Search - business

 
 
Nippon Steel said it would build a new electric arc furnace — which uses scrap metal as a raw material — at its Kyushu works, while expanding and restarting capacity at two other sites.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 30, 2025

Nippon Steel plans $6 billion investment in its Japanese mills

The spending in Japan comes at a critical juncture for the firm’s 17-month push to acquire U.S. Steel.
Takanori Nishiyama, Japan manager of Keeper Security. Password managers can help thwart phishing attacks.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
May 30, 2025

Online brokerage account hijacks in Japan highlight need for login vigilance

Portfolios are being commandeered to manipulate the market for the benefit of the hacker.
AI is beginning to suppress white-collar job growth in high-cost, tech-heavy U.S. cities like San Francisco, signaling a potential structural shift in the labor market amid stagnant interstate migration.
COMMENTARY / World
May 30, 2025

The next great job churn is already starting

San Francisco’s sluggish labor market may signal the AI disruptions ahead.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, is in Washington again for a fourth round of high-level negotiations with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025

Tariff talks with U.S. a mix of slow progress, ever-present uncertainty 

Japan's chief negotiator is back in Washington for another round of high-level negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Steel Corporation Irvin Works facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on Friday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2025

Trump to hike steel tariffs to 50% to aid Nippon-U.S. Steel

The U.S. president said the move would help protect American steelworkers during a visit to a United States Steel plant on Friday.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's economic revitalization minster, speaks to members of the media at the Japanese Embassy in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 31, 2025

Japan says progress made in U.S. tariff talks, but details are scarce

The two sides are eyeing the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in June as a possible setting to announce a trade deal.
The Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia, China.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 31, 2025

Carmakers warn China's rare-earth curbs could halt production

Auto executives are sounding the alarm on an impending shortage of rare-earth magnets from China that could force the closure of factories within weeks.
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles before speaking in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Jun 1, 2025

Trump tariffs face threat at top court — over rulings that blocked Biden

The court’s conservative majority ruled that federal agencies can’t decide sweeping political and economic matters without clear congressional authorization.
Toyota plans to start the production of the GR Corolla compact car at its Burnaston plant in Britain in 2026.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 1, 2025

Toyota to build GR Corolla in Britain from 2026

The automaker hopes to utilize the surplus production capacity of the plant, which is capable of producing 150,000 vehicles annually at present.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington in February.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 2, 2025

Ishiba eyes trade meeting around Trump's birthday before G7 meet, report says

Some government officials have said a deal announced on June 14 — the U.S. president's birthday — might have special symbolic significance for him.
Japan has enforced tougher rules on companies to protect workers from heat after 30 workplace deaths and roughly 1,200 injuries were reported last year that were associated with high temperatures.
JAPAN
Jun 2, 2025

Protect workers from heat waves or face fines, Japan tells firms

The revised legislation is a rare global example of a national-level policy on heat safety for employees.
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Jun 2, 2025

How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic

Labor shortages and shifting mindsets are driving younger Japanese workers to challenge the country’s traditional office culture.
Samsung and Perplexity are in talks regarding preloading Perplexity’s app and assistant on upcoming Samsung devices.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 2, 2025

Samsung nears wide-ranging deal with Perplexity for AI features

Samsung is planning to announce the Perplexity integrations as early as this year, sources said.
Muslim worshipers gather to pray around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque complex in the holy city of Mecca on Sunday ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
WORLD
Jun 2, 2025

Saudi Arabia cracks down on unauthorized Hajj pilgrims, aiming to save lives

Last year, 1,301 pilgrims, most unregistered and lacking access to air-conditioned facilities, died as temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius.
Trump hopes increased levies on aluminum and steel will protect margins for domestic mills and spur investment in new production capacity.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 3, 2025

U.S. aluminum and steel prices surge as Trump doubles tariffs

U.S. buyers could end up paying about 50% more than international competitors to get hold of aluminum.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a chart listing tariffs described as reciprocal during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington on April 2.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 3, 2025

For volatile Trump, trade pacts with China and Europe prove elusive

So far, there has been few signs of a breakthrough with either of America's two biggest trading partners.
Honda will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025

Honda joins 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games as major partner

The carmaker will provide a fleet of cars for athletes, officials and stakeholders, along with motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and other multipurpose vehicles during the event.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi (third from left) speaks at a Council for Gender Equality meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Japan to promote women's startups as part of push to stop rural outflow

Seeing fewer job prospects for women in the countryside as a problem, the government will improve consulting systems for business startups in rural areas.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, speaks at the press briefing in New Delhi on Monday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 3, 2025

Trade barriers and plane delivery delays challenge global airline growth

More people are flying than ever before after a post-pandemic passenger market recovery, but airline growth is being hampered.
A case in which two Japanese nationals were killed in China’s northeastern city of Dalian last month is still being investigated, with local police saying the incident arose from a business dispute between acquaintances.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 3, 2025

Two Japanese nationals killed in Dalian, China

Local police have told the Japanese consulate that the incident arose from a business dispute between acquaintances, and a Chinese national has been taken into custody.
Zheng Yanxiong, former director of China's Hong Kong Liaison Office, speaks during the National Security Education Day opening ceremony in Hong Kong on April 15, 2024.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 3, 2025

Hong Kong leader calls sudden removal of top China official 'normal'

No explanation by Beijing or Chinese state media was given for the change.
TSMC’s plan to build a second factory in Kumamoto Prefecture is key to Japan’s ambitions to regain leadership in semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

TSMC flags delays in Japan expansion while U.S. plans advance

The sudden influx of workers from TSMC’s first plant is already bogging down rural infrastructure in Japan.
A man weaves cane into a chinlone ball, used in the ancient Myanmar game considered a blend of sport and art, at a workshop in Hinthada township in the Irrawaddy delta region.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 3, 2025

Ancient Myanmar ball game battles for survival in troubled nation

Myanmar's 2021 military coup and subsequent civil war have made it increasingly difficult for craftsmen to source materials for chinlone balls.
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 4, 2025

Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?

Amid widespread abuse of Japan’s tax-free shopping system, a group of Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers are mulling over its possible abolition.
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here

The long-awaited gaming console hits shelves Thursday, with booming orders and tariffs making for a complicated debut.
Japan’s three megabanks are discussing jointly operating ATMs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Japan’s top banks consider teaming up on ATMs to cut costs

The banks are seeing whether costs can be reduced for tasks needed to run ATMs such as monitoring, security and cash transportation.
Travel advisories, declining visitor numbers from key countries and stricter border enforcement by the Trump administration have cast doubt on tourism gains for Los Angeles, which is hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and also the 2028 Olympics.
COMMENTARY / World
May 28, 2025

Is LA throwing a world cup party no one will attend?

At a time when the U.S. should be preparing to roll out the welcome mat to the world, President Trump’s erratic immigration policies and rhetoric are scaring tourists away.
Japan and the United States are aiming for a meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven leaders summit on June 16 and 17.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 4, 2025

U.S. doubles steel and aluminum tariffs as Japan counts on a breakthrough

The United Kingdom is exempt from the higher rates because it struck an early trade deal with the United States.
Lawson plans to sell 1-kilogram and 2-kg bags of rice it bought from the government's stockpile at ¥360 ($2.50) and ¥700 respectively.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 4, 2025

Aging rice? Lawson prefers to call it 'vintage.'

As convenience stores prepare to sell government stockpiled rice from older harvests to consumers, Lawson says it will offer rice balls made of "vintage rice."
A man cycles past a mural calling for the conviction of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2025

Philippines' Sara Duterte questions impeachment trial under new congress

The Philippine vice president said procedural issues may arise for her trial in the Senate due to the current body adjourning next week.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic