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Esquel Enterprises Chairman Marjorie Yang has been named to the board of food delivery company Meituan, the most recent high-profile firm to name its first ever female director.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2023

More mainland China holdouts add women to their all-male boards

Major Chinese firms are appointing female directors, or setting targets for diversity, ahead of a deadline set by the Hong Kong stock exchange
Manufacturing machinery and electronic components were among the biggest drags on Japan's industrial output in July.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 31, 2023

Japan output drops in July as global slowdown reverberates

Factory output declined 2% from June, the industry ministry said Thursday.
A growing array of media companies say they are blocking OpenAI's webpage-scanning tool.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2023

Fearing digital 'pillaging,' news outlets block OpenAI web bot

The New York Times, CNN, Australian broadcaster ABC and news agencies Reuters and Bloomberg have taken steps to thwart the GPTBot web crawler.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2023

Hokuriku Shinkansen to link Kanazawa with Tsuruga from next March

The fastest travel time between Tokyo and Fukui will be two hours and 51 minutes — down 36 minutes from the time required on the current shortest route.
Twitter's new X logo at the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California, on July 29
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 31, 2023

Elon Musk's X to collect biometric data, work and school history

It’s unclear how X will collect the data or how it may be used.
A coal-fired power plant in Shanghai in October 2021
BUSINESS
Aug 31, 2023

More focus on mine safety could help China’s energy security too

China has seen success in improving safety in a coal industry that killed thousands of miners every year during the 2000s, but methane remains a threat.
Suntory Beverage & Food's chief executive Makiko Ono sees Australia as a model for integrating canned alcoholic drinks into offerings in other global markets.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 31, 2023

Suntory Beverage sees Australia as model for can cocktail growth

The company is considering building a factory in Australia's northeastern city of Brisbane to produce canned drinks.
Pictured in his Kyoto kitchen, Alain Ducasse has the largest collection of Michelin stars of any chef alive — not that he puts much stock in such accolades.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 3, 2023

Alain Ducasse: ‘The Kyoto customer wants refinement’

The world’s most Michelin-starred chef sees those stars as a “reward” instead of an “objective.”
A child stands in front of the Hibiya Music Hall, which collapsed during the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 31, 2023

The earthquake that turned Tokyo to ash

This week we commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 1, 2023

Kishida attack suspect accused of attempted murder

Officers in Wakayama Prefecture believe that suspect Ryuji Kimura, 24, intended to harm the prime minister and others with his homemade explosive.
A construction site where many tall apartment buildings have been constructed in recent years, in Parramatta, Sydney
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 1, 2023

Build up, not out: The high density housing push for Australian cities

With the construction industry struggling amid elevated costs and decade-high interest rates, housing affordability has become a thorny political issue.
An Airbus A350 XWB passenger aircraft on the final assembly line at the Airbus factory in Toulouse, France
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2023

Fake spare parts were supplied to fix top-selling jet engine

The spread of undocumented or potentially faked parts into the engine supply chain is rare and treated with utmost urgency in the industry.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 1, 2023

China banned seafood from Japan. Some tourists are eating it in Tokyo.

Travelers from China seem largely unfazed despite the ban, with many local seafood restaurants seeing little impact so far.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Sep 1, 2023

Extended gasoline subsidy risks harming Japan's net-zero efforts

The politically tricky decision on ending the program could hamper the shift to EVs and efforts to reach climate change goals.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng meet in Beijing on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 1, 2023

U.S.-China 'de-risking' will face stress test in election season

While Democrats favor de-risking, Republicans are firmly in the decoupling camp and are attacking Biden's China policy for being too meek.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 1, 2023

Rapidus breaks ground on key Hokkaido chip factory

Rapidus aims to position itself as a prominent worldwide supplier of cutting-edge 2-nanometer-wide semiconductors.
BUSINESS
Aug 30, 2023

3M to pay $6 billion to settle military earplug lawsuits

The company will pay $5 billion in cash and $1 billion in 3M common stock under the terms of the agreement
Construction workers repair a street during a heat wave in Corpus Christi, Texas, in July.
BUSINESS
Sep 1, 2023

Startups are inventing cooling clothes for a hotter future

With 2023 on track to be the hottest year on record, a number of startups are exploring new technologies and textiles for keeping people cool.
A clothing packaging warehouse near Barcelona last month
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 1, 2023

Fast fashion firms prepare for EU crackdown on waste mountain

Fast fashion, or making and selling cheap clothes with a short lifespan, is "highly unsustainable," the European Commission said in July.
Japan's economic output ran above full capacity in April-June for the first time in nearly four years, a government estimate showed, suggesting that conditions for ending its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023

Japan's economic output runs above capacity in signal for BOJ

The data suggests that conditions for Japan to end its policy of ultralow interest rates could be falling into place.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen on a screen during a video address for the Global Trade in Services Summit, at the media center for the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 2, 2023

The U.S., allies see opportunity and risk in slowing China economy

The U.S. and other G7 nations increasingly see evidence of deep-seated structural problems that ultimately will strengthen the West’s hand.
India's ambitious space program blasted off Saturday on a four-month voyage to the center of the solar system, a week after the country's successful unmanned moon landing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Sep 3, 2023

After moon landing, India launches rocket to study the sun

A week after a historic moon landing, India aims to expand its space presence with a solar probe that will study solar winds and their earthly impact.
A Japanese junior high school student stares off into space while in the classroom. If your child is distracted or preoccupied during lessons, it may be time to speak with their teacher.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 3, 2023

School is back. Is it time to have a word with the teacher?

It’s important to know how to speak to your child’s homeroom teacher at school so you can keep an eye on how they are doing.
Twitter owner Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference in Paris in June.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2023

X community notes: Weapon against fake news or free speech?

Despite being touted by Elon Musk as the way to police Twitter, experts remain unimpressed, citing opportunities for abuse.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 3, 2023

Russia's Medvedev: Japan's 'militarization' complicates Asia-Pacific

Relations between Russia and Japan have been marked by a territorial disputes over a handful of small islands off Hokkaido.
The Port of Los Angeles. AI tools are helping many organizations simplify trade-data analysis in ways that may help smooth cross-border commerce.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 3, 2023

AI fused with trade data may smooth clunky supply chains

Technology may soon sort through hundreds of millions of shipment records and error-prone datasets in a fraction of the time it takes today.
Workers unload coal from a supply truck at a yard on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 4, 2023

India steps up coal use amid unusually dry weather

The driest August in more than a century has resulted in power generation surging to a record 162.7 billion kilowatt hours.
Silicon Valley's AI tycoons believe discussions on AI's current carbon footprint underplay its revolutionary potential.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 4, 2023

Tech's carbon footprint: Can AI revolutionize responsibly?

Across the globe, data servers are consuming precious natural resources for the digital world, raising the question: can AI revolutionize responsibly?
Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrives for the Group of 20 leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, last November. Xi is set to skip this year's G20 summit in India, marking a major shift in how he operates.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 4, 2023

Xi’s G20 snub marks shift from statesman to China ‘emperor’

Chinese leader eyes different approach to diplomacy, reinforcing investor concerns that Beijing is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Buildings in Guangzhou, China. Aside from short-term solutions, economists see three options for China to restructure its economy.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Sep 4, 2023

Part of China's economic miracle was a mirage. Reality check is next.

While many analysts see a slow drift towards Japan-style stagnation as the most likely outcome, there is also the prospect of a more severe crunch.

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami