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Solaris secured about €100 million ($103 million) from SBI Holdings for the stake.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan’s SBI said to agree to take majority stake in Solaris

Germany’s economic struggles have placed a greater burden on the country’s larger fintech companies.
The number of passengers who used express services operated by Japan Railways Group companies during the 10-day period through Sunday was 2% higher than in fiscal 2018, surpassing the level seen before the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Number of passengers on JR express services during New Year rose 11%, firms say

The figure for the 10-day period through Sunday surpassed the level seen before the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time.
Kinoko no Yama wireless earbuds, which were released by Meiji in March and sold in limited quantities
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2025

Snack makers try to keep long-selling products 'fresh'

Related products and fan events are being offered by companies in a bid to engage with consumers.
Many Japanese dating apps have ways to detail specific interests that can be as narrow as one particular TV show, game or an artist.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 7, 2025

Swiping in Japan: How Gen Z is changing the dating app game

The once-stigmatized apps are flourishing as a new normal for dating among Gen Z in Japan, albeit with a different approach to before.
An investigation conducted by the antitrust watchdog in 2023 and 2024 found that a post office in the Kanto region collected penalty fees from subcontractors without giving them a sufficient explanation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Japan Post received administrative guidance over poorly explained penalties

Penalty fees for failed deliveries and for complaints about cigarette odors were not explained adequately to subcontractors, the Fair Trade Commission found.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda speaks during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Toyota invests in Japanese rocket startup as SpaceX races ahead

The investment is the latest sign of progress in the Japanese government’s push to nurture the country’s private space sector.
The yen hit its lowest level against the dollar since July on Tuesday, prompting a warning from Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato over speculative moves.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 7, 2025

Japan warns on speculative FX moves after yen hits six month low

Any further changes in expectations over the trajectory of rates in the U.S. or Japan could sharply ramp up speculation of renewed intervention.
Nippon Steel CEO Eiji Hashimoto speaks to reporters about its lawsuit against the U.S. government on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 7, 2025

Nippon Steel committed to long-shot lawsuit against U.S. government

Eiji Hashimoto, the steelmaker's CEO, says he is convinced that litigation is the “best course of action” in response to the blocking of its acquisition of U.S. Steel.
Some people are questioning the U.S. decision to block Nippon Steel’s takeover of U.S. Steel, citing the lack of clear evidence of any national security risk from Japan — a country that hosts over 50,000 U.S. troops and relies on America for defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 7, 2025

Biden's Nippon Steel move: A troubling snub of a key ally

Preventing the takeover of U.S. Steel is bad enough. Declaring Japan a national security risk is worse.
A retired power station in the Keratsini suburb, near Athens
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 7, 2025

Europe's power price divide hits southeastern economies

Since 2021, Greece has spent €11 billion on energy subsidies to try to protect customers.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump gestures as he makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

Trump will not rule out force to take Panama Canal and Greenland

Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, also floated the idea of turning Canada into a U.S. state.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on a pair of Orion augmented reality glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 8, 2025

Meta shelves fact-checking in policy reversal ahead of Trump inauguration

It plans to implement on Facebook, Instagram and Threads a system of "community notes" similar to that used on rival X.
Demonstrators inside the U.S. Capitol after breaching barricades on Jan. 6, 2021
WORLD / Society
Jan 8, 2025

Violent extremism lingers online with U.S. flagging less content

Donald Trump’s return to the White House promises to cement the hands-off approach toward online behavior.
Taiwanese authorities are investigating the Shun Xing 39, a Chinese-owned, Cameroon-flagged cargo ship, on suspicions of damaging a subsea telecoms cable northeast of the island, Taiwan's coast guard said on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 8, 2025

Ship alleged to have damaged Taiwan's undersea cable ‘has multiple IDs’

Taiwan says the Chinese-linked ship appeared to use two sets of Automatic Identification System equipment, which is used to broadcast a vessel’s position.
Terunofuji performs during a ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 8, 2025

Questions linger over Terunofuji's health ahead of year's first tournament

During the Yokozuna Deliberation Council's practice session on Monday, Terunofuji’s latent power, but also his physical decline, were on full display.
Manabu Sasaki, a 39-year-old CEO of a painting company, have been rearrested on suspicion of assaulting his former employee, 56-year-old Osamu Takano, before allegedly orchestrating his death in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward in December 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 8, 2025

Trio who allegedly orchestrated coworker's death rearrested in Tokyo

Police investigating the events leading to the death of 56-year-old Osamu Takano uncovered new evidence of his abuse at the hands of his colleagues.
People shop at a market in New Delhi on Nov. 4. On Tuesday, India forecast annual growth of 6.4% for its fiscal year ending March, the slowest in four years and below the government's initial projections.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 8, 2025

India looks to new economic playbook as risks mount

Disappointing economic indicators and a slowdown in corporate earnings in the second half of 2024 have forced investors to rethink the country's earlier outperformance.
Japan Post was asked by a subcontractor entrusted with Yu-Pack parcel deliveries to raise the commission fees it paid, in light of rising costs, but Japan Post left subcontracting fees unchanged without discussion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 8, 2025

Japan Post also received FTC guidance for second subcontractor issue

Postal service company was asked by a subcontractor to raise the commission fees it paid, in light of rising costs, but made no change.
Prime Minister Shigeru (upper left), along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders, takes a group photo during the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2025

Japan PM struggles with both U.S. relations and China’s growing threats

Ishiba has to govern under the constant threat of a no-confidence vote that could see the opposition parties pull the rug out from under him if they ever choose to work together.
Hisao Kurozumi (left) and Kazuki Nagaya (the film’s director) play brothers with a strained relationship in “Mending Cracks.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2025

‘Mending Cracks’: A muddled drama about brotherly discord

Kazuki Nagaya’s directorial debut has its charms, but doesn’t offer enough substance to engage the audience.
For store managers in their first or second year at Fast Retailing, the monthly salary is set to increase to ¥410,000 from the current ¥390,000.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2025

Fast Retailing to raise starting monthly salary to ¥330,000

The operator of the Uniqlo casual clothing stores said that it wants to attract talented university graduates in a bid to reinforce the company's global competitiveness.
Migrants queue to board a bus that will take them to a shelter after turning themselves in to agents of Mexico's National Institute of Migration to look for a permit which would allow them to cross the country and reach the northern border with the U.S., in Tapachula, Mexico, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Anxious but undeterred, migrants brace for Trump presidency

Trump has pledged tougher border controls and immigration enforcement and to launch a mass deportation operation.
Former Bank of Japan board member Makoto Sakurai sees the likelihood of a hike in March as high as 70%, as the central bank may be better off waiting out at least the first couple of months of the new administration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2025

Former BOJ board member sees rising chance of March rate hike

Makoto Sakurai says the central bank may wait out at least the first couple of months of the new administration of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump.
The decrease in sales of imported foreign-brand vehicles in Japan in 2024 was apparently because of Houthis attacks on ships that disrupted commercial shipping and rising materials costs that sent vehicle prices higher.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2025

Japan sales of foreign-brand vehicles fall 8.5% in 2024

Sales of foreign-brand vehicles priced lower than ¥4 million plunged 28.6%, while sales of those priced between ¥4 million and less than ¥10 million dipped 2.2%.
Brock Purdy threw for 3,864  yards and 20 touchdowns for the 49ers during the 2024 season.
MORE SPORTS / Football
Jan 9, 2025

49ers prepared to go all in on quarterback Brock Purdy

Purdy had 3,864 passing yards and 20 touchdowns for the 49ers in 2024.
A lithium smelter in Yichun, Jiangxi province, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Jan 9, 2025

Stubbornly resilient lithium supply remains hurdle to recovery

Lithium prices have plunged since late 2022 on oversupply and slower-than-expected growth in electric vehicle demand.
Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing reported strong growth in revenue and operating profit for the three months through November on robust demand in Japan, North America and Europe.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Uniqlo owner reports strong growth in Japan and Western markets

Operating profit rose 7% to ¥157.6 billion for the three months ended November from a year earlier, with sales increasing to ¥895.2 billion.
Rahm Emanuel professes that the biggest thing he has brought to the U.S.-Japan relationship might be a fresh injection of vitality.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2025

Emanuel leaves reform legacy amid historic shifts in U.S.-Japan alliance

The departing U.S. ambassador arguably oversaw the most consequential shift in the U.S.-Japan alliance in decades.
Volkswagen ID. Buzz electric vehicles are lined up at the company's plant in Hanover, Germany, on Dec. 17.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 9, 2025

Germany electric vehicle sales go into reverse

Just 380,609 EVs were registered in 2024 in Europe's largest auto market, 27.4% fewer than in the previous year.
Attendees sit in Xpeng's modular "flying car" during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 9, 2025

Trade war worries loom over Las Vegas tech show

The potential for Trump's trade policies to roil the global tech industry has loomed large over the Consumer Electronics Show.

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell