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OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman speaks during a forum in Taipei on Sept. 25.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 12, 2023

OpenAI plans major updates to lure developers with lower costs

The new features mark the company's ambition to expand beyond a consumer sensation into one also offering a hit developer platform.
A Uniqlo store in Shanghai
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Fast Retailing's annual profit rises 28% to fresh record

Profit was ¥381.1 billion ($2.56 billion) in the 12 months through August compared with ¥297.3 billion, the previous all-time high, a year earlier.
Honda Motor CEO Toshihiro Mibe
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Honda and Mitsubishi Corp. sign pact to optimize EV battery use

The deal will eventually pay off in lower electricity bills for customers and better use of battery material, the companies said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Arab leaders pose for a group photo during the China-Arab summit in Riyadh on Dec. 9.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 12, 2023

China’s economic stake in the Middle East: Its thirst for oil

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has become addicted to foreign oil at a stunning pace.
Kiva robots move inventory at an Amazon fulfilment center in Tracy, California.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 13, 2023

Amazon strategy could unlock $100 billion in revenue

Supply Chain by Amazon is the latest part of its drive to become a leading logistics company.
Pedestrians walk past a McDonald's restaurant in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2023

Hong Kong takes economic hit as Chinese tourists fail to splurge

Changes in travel habits come as the Chinese economy weakens and youth unemployment remains high.
Asuka (left) and Mai Hatta. Their business, Hasora, near New Delhi, as partnered up with local organic vegetable farmers to sell fresh produce.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 24, 2023

Japanese sisters bring organic produce to residents in India

Mai and Asuka Hatta launched their firm after hearing from Japanese residents in India that they had difficulty obtaining fresh and safe vegetables.
The Japan headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Explainer
Oct 13, 2023

What’s next in the Unification Church saga?

The government sought a court order on Friday to strip the Unification Church of its religious corporation status. The process is just beginning.
Tesla, which opened a factory in Lingang, China, was expected to be one of many large, foreign companies to open facilities in the region. Few have followed.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 15, 2023

China’s slowdown casts pall over Xi’s Yangtze Delta project

The setback is particularly obvious in Lingang, a free-trade zone in the southeastern tip of Shanghai and a key part of the Yangtze Delta project.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen attends the launching ceremony of Narwhal, its first domestically built submarine, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on Sept. 28.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 16, 2023

Fearing China, South Korea targets Taiwan navy submarine contractors

Seoul has avoided arming the island, even as its companies ink weapons deals with other Asian neighbors.
Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and CEO of Rakuten Group, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo in May.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 17, 2023

Rakuten rally from record lows clouded by looming bond deadlines

The most pressing task now for Rakuten is to raise funds for a wall of more than $5 billion of bonds due in the next two years.
United Airlines planes on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 19, 2023

Airline investors worry travel boom may be coming in for a landing

Strong demand from travelers has so far allowed carriers to mitigate inflationary pressure with higher fares.
Japan has doubled its target for the installation of electric vehicle charging outlets to 300,000 outlets by 2030.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 19, 2023

Industry ministry doubles target for EV charger installments

The aim is to accelerate installments so that Japan can achieve its target of having electrified vehicles account for 100% of its new car sales by 2035.
An AI-generated model is featured in Ito En's latest green tea brand commercial.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2023

Beverage company Ito En taps AI actress for TV commercial

The commercial is receiving mixed reviews from netizens, with some praising the quality of the tech while others worry about job loss.
The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. logo atop a building at the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 20, 2023

‘Sell TSMC, buy ASML’ gains traction as China-Taiwan risks grow

Because TSMC’s operations are mostly in Taiwan, it faces heightened geopolitical hazards. ASML, meanwhile, stands to benefit from the fragmentation.
Daiichi Sankyo is aiming for at least ¥900 billion of revenue from its oncology business in the fiscal year ending in March 2026.
BUSINESS
Oct 20, 2023

Merck signs $5.5 billion deal with Daiichi for cancer therapy development

Daiichi Sankyo is aiming for at least ¥900 billion of revenue from its oncology business in the fiscal year ending in March 2026.
There are a lot of reasons for why the Pacific saury is becoming scarcer, including overfishing in international waters and changing ocean conditions.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Longform
Oct 23, 2023

A saury state: How the price of 'autumn's fish' skyrocketed

A fish so cheap and abundant that even the cats would ignore it, the Pacific saury is becoming a sought-after dish as stocks dwindle.
A used KIA electric car is seen for sale outside the showroom of a used car dealer in Manchester, Britain
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2023

The battery test race to work out what used EVs are really worth

There used to be no way to measure battery health. But that is changing as firms rush to scale up EV battery tests — some of which take just minutes.
An electronic stock board in Tokyo. Kokusai Electric is set to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 24, 2023

KKR poised for Kokusai payoff with largest Japan IPO since 2018

The American private equity firm acquired the business from Hitachi Kokusai Electric through a tender offer in 2018.
A fishing boat patrols the sea for poaching off the port of Yomogita, Aomori Prefecture, on the night of Sept. 13.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Oct 30, 2023

Aomori sea cucumber fishermen hit hard by China’s seafood import ban

Twenty-seven cooperatives in the prefecture have suspended operations in October, when the fishing season for sea cucumbers starts in a normal year.
Servers inside Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, in March 2019
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 26, 2023

China swaps Western tech for domestic options as U.S. cracks down

The telecom and financial sectors are considered the next focus for the drive, with digital payments seen as particularly vulnerable to Western hacking.
Inagaki, now 90, says a pivotal trip to the United States in 1969 changed not only his fashion sense from preppy to hippie but also his approach to music.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2023

Saxophonist Jiro Inagaki’s golden age of jazz rock

“WaJazz Legends: Jiro Inagaki” highlights the musician’s eclectic oeuvre, which has transformed a sidetrack artist into a pillar of Japanese jazz.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 27, 2023

Auto union boss victorious over Ford with unorthodox playbook

Bible-quoting, tough-talking Shawn Fain scored his first big victory against the Detroit Three through a tentative labor deal with Ford.
In September, the Sapporo Convention Center played host to the first Adventure Travel World Summit ever to take place in Asia.
LIFE / Travel
Oct 28, 2023

Travel pros warn against diluting ‘Japaneseness’

“Don’t dilute the Japaneseness, because that’s what makes it special,” said one travel expert. “We want to come to Japan.”
Utilities are increasingly controlling power output from renewable energy sources as the share of renewables expands.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Oct 30, 2023

Renewable energy cuts from output controls surge sixfold in Japan

With renewables such as solar power in wider use, output controls aimed at balancing power supply and demand have been used more frequently.
At the time ofElon Musk's takeover, Twitter was valued at $44 billion. Now called X, the company is now valued at $19 billion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 31, 2023

Elon Musk’s X is worth less than half of price he paid for Twitter

In the past, Musk has hinted that he’d like to take X public, but the company’s steep drop in value could make that difficult.
Ryo and Kaho Nagata greet a regular customer from the second floor of their cafe in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Nov 6, 2023

Young migrants bring vitality to rural Hiroshima

Some new residents found a place where they could try something new, as well as having cheaper rents for stores and homes compared to Tokyo.
The interior of a Toyota Global HiAce electric vehicle concept on display during the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 26
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2023

Toyota to invest $8 billion more in U.S. battery plant for EVs

The auto giant has quietly laid the groundwork for a more robust EV strategy in the U.S. even as sales of its hybrid gas-electric models are surging.
An employee works on the production line of the Kohara Gear Industry Co. factory in Kawaguchi, Japan, in 2019.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 1, 2023

Asia's factories grapple with rising costs amid Israel-Hamas war

The numbers look bad a the global economic recovery now threatened by the Israel-Hamas war and potential for wider conflict.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting in Pyongyang on Oct. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 2, 2023

North Korea sent Russia 1 million rounds of artillery, Seoul says

There have been about 10 shipments of weapons from North Korea to Russia since August, according to South Korea's National Intelligence Service.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?