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In August 2019, Toru Takamatsu became the youngest master sommelier in history at just 24 years old.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 21, 2024

Japan’s first master sommelier dreams of Hokkaido wine glory

Why would a master sommelier go from Michelin-starred restaurants to the hands-on life of an apprentice winemaker in Hokkaido?
Singapore's former Transport Minister Subramaniam Iswaran (center) and his defense counsel Davinder Singh (left) leave the Singapore State Courts on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 19, 2024

Singapore minister quits after biggest graft case since 1986

The scandal has cast a pall on the city-state known for its clean governance. If convicted, the minister faces fines and a possible jail term.
Doubts about China’s official investment statistics — which measure spending on things like housing, factories and infrastructure — have been fueled by frequent revisions in recent years, and the latest data implies an unusually large adjustment.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 19, 2024

Did China’s economy really grow 5.2% in 2023? Not all agree

Doubts over Chinese data, particularly on investment, have resulted in alternative calculations that put its GDP growth last year at as low as 1.5%.
The risks are particularly evident in Asia, home to some of the world’s worst-performing major currencies against the greenback.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 19, 2024

Dollar dominance is triggering intervention fears across markets

The greenback's recent spike is a reality check to investors betting on dollar weakness and for the authorities hoping for a respite.
Japan's core inflation stayed above the central bank's 2% target in December but slowed for a second straight month, reinforcing expectations it will be in no hurry to phase out its massive monetary stimulus.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2024

Japan’s slowing inflation supports case for BOJ to wait longer

Growth in consumer prices excluding fresh food slowed to 2.3% in December from a year earlier.
TSMC had said it would make 3nm chips at the second factory, which is expected to be more advanced than the first in Arizona, but on Thursday, it said that incentives from the U.S. government would help determine how advanced the tech inside will be.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 19, 2024

TSMC’s second factory in Arizona delayed as U.S. grants remain in flux

Site will start operations only in 2027 or 2028, instead of the chipmaker's earlier guidance of 2026.
A worker builds a home in Lillington, North Carolina, in June. Appetite among Japanese companies in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2024

A $4.9 billion Japan deal for a U.S. builder heralds more M&A

Appetite among Japanese buyers in the U.S. homebuilding market is growing as they struggle with a declining population at home.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 19, 2024

Debate grows over whether expo funding should go to Ishikawa recovery

It has been suggested it would be better to postpone, or even cancel, the troubled 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.
Honda’s sales in the United States soared 33% last year and the firm anticipates continued growth but at a more modest pace.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2024

Honda sees 2024 U.S. sales climbing 10% with boost from hybrids

Honda’s sales in the U.S. soared 33% last year to 1.3 million vehicles — with one-quarter of that total coming from hybrid models.
Wind turbines at an RWE wind farm off the coast of Great Yarmouth, England. RWE operates 3.3 gigawatts of offshore wind power in Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 19, 2024

RWE plans further Japan offshore wind push after Niigata win

The German renewable energy company believes floating offshore projects will be the key to achieving the nation's goal of generating 45 GW of wind power by 2040.
A single mom in Kobe moonlights as a sleuth in Simon Rowe’s “Mami Suzuki: Private Eye.”
CULTURE / Books
Jan 21, 2024

'Mami Suzuki: Private Eye': Kobe sleuth's colorful mysteries take readers around Japan

Simon Rowe’s straight-talking detective cuts a sophisticated figure as she solves matters the police won’t touch, all while looking after her young daughter and mother.
Paul Patterson, Fujitsu's European head, leaves after giving evidence to the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in central London on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 20, 2024

Fujitsu says Post Office knew about Horizon bugs from the start

Errors from the firm's software led to the wrongful conviction of hundreds of people for theft and false accounting.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attends a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 20, 2024

Sam Altman looks to raise billions for network of AI chip factories

The OpenAI CEO has has had conversations with several large potential investors in the hopes of raising the vast sums needed for chip fabrication plants.
Oil and gas tanks are seen at an oil warehouse at a port in Zhuhai, China, in October 2018.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2024

China defies sanctions to make Russia its biggest oil supplier in 2023

Russia shipped a record 107.02 million metric tons of crude oil to China last year, equivalent to 2.14 million barrels per day (bpd), the Chinese customs data showed.
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz serves against China's Shang Juncheng during the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Saturday.
TENNIS
Jan 20, 2024

Awesome Alcaraz reaches second week at Melbourne for first time

In the unusual position of playing someone younger than himself, two-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz simply dominated 18-year-old Shang.
Keisuke Honda is joining an inflow of investment in Japan’s long-neglected startup scene.
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2024

Retired soccer star Honda sets up $100 million Japan startup fund

In a country where celebrities shy away from speaking about their money or investments, the former AC Milan midfielder faces little competition from other sports stars.
Solar installations in the village of Hjolderup in Denmark
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jan 21, 2024

Europe’s climate push fails to stem crisis in solar industry

Despite insistence to push for more homegrown energy infrastructure, governments have been slow to prop up the ailing industry.
Farmers protest against the government's planned cuts to agricultural sector subsides in Brandenburg, Germany, on Jan. 10.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024

Why Germany is rich but Germans are poor and angry

Germany's polarization peaks as the country's divided society faces economic turmoil.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds a rally in advance of the New Hampshire presidential primary election in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Sunday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2024

Trump’s 2016 win shook markets. Traders won’t get fooled again.

Wall Street is already starting to game out the impact of Trump’s possible return to the White House.
Apple is entering its first major new product category since the company began selling smartwatches in 2015, and the Vision Pro may take years to catch on.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 22, 2024

Apple Vision Pro deliveries delayed to March in sign of early demand

The device is also sold out for Day 1 in-store pickup at many locations despite preorders having just begun on Friday ahead of its Feb. 2 rollout.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2024

Japan’s baseline forecasts show government missing budget goal

The primary balance is projected to be around minus 0.4% in fiscal year 2025.
Sony had been expected to benefit from Zee’s deep library of content in regional Indian languages and its dozens of local television channels.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 22, 2024

Sony sends termination letter to Zee over India merger

The entertainment giant cited conditions of the merger agreement not being met as the reason for ending the deal with the Indian media network.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 22, 2024

Japan's Nikkei scales 34-year peak on Wall Street record

The S&P 500 posted its first record-high close in two years, as AI fever drove big gains for chip shares and other heavyweight tech stocks.
By the end of the decade, nearly 700 cities are likely to have rolled out some version of urban metaverse technologies, including virtual and augmented reality applications, according to ABI Research.
WORLD / Society
Jan 22, 2024

Realities collide as 'augmented cities' emerge around the U.S.

AR can enhance life in cities, particularly for marginalized communities.
Monday's winter yellowtail catch at Takojima port in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2024

Fishing resumes at central port damaged by Noto quake

Most of the port's quays, which can also be used by large fishing vessels, were so damaged by the earthquake that boats could not approach.
A crane moves containers in Montreal on Jan. 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 23, 2024

Chaos in the Red Sea is starting to bite into companies’ profits

With the Red Sea crisis roiling shipments, it’s only a matter of time before soaring costs and supply-chain strains show up in companies’ earnings reports.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 23, 2024

LDP agrees to reshape factions and toughen rules on political funding

It remains unclear, however, whether this move will lead to a substantial reform of the party's faction-oriented politics.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2024

Kishida pitches Japan's ‘golden opportunity’ at Goldman event

Japan's government will demonstrate the nation’s transition to a new economic stage by mobilizing all policy tools, the prime minister said in his video address.
The value of Japan's exports rose at the fast pace in a year in December, propelled by shipments to China growing for the first time in over a year and record sales to the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2024

Strong December exports boost odds of a return to growth last quarter

A return to growth would make it easier for the Bank of Japan to end its negative rate policy.
Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of Thailand's Move Forward party, attends a voting session on the day of the second vote for a new prime minister in Bangkok last July.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 24, 2024

Thai court clears former PM hopeful of violating election law

The ruling said former prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat had not violated election law and could remain a lawmaker.

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