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MUFG Bank President Junichi Hanzawa bows in apology in Tokyo on Jan. 17 following alleged massive thefts of customer assets by a former employee.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 5, 2025

Ex-MUFG bank worker paid interest to pawnshops to keep gold available to her

The bank worker is suspected of depositing in several pawnshops gold ingots worth several hundred million yen that she had stolen.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 5, 2025

Trump's Gaza stunner builds on his expansionist aims

Since Trump's return to the White House a little more than two weeks ago, his "America First" approach seems to have morphed into "America More."
Homes destroyed by wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles earlier this month. Insured losses caused by this and other fires raging in the area in recent weeks have been valued at over $30 billion.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 5, 2025

Fossil fuel insurance is still way too cheap

Despite mounting losses from climate-induced disasters, insurers continue underwriting fossil fuels. Raising the cost of such policies would help cut emissions and benefit many.
Households continue to be squeezed as inflation outpaces pay increases.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 5, 2025

Real wages in Japan rise in December, but fall for third straight year

Inflation continued to outpace pay increases, which have been generous on a nominal basis in recent years.
A Palestinian sits among the rubble of buildings destroyed during an Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 6, 2025

Trump aides defend Gaza takeover proposal but walk back some elements

Trump shattered decades of U.S. policy with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned transforming Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Ampere Computing, according to sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025

SoftBank nears deal to acquire chip designer Ampere

SoftBank is discussing a deal that could value the Oracle-backed chip designer at about $6.5 billion, including debt.
United Steelworkers President David McCall
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 6, 2025

Union chief files motion to dismiss suit by U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel

United Steelworkers called the U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel lawsuit a "frivolous and unsubstantiated attack" on the union.
A cargo ship full of shipping containers at the port of Oakland in Oakland, California, as trade tensions escalate over U.S. tariffs on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 6, 2025

Economists brace for Trump's new trade war to rekindle inflation worldwide

Stubborn growth in consumer prices was bothering much of the world even before U.S. President Donald Trump entered the White House.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 6, 2025

With Ishiba-Trump meet, Tokyo hopes to keep ties on even keel

Tokyo has been scrambling for ways to placate the U.S. leader, and head off any dust-up between the allies during Friday’s meeting.
Nissan needed this deal a lot more than Honda as billions of dollars of debt due in the next year closes in.
COMMENTARY
Feb 6, 2025

Scrapping Honda deal would leave Nissan stranded

Nissan needed this deal a lot more than Honda. As billions of dollars of debt due in the next year close in, the former may get pushed into an even less favorable deal.
Gaza’s reconstruction is needed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach — framing it as a business deal without addressing Palestinian political aspirations — makes little sense as foreign policy.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 6, 2025

Trump’s ‘Gaza Riviera’ scheme may be more than a fantasy

It’s tempting to dismiss Donald Trump’s bid to take over Gaza as just another wild proposal, designed more to change the conversation and wrong-foot negotiating partners than as policy.
Manchester City's Erling Haaland (center of three) looks dejected after Thomas Partey scores Arsenal's second goal on Sunday.
SOCCER
Feb 6, 2025

Manchester City’s troubles spread from Premier League to politics

After years of dominance, this season Man City is regularly losing matches. But it is events off the pitch that risk undoing one of the world's biggest soccer clubs.
The consortium proposing to take Seven & I Holdings private has tapped Citigroup and Bank of America for financing, adding to a growing group of players in the potentially record-breaking management buyout bid, people familiar with the matter said.
BUSINESS
Feb 7, 2025

Seven & I consortium to tap Bank of America and Citi for financing

The two U.S. banks’ role in the bid would be to refinance the debt of Seven & I’s U.S. unit.
David Burritt, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Steel, in Detroit in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025

Trump meets U.S. Steel CEO as Nippon Steel hopes to save deal

The meeting took place one day before Trump is due to meet with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Japanese household consumption in December grew at the fastest pace since August 2022, but it is uncertain whether the gains are sustainable, given wage growth in the month was largely supported by the temporary effect of bonuses.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025

Japan’s household spending jumps the most since 2022 as wages rise

Outlays adjusted for inflation gained 2.7% in December from a year earlier, according to internal affairs ministry data.
The government plans to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services, a sector struggling with a labor shortage.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2025

Japan looks to allow foreign nationals to engage in home care services

Non-Japanese would be allowed to work in the sector if they meet certain conditions, such as receiving training.
While the ruling minority government’s weakened position has emboldened opposition parties to push for more spending across multiple policy fronts, the International Monetary Fund has warned there is limited space today in Japan to address the risks of natural disasters and mounting social security costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025

Japan needs immediate deficit cut to fix fiscal path, IMF warns

The government needs to prepare now to avoid negative surprises four or five years down the road, the IMF’s Japan mission chief says.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the yen at the ¥155 level against the dollar on Monday, when it began rallying after a sharp decline in the previous week.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 7, 2025

Yen’s weekly surge underscores growing case for a hawkish BOJ

The Japanese currency has rallied more than 2% this week, heading for the biggest gain since late November.
Shoppers walk past a display of cabbages for sale at a supermarket in Tokyo last month. The 2024 record summer heat and heavy rain ruined crops, driving up the cost of the usually inexpensive leafy green in what Japanese media has dubbed a "cabbage shock."
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2025

Inflation becoming a concern in Japan after being a goal for decades

Rising consumer prices are putting real wage growth at risk and possibly becoming a drag on much-needed household consumption.
Rapidus, which is expected to begin pilot production of chips in April and achieve mass production in 2027, is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 7, 2025

Cabinet approves bill to fund Rapidus semiconductor production

Rapidus is the cornerstone of the government’s effort to revive its domestic semiconductor industry.
Although she’s unlucky in love, Shigusa (Kirara Inori, left) finds strength in expressing herself through art in “Kisspeptin Chronicles.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 8, 2025

‘Kisspeptin Chronicles’: Quirky rom-com dances through the pain of heartache

Shiika Okada’s debut feature has an autobiographical feel and a hopeful message about self-discovery despite romantic disappointments.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares martial law in Seoul on Dec. 3. Yoon is currently facing charges related to his actions over that two-day period.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 7, 2025

Was there an insurrection in Seoul on Dec. 3, or is that happening now?

Yoon can now be held for up to six months in prison simply at the behest of the prosecutors.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump will likely aim at maintaining the status quo, avoid new trade issues and ensure Japan isn’t targeted by tariffs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 7, 2025

A new golden age for U.S.-Japan? I don’t think so.

Ishiba won’t be looking for any great breakthrough, a dramatic defense re-posturing, or support for any of his long-held foreign policy goals
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

Trump targets U.S. trade deficit in first meeting with Ishiba

The two leaders pledged to pursue a "new golden age" of U.S.-Japan relations — though Ishiba did get an earful about America's trade deficit with its ally.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 8, 2025

Trump says he will announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week

Trump did not identify which countries would be hit but suggested it would be a broad effort that could also help solve U.S. budget problems.
Nippon Steel's pursuit of U.S. Steel has stretched on for more than a year, with U.S. President Donald Trump vociferously condemning the proposal on numerous occasions, before Friday's more tempered remarks at the Oval Office with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at his side.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 8, 2025

Trump says Nippon Steel will invest in U.S. Steel, not buy it

It was unclear if the investment referred to a new deal structure and what the details of the transaction would be.
The International Criminal Court building
WORLD / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Feb 8, 2025

'Existential threat': What next for the ICC after U.S. sanctions?

Experts say the sanctions announced by Trump will have a wide-reaching impact on the court.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba shows a gift from U.S. President Donald Trump, as they hold a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 8, 2025

Foreign leaders embrace the art of flattery in wooing Trump

Ishiba became the latest figure to offer ample compliments to a president known for his transactional approach to foreign policy.
Seven Bank has set up ATMs with facial-recognition technology for cash deposits and withdrawals.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 9, 2025

Japan's Seven Bank starts ATM service using face recognition

Named Face Cash, the new service enables depositors with Seven Bank or Shizuoka Bank to make deposits and withdrawals without cash cards or smartphones.
Sony PlayStation's online services came back online on Saturday, the Japanese group said, after a 24-hour outage.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 9, 2025

PlayStation network back online after 24-hour outage

The network's failure prevented many owners of Sony consoles including the PS4 and the PS5 from playing multiplayer games such as the hugely popular "Fortnite" and "Call of Duty."

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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.