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Mao Geping, chairman of Mao Geping Cosmetics Co., gestures during the company's listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

China makeup mogul is a billionaire after hot Hong Kong debut

Mao Geping's namesake skincare and cosmetics firm, which listed Tuesday, raised HK$2.3 billion ($300 million) in its initial public offering.
Inflation in Japan’s corporate goods prices accelerated to the fastest pace in 16 months, an outcome that points to growing inflationary pressure in the economy and supports the central bank’s further normalization of policy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 11, 2024

Japan's wholesale inflation accelerates, keeping BOJ rate-hike plan in focus

Agricultural and fishery goods prices spiked 31% in November from year-before levels, after a 28.1% gain in October, due largely to the soaring price of rice.
Signage at the Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 11, 2024

Scrappy studio boss feeds Tencent’s lofty global game ambitions

"Arena Breakout: Infinite" is Tencent’s newest "Call of Duty"-style PC shooter, targeting a genre that typically tops spending charts.
The United Steelworkers union claims that Nippon Steel's latest offer is tantamount to bribery.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

Union blasts Nippon Steel’s $5,000 per worker bonus in U.S. Steel deal

The United Steelworkers called Nippon Steel's move “a classic union-busting tactic” and a “desperate attempt to win over support for its doomed acquisition.”
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 11, 2024

BOJ signals before meeting leave traders guessing

The confusion has caused sharp swings in market bets on rate hikes, with overnight indexed swaps pricing in a 22% chance of a December rate increase.
Akihiro Kaneko, president of the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Dec. 3.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2024

Japan union head calls for government to work more on raising pay

The call comes as Japan prepares for annual wage negotiations that culminate in the spring.
The East Japan Railway Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Within the next 10 years, JR East will develop automated walk-through gate technology so that passengers can enter the train platform without having to tap their Suica card or phone on the ticket gates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

JR East announces 10-year plan to drastically overhaul Suica

Dubbed the "Suica Renaissance," the plan involves redesigned ticket gates, new payment features and a subscription service.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima on Nov. 14.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 10, 2024

U.S. wakes up to China’s growing presence in its ‘backyard’

China has long eyed Latin America’s food and mineral resources, using them to build business connections for over two decades.
Bain Capital plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2024

Bain raises offer for Fuji Soft in $4.3 billion contest with KKR

The Boston-based investment firm plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes passes against the Buccaneers in Kansas City, Missouri, on Nov. 4.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Dec 12, 2024

NFL trio brace for physical toll of playing three games over short period

"It's a unique situation," said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who shared that he told the team to take one day at a time through the unprecedented stretch.
A man carries merchandise at a market near the border with Argentina, in Nanawa, Paraguay, in May.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2024

Argentina inflation hits four-year low as locals hope worst is over

Argentina, emerging from a period of major economic crisis and still grappling with rock-bottom foreign currency reserves and 50% poverty, has seen inflation come down.
Nvidia will end the year with about 4,000 people in China, up from just about 3,000 at the start of 2024, people familiar with its operations said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2024

Nvidia steps up hiring in China to focus on AI-driven cars

The tech giant will end 2024 with about 4,000 employees in China, after starting the year with around 3,000.
Monex Group Chairperson Oki Matsumoto (center), celebrates the debut of Coincheck on the Nasdaq Global Market on Wednesday in New York.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2024

Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck goes public in U.S.

Coincheck, effectively controlled by Japanese online broker Monex Group, aims to expand its operations through acquisitions in the U.S. and Japan.
Tokyo has the highest price-to-income ratio for high-rise condominiums in the country, at 17.78 times.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 12, 2024

New Japanese condos now cost 10 times average salary, study shows

Wages are not keeping up with rising costs, resulting in developers focusing on the higher end of the market.
In a year of anime hits, Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s “Look Back” stood out from the bunch.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 13, 2024

Big franchises and bold voices dominated anime in 2024

In a year of major box-office hits such as “Conan” and “Haikyu!!,” smaller animators used nontraditional tools to stand out from the rest.
The yen slumped to its weakest in level in more than two weeks on Wednesday as traders reacted to a report that BOJ officials saw little cost to waiting before raising rates.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 12, 2024

Danger for yen emerges with speculation BOJ may stand pat longer

A small taste of the dangers ahead came Wednesday, when the yen slumped to its weakest in level in more than two weeks.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as he takes part in the Wall Street bell ringing in Manhattan, on Thursday
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2024

No winners seen in Trump’s ‘destructive’ energy tariffs

Tariffs threaten to be particularly troublesome for a North American energy industry that has been tightly integrated for decades and already favors U.S. interests.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan on Thursday morning.
WORLD
Dec 13, 2024

Time Magazine names Donald Trump person of the year for second time

This year saw Donald Trump convicted on charges of business fraud and nearly assassinated twice — and will end with him preparing to return to the White House.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s factory (left) in Kikuyo, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Feb. 23, the day before it was officially opened
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 22, 2024

Chip cities rise in Japan’s fields of dreams

Injections of cash are transforming once-sleepy areas, lifting stagnant house prices and triggering construction booms.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-U.S. President Donald Trump attend a welcoming ceremony in Beijing in November 2017.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 13, 2024

Trump inviting China's Xi to inauguration is 'diplomatic theater'

China experts said it was highly unlikely that Chinese President Xi Jinping would come to Washington for the inauguration.
Nobuhiro Ito, who runs casting-maker Ito Tekko, which employs about 100 people, in front of his company's factory in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 13, 2024

BOJ's rate hike plans clouded by small firms' wage woes

Next year's wage prospects are crucial for sustaining a consumption-led recovery — a prerequisite for further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.
The JR Kyushu group has been working on raising safety awareness among employees, repairing the ship and enhancing governance, with the aim of resuming the Queen Beetle high-speed passenger ship operations.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2024

JR Kyushu may end South Korea ship route over water leak scandal

JR Kyushu Jet Ferry covered up water ingress on the Queen Beetle high-speed passenger ship for more than three months.
President-elect Donald Trump plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and increase domestic fossil fuel production, putting international efforts to cut global carbon emissions in peril.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2024

Trump's election sets stage for new climate leaders to emerge

As Trump plans to put "America first," including before the planet, other countries must seize the opportunity to keep alive efforts to limit global temperature rise.
Yutaka Mataebara (second from left) dines with his managerial colleagues at an event celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Japan Times.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 13, 2024

Here's to Yutaka Mataebara, the 'iron man' of The Japan Times

Mataebara was a pillar of the JT: During his 44 years at the paper until he retired in 2006, he worked in a variety of departments, including as the editor in chief.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visits the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Ishiba makes first visit as PM to crippled Fukushima No. 1 plant

The trip was apparently intended to demonstrate his administration's focus on revitalizing the disaster-hit Tohoku region.
Tour guides wait to collect tour groups from Hong Kong outside the Shenzhen Bay border crossing in Shenzhen, China
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2024

Educated young Chinese turn to tour guiding as job market wavers

Tour guiding is becoming an increasingly popular fallback option in a China rife with employment instability as the economy slows.
France's newly appointed Prime Minister Francois Bayrou at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 14, 2024

Macron hands new French PM the tough job of managing Le Pen

Bayrou, 73, replaces conservative heavyweight Michel Barnier, who was ousted last week after far-right leader Marine Le Pen joined the left in a censure motion.
Gifting secondhand used to have a bad rap, but it doesn’t carry the taboo it once did.
BUSINESS
Dec 14, 2024

How to buy a secondhand gift someone might actually want

Gifting secondhand used to have a bad rap, but thanks to more environmentally conscious consumers, it doesn’t carry the taboo it once did.
U.K. Ambassador to Japan Julia Longbottom holds a news conference on Friday in Tokyo ahead of Britain's entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
BUSINESS
Dec 15, 2024

Britain joins trans-Pacific pact in biggest post-Brexit trade deal

The accession means Britain will be able to apply CPTPP trade rules and lower tariffs with eight of the 11 existing members.
U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest integrated steel mill in the country, in Gary, Indiana
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 15, 2024

U.S. foreign investment panel split on Nippon-U.S. Steel deal, report says

The U.S. Treasury has informed Nippon Steel that the panel reviewing its proposed $14.9 billion purchase of U.S. Steel has not yet come to an agreement on how to address security concerns, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

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Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.