities or roles depicted in TV show's like "Sunny."
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 25, 2024

Japan isn't the 'robotopia' Apple TV's 'Sunny' portrays

One of the reasons we still see relatively few robots doing the menial jobs is that human labor is cheap.
People who made hometown tax donations to the city of Narita in Chiba Prefecture take part in a tour on Sunday at Narita Airport in the city, which was offered as a return gift.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024

Japan's hometown tax donations top ¥1 trillion for first time

The number of people who received residence tax breaks through the system is also believed to have hit a record 10 million.
Nissan initially had an early-mover advantage when it launched the Leaf in 2010, the first electric vehicle by a major global manufacturer, but the company recently has been unable to leverage its EV edge.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2024

Nissan's global production cuts imperil CEO’s recovery plan

Nissan’s disappointing results only add to the challenges facing CEO Makoto Uchida.
With the Bank of Japan seen raising rates this year, there are heightened expectations that banks’ profitability will improve.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2024

Expectations high for Japan’s bank results to spur stock rally

Japanese lenders are set to report quarterly results that for the first time fully reflect the end of negative rates next week.
Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga falls on the field after injuring his calf on Friday against the Braves.
BASEBALL / MLB
Jul 28, 2024

Season over for Mets' Kodai Senga after single start

Senga made his season debut Friday against the visiting Atlanta Braves but lasted only 5⅓⅓ innings before being pulled with the injury.
While traditional hybrid vehicles use gas to turn the wheels, a new crop of cars are burning it exclusively to charge a large onboard battery.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 28, 2024

A new wave of electric vehicles are ready to charge at 70 mph

But while fossil fuels may be a curious catalyst for sparking EV sales, the strategy is arguably far greener than it looks.
Nicolas Maduro speaks to members of the media after casting a ballot in Caracas on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 29, 2024

Venezuela opposition rejects Maduro election win

Venezuela’s political opposition has vehemently rejected the electoral authority’s ruling that Nicolas Maduro was reelected as the nation’s president, calling on the military to intervene. The U.S. and some Latin American neighbors also raised concerns about the official result.
Ursula von der Leyen has been president of the European Commission since 2019.
WORLD / Society
Jul 29, 2024

Global backsliding on gender parity puts EU ambitions at risk

Political expediency and institutional hurdles have complicated EU efforts to meet wide-ranging gender-parity goals.
The Maersk Launcher, a ship chartered by The Metals Company, carries seabed samples from the remote Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean on June 7, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 30, 2024

The future of deep sea mining hinges on a contentious election

The vote will determine whether companies can begin strip-mining the world’s oceans for critical metals despite concerns about the impacts.
U.S. soldiers are seen during the handover ceremony for Taji military base, from U.S.-led coalition troops to Iraqi security forces, in the base north of Baghdad in 2020.
WORLD
Jul 31, 2024

U.S. conducts strike in Iraq amid deepening regional tensions

Iraqi police and medical sources said the strike inside a base south of Baghdad killed four members of a group that contains several Iran-aligned armed militias.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida rides on a self-driving bus in Taki, Mie Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 1, 2024

Japan to allow driverless cars on 25 public roads by March 2025

Level 4 driverless vehicles will also be seen traveling under specific conditions on some 10 routes after going through a shortened screening process .
Jera reported ¥93.4 billion in profit for the April-June quarter, down 48% from the year-before period.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

JERA's April-June profit halves; Taketoyo plant remains shut

The 1,070-megawatt (MW) Taketoyo power station in Aichi Prefecture has been shut since it was hit by a fire on Jan. 31.
An event that was part of a regional sumo tour in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, in April 2019.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Aug 1, 2024

Summer sumo tour may be tough for wrestlers, but it's a boon for fans

Grueling tours can be quite taxing for top pros, but they offer fans in small cities a rare chance of seeing their heroes up close.
Tokyo's Shibuya Ward offers a ticket to Shibuya Sky, an open-air observation deck at the rooftop of a high-rise building in Shibuya, as a return gift for those who made furusato nozei donations to the ward.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 2, 2024

'Furusato nozei' donations topped ¥1 trillion for first time in 2023

The city of Miyakonojo in Miyazaki Prefecture received the largest amount of donations, at ¥19.3 billion.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. A majority of the analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said this week’s rate hike by the central bank was appropriate, and nearly 70% expected the rate to be raised again by the end of this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2024

Most BOJ watchers rethink pace of hikes after Ueda’s hawkishness

Some 68% of 41 economists see the policy rate rising to 0.5% from 0.25% by the end of this year, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Digital transformation minister Taro Kono (left)
JAPAN / Society
Aug 2, 2024

Japan to digitize national qualifications processes

Individuals of certain professions will be able to obtain digital qualification certificates online by using their My Number cards.
Road signs are tilted over a road damaged by the New Year's Day earthquake in Nishiaraya, Ishikawa Prefecture. A new report, part of a long-term assessment, was swiftly drawn up in response to the 7.6-magnitude quake that struck the Noto Peninsula area, so that coastal municipalities can improve their disaster reduction measures.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 3, 2024

Government reveals 25 offshore active faults on country's Sea of Japan side

The active faults are located off the coast stretching from the northern area of Hyogo Prefecture to the Joetsu area of Niigata Prefecture.
South Korean Ambassador to Japan Yun Duk-min is interviewed in Tokyo on July 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 4, 2024

South Korea's outgoing envoy pushes for joint declaration on history recognition

Yun Duk-min reiterated that a declaration could be announced in 2025 to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral diplomatic ties.
Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori holds a news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2024

Nippon Steel raises full-year profit forecast, confident on U.S. Steel deal

Net profit in April-June, its first quarter, fell 11% from a year earlier to ¥157.6 billion, but exceeded analyst expectations of ¥108.7 billion as per LSEG data.
Freshly-caught bonito fish unloaded in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Japan's food exports to China plunged in the first half of 2024 due to Beijing's import ban on Japanese fishery products.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2024

Japan's first-half food exports fall for first time in four years

The latest result reflected China's import ban on Japanese fishery products since last summer in response to the release of treated Fukushima water.
U.S. military vehicles at the Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province, Iraq, in 2020
WORLD
Aug 6, 2024

U.S. personnel wounded in attack against base in Iraq, officials say

Two Katyusha rockets on Monday were fired at a military base in western Iraq.
Sheikh Hasina, then the prime minister of Bangladesh, in her office in Dhaka on June 11, 2023
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 6, 2024

Swift downfall of iron-fisted Sheikh Hasina marks new era in Bangladesh

Hasina saw her 15-year rule as Bangladesh’s prime minister unravel over the course of a bloody weekend that left scores of people dead.
Shujun Wang leaves the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on June 26 during his trial on charges that he acted as an agent of a foreign government. Wang, who billed himself as a scholar and a democracy activist, was convicted in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday of acting as a spy for the Chinese Communist Party.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 7, 2024

Chinese academic convicted of acting as foreign agent in U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice is cracking down on what it calls "transnational repression" by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran.
The Intel Corporation logo at a temporary office during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in 2022
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 8, 2024

How spurning OpenAI set chip giant Intel behind in the AI marketplace

OpenAI went on to launch the groundbreaking ChatGPT in 2022 and is now reportedly valued at about $80 billion.
A Hokuriku Shinkansen train runs through the city of Fukui. Three options have been presented for an extended route from the Tsuruga to Shin-Osaka stations.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024

Hokuriku Shinkansen extension to come with ballooning costs

Three options were shown for the bullet train line extension, but all were forecast to cost more than initial estimates.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks to reporters on July 3.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2024

Bank of Japan’s surprise rate rise a real head-scratcher for some analysts

Some analysts are skeptical about consumption actually being stimulated, saying that positive wage growth will not necessarily guarantee that.
The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan decides the schedule of its presidential race, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 8, 2024

CDP presidential election in September puts party future in focus

Key questions surrounding the election start with the issue of what the CDP's relationship should be with the Japanese Communist Party.
Former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba answers reporters' questions at parliament on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024

Shigeru Ishiba remains public's favorite for next LDP leader, poll shows

In the August poll, Shigeru Ishiba was backed by 18.7% of respondents, followed by former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi with 12.5%.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji