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Traders betting on further recovery in Japanese equities are looking to any steer from the Bank of Japan that may cap the yen’s gains and support exporters.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 25, 2024

Japan's corporate service inflation steady, BOJ focusing on Oct data

The BOJ is closely monitoring service-sector inflation to see if demand-driven price increases are broadening enough to warrant further interest rate hikes.
Prices for Umaibo sticks will be raised to ¥15 from current ¥12 starting October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 25, 2024

Umaibo to puff up prices for the second time in two years

The company said rising costs for raw materials like corn and vegetable oil left it with no choice but to adjust the price.
The Three Mile Island plant made global headlines in 1979 with a partial meltdown at its Unit 2 reactor, the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Sep 25, 2024

U.S. nuclear plants won't power up Big Tech's AI ambitions right away

Plans may be delayed by high regulatory hurdles, potential fuel supply obstacles, and sometimes stiff local and environmental opposition.
Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a campaign meeting on Sept. 12 in Tokyo in the lead-up to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election scheduled for Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 24, 2024

Japan’s next leader will be different — and flawed

While nine LDP lawmakers are contesting the race to become the country’s next leader, the field has narrowed to just three.
Boeing signage outside the company's manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington state, on Sept. 12
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024

Boeing strike leaves plane deliveries up in the air for Asian airlines

Aviation’s supply chain is still fractured from the COVID-19 pandemic, and Asian carriers are struggling to get enough aircraft to meet demand.
Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu speaks to a Ground Self-Defense Force soldier at the town hall on Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost inhabited island in Okinawa Prefecture last  November.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

Deterring Taiwan conflict is top priority for Japan's ‘front-line’ mayor

The mayor believes the U.S. and Japan must do away with "strategic ambiguity" over Taiwan if they intend to keep China in check.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024

Meta pitches augmented reality glasses as eventual smartphone rival

The firm's Orion prototype glasses, introduced Wednesday, have lenses that can display text messages, video calls and even YouTube videos in the user’s field of vision.
U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Vietnam's President and ruling Communist Party Chief To Lam on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United National General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

Biden meets with Vietnam leader to counter ties with China and Russia

A senior U.S. official said the two leaders discussed how to accelerate a strategic partnership agreed to last year.
U.S. Steel said an arbitration board had ruled in favor of Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion buyout of the company.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024

U.S. Steel says arbitration board rules in favor of Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion buyout

Nippon Steel had paid a hefty premium to clinch the deal for U.S. Steel on a bet that it could benefit from U.S. President Joe Biden's infrastructure spending bill.
The Jeep Avenger fully electric compact utility car debuted in Japan on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024

Jeep’s compact EV debuts in Japan as imported EVs take the lead

In Japan, gasoline and hybrid gas-electric cars remain the dominant powertrains of choice for local consumers.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at a news conference in Osaka on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 26, 2024

Small rate hike unlikely to hurt economy, BOJ policy board noted in July

The move came as a surprise and caused roller-coaster fluctuations in stock and currency markets.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan President Yoshihiko Noda (right) and Nippon Ishin no Kai leader Nobuyuki Baba in Tokyo on Tuesday
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 26, 2024

CDP's Noda wants to court Nippon Ishin and DPP, but will he succeed?

The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan's new leader faces an uphill task of bridging the differences of its peers in the opposition ahead of a general election.
Shoppers in Tokyo. Consumer inflation in the capital eased in September after outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida reinstated energy subsidies to help households cope with one of the hottest summers on record.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 27, 2024

Tokyo inflation cools as government resumes energy subsidies

The government's energy subsidies were the biggest factors behind the deceleration, knocking 0.5 percentage point off overall inflation.
Eric Adams, mayor of New York, exits a weekly news conference at City Hall in New York in 2023.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Sep 27, 2024

NYC mayor was corrupt for years, U.S. claims in scathing case

The indictment calls into question the political future of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is in charge of running the biggest U.S. city.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo. Japanese companies with directors that sit on multiple boards are facing the equity market’s displeasure as the bourse steps up pressure to improve corporate governance.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

‘Moonlighting’ directors are problem for company boards in Japan

The Tokyo bourse has demanded that firms in its blue-chip Prime section get at least a third of their board members externally.
Shipping containers are stacked on a pier at the Red Hook Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. A prolonged strike, alongside an ongoing strike by 30,000 machinists at Boeing, could put a dent in the U.S. job market next month at a critical moment.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Shippers scramble for workarounds ahead of threatened U.S. port strike

A prolonged strike, alongside an ongoing strike by 30,000 machinists at Boeing, could put a dent in the U.S. job market next month at a critical moment.
A Toyota Rav-4 Prime charges at an electric vehicle charging station in New York on Sept. 3. Toyota's sales fell again in August after declines in Japan and China put an end to a short-lived recovery.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Toyota production falls on vehicle safety scandals and U.S. recalls

Global output, including that of subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors, dropped in August by 12.6% from a year earlier
Myanmar's then-state counselor, Aung San Suu Kyi, meets with Fumio Kishida, Japan's then-foreign minister, for talks in Tokyo in November 2016.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 27, 2024

Kishida’s failure to support democracy in Myanmar

Kishida's lack of engagement with Myanmar's pro-democracy movement shows he prioritized economic relations over democratic values.
New Liberal Democratic Party leader Shigeru Ishiba (right), economic security minister Sanae Takaichi (left) and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Ishiba won the LDP leadership race on Friday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 27, 2024

Yen rallies as Ishiba beats Takaichi in LDP race

Ishiba has shown support for the BOJ’s rate policies and the independence of the central bank.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Toyota ends sponsorship with 'political' Olympics

The withdrawal means Olympics logos currently carried by Toyota products will be phased out, and its vehicles will no longer be provided to assist with the event.
Gilles Langourieux, chief executive officer of Virtuos, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Game developer Virtuos seeks acquisitions and growth in Japan

The Singapore-based company, which has been involved in such major franchises as Call of Duty and Metal Gear Solid, is in active talks with multiple studios in Japan.
Toyota is recalling over 42,000 U.S. vehicles over loss of power brake assist that can extend the distance required to stop.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 27, 2024

Toyota to recall over 42,000 U.S. vehicles over loss of power brake assist

The recall affects certain 2023-2024 Corolla Cross Hybrid vehicles.
Members of the K-pop group NewJeans are embroiled in a dispute with their corporate backers over their creative relationship with an executive producer.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 28, 2024

NewJeans’ ultimatum casts K-pop’s displays of labor in a new light

A YouTube live broadcast from the girl group raises age-old questions about labor practices in the Korean pop industry.
Having grown up in North Carolina, where people are chatty and friendly, Duane Levi says Kansai and Osaka in particular had a similar vibe.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 27, 2024

Duane Levi: 'Once you are able to create something that has sustainability … you’re going to get help and support.'

Unable to get a job in PA and recording, Duane Levi forged his own path in the Japanese music scene and has introduced many artists to the market here.
U.S. President Joe Biden disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 28, 2024

Biden still opposes Nippon Steel deal's bid for U.S. Steel

The remarks threw cold water on hopes by deal supporters that the proposed tie-up could get a green light from a key review committee.
The upscale Gangnam area of Seoul is one area in South Korea where high-end apartments for seniors are being developed.
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2024

Fast-aging South Korea sees money in luxury retirement homes

The popularity of such residences have prompted the likes of Lotte and Hyundai to invest billions of dollars on new projects.
A photo of Chinese leader Xi Jinping is displayed at the National Security Exhibition Gallery in Hong Kong on Monday. The 24-man Politburo led by Xi has recently unveiled a series of pro-growth goodies to help the country's economy.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Sep 28, 2024

Xi’s big stimulus week aims to draw a line under China slowdown

A recent barrage of policy announcements marked a sea change in Xi’s approach to managing China’s $18 trillion economy.
A Kobayashi Pharmaceutical factory in Osaka
BUSINESS
Sep 28, 2024

Kobayashi Pharma sued in Taiwan over beni kōji products

A group filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against six firms including a Taiwanese unit of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical and an importer in Taiwan.
Shigeru Ishiba, the newly elected leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, holds a news conference after the LDP leadership election, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 29, 2024

Ishiba calls for loose monetary policy amid fragile economic recovery

On fiscal policy, Ishiba said he will aim to compile a package of measures at an early date to cushion the economic blow from rising living costs.
The logo of Tokyo-based chipmaker Rapidus
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 29, 2024

Sony and others to make extra investments in Rapidus

The Tokyo-based chipmaker hopes to secure the necessary funds to start mass production of next-generation semiconductors as early as 2027.

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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