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A crowd of tourists walk on the street near Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto. There has been growing pushback from residents in the tradition-steeped city as visitor numbers continue to rise.
JAPAN / Society
May 21, 2025

Japan's tourist arrivals soared 28.5% in April to hit record 3.9 million

For the first four months of the year, foreign visitor arrivals totaled 14.4 million, a 24.5% increase.
Mitsui OSK Lines' owned and managed North Moon, North Ocean and North Light LNG vessels have been included in a new sanctions package targeting Russia's shadow fleet.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2025

Mitsui OSK assessing EU sanction impact on its LNG vessels

MOL's owned and managed North Moon, North Ocean and North Light LNG vessels were included in a new sanctions package.
Toyota executives say the automaker is listening to U.S. dealer requests for a truck smaller than the brand’s best-selling Tacoma midsize and Tundra full-size pickups.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 21, 2025

Toyota considers making tiny trucks for U.S. market as demand booms

Full-size and midsize pickups dominate the U.S. market, but their price — along with their size — have increased steadily in recent years.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) and Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda wait for a group photograph to be taken at a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors’ in Banff, Canada, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

Japan and U.S. reaffirm commitment to letting markets set currency rates

Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have made a point of not discussing a target yen-dollar rate.
Over the past three years, banks with the most blended-finance transactions include SMBC, Citigroup, BNP Paribas and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 22, 2025

Sumitomo Mitsui among banks stepping up deals for blended finance

Deals blending public and private funds totaled $18 billion last year, down 21% from 2023, according to Convergence.
Jony Ive, left, is collaborating with OpenAI’s Sam Altman as part of a nearly $6.5 billion deal.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 22, 2025

OpenAI to buy AI startup from Apple veteran Jony Ive in $6.5 billion deal

The purchase — the largest in OpenAI’s history — will provide the company with a dedicated unit for developing AI-powered devices.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. waves during a campaign rally ahead of midterm elections, in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, on May 9.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 22, 2025

Philippines' Marcos asks Cabinet secretaries to resign in government reset

The sweeping directive comes just over a week after a disappointing midterm election for the administration, widely seen as a referendum on Marcos' leadership.
Economic uncertainty and concern about the Bank of Japan reducing its bond purchases have hit Japanese debt recently, taking the 30-year yield to the highest level since records began in 1999.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 22, 2025

Treasurys vie for demand with Japan’s bonds

Economic uncertainty and concern about the Bank of Japan reducing its bond purchases have hit Japanese debt recently.
NTT Docomo will retire its iconic Docomo Emoji, ending a 26-year run that helped shape the visual language of mobile communication.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 22, 2025

NTT Docomo to retire iconic emoji set after 26 years

Beginning next month, newly released Android smartphones and feature phones sold by Docomo will no longer include the carrier’s original emoji.
Bank of Japan policy board member Asahi Noguchi says there’s no need to make major changes to the bank’s Japanese government bond purchase plan.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

BOJ dove Noguchi sees no need to change JGB tapering plan

The BOJ is currently trimming its purchases by ¥400 billion ($2.8 billion) a quarter and is on course to reach monthly buying of around ¥2.9 trillion by the spring of 2026.
An Upper House committee approves new rules drawn up in April following a revision of the law governing lawmaker allowances.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 22, 2025

Parliament moves to boost transparency in lawmaker allowances

Both chambers have adopted new rules mandating the disclosure of how the allowances are spent and requiring the return of unused funds to government coffers.
Erich Schreiber, born in Colonia Dignidad, poses for a picture on his bike near Parral, Maule Province, Chile on April 15.
WORLD / Society
May 22, 2025

Chile weighs future of charming German village with dark past

The Chilean state wants to turn the former home of a brutal cult into a memorial for the victims of the country's 1973-1990 dictatorship.
Seasonally adjusted core machinery orders in March rose 13% from the previous month, growing for the second consecutive month.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025

Core machinery orders grew for second straight month in March

The government agency kept its basic assessment unchanged, saying that machinery orders are showing signs of picking up.
Japan's consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.5% from a year earlier in April, with food items, especially rice, remaining a major contributor to price growth.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2025

BOJ and Ishiba pressured as prices rise the fastest in two years

Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.5% from a year earlier in April, higher than economists' expectations.
Institutional Shareholder Services backed the reappointment of Chairman Akio Toyoda to Toyota’s board, reversing its position from a year ago.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

ISS reverses stance and backs Toyota chief's reappointment

"There are no particular concerns about the nominee,” Institutional Shareholder Services said of Akio Toyoda in a report Thursday.
Swimmer Andriy Govorov speaks during a news conference about the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
MORE SPORTS
May 23, 2025

Anti-doping bodies speak out against drug-fueled Enhanced Games

WADA, the global anti-doping watchdog, condemned plans for the event as "dangerous."
The site of a rare earth metals mine in China
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

Rare earth production outside China 'major milestone'

Lynas' announcement illustrates how much more needs to be done to broaden the supply of elements critical for electric vehicles and renewable technology.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. on Wednesday submitted a recommendation to President Donald Trump on Nippon Steel's fraught $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel, a person familiar with the matter said, without providing further detail on its contents.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

U.S. panel submits view on Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal to Trump

Trump will now have 15 days to decide the fate of the transaction, although the timeline could slip.
All services on East Japan Railway's Yamanote Line in Tokyo were suspended for early Friday morning due to wire trouble.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

Tokyo's Yamanote Line resumes suspended train operations

The loop line was suspended Friday morning due to wire trouble, affecting some 197,000 passengers.
The employment rate for March 2025 graduates of higher educational institutions stood at 98% as of April 1, the second highest on record, according to the data compiled jointly by the education and labor ministries.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

98% of new graduates in Japan are able to land jobs

The graduate employment rate is the second highest on record.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba briefs reporters after his call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 23, 2025

Ishiba and Trump speak as Akazawa heads to Washington

The call raised hopes for a breakthrough as Japan's chief tariff negotiator heads to the U.S. for a third round of high-level negotiations.
Mixue, a Chinese bubble tea chain, has become the world’s largest food and beverage chain, with tens of thousands of stores all over Asia. The company is just one example of the increasing reach and popularity of Chinese cultural exports across the globe.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2025

How China’s soft power is rewriting Asian culture

Chinese cultural exports are becoming increasingly popular across the world and especially Asia. Do they promote cross-border understanding or are they tools for propaganda?
Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan's newly appointed agriculture minister, arrives at the ministry building in Tokyo on Wednesday. He replaced Taku Eto, who quit after saying he’s never needed to buy rice, a comment that angered many people.
EDITORIALS
May 23, 2025

Rice price uproar intensifies ruling party's election fears

When the remarks triggered a predictable and understandable backlash, Eto explained that he was trying to make a joke.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in Washington on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 23, 2025

Trump re-escalates trade threats, aiming at Apple and European Union

The tech giant has become a frequent Trump target in his push to force companies to bring more manufacturing jobs to the U.S.
The ASEAN logo is displayed with Kuala Lumpur's skyline in the background on Friday ahead of an ASEAN summit in the city.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

U.S. tariff tensions test Southeast Asian leaders at regional summit

ASEAN leaders will express deep concern over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff blitz when they meet at a summit Monday, according to a draft statement.
A U.S. government statement this month showed how the Trump administration is seeking to change the ways the U.S. limits China's access to state-of-the-art semiconductors needed to develop AI.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
May 24, 2025

How the U.S.-China chip conflict is evolving under Trump

The Trump administration is seeking to change the ways the U.S. limits China's access to state-of-the-art semiconductors needed to develop AI.
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, shakes hands with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 24, 2025

U.S. and Japan eye June G7 leaders’ summit for possible tariff deal

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, met separately with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington.
Boeing 737 MAX fuselages atop rail cars at a train yard in Seattle last December
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Boeing agrees to resolve U.S. criminal case over 737 crashes

The settlement was disclosed in a federal court filing Friday, just weeks before a trial was set to start June 23 in Fort Worth, Texas.
A worker walks near a fishing vessel under maintenance at the Kidoura Zosen K.K. shipyard in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture.
BUSINESS
May 24, 2025

Japan looks to use U.S. shipbuilding cooperation as card in tariff talks

By highlighting its cooperative stance toward the United States, the Japanese government hopes to fend off U.S. tariffs.
Honda's assembly plant in Greensburg, Indiana, seen Friday, makes the hybrid and gasoline versions of its popular CR-V SUV and flagship Civic.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 24, 2025

Honda to boost hybrid vehicle production in U.S.

The automaker will also expand procurement of U.S.-made vehicle parts, including batteries for hybrid vehicles.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past