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Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda had sounded dovish after the central bank's December policy meeting, which led some analysts to say that rate hikes might only emerge in March.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

BOJ takes rates to 0.5% amid calm markets after Trump inauguration

The 25-basis-point move marks the first rate increase since July and takes rates to their highest level since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Japan Airlines' chief executive officer and its chairman will be subject to a 30% pay cut for two months over an incident involving two pilots drinking.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 24, 2025

JAL top executives have their pay docked after pilot drinking incident

The punishments stem from an incident last month when two captains caused a flight to be delayed by around three hours after alcohol was found in their systems.
The share of university students who accepted job offers as of Dec. 1 dipped 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, the first decrease in four years.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2025

Share of university students in Japan who accepted job offers falls

It is the first decrease in four years, as some students who received job offers from several companies apparently hesitated to pick one.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato holds a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in October last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2025

Finance chief vows to balance economic revival and fiscal consolidation

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato highlighted the need to improve Japan's fiscal health, which is the worst among major countries.
A woman lays a bouquet of flowers outside Shenzhen Japanese School following the murder of a 10-year-old Japanese child who was on his way to the school, in Shenzhen in September.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025

Chinese court gives death penalty to man who killed Japanese boy

Friday’s sentence was pronounced on the same day the trial opened in an unusually quick decision.
The start date and production levels for battery-powered Nissan cars to be manufactured at a plant in Canton, Mississippi, will depend in large part on whether U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress follow through on vows to scrap a $7,500 tax credit and other incentives for buyers and makers of EVs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 25, 2025

Nissan looks to Trump-proof North American production plans

Nissan may slow a planned ramp-up of electric vehicles made in the U.S. after halting output at a joint venture in Mexico.
Ben Wikler, the chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, in Milwaukee, last March
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Contenders to lead the Democratic Party scramble to show momentum

As two Midwesterners battle for control of the Democratic National Committee, they are making loud yet unverifiable claims about their levels of support.
U.S. airmen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency personnel prepare to load undocumented migrants onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 25, 2025

Trump deploys visible military force to launch migrant crackdown

Long done in the shadows, Trump’s administration is releasing photos and videos of authorities herding migrants onto C-17s, military planes.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference after a two-day monetary policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jan 25, 2025

BOJ’s clear guidance on rate hike calms markets but may backfire

For some economists, the latest move was too completely priced in, begging the question of how explicitly the BOJ intends to signal its plans in the future.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on Friday
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 25, 2025

Central bank appears poised to break through 0.5% rate barrier this year

The central bank's board voted Friday to increase its target for its short-term policy rate to around 0.5% from around 0.25%.
U.S. President Donald Trump attends an event about the economy at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 26, 2025

Trump’s frenzied debut delights base as thornier decisions await

The honeymoon is hardly assured to last, with the U.S. president so far avoiding drastic steps that would tempt backlash from his party, Wall Street or both.
The U.S. head office of TikTok in Culver City, California
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 26, 2025

White House in talks to have Oracle and U.S. investors take over TikTok

Under the deal, ByteDance would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle.
Smoke rises as the Border 2 Fire burns in Chula Vista, California, on Friday in this screen grab obtained from a social media video.
WORLD
Jan 27, 2025

Fire-ravaged Los Angeles braces for toxic rain runoff

The rain will also bring cleaner air and improve fire-fighting conditions, but overall, it will make things worse.
A turbine spins at the South Fork Wind site, approximately 56 kilometers off the coast of Montauk, New York, in December 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Trump casts chill over U.S. wind energy sector

The president has signed a series of executive orders that has brought the sector into crisis.
A worker assembles temporary shelters in preparation for mass deportations at the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 27, 2025

Wall Street banks on Trump not following through on immigration pledges

Mass deportations would likely upend industries as varied as service-heavy hospitality and leisure, labor-intensive agriculture, food production, manufacturing and construction.
Hong Kong's commercial real estate sector is going through one of its worst slumps in history.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 27, 2025

Hong Kong’s property distress is catching up with city’s banks

Banks with soured loans and mortgages have been reluctant to sell the underlying real estate assets at a loss — but that is changing.
A worker walks past cattle carcasses at the municipal slaughterhouse in Sao Felix do Xingu, Brazil.The country is in talks with Japan over exports of its beef.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2025

Brazil in talks for beef shipments to Japan in threat to U.S.

The U.S. is currently one of Japan’s major beef suppliers, but the country is dealing with a severe shortage of cattle that drove a spike in beef imports from Brazil.
Fuji TV President Koichi Minato (left) and Chairman Shuji Kanoh, also chairman of the broadcaster's parent company Fuji Media Holdings, bow during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday. The two have announced their resignations.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 28, 2025

Fuji TV president resigns over handling of Masahiro Nakai scandal

Koichi Minato has been the target of criticism following the revelation that he became aware of the incident involving Nakai right after it occurred in June 2023.
Perplexity AI has revised a merger proposal submitted to ByteDance, owner of TikTok.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 27, 2025

Perplexity AI proposes to merge with TikTok, with U.S. government getting half, source says

The proposal calls for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future initial public offering.
US Steel’s Mon Valley facility in Pennsylvania. Activist investor Ancora Holdings Group has nominated nine candidates for U.S. Steel’s board and is pushing for the company to abandon a takeover by Nippon Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 27, 2025

Ancora seeks U.S. Steel board revamp and end to Nippon Steel deal

The Cleveland-based activist investor intends to push U.S. Steel to end litigation aimed at rescuing the Nippon Steel deal and instead collect a $565 million breakup fee.
Brookfield Asset Management has bought a stake in Gajoen, a mixed-use luxury complex in Tokyo, and plans to ramp up real estate investments in Japan.
BUSINESS
Jan 27, 2025

Brookfield seeks to buy more property in Japan after $1.6 billion in deals

There has been a trend of increased foreign investor activity in Japanese real estate in recent years, buoyed by the weak yen and cheap financing.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders including a flurry of actions on immigration in the hours after taking office.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

America’s mass deportation clash is unprecedented

So when ICE moves from selective targets aimed at serious criminals to the mass roundups Trump promised, that is when the public may recoil.
People line up to use an ATM  in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022. Western financial sanctions have weighed on the Russian ruble, which has sunk from 34 to the dollar in 2013 to around 100 today.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

Putin’s war is fueling Russian stagflation

For a normal country, a budget deficit of 2% of GDP would be of no concern. But Russia is not a normal country.
Hanna Shelest outside her apartment building in Odesa, Ukraine, on Jan. 20
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025

I spent Trump’s inauguration in Ukraine. This is what I saw.

In nearly three years since Russia’s invasion, Odesa has moved from shock and fear to denial and, finally, adaptation.
Constitutional Democratic Party head Yoshihiko Noda (right) at a plenary session in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 27, 2025

Constitutional Democratic Party head grills Ishiba on diplomacy with Trump

The CDP leader raised concerns about the United States' decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and the Paris agreement on climate change.
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.
Katsumi Murakami, a Lawson convenience store owner in Kobe, talks about his experience in the 1995 earthquake and how convenience stores can serve a lifeline in times of disaster.
JAPAN
Jan 28, 2025

Convenience stores' importance grew after Kobe earthquake, one owner says

The owner recalled handing out food from his Lawson convenience store following the 1995 earthquake and ensuring it was open for business three months later.
Scott Bessent, then nominee for U.S. treasury secretary, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 16.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 28, 2025

Billionaire financier Bessent confirmed as Trump's treasury chief

The new treasury secretary will be the chief economic spokesman for President Donald Trump and his sweeping agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and trade rebalancing.
Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant last week that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 28, 2025

DeepSeek sparks global AI selloff, with Nvidia losing around $593 billion

Chinese startup DeepSeek launched a free AI assistant that it says uses less data at a fraction of the cost of incumbent services.
Engineers with Chinese startup DeepSeek built a competitive AI model despite U.S. attempts to curtail China’s tech development, raising questions about the effectiveness of Washington’s trade curbs.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jan 28, 2025

DeepSeek’s AI model tests limits of U.S. restrictions on Nvidia chips

Powerful AI software from the Chinese startup indicates its engineers built a competitive model despite U.S. attempts to curtail Beijing's tech development with trade curbs.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’