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Personal data leaks involving My Number personal identification numbers reported under the My Number law climbed to 2,052 cases from 334 in fiscal 2023, according to the Personal Information Protection Commission's report adopted by the Cabinet Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 10, 2025

Personal info leak cases hit record high in Japan in fiscal 2024

Personal data leaks involving My Number personal identification numbers reported under the My Number law climbed to 2,052 cases from 334 in fiscal 2023.
Japan faces soaring rice prices, a powerful farming cooperative resistant to change, declining farmer numbers, falling rice consumption and conflicting government policies that hinder effective reform of the sector.
COMMENTARY
Jun 10, 2025

How ‘vintage’ rice is shaking up Japanese politics

Rice is where consumers have drawn the line. The staple rose by 98% in the past year, adding almost half a percentage point to headline inflation.
Kenji Nanba (left), a former manager of Nihon University's weightlifting club, is transferred to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Shinagawa Station on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 10, 2025

Former manager of Nihon University weightlifting club arrested over fraud

The university believes the former manager began such scams around 20 years ago or earlier, receiving a total of ¥53.2 million.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, is expected to head to Washington soon for a sixth round of high-level trade talks with the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2025

Akazawa talks of 'dense fog' in U.S. trade talks ahead of G7 summit

Japan is sticking to its demand that all new tariffs be removed, the country's tariff czar insists.
Emergency specialists working at the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, in December last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 10, 2025

Expanding missile threats and airspace closures are straining airlines

The aviation industry, which prides itself on its safety performance, is investing more in data and security planning.
The Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, California. The World Bank stopped short of forecasting a recession, but said global economic growth this year would be its weakest outside of a recession since 2008.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 10, 2025

World Bank slashes global growth forecast as trade tensions bite

The bank stopped short of forecasting a recession, but said global economic growth this year would be its weakest outside of a recession since 2008.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks to members of the media at Lancaster House in London on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2025

U.S. and China officials agree on plan to ramp down trade tensions

Officials on both sides expressed optimism but the framework must now be approved by leaders in Washington and Beijing.
An Airbus A300 aircraft operated by Iran Air at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran
WORLD / Politics
Jun 11, 2025

Iran looks for planes and partners in post-sanctions order

Tehran-based Iran Air is eager to expand its operations to meet rising travel demand and is actively seeking new aircraft, spare parts and partnerships.
All 53 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the Bank of Japan to hold its benchmark rate at 0.5% at the end of a two-day meeting on June 17.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2025

Most BOJ watchers expect slower pace in reducing bond purchases

All 53 economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast the BOJ to hold its benchmark rate at 0.5% at the end of a two-day meeting on June 17.
A pollster for the national census leaves a note at a house in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in September 2020 after no one answered the door.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2025

Japan faces staffing challenges for crucial census

The pollster workforce is aging, while increased public concerns over privacy have led more residents to refuse to participate.
A Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus eCanter electric truck. The merger between Toyota Motor and Daimler Truck comes as the commercial vehicle industry faces mounting pressure to adapt as electrification, autonomous driving and emissions compliance reshape global transport.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2025

Toyota and Daimler finalize plan to merge truck units in 2026

The tie-up comes amid a mutual desire to boost margins and develop new technologies.
Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori at U.S. Steel's Irvin Works facility in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, on May 30
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2025

3D urges shareholders to reject new term for Nippon Steel heads

Nippon Steel’s large-scale capital investment plan "significantly” exceeds the company’s market value, 3D said in a statement.
Solar panels in Dunhuang, China. In April alone, China installed about 45 gigawatts of solar power, more than triple the amount in the same month last year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 11, 2025

China’s solar industry gathers as gloom deepens over demand

The solar industry’s record growth in China masks some brutal economics confronting equipment-makers.
Thai fisherman Chaweng Yothaud (right) collects water samples to test for alleged arsenic poisoning along the Kok River in the Golden Triangle region in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 11, 2025

Toxic Thailand rivers pinned on Myanmar mines

Around a dozen extraction operations have sprung up in Myanmar's Shan state since around 2022, in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army.
Canadians Michael Kovrig (right) and Michael Spavor (center), former detainees held by China in a case widely seen as hostage diplomacy, attend an address by U.S. President Joe Biden in the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa in March 2023.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2025

In its relationship with China, Canada is behaving like an abuse victim

The attempt to normalize trade relations with China on the heels of Beijing’s pattern of economic coercion bears an uncomfortable resemblance to a domestic abuse scenario.
World Bank Deputy Chief Economist Ayhan Kose speaks during an interview on Monday in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 11, 2025

World Bank sees Japan's growth slowing in 2025

The institution has lowered its 2025 growth estimate for Japan's gross domestic product to 0.7% in inflation-adjusted real terms.
Seeking access to pricier and more demanding foreign markets for its beef, Brazil's Amazonian state of Para has seized on the global spotlight of the U.N. COP 30 summit to burnish its environmental credentials.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jun 11, 2025

Why Brazil’s ‘King of Cattle’ is embracing a plan to save the Amazon

The rancher has his eyes on exporting to pricier and more demanding markets in the United States, Europe and Asia.
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng shake hands at Lancaster House in London on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

Deal to get U.S.-China trade truce back on track is done, Trump says

The deal removes Chinese export restrictions on rare earth minerals and allows Chinese students access to U.S. universities.
In Japan, the National Police Agency and others secured the safety of 129 domestic servers under the Interpol-led operation.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025

Japan joins international crackdown on malware-linked servers

The National Police Agency and others secured the safety of 129 domestic servers under the Interpol-led operation.
Morning commute traffic streams past the Meta sign outside the headquarters of Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc, in Mountain View, California, in 2022.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 12, 2025

Meta taps top researchers from Google and Sesame for new AI lab

The new group is part of an ambitious, and costly, effort by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to gain ground on rivals like Google and OpenAI.
World Bank President Ajay Banga at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California on May 5
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

World Bank to end ban on nuclear energy projects, but undecided on upstream gas

The global development bank, which lends at low rates to help countries build everything from flood barriers to railroads, decided in 2013 to stop funding nuclear power projects.
SMBC Nikko Securities has already introduced a family trust system under which relatives can act as agents for older customers for their investments.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Jun 12, 2025

New securities system enables those with dementia to invest with family's help

Under the system, investors can designate trusted family members as their agents while they are still mentally capable.
Jera's LNG agreements with U.S. suppliers bolster Japan’s role as the world’s second-largest LNG importer, and come as U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing to expand exports of the fuel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025

Jera touts 20-year LNG agreements with U.S. suppliers

Japan’s largest power generation company has reached agreements to buy as much as 5.5 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas from U.S. suppliers.
Nike branded shoes on display at a store in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 11
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025

Vietnam trade envoy meets U.S. execs at Nike and Walmart ahead of tariff talks

Vietnam has engaged in weeks of intense diplomacy with the U.S. — the largest export market of the trade-reliant country — as it seeks to avert a threatened 46% tariff.
University of Tokyo President Teruo Fujii (left) and Y.J. Mii, a TSMC executive vice president, at a news conference Thursday. The school and the company have been working together since 2019.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2025

TSMC and Tokyo University team up to establish a chip lab

The chip giant and university will work together on chip-related technologies and supporting educational and research and development opportunities.
United Wa State Army (UWSA) soldiers march during a media display in Pansang, Wa territory in northeast Myanmar in 2016. The armed group controls one of the world's largest tin mines.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 12, 2025

China-backed militia secures control of new rare earth mines in Myanmar

Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce magnets that power critical goods.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office after holding talks with opposition leaders Thursday.
BUSINESS
Jun 12, 2025

Japan and U.S. still far apart in tariff talks, Ishiba cited as saying

Ishiba is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders gathering in Canada starting Sunday, but a deal is far from certain.
The tail of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane that crashed in Ahmedabad, India, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 13, 2025

‘I got up and ran’: How one man survived the plane crash that killed 241

"Thirty seconds after take-off, there was a loud noise,” Ramesh Vishwaskumar said. "There were dead bodies around me. I got scared. I got up and ran."
An Air India 787-8 Dreamliner. Boeing's widebody 787 planes, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service, have never had a fatal crash until Thursday's Air India incident.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 13, 2025

Air India crash is the latest test for new Boeing leadership

Public perception of the planemaker is still on shaky ground after three high-profile accidents involving its planes in recent years.
Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa speaks to reporters Friday at Haneda Airport in Tokyo before heading to Washington.
BUSINESS
Jun 13, 2025

Akazawa sees a deal with U.S. sparing Japan from higher car levies

Akazawa heads to the U.S. as the two nations eye a potential trade deal out of an expected summit in Canada between Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji