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JAPAN / Society
Oct 6, 2023

Sapporo to push back Winter Olympics bid to 2034 or later

Sapporo mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto will meet with the Japanese Olympic Committee next week to request the change.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 6, 2023

ChatGPT-owner OpenAI is exploring making its own AI chips: sources

Obstacles include a shortage of the advanced processors and the 'eye-watering' costs associated with running the hardware.
Mysteriously suspended on the water of the Fugan Canal in Kansui Park, Hiroko Kubo’s “Mountain Dogs” (2023) are made from materials that reflect the industries of Toyama.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 7, 2023

An introspective Go For Kogei turns its attention to Toyama

The craft-art festival focuses on the historically industrial city to explore the Hokuriku region's crafts in an urban setting.
Over four days in September, Japan Soca Weekend brought together the Tokyo area's Caribbean community for dance parties, outdoor blowouts and a crowning Carnival festival on a racetrack in Chiba.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Oct 10, 2023

‘Peak happiness’ at the first Japan Caribbean Carnival

For Japan’s Caribbean community, Carnival provides a deep sense of community and offers a cure for homesickness.
Truffle's distinctive markings may be genetic, shelter staff believe he has a bit of the Kai Ken breed in his lineage.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 8, 2023

Truffle the dog's distinctive markings get heads turning

Young and a bit wary, once Truffle gets used to you he'll be your closest pal.
Steve Kemme's "The Outsider" offers insight into Lafcadio Hearn's prodigious talent with the pen and the development of his style over the course of his career.
CULTURE / Books
Oct 8, 2023

'The Outsider' brings out colorful personality of one of history’s great Japanophiles

A new biography on Lafcadio Hearn charts the course of the writer’s 54-year life and shows how his years in Cincinnati and Japan were formative periods.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 9, 2023

G7 to draw up AI code of conduct this autumn: Kishida

Part of the plan will deal with battling disinformation by establishing systems to verify who has created content using AI.
Nomura Holdings has hired five traders to beef up its emerging markets trading desk.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 10, 2023

Nomura hires traders from rivals for Middle East credit push

The appointments are part of Nomura’s efforts to revive its emerging-market flow-credit desk.
The remains of a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel lies on a road where it fell in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Oct 11, 2023

Who is the secretive Hamas commander behind the attack on Israel?

Mohammed Deif has topped Israel's most wanted list for decades, held responsible for deaths of dozens of Israelis in suicide bombings.
Caroline Ellison (left), former chief executive officer of Alameda Research LLC, exits court in New York on Tuesday. Her ex-boyfriend and former boss, FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering following the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2023

Sam Bankman-Fried's ex says he directed her to commit crimes

In her first day of testimony, Caroline Ellison, 28, portrayed Sam Bankman-Fried as the brains behind fraudulent operations at FTX.
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. European nations have been dealing with a range of geoeconomic changes.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Oct 12, 2023

European Union being shaken by geoeconomic changes

European countries previously did not see China as a security threat due to their geographical distance. That is starting to change.
A photo taken on Thursday shows details of a contract between the Beijing Yunze Technology Co. Ltd. and a company then part of Yevgeny Prigozhin's commercial empire — for the acquisition of two high resolution observation satellites.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 11, 2023

Chinese firm sold satellites for intelligence to Russia's Wagner

The satellite images were used to assist Wagner's operations in Ukraine, but also in Africa — and even its failed mutiny in June — a contract has shown.
The Seagram Building in New York on April 24. Three years into a mass workplace experiment, we are beginning to understand more about how work from home is reshaping workers’ lives and the economy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 11, 2023

Here’s what we do and don’t know about the effects of remote work

Over three years since the pandemic forced many to telework, studies of productivity in work-from-home arrangements are all over the map.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo gives a news conference at the Boeing aircraft hangar facility in Shanghai on Aug. 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 12, 2023

Foreign businesses face a hostile China

The Chinese government's "zero-COVID" policy and regulatory favoritism toward local companies have created obstacles for foreign businesses.
Some of the most popular influencers can amass small fortunes before they're 18, but there are few legal protections to ensure their earnings remain their own.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 12, 2023

Child influencers make big money. Who gets it?

"I’m terrified to share my name because a digital footprint I had no control over exists."
The number of skiers and snowboarders in Japan has been declining, and is down about 75% in 2020 from its peak in the late 1990s, according to the Japan Productivity Center.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2023

Skiing in Japan is getting a $1.4 billion upgrade

Ken Chan, the former Japan head of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, aims to invest $1.4 billion in the resort of Myoko, Niigata Prefecture.
Police are looking for a suspect in his 40s to 50s following an assault and robbery in Hachioji, western Tokyo, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 12, 2023

Police hunting for suspect after assault and robbery in Tokyo house

The suspect is described as a man in his 40s to 50s wearing a gray jacket and pants and standing 180 centimeters tall.
Naoya Hatakeyama’s “Rikuzen Takata 2011-2023” is a display of hundreds of color contact prints of his hometown, Rikuzen Takata, Iwate Prefecture. The images show the shifting landscape of a place that was heavily affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.
CULTURE / Art
Oct 13, 2023

Tokyo Biennale 2023 seeks healing through art

The contemporary art festival creates safe spaces for its artists and their works by embracing a “we accept anything” maxim.
A portion of a Microsoft data center that supports the Pentagon, and is next door to a bitcoin mine operated by Chinese-owned Bit Origin, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Sept. 29. Aside from the intelligence-gathering concerns over Chinese bitcoin mines in the U.S., the energy sucking facilities can also put immense pressure on power grids.
WORLD
Oct 14, 2023

Across U.S., Chinese bitcoin mines draw national security scrutiny

Microsoft reported one site in because of its proximity to a nuclear missile base. Other cryptocurrency facilities have ties to the Chinese state.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 15, 2023

Japan evacuates eight citizens from Israel as 51 others arrive in Seoul

An SDF aircraft will remain on standby in Djibouti for the possibility of airlifting additional Japanese nationals.
Manchester United fans have frequently protested against the club's current owners, the Glazer family.
SOCCER
Oct 15, 2023

Qatari investors withdraw bid for Manchester United

The Qatari group had offered more than £5 billion ($6.1 billion) for the team, compared to its current market value of $3.3 billion.
One of Lily's eyes has been "dark" since she was young, but she won't have any trouble seeing the light in a new family's hearts.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / ADOPT ME!
Oct 15, 2023

Lily the cat will make a sweet addition to your home

A feline in her evening years, Lily is full of love and looking for a calm place to call home.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2023

Ibaraki regains ignominious crown as least attractive prefecture

This marks the 12th time the prefecture ranked last since the survey began in 2009 — after being dethroned by Saga in 2022.
“The Burden of the Past” is based on the real-life experiences of ex-cons and the editorial team of a magazine that supports former prisoners in finding jobs and reentering society.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2023

'The Burden of the Past' addresses bleak reality of ex-cons with some hope

Atsushi Funahashi’s film is grounded in the director’s own research about the hurdles former prisoners face when attempting to rejoin society.
Washington is taking steps to prevent U.S. chipmakers from circumventing government rules in order to sell to China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2023

U.S. to tighten rules aimed at keeping advanced chips out of China

The Biden administration is aiming to close loopholes that might help its geopolitical rival gain cutting-edge technologies.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara speaks during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon in Washington on Oct. 4.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 16, 2023

Defense chief retracts comments implying LDP vote would be good for SDF

Article 61 of the Self-Defense Forces Law explicitly forbids SDF personnel from engaging in political activity, with the exception of voting.
A Japanese research team has identified three genetically distinct populations of the Japanese honeybee.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Oct 16, 2023

Three genetically distinct groups found for Japanese honeybee

Temperature rises caused by global warming could lead to a decline in the species.
Gala Espel’s “Archeology of the Future” fuses digital technology with handcraftsmanship to create silverware and jewelry of industrial forms and natural motifs.
LIFE / Style & Design / ON: DESIGN
Oct 17, 2023

Designart’s young creators foreshadow the future

On: Design this month focuses on the work of five creators selected by Designart judges for its 2023 Under 30 program.
Elon Musk’s X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is allowing child sexual exploitation material to rampantly proliferate, according to Australian regulators, the latest in a growing list of legal challenges the company is facing.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 17, 2023

Australian regulators latest in series of legal woes for Musk's X

X is allowing child sexual exploitation material to rampantly proliferate across the platform, according to Australian regulators.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Oct 17, 2023

With new name for Johnny's, focus shifts to victim compensation

The talent agency will face challenges in identifying those eligible for compensation due to the sheer number of victims of abuse by Johnny Kitagawa.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes