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BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 4, 2022

KDDI network ‘almost restored’ as Japan assesses outage's full impact

The problem has impacted not only users but also organizations in areas ranging from banking and logistics to emergency services.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Feb 18, 2021

Amazon documents reveal company's secret strategy to dodge India's regulators

The revelations could deepen the risks facing the company as it encounters intensifying government scrutiny in one of its fastest-growing markets.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2019

Japan bets on QR code payments to sustain spending

When the baseball season kicked off in Japan this spring, fans of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles were faced with an inconvenience they'd never encountered before: The food and drink stalls did not accept cash.
Japan Times
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
May 13, 2019

Will government pressure slash Japan's intricate web of smartphone fees?

Last August, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga dropped a bombshell remark that rattled Japan's mobile phone industry: "There is room to lower people's smartphone bills by around 40 percent."
Japan Times
LIFE
Apr 15, 2019

Defining the Heisei Era

Over the past year, as we counted down to the end of the Heisei Era, The Japan Times presented a monthly 12-part series that looked back at the leading issues of the past three decades
JAPAN / History / Defining the Heisei Era
Sep 29, 2018

Defining the Heisei Era: When Japanese games went global

The Japan Times presents the fifth installment of a monthly 12-part series that looks back at the leading issues of the past three decades.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 27, 2018

Rakuten details carrier plan to reposition against Amazon and SoftBank

E-commerce giant Rakuten Inc. is offering a glimpse into its ambitious plan to build a cutting-edge wireless network to take on Masayoshi Son's SoftBank Group Corp., stay in the lead in mobile payments and win back market share from Amazon.com Inc.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech / ADVANCES IN PROGRESS
Mar 12, 2017

With blazing speeds and better connectivity, next-generation 5G network may lay 'foundation' for the future

The world of information technology is growing in leaps and bounds — and is predicted to grow even faster as telecommunications firms rush to get ahead before the introduction of a next-generation mobile network that could serve as "the foundation" of an increasingly internet-connected future.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 5, 2016

Line makes splash by launching cut-rate smartphone service

Internet giant Line Corp. on Monday made its foray into mobile phone services, launching low-cost smartphone and SIM card packages that offer subscribers free use of its messaging app.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2016

Pachinko firm scores with iPhone-cracking digital forensics unit

The hackers at Cellebrite Mobile Synchronization Ltd., the forensics unit of a little-known Japanese pinball company, are fast becoming the go-to guys when law enforcement needs to unlock smartphones. Its group chief has plans to keep the firm on the front lines against terrorism.
A girl holds a sign in a show of support for Gazan children in the besieged enclave, during the Israeli-Hamas conflict, in Amman, Jordan, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 24, 2023

Palestinians trapped in Gaza struggle to contact the outside world

With no 3G mobile service in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip, residents must either find a rare landline or hope for an Internet connection.
In 2019, Japan tightened penalties for the use of smartphones and other mobile handsets while driving.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2024

Record high number of distracted drivers causing death or serious injury

In 2023, 25 incidents were fatal and 97 caused serious injury, with about 10% of drivers using mobile phones to talk and 90% looking at screens.
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on June 5, 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 4, 2024

Apple shifts focus from EV to home robotics as ‘next big thing’

Apple’s pursuit of the "next big thing” has been an obsession since the Steve Jobs era, but it’s hard to envision a product that could match the iPhone.
Transfers usually take place in March at the end of the Japanese business year, but each family's reasons for living apart are different.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Apr 8, 2024

When your job separates the family

Japan's “tanshin funin” system sees married company employees leaving their families behind when they are transferred to faraway posts.
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son in 2019. Son is said to be selling off assets from the Vision Fund’s portfolio as he prepares for possible forays into AI and related hardware.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 10, 2024

SoftBank's Vision Fund lightens asset load as Son pivots to AI and chips

Son has moved on to new obsessions, inspired in part by the success of Arm — which has soared in value to around $106 billion since its market debut.
North Korea's claimed successful separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads is seen in this image released Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 27, 2024

In a first, North Korea claims successful multiple-warhead missile test

Such a capability would potentially allow Pyongyang to use a single missile to drop nuclear warheads on a broad swath of targets.
An attendee wears an Apple Vision Pro while holding the Apple iPhone 16 Pro during an event at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on Monday. Apple introduced the latest version of its flagship device, the iPhone 16.
EDITORIALS
Sep 13, 2024

The genie is out of the bottle and headed for your phone

The touchscreen smartphone is now humankind's ubiquitous companion, and with each new product release, phone makers unveil new innovations.
Silver Rathalos was among several monsters in the Monster Hunter universe that debuted at an in-person Monster Hunter Now event in Shibuya hosted by developer Niantic on the weekend of Oct. 13.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2024

Gamers hunt for monsters in Tokyo as Niantic searches for a hit

In Monster Hunter Now, the San Francisco-based company behind Pokemon Go is looking to emulate the success of the immensely popular 2016 game.
Rakuten's sale of 15% stake in its credit card arm to Mizuho Financial Group would give the e-commerce pioneer a one-time gain of ¥159.4 billion in the current quarter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 14, 2024

Rakuten sells Mizuho 15% of credit card arm for ¥165 billion

The sale would give the e-commerce pioneer a one-time gain of ¥159.4 billion in the current quarter, Rakuten said in a statement Wednesday.
A woman carries firewood she bought at a marketplace in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Oct. 2. Telehealth — the use of technology to provide and access health care services remotely — has been growing around the world but is relatively new in Zimbabwe.
WORLD / Science & Health
Nov 27, 2024

In Zimbabwe, Starlink’s fast internet gives telehealth a boost

The satellite unit of Elon Musk's SpaceX received the green light in May to operate its internet services in Zimbabwe.
Rakuten Group is targeting the sale of as much as $550 million of subordinated notes with price talk for the deal at around 8.375%.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 4, 2024

Rakuten targets its lowest-cost junk bond sale since 2021

The e-commerce giant is targeting the sale of as much as $550 million of subordinated notes that can be called after five years.
Customers queue at a bank ATM in Lagos. Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation sits outside of banks.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 16, 2024

Nigeria’s dying ATMs leave a cash-shaped hole filled by agents

Roughly 93% of total currency in circulation — or 4 trillion naira ($2.6 billion) — sits outside of banks as of September.
Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani speaks during an interview at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 17, 2025

Rakuten’s Mikitani wants to sell bonds to Japanese investors

Market pricing indicates that views on Rakuten are improving after years of losses and a stretched balance sheet.
China's DeepSeek carries far-reaching implications for the global tech industry and supply chain.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Why is the AI world freaking out over China's DeepSeek?

DeepSeek has far-reaching implications for the global tech industry, upending the widespread belief that the future of AI will require ever-increasing amounts of power.
A person walks past a logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside a shop in Seoul on Tuesday. Shares in Samsung jumped after its profit for the first three months of 2025 handily beat expectations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2025

Samsung shares jump after profit gets boost from new Galaxy S25

Inventory stockpiling by Chinese buyers who hurried to secure supply of electronics before U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed new tariffs also provided support.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura says he hopes the prefecture's new rule prohibiting older people from using ATMs while talking on phones becomes widely known and eventually accepted as common sense.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Apr 24, 2025

Osaka to ban older people from using ATMs while on the phone to help stop scams

While the ban does not include penalties, the Osaka prefectural government hopes to build public consensus to help prevent scams.
Rakuten Group's stock dropped after the Japanese e-commerce firm reported a 19th straight quarterly loss, fueling concerns about the financial drag from its ailing mobile business.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025

Rakuten Group shares sink on worse-than-expected quarterly loss

The stock plunged as much as 10% in Tokyo on Thursday, its biggest intraday drop since April 7.
AI is not only transforming the applications we use; it is also reshaping the very process of software development, threatening to render much of today’s tech sector obsolete.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 15, 2025

How artificial intelligence will disrupt Big Tech

AI is already starting to cannibalize established giants and also to reshape the profession of software engineering.
Three-quarters of the 317 surveyed Dutch high schools reported that the phone ban has had a positive effect on students' concentration.
WORLD
Jul 5, 2025

Study finds smartphone bans in Dutch schools improved focus

Three-quarters of the 317 surveyed high schools reported that the ban has had a positive effect on students' concentration.
PayPay is the most popular payment app in Japan, with 70 million users.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 15, 2025

SoftBank's PayPay prepares for listing on a U.S. exchange

It has filed registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building