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A monitor shows Tokyo Metro's opening price on Wednesday morning in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 23, 2024

Tokyo Metro shares surge in trading debut after strong IPO

Proceeds from the IPO will redeem reconstruction bonds issued after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan that killed 18,000 people.
The Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2024

Three Mile Island nuclear plant gears up for Big Tech reboot

Giant cooling towers at the plant have sat dormant for so long that grass has sprung up in the towers' hollowed-out bases and wildlife roam inside.
Trump has threatened blanket 60% tariffs on China, forcing some companies to consider shifting their supply chains to Southeast Asia.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2024

China's exporters run for cover as U.S. election nears

A Trump trade war 2.0 would be a moment of reckoning for many Chinese exporters, whose profits are dwindling under heavy deflationary pressure.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin at an official welcoming ceremony at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2024

BRICS summit shows a ‘multipolar world’ is emerging, Putin says

Some members that include India, South Africa and the UAE oppose any perception of BRICS as an anti-U.S. body.
Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen talks to teammates at the starting grid at the Formula 1 Pirelli United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 20.
MORE SPORTS
Oct 25, 2024

Verstappen carries momentum back to a favorite track

Max Verstappen arrives at the high-altitude Hermanos Rodriguez circuit 57 points clear of McLaren's Lando Norris with five rounds remaining.
Nanako Fujita competes during a race in 2019. The recent news of Fujita quitting after her suspension for breaking horse racing's strict phone rules shows that bad habits related to smartphone use don't discriminate.
MORE SPORTS / Horse Racing
Oct 25, 2024

Horse racing in Japan has a smartphone problem

Nanako Fujita's recent retirement over breaches of smartphone rules put a spotlight on a big issue for horse racing in Japan.
The yen has resumed its declines recently against the dollar on expectations that the U.S.-Japan interest rate divergence will remain wide, posing a headache for authorities who fret of the hit to households from rising import costs from a weak yen.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 26, 2024

IMF sees weak yen as beneficial for Japan's economy

The IMF's Japan mission chief also urged Japan to raise rates at a gradual pace and compile supplementary budgets only when a big shock hits the economy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is also LDP president, dissolved the Lower House only eight days after assuming office on Oct. 1
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 27, 2024

Why Ishiba’s strategy of a surprise battle backfired

His dissolution of the Lower House only eight days after assuming office and backtracking on previously touted policies left voters with little to base votes on.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Chisato Morishita bows to reporters on Sunday in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, after she was projected to win a seat in the Lower House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 28, 2024

Record number of women elected to Japan's Lower House

A total of 73 female candidates won seats in Sunday’s general election, making up about 16% of the membership of the chamber of parliament.
Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 28, 2024

Meet the tiny, but mighty, Shohei Ohtani impersonator who went to 500 MLB games

Japanese comedian and Shohei Ohtani impersonator Aki Teriyaki has been to every MLB game Ohtani's teams have played since 2022.
(Right to left) Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze attend a see-off ceremony before taking part in the Shenzhou-19 spaceflight mission to China's Tiangong space station, at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Oct 30, 2024

Chinese astronauts to test lunar bricks in space

Should the tests prove successful, the bricks could be a key material used in the construction of a permanent lunar research station.
New cars, among them new China-built electric vehicles of the company BYD, are seen parked in the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 30, 2024

EU slaps tariffs on Chinese EVs, risking Beijing backlash

The European Union has decided to increase tariffs on Chinese-built electric vehicles to as much as 45.3%.
Ukrainian service members rest in a dugout near the front-line city of Toretsk, Ukraine, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 30, 2024

As U.S. election nears, Europe worries over impact on Ukraine war and NATO

A Donald Trump win remains a concern given his strong criticism of the military alliance and his ambivalent view of Kyiv's fight against Russia's invasion.
A Google logo at the firm's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California, on Aug. 13
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 30, 2024

Alphabet's AI investments boost cloud sales and lift maturing ad business

Alphabet shares rose nearly 6% in after-market trading on Tuesday.
The Miyagi Prefectural Government Building in Sendai. The prefecture plans to expand the option for a four-day workweek to all prefectural employees from fiscal 2026.
JAPAN
Oct 30, 2024

Miyagi Prefecture to introduce four-day workweek for all employees

The program aims to reduce rising turnover and attract more applicants to government roles in Miyagi, the prefecture said.
The price of gold offered by Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo rose ¥173 from Tuesday to ¥15,104 per gram, including tax.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 30, 2024

Gold prices in Japan top ¥15,000 per gram for the first time

Concerns about political uncertainty following next week's U.S. presidential election is another reason for people to buy gold.
Maruti Suzuki, which is majority-owned by Suzuki Motor, will begin production of a new EV from spring 2025 at its plant in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 30, 2024

Toyota to get Suzuki's first-ever EV as partnership expands

Maruti Suzuki, which is majority-owned by Suzuki, will begin production of the EV from spring 2025 in Gujarat, India.
Rene Redzepi unveils his future for Noma as well as the MAD Symposium, an event 'to create a lasting generational foundation and structure that ensures that we stay creative and impactful for a lifetime.'
LIFE / Food & Drink
Nov 1, 2024

After Kyoto residency, Rene Redzepi says 'Noma will exist as a pop-up'

"You go there to feel something but then you can’t feel it again — it’s gone," Redzepi says. "I’m excited for the restaurant to operate like that.”
Democratic Party for the People Secretary-General Kazuya Shimba (left) and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama meet in the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 31, 2024

LDP and DPP inch closer together on economic policy cooperation

If their arrangement is successful, it would mean a majority of parliamentary votes for issues especially important to the DPP.
With the next prime minister needing to be selected soon after the recent election, there are questions about whether the Democratic Party For the People and Nippon Ishin no Kai will support Shigeru Ishiba in his bid to remain Japan’s leader.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 31, 2024

Ishiba's future in question as support from allies wavers

The question now is whether the DPP and Ishin will support the LDP nominee to ensure victory, or if they will nominate their own candidates.
Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2024

Japan cuts growth forecast again for current fiscal year on weak exports

In its revised estimates, the Cabinet Office cut its inflation-adjusted GDP growth forecast for the year ending in March 2025 to 0.7% from 0.9% projected in July.
A staff member transfers baggage into a Cathay Pacific flight for departure at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture in September.
JAPAN
Nov 2, 2024

The Japanese airport that says it never loses a bag

Kansai International Airport was ranked the World's Best Airport for Baggage Delivery by U.K.-based airport rating organization SKYTRAX in April.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole pitches against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series on Oct. 25.
BASEBALL / MLB
Nov 3, 2024

Yankees' Gerrit Cole opts out of contract

Cole, 34, opted out less than a week after losing the World Series-clinching Game 5 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As the European Commission prepares to make decisions on Google’s practices by the end of 2024, there is hope for a collaborative approach with U.S. regulators to create meaningful structural reforms.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2024

Google’s breakup needs an international tag team

There’s a growing consensus among regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to redefine antitrust harm beyond just pricing issues.
Members of the Lower House panel on the Constitution discuss issues related to constitutional amendments in June.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 5, 2024

Push for constitutional amendments in Japan wanes after election

The number of Lower House seats held by the parties positive toward constitutional amendments fell short of the 310 needed to put them up for a national referendum.
International Boxing Association president Umar Kremlev in New Delhi in March 2023
MORE SPORTS
Nov 5, 2024

French boxing quits international body to keep its fighters at Olympics

The International Boxing Association is involved in a brawl with the International Olympic Committee.
Japan controlled half or more of the global chips market through the 1980s but has less than a tenth of the market today.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 5, 2024

Japan taps U.S. chip startup Tenstorrent to help train new wave of engineers

The contract is part of Japan's effort to reinvigorate its semiconductor industry.
While economic sanctions have not caused Russia’s economy to collapse as some had hoped, they have imposed significant costs on Vladimir Putin's government and his war aims.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2024

Punishing Putin is more important than ever

In reality, the-Russian-sanctions-aren’t-working-why-bother argument is straight out Putin’s propaganda playbook.
There will be considerable consistency in U.S. policy regardless of who wins the presidential election, however, and, unfortunately, many of them will trouble allies and partners.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 5, 2024

Regardless of election results, U.S. foreign policy is sure to trouble allies

“Strategic competition between the United States and China is poised to intensify no matter who assumes the U.S. presidency in January 2025.”
Kioxia, formerly Toshiba Memory, had planned to begin production at the fab last year but has delayed that to autumn 2025.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 5, 2024

Kioxia sees flash memory demand almost tripling by 2028

The chipmaker, which was hammered by a downturn in the market for memory chips, is readying a major capacity expansion at its new fab.

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