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Japan's industrial production in June climbed 2% from the previous month, led by brisk output of new automobiles amid strong demand at home and abroad.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Japan’s production rebounds, signaling continued modest recovery

Factory output rose 2% from the previous month, rebounding from the previous month and led by increases in cars and electronic devices.
Kazuyuki Tanioka, the owner of Japanese cuisine Toya restaurant, prepares fish a sashimi dish during an interview in Beijing on July 25.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023

Japanese eateries in China fear ruin over Fukushima water release

Shortly after the 2011 disaster hit the Fukushima No. 1 plant, China banned the import of food and agricultural products from five Japanese prefectures.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 31, 2023

Bigmotor suspected of fabricating insurance contracts

The news came on top of an investigation report that showed employees padded maintenance fee claims to insurance firms by deliberately damaging cars.
A new high-rise is erected in Beijing in October 2021. The same year, 41% of the assets in China’s banking system were accounted for by property-related loans and credit.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023

Is Japan’s economic past China’s future?

China is facing a long period of low growth similar to Japan’s experience since the 1990s.
The social media backlash to “Barbenheimer,” an internet trend centered on the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” in the United States, led to the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer trending recently on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 2, 2023

‘Barbenheimer’ memes trigger anger in atomic-bombed Japan

Warner Bros. Japan criticized its U.S. counterpart for participating in internet memes that appear to trivialize the effects of the atomic bombings.
Akira Amari, Japan's chip czar, has said that funding around one-third of the cost of a chip plant is the norm, and the 50% funding for Japan's first TSMC chip plant was unusually high.
BUSINESS
Aug 3, 2023

Chip minister hints Japan to fund one-third of second TSMC plant

The subsidies will be part of Japan’s efforts to revive its domestic chipmaking industry, a sector viewed as crucial for growth and economic security.
Kansai Electric Power's Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 3, 2023

Japan's nuclear restarts this year to hasten LNG import decline

Kansai Electric Power's plan next month to relaunch the last idle reactor at its flagship nuclear plant will mark an energy shift in Japan.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2023

Typhoon Khanun eases off Okinawa, but islands brace for return

The storm is forecast to make a sudden, sharp turn to the east and start heading north toward Japan's main islands.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Some economists see the central bank’s loosening of restraints on 10-year bond yields as a message to the government that it now will have to do financial management responsibly, because the BOJ won’t control yields as firmly as it used to.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023

Japan’s fiscal plight draws scrutiny after BOJ policy tweak

Tokyo seeking to expand spending on defense and child care, even as the national debt has grown to almost 260% of gross domestic product.
Hitachi CEO Keiji Kojima. The company’s metamorphosis belies the argument that the bastions of Japan Inc. are set forever in their ways.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2023

Hitachi reinvents itself in sign of hope for Japan

The old-school conglomerate revamped its governance, shrank its empire to focus on growth and evolved into a more global enterprise.
Visitors to the "Henri Matisse: The Path to Color" exhibition at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum face tough decisions in the gift shop.
CULTURE / Art
Aug 5, 2023

Matisse gachapon, Hockney parfaits: Japan’s next-level art merch

A Tokyo art exhibit doesn’t feel complete without a room filled wall-to-wall with custom trinkets.
The protagonist of Yu Miri’s “The End of August” is a fictionalized version of the author’s maternal grandfather, a long-distance runner who lived in Japanese-occupied Korea.
CULTURE / Books
Aug 6, 2023

Yu Miri’s new book is a bleak, dizzying epic in colonized Korea

In “The End of August,” the Akutagawa Prize-winning author excavates her own family history and traces multiple generations living under Japanese rule.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Aug 6, 2023

Japan’s enduring ‘sound of summer’

Composer Yuji Koseki probably did not imagine that his career would become intertwined with Japan’s most popular sporting event.
A stock board at an intersection in Shanghai in October
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 6, 2023

China is losing out as global funds chase returns in Japan stocks

Foreign buying of Japanese equities has exceeded that of Chinese peers for the first time since 2017, according to a Goldman Sachs Group report.
As synonymous with summer as fireworks and sweltering temperatures, mosquitoes are ubiquitous in Japan. However, will rising temperatures lead more dangerous species of the bug to call Japan home?
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / Longform
Aug 7, 2023

The mosquito: Summer’s unwelcome little bloodsucker

An outbreak of dengue in Yoyogi Park nine years ago could be a sign of things to come if the wrong mosquito makes it into Japan.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 7, 2023

Surprising Japan emerges as team to beat at Women's World Cup

Wins over Costa Rica and Zambia were expected, but it was the 4-0 thrashing of Spain that made the rest of the tournament sit up and take notice.
A recent report showed that the number of career bureaucrats leaving government to join startups had quadrupled over the two years through fiscal 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 8, 2023

Japan’s young civil servants are growing disillusioned

Big companies remain the most popular career option, attracting 34% of those who change jobs.
Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists walk a picket line outside of Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors and writers are currently on strike, effectively bringing the giant movie and television business to a halt in the first industry-wide walkout in 63 years.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 10, 2023

The Hollywood strike is a wake-up call to Japan's film industry

With Hollywood writers and actors on strike, what lessons can creatives in the Japanese film industry learn from the fray?
JAPAN / Society
Aug 10, 2023

Strong storms likely to affect Bon holiday plans

Plans to travel or meet with friends or family may need a rethink as strong storms approach Japan.
PODCAST / deep dive
Aug 10, 2023

Why is modernizing Japan so darn tough?

Reporter Gabriele Ninivaggi joins us to break down how Japan’s digitalization hiccups risk exposing how backward things are.
EDITORIALS
Aug 11, 2023

Nuclear threats grow stronger and more immediate

In this world, unilateral disarmament and the hope that setting an example will inspire other nations to follow suit is fantasy.
Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023

Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think

Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.
Sweden's Magdalena Eriksson celebrates her team's win over Japan as Aoba Fujino looks dejected, in Auckland on Friday.
SOCCER / Women's World cup / From the Spot
Aug 11, 2023

Nadeshiko's bright future undimmed by Sweden defeat

The flair, excitement and promise demonstrated by the team has shown that Japan can again lift the FIFA Women's World Cup trophy one day.
A promotional poster for the film "Barbie" in Tokyo earlier this month
CULTURE
Aug 12, 2023

Hollywood blockbuster 'Barbie' opens in Japan after controversy

Tickets sold fast in Japan as fans flocked to the theatrical release, timed to coincide with the start of the Bon holiday period.
Nadeshiko Japan head coach Futoshi Ikeda is all but certain to continue his role through the 2024 Paris Olympics and beyond.
SOCCER / Women's World cup
Aug 13, 2023

Futoshi Ikeda wants youngsters to grow as Nadeshiko heads home

The emergence of a crop of talented youngsters has reinvigorated a Nadeshiko side set to benefit from greater stability over the next four years.
Blackstone is working on more acquisitions in Japan with several bids out and properties like hotels and data centers in the pipeline.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2023

Blackstone eyes more Japan property after selling $4.5 billion

Real estate investments in Japan have been rosy compared to other countries, where rising costs have squeezed finances and workers have shunned offices.
Nadeshiko Japan reached the knockout stage at a fourth consecutive FIFA Women's World Cup before being eliminated in the quarterfinals on Friday by Sweden.
SOCCER / Women's World cup / From the Spot
Aug 15, 2023

Bold steps needed from JFA, WE League to maintain momentum after WWC

After Nadeshiko Japan's inspiring quarterfinal run in New Zealand, the country's soccer bodies must avoid the missteps of the post-2011 boom and bust.
A playful photo of Japanese female politicians on a work trip to Paris drew much criticism back home. The backlash may be one of the reasons women choose to avoid public service.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2023

Japan has a misery-loves-company problem

The backlash to government officials' lighthearted moment is a prime example of how to undermine workers.
Containers in a shipping terminal at the Honmoku pier in Yokohama in June
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 17, 2023

Japan logs first export decline in over two years

The value of exports fell in July from a year earlier, retreating for the first time since February 2021.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 17, 2023

Shinkansen lines resume, but travelers may still face long delays

Central Japan Railway is urging people to refrain from using the train service until stations become less crowded.

Longform

An illustration features the Japanese signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo