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A staff member works at the animation studio Shake Hands in Kyoto on Jan. 24. The studio aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
JAPAN / Society
May 5, 2024

Anime studio draws on talent of autistic artists

The groundbreaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism.
A man rides a scooter past apartment high rises under construction in Zhengzhou, China, in January 2019.
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2024

Strained Chinese cities struggle to pay homebuying subsidies

Some local governments are unable to raise funds to pay promised subsidies, frustrating buyers and casting doubts over future support measures.
The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by CEO Elon Musk in the last week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2024

Tesla axes most of supercharger team in blow to other automakers

The decision to cut the nearly 500-person group, including its senior director, Rebecca Tinucci, was made by CEO Elon Musk in the last week.
A worker organizes cannabis flowers before the opening of the first legal recreational marijuana dispensary, located in the East Village in the Manhattan borough of New York, on Dec. 29, 2022.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 1, 2024

Marijuana could be reclassified in U.S. as less dangerous

The rumored move would ease access to cannabis for patients and researchers studying its medical applications without decriminalizing it.
Wecars President and CEO Shinjiro Tanaka (center) at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
May 1, 2024

New firm formed to take over Bigmotor's operations

Wecars took over around 250 outlets and some 4,200 employees from Bigmotor, and its board of directors does not include former members of Bigmotor's board.
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
May 1, 2024

Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan

Spending per head soared 52% over the first three months compared with 2019.
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 2, 2024

Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again

The yen advanced more than 3% and hit ¥153.04 per dollar as more than $4 billion of yen-related futures were exchanged.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 2, 2024

U.S. market swings reveal inflation uncertainty ahead of key data

Some may be less likely to take the Fed chair at his word this time around after a dovish pivot in December was followed by months of upside surprises.
Although current FX interventions are not yet a significant concern for the U.S. Treasury market, large-scale interventions by major holders like Japan or China could pose risks in the future.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2024

U.S. bonds brace for impact of Japan’s currency moves

Japan holds substantial dollar reserves, but if depleted, it might resort to selling U.S. bonds, though other measures would likely be considered first.
Attendees at the Leap technology conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 6, 202. The oil-rich country is plowing money into glitzy events, computing power and artificial intelligence research, putting it in the middle of an escalating U.S.-China struggle for technological influence.
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024

‘To the future’: Saudi Arabia spends big to become an AI superpower

Saudi Arabia was long a financial spigot for tech, but is now building its own industry.
Yukio Tsunezuka holds a back issue of the Noto magazine in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on April 22.
JAPAN / Society
May 3, 2024

Local info magazine in quake-hit Noto region set for revival

The New Year's Day quake struck just as the latest edition was about to be printed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin looks through a helicopter window during his flight to the Novatek-Murmansk's Offshore Superfacility Construction Center in the village of Belokamenka, in Russia's Murmansk region, last July.
BUSINESS / ANALYSIS
May 5, 2024

How Western sanctions are strangling Putin’s Arctic gas ambitions

The Novatek PJSC-led Arctic LNG 2 facility is a key part of Moscow’s plans to boost exports and replenish coffers. But it has remained virtually idled.
A Palestinian girl holding a child is silhouetted against the lights of an oncoming car in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Saturday amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group.
WORLD / Politics
May 5, 2024

Hamas official says group will not accept truce that does not end Gaza war

Qatari, Egyptian and U.S. mediators met a Hamas delegation in Cairo on Saturday in the latest bid to halt the fighting.
Automobiles charge at public electric vehicle charging stations in Paris on Feb. 14.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2024

France ramps up electric vehicle ambition as Xi arrives in Paris

The contract between the government, French business groups and unions aims for a fourfold increase in the sale of 100% EVs to 800,000 a year in 2027.
A Rapidus factory under construction in Chitose, Hokkaido on April 26. The Tokyo-based chipmaker was set up with the aim to realize domestic production of state-of-the-art semiconductors.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
May 6, 2024

Rapidus gearing up for mass production of next-generation chips

About three years before the planned start of mass production, Rapidus faces a host of difficult challenges, especially over technology and profitability.
One analyst said Japanese policymakers "hid the intervention well," pointing to the ways they may have used to fund currency interventions recently.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 6, 2024

Market hunts for signs of yen intervention in Fed accounts

Recent data suggests that Japanese policymakers may have funded currency interventions using a Fed facility where central banks stash overnight cash.
Enamored with Japanese cuisine, Xander Soren sought to create the perfect Pinot Noir to suit the country's most common flavors.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
May 7, 2024

A Californian Pinot Noir bred for the Japanese table

In November, a former Apple employee launched Xander Soren Wines and its Pinot vintages exclusively in Japan.
Nomura Holdings is targeting 20% revenue gains for its global markets unit over the next few years.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2024

Nomura targets 20% revenue growth from global markets business

The target builds on last year's 8% growth and follows a two-year revamp of trading teams for its rates and fixed-income business in Asia and EMEA.
Sony’s shares have dropped more than 5% this year, compared with a 16% gain in the Topix index, amid a global electronics slump.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2024

Sony shares fall as offer for Paramount spurs financing concerns

Investors are worried because the $26 billion proposal is larger than the Japanese electronics company's cash holdings.
JFE's net profit for the year ended March 31 came to ¥197.4 billion ($1.28 billion), just ahead of analysts' average forecast of ¥194.90 billion in an LSEG poll, thanks to higher steel margins.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 7, 2024

Japanese steelmaker JFE eyes overseas investments amid slower profit growth

The country's No. 2 steelmaker plans to ramp up overseas investments as part of a long-term drive to double profits.
A Chinese flag is flown near a Huawei store in Shanghai in 2023.
WORLD / Politics
May 8, 2024

U.S. revokes some export licenses for firms supplying China's Huawei

Huawei was placed on a U.S. trade restriction list in 2019 amid fears it could spy on Americans.
Sony employees simulate the physical sensations of pregnancy at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo in February. The simple power of numbers can begin to remake workplace cultures, but many Japanese women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
JAPAN / Society
May 8, 2024

It took decades, but Japan’s working women are making progress

Employers have taken steps to change a male-dominated workplace culture. But women still struggle to balance their careers with domestic obligations.
Russian officers march during the main military parade rehearsals in Moscow's Red Square on May 5.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 8, 2024

Russia’s war economy starves crucial oil industry of manpower

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, its oil and gas sector has faced increasingly strict international sanctions aimed at limiting petrodollar revenue.
A skeptical reporter (Yukichi Tanaka, right) about the existence of extraterrestrials travels to a self-proclaimed UFO city for a story in “Alien’s Daydream.”
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2024

'Alien’s Daydream': Micro budget film delivers fresh takes

Yoshiki Matsumoto’s debut feature is an ambitious, multilayered essay on the UFO phenomenon with tongue firmly in cheek.
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 9, 2024

Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix

Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
Hong Kong is looking to Saudi Arabia in efforts to attract a new set of investors to replace Western nations who may be deterred from doing business in China at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 9, 2024

Hong Kong woos Saudi money in attempt to revive stock market

Its bourse operator has been having a tough time in recent years amid a stuttering Chinese economy and saber-rattling by Beijing and Washington.
Panasonic Energy's operating profit for the past business year fell short of its forecast due to lower electric vehicle battery production in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024

Panasonic's battery unit misses annual profit estimate

Panasonic Energy faces fierce competition from other Asian battery makers such as China's CATL and South Korea's LG Energy Solution.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi (second from right) and his Komeito counterpart Keiichi Ishii (second from left) hold a signed agreement on political funding reform, on Thursday in parliament.
JAPAN / Politics
May 10, 2024

Japan's ruling parties find agreement on political reform, but gaps remain

The parties' plan lacks specifics on key contentious issues.
Israeli soldiers walk amid military vehicles near the Israel-Gaza Border, in southern Israel, on Thursday. Washington has long urged the Israeli government not to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip without safeguards for civilians.
WORLD / Politics
May 10, 2024

Israel due to get more U.S. weapons despite Biden pause

A range of military equipment worth billions of dollars, some in the works since December, remain in the pipeline as a result of a slow approval process.
Caitlin Clark was the top pick in the WNBA draft on April 15.
BASKETBALL
May 10, 2024

Caitlin Clark feeling no pressure as WNBA debut approaches

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark is embracing the moment as she brings her super-sized star power from the collegiate game to the pro ranks.

Longform

A sinkhole in Yashio, which emerged in January, was triggered by a ruptured, aging sewer pipe. Authorities worry that similar sections of infrastructure across the country are also at risk of corrosion.
That sinking feeling: Japan’s aging sewers are an infrastructure time bomb