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Samsung has won the long-awaited approval from artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia for a version of its high-bandwidth HBM3 memory chips.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024

Samsung begins closing gap in making AI memory chips for Nvidia

The advances that include winning approval from artificial-intelligence giant Nvidia come after months of stumbles for Samsung.
The Maersk Launcher, a ship chartered by The Metals Company, carries seabed samples from the remote Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean on June 7, 2021.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 30, 2024

The future of deep sea mining hinges on a contentious election

The vote will determine whether companies can begin strip-mining the world’s oceans for critical metals despite concerns about the impacts.
The emphasis on lifting earnings is prompting more Japanese companies to boost investments abroad.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2024

Japan corporate cleanup fuels appetite for record debt sales

Japanese corporate dollar bonds have been outperforming U.S. peers, and borrowers have piled into the market with record issuance in recent months.
Harley-Davidson motorcycles on display in Tokyo. Japan's antitrust watchdog has raided the manufacturer's Japan unit for allegedly imposing excessive sales quotas on its dealers.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024

Harley-Davidson's Japan unit raided after quotas force dealers into hardship

The motorcycle manufacturer's unit in Tokyo is also suspected of having dealers buy Harley-Davidson models that they did not want.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris might maintain some of the economic policies of former President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jul 30, 2024

A President Harris might be decidedly Trumpy in approach to Asia trade

The efforts to contain China economically is a common theme that is likely to be maintained after the election.
Demonstrators march in Valencia, Venezuela, on Monday, a day after the Venezuelan presidential election. Protests erupted in parts of Caracas and elsewhere against the re-election victory claimed by President Nicolas Maduro.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 30, 2024

Venezuela needs its neighbors’ help more than ever

Maduro was never going to accept defeat and the idea he would quietly exit the presidential palace was always wishful thinking.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

Bank of Japan delivers one-two punch few were expecting

At its two-day policy meeting, the BOJ voted to increase its short-term policy rate target to 0.25% from a range of 0% to 0.1%.
Japan's industrial production in June fell 3.6% from the previous month, reflecting plant suspensions at vehicle-makers including Toyota due to faulty vehicle certifications.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

Japan’s industrial output falls, clouding recovery outlook

The production of cars and auto parts drove the reading lower as an ongoing probe involving carmakers such as Toyota continues to disrupt output.
The Taung Kalat Buddhist complex on Mount Popa in central Myanmar's Mandalay Region on July 7. A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 31, 2024

War in Myanmar heartlands silences volcano shrine

The plains around the temple are now a battle zone, with the faithful blocked from access by fighting and checkpoints.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 31, 2024

BOJ probes website crash that blocked traders before decision

It was not immediately clear whether the website became available for everyone at the same time or if some market participants had access before others.
Diners in the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 31, 2024

Spain ranked as the best country for remote work: report

Japan, which announced a digital nomad program on April 1, was 16th on the list.
Toyota Motor has been issued a correction order for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2024

Toyota Motor receives correction order from transport ministry

The ministry found indications of additional misconduct, such as falsifying test results.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media in New Delhi on June 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

India's state elections to test Modi after budget fails to aid swing voters

Despite talk of relief, the government has raised taxes on gains from retail investments, removed some real estate tax benefits and left income tax rates untouched.
A line of children's clothes featuring slogans about lazy, uninvolved fathers have sparked an online backlash.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Japan store pulls 'lazy dad' kid clothes after backlash

Some commentators called them an affront to hard-working fathers, while others said they highlighted the country's childcare gender gap that weighs heavily on women.
Jera reported ¥93.4 billion in profit for the April-June quarter, down 48% from the year-before period.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

JERA's April-June profit halves; Taketoyo plant remains shut

The 1,070-megawatt (MW) Taketoyo power station in Aichi Prefecture has been shut since it was hit by a fire on Jan. 31.
Toyota's hybrids are selling well in North America, making up for sluggish demand for its vehicles in Japan and China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Toyota quarterly profit rises 17% on year as weak yen drives U.S. demand

Despite ongoing turmoil from a government probe that found issues with vehicle certifications, analysts still project the carmaker will post a record profit this year.
As metal prices rise, so do cases of theft, with more and an increasing number of metal cables being stolen from solar power plants in Japan.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2024

Japan's solar plants see over 9,000 cases of cable theft since 2023

The survey were the first to be conducted by the National Police Agency on the situation, at a time when metal prices are rising.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda attends a news conference after the central bank's policy meeting, in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 1, 2024

BOJ’s sudden hawkishness attributed to yen defense

Economists believe political pressure may have had something to do with the central bank’s shift in stance.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe hold a joint news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

Honda and Nissan to tighten ties on software, batteries and EV knowhow

Honda and Nissan sales fell about 40% and 27%, respectively, in June alone in China following the shutdown of some of their local plants.
Seven Eleven officials receives a Guinness World Records' certificate for its product as the most sold freshly made curry bread in volume in 2023 during a ceremony in Saitama Prefecture on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 1, 2024

7-Eleven's curry bread certified by Guinness World Records

The ¥160 bread, fried in store, logged 76,987,667 pieces sold.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, outside a U.S. federal court in Santa Ana, California, in June
BASEBALL / MLB
Aug 2, 2024

Bookmaker in Shohei Ohtani interpreter case to plead guilty

Bookmaker Mathew Bowyer worked with Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani's ex-interpreter and friend, who admitted to taking Ohtani's money to cover his gambling debts.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left) and Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe shake hands prior to a joint news conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 2, 2024

Honda-Nissan alliance completes Japan car industry consolidation

The carmakers' cozying up to one another follows Toyota acquiring stakes in Subaru, Suzuki and Mazda.
Founded in the early 2000s, Ichiro's Malt has since become a third pole in Japan's whisky world dominated by beverage giants.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Aug 4, 2024

In sleepy Chichibu, Japan's whisky landscape is quietly shifting

Ichiro’s signature flavor profile of rich, woodsy flavors complemented by a clear fruitiness owes in large part to the tempermental 'mizunara' Japanese oak.
Photographer Gaku Lange says Japan's film photography scene is growing, but it still lags behind overseas communities.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Aug 5, 2024

Looking at Japan’s ‘tribal’ photography scene through a new lens

More young people in Tokyo are ditching smartphones for film cameras, but the old guard isn't necessarily pleased about it.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. A majority of the analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said this week’s rate hike by the central bank was appropriate, and nearly 70% expected the rate to be raised again by the end of this year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2024

Most BOJ watchers rethink pace of hikes after Ueda’s hawkishness

Some 68% of 41 economists see the policy rate rising to 0.5% from 0.25% by the end of this year, according to a Bloomberg survey.
A government white paper stressed the need to pay attention to the impact of interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan on personal consumption.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2024

Japan warns of weak yen impact on households in government white paper

A weak yen has become a source of concern for policymakers as it has dampened consumption by inflating the cost of importing fuel, food and raw material.
Kazuo Momma, former assistant governor of the Bank of Japan
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 2, 2024

BOJ likely to hike in October after big shift, former official says

The BOJ’s basic stance now seems to be that as real rates are extremely low, they can keep raising them as long as no major shock hits the economy.
The Nikkei 225 fell more than 2,000 points on Friday, capping a volatile week in the financial markets.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 2, 2024

Japanese stocks fall almost 6% just days after shock rate rise

In the span of less than a month, the 225-issue Nikkei average went from all-time records to a shocking rout.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in April 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 3, 2024

Alongside the Trump-Russia inquiry, a lesser-known look at Egyptian influence

The Justice Department investigated whether a Trump adviser was part of an Egyptian plan, never proven, to funnel $10 million to the 2016 Trump campaign.
A man looks at an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 3, 2024

Novice investors under pressure after Japan stock rout

Newcomer investors, who are concerned about the possibility of further stock price declines, are facing the challenge of whether to continue investing.

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