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Locally caught seafood at the Hamanoeki Fish Market and Food Court in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Aug. 31
BUSINESS
Oct 18, 2023

China's fish imports from Japan fall to zero in September

The result followed a 33% decline in July from a year before and a 70% drop in August.
Rep. Jim Jordan after a vote for House speaker on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
Oct 19, 2023

Jordan defeated again for speaker as Republican stalemate deepens

The hard-line Republican from Ohio lost a second bid for speaker after running headlong into opposition from a group of mainstream GOP holdouts.
Japan has doubled its target for the installation of electric vehicle charging outlets to 300,000 outlets by 2030.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 19, 2023

Industry ministry doubles target for EV charger installments

The aim is to accelerate installments so that Japan can achieve its target of having electrified vehicles account for 100% of its new car sales by 2035.
Japan's exports rose more than expected in September, led by shipments of cars and medical supplies.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 19, 2023

Japan exports rise more than expected in support for recovery

The value of exports gained 4.3% from a year earlier, led by shipments of cars and medical supplies in the first overall rise in three months.
Jobseekers attend a Business and IT Career Fair at Cape Fear Community College in Castle Hayne, North Carolina, on Sept. 20.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2023

Biased bots? U.S. lawmakers take on 'Wild West' of AI recruitment

Around 85% of large U.S. employers now use some form of automated tool or AI to screen or rank candidates for hire, according to recent surveys.
Various aspects of Japan’s Sado Island — noh, taiko drumming, business investment and cultural regeneration projects — weave their way into “L’ile d’Or Kanemu-Jima,” with characters and cultures coming together in a melting pot of real-world political problems, theater styles and dark humor.
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 20, 2023

Cultures collide in Ariane Mnouchkine's Sado Island-inspired play

The Kyoto Prize-winning French theater director's latest production, "L’ile d’Or Kanemu-Jima," draws from her experiences in Japan, both old and new.
An AI-generated model is featured in Ito En's latest green tea brand commercial.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2023

Beverage company Ito En taps AI actress for TV commercial

The commercial is receiving mixed reviews from netizens, with some praising the quality of the tech while others worry about job loss.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 19, 2023

Japan's largest labor group aims for wage hikes of 5% or more

Rengo will finalize its stance in December ahead of next year's wage negotiations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Wednesday
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

Europe’s snub turns Xi’s Belt and Road into Global South party

The Chinese leader appears to have reformed the initiative as a club for emerging economies known as the Global South.
Air conditioners on display during an event in Guangzhou
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Oct 20, 2023

Countries asked to slash cooling emissions by 68% by 2050

The Global Cooling Pledge represents a tough request given the cooling industry is only expected to grow.
People react during the funeral of a Palestinian who was killed by Israeli forces, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

West Bank a possible 'third front' for Israel

More than 70 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since Oct. 7 and Israel has arrested more than 800 people.
Fruit and vegetables for sale at the entrance to a supermarket in a shopping precinct in Tokyo on Oct. 7.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 20, 2023

Japan's core inflation slows below 3% for first time in over a year

The rate has tracked above the Bank of Japan's 2% target for 18 straight months.
A deal between Mitsubishi Electric and Australia’s Department of Defence taps the company’s know-how in electronic and optical systems.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 20, 2023

In industry first, Mitsubishi Electric secures defense deal with Australia

The deal taps the company’s know-how in electronic and optical systems.
The Bank of Japan intervened in the Japanese government bond (JGB) market on Friday for the fifth time this month after the 10-year yield rose to a fresh decade high.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 20, 2023

Bank of Japan intervenes as 10-year JGB yield hits fresh decade peak

The benchmark JGB yield climbed to 0.845% right at the start of the trading day, its highest since July 2013, after revisiting peaks the previous day.
Delegates arrive for the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum to mark the initiatives 10th anniversary in Beijing on Wednesday.
EDITORIALS
Oct 20, 2023

China aims to remake the world with its Belt and Road initiative

Infrastructure is key to the success of the developing world and the failure to help emerging economies meet this vital need will rightly tar the West.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 20, 2023

Transport ministry moves to punish Bigmotor outlets over fraud

Violations by the used car chain have included overcharging customers for inspection and maintenance fees.
Valdis Dombrovskis, trade commissioner for the European Union, at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Marrakesh, Morocco, on Oct. 13.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 21, 2023

EU says lack of U.S. clarity on tariffs sank trade announcement

Valdis Dombrovskis, an executive VP at the European Commission, said the U.S. had previously agreed to work toward removing the measures.
People demonstrate against the government on Nov. 5, 2022, after nearly 160 people died in a crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district on Halloween that year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Oct 21, 2023

Little punishment or change after South Korea’s Halloween calamity

Families of the 159 people crushed to death last year say the government has never acknowledged its mistakes or accepted responsibility.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly during an event in Ottawa on Wednesday.
WORLD
Oct 21, 2023

Trudeau says many countries worried after India ousts Canada envoys

The diplomatic row is the latest escalation since Trudeau accused India of helping to orchestrate the killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
AI software is being used to detect cognitive decline in older Japanese drivers in order to help prevent accidents.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 22, 2023

AI startup helps insurers spot cognitive decline in elderly drivers

Once reliant on a driver's age and model of car, some insurers now rely on AI to expedite settlements and craft more precise risk assessments.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta on Sept. 6
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

U.S. and China visits put Australian PM’s diplomatic skills to test

There has been a significant easing in tensions between Australia and China since Anthony Albanese’s election.
Swiss People's Party (SVP) leader Marco Chiesa (left) smiles next to the president of The Center (Die Mitte) Swiss political party Gerhard Pfister prior to a TV interview in Bern on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

Switzerland’s right-wing party soars on immigration concerns

The SVP — as the People's Party is known by its German acronym — won 28.6% of votes, up from 25.6% four years ago.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Nearly 40% of respondents of the latest Bloomberg Markets Live Pulse survey said Treasurys will face the most severe impact from the BOJ shifting away from superaccommodative policy.
BUSINESS
Oct 23, 2023

When Japan ends negative rate policy, Treasurys will suffer

The Bank of Japan is likely to unwind its unusual policy of subzero rates during the first half of 2024.
The yen weakened to the ¥150-per-dollar level Monday, but just briefly, as investors betting on a further rise in dollar yields lost out to those expecting Japanese authorities will intervene in markets.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 23, 2023

Yen breaches ¥150 per dollar again, raising intervention risk

It touched ¥150.11 per the greenback in early Asian trading on Monday before quickly recovering.
The Italian Serie A's current domestic broadcast deal is worth just under $1 billion annually, less than half that of the English Premier League.
SOCCER
Oct 24, 2023

DAZN and Sky retain Italian Serie A rights in $4.8 billion deal

TV rights are a crucial source of revenue for Serie A teams such as this year's champion Napoli, Juventus and Milanese clubs AC Milan and Inter.
Traders are betting that the Bank of Japan will almost certainly end its negative interest rate policy by early next year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2023

Rising bets on BOJ policy move shift focus to ‘neutral’ rate

This theoretical rate that neither stimulates nor restricts the economy is likely somewhere in a wide range of 0.5% to 2%, according to analysts.
A fishing boat patrols the sea for poaching off the port of Yomogita, Aomori Prefecture, on the night of Sept. 13.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Oct 30, 2023

Aomori sea cucumber fishermen hit hard by China’s seafood import ban

Twenty-seven cooperatives in the prefecture have suspended operations in October, when the fishing season for sea cucumbers starts in a normal year.
A pedestrian walks past an electronic signboard showing data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and on the Japanese yen after the currency rebounded slightly after hitting ¥150 to the U.S. dollar in overnight trading, along a street in central Tokyo on Oct. 4.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 24, 2023

Germany set to eclipse Japan as No. 3 economy in 2023, IMF says

The yen’s widely watched depreciation has played an outsized role in its projected slide in position.
English and Italian footballers observe a minute of silence for the victims of a deadly shooting in Brussels and of the devastating events in Israel and Palestine, at Wembley Stadium in London on Oct. 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 24, 2023

Qatar-owned network altered broadcasts to avoid war references

Instead of tributes and moments of silence at recent games, beIN broadcasts aired extended studio discussions that hewed solely toward soccer.
Cosmo Energy Holdings has said it will call another shareholder vote in December to seek approval for a "poison pill" takeover defense against a group of activist investors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 25, 2023

Cosmo calls another shareholder vote in activist defense

Japan's third-biggest oil refiner said it will not prevent the group a group of activist investors from voting this time.

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