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A bull statue stands outside the Shenzhen Stock Exchange building in Shenzhen in September 2019.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 9, 2024

China’s plenum promises cues for commodity bulls and bears

China is the world’s biggest importer of commodities and its dominant supplier of clean energy, so decisions taken in Beijing ripple across the world.
Renderings of Saudi Arabia's Neom project in the window of a pop-up store
WORLD / Politics
Jul 12, 2024

Saudi prince’s trillion-dollar makeover faces funding cutbacks

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, is close to completing a sweeping review of megaprojects.
Japanese businessman Kazunori Takishima, seen at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, has attended four Summer Games and four Winter Games since his first in 2006.
OLYMPICS
Jul 12, 2024

Japanese superfan with Olympic-sized wallet eager to make new memories in Paris

The 48-year-old Tokyo native spends large chunks of his disposable income on Olympic tickets.
Pedestrians in the Wangfujing shopping area in Beijing on July 11, 2024. China's economic growth in the second quarter was lower than forecast, adding pressure on Chinese leaders to lift confidence at the Chinese Communist Party's third plenum this week.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 15, 2024

China’s economic growth comes in worse than expected

Underwhelming data for the second quarter puts pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping to lift confidence at this week's twice-a-decade policy meeting.
The production plant of GCL Technology in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 2
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 16, 2024

Xi Jinping’s great economic rewiring is cushioning China’s slowdown

Tech advances and a resulting export boom have helped to keep economic growth within reach of its targeted pace of around 5%.
Actor Kim Dae-gun won a Korean Fantastic Actor award for his performance in Yoon Eunkyoung’s “The Tenants,” which takes a dark satirical look at the scarcity of decent affordable housing in Seoul.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2024

Bucheon film festival contemplates a future with AI

Dark comedy and surreal fantasy stood out at the genre film event that focused on the advent of generative AI.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump departs after the third night of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 19, 2024

Fearful or cheerful? World leaders mull Trump's potential foreign policy

With Donald Trump polling ahead of Joe Biden to be reelected president in the U.S., some governments are taking concrete steps to prepare for his possible return.
Supporters of former president Donald Trump pray during a benediction on the second day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 19, 2024

Unpacking America's puzzling election dynamics

If the Republican Party sacrifices the true interests of the U.S. and its allies in order to win the presidency, it will no longer be the Grand Old Party.
The general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, in February 2021. Trong died on Friday at age 80, state media said.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 19, 2024

Vietnam's most powerful Communist Party leader dies

For months, Trong had appeared frail at public events or missed them outright and on Thursday his duties as party chief were taken over by President To Lam.
Blackstone's private equity fund says Japanese individual investors are highly interested in alternatives and their understanding of the asset class is deepening.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jul 23, 2024

Blackstone Japan fund exceeds $1B as investors warm up to private equity

As inflation takes hold in the country, investors are exploring more alternative assets on government encouragement to invest more of their cash.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media in New Delhi on June 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 1, 2024

India's state elections to test Modi after budget fails to aid swing voters

Despite talk of relief, the government has raised taxes on gains from retail investments, removed some real estate tax benefits and left income tax rates untouched.
Passengers exit trains at Hamamatsucho Station in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 1, 2024

Paternity leave uptake in Japan hits record 30%

The new record represents a 13 percentage point increase from the previous year.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at the White House in Washington on July 3.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 6, 2024

Harris picks Minnesota's Tim Walz for vice president, sources say

Walz is a progressive policy champion and a plain speaker from America's heartland who may help Harris win over rural, white voters.
A container-sized cabin produced by Zheng Weirong's company
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 13, 2024

Chinese swap handbags for trips as ‘experience economy’ booms

Consumer spending in China is still constrained by modest income growth and falling home prices, which make homeowners feel less wealthy overall.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok on Aug. 14
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 14, 2024

Thai court dismisses prime minister over cabinet appointment

Real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin becomes the fourth Thai premier in 16 years to be removed by verdicts by the same court.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence on the Scott Northern Wake Campus of Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 17, 2024

Harris touts plan for 'opportunity economy’ in voter pitch

The plan represented the first major policy rollout of Harris’ nascent campaign, and looked to attack one of her greatest liabilities.
The central and Tokyo governments, which own 100% of Tokyo Metro, expect to receive approval for the firm's listing from the Tokyo Stock Exchange as soon as mid-September, sources said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 19, 2024

$4.7 billion valuation for Tokyo Metro targeted in IPO, sources say

Tokyo Metro could have Japan's biggest initial public offering in roughly six years.
A recruiter holding a placard advertising jobs talks to young men at an unofficial job market in the suburbs of Beijing.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Aug 21, 2024

China's rising youth unemployment breeds new working class

Millions of graduates are being pushed into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents' pensions.
Vehicles bound for shipment parked in front of the Lyra Leader vehicles carrier ship at the Nagoya Port in Nagoya. Japan's exports rose in July but shipment volumes extended their declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 21, 2024

Japan's July exports growth lags expectations as volumes fall again

Japanese exports rose 10.3% year-on-year in July, less than a median market forecast for an 11.4% increase.
The introduction of a two-tier pricing system which charges foreign tourists more than local residents is being considered at Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture.
JAPAN
Aug 22, 2024

More Japan tourist hot spots consider two-tier pricing system

However, experts have warned that the system may lead to discrimination if it is not carefully thought out.
The land ministry is planning to create a system in which the central and local governments would evenly shoulder part of the demolition costs that condominium management associations should pay.
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2024

Japanese government to subsidize demolition of old condo buildings

The land ministry is planning to subsidize such demolitions from the fiscal year beginning April 2025.
Friday's sanctions include measures against companies in China involved in shipping machine tools and microelectronics to Russia, according to the U.S. State Department.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 24, 2024

U.S. sanctions 400 entities aiding Russia's war — including Chinese firms

Friday's sanctions include measures against companies in China involved in shipping machine tools and microelectronics to Russia.
High-rise buildings under construction in Tokyo in November last year
JAPAN
Aug 24, 2024

Japan looks to expand preferential measures for Flat 35 home loans

The measures to lower interest rates for those who acquire energy-efficient or earthquake-resistant houses are currently applied only to newly made loan contracts.
Apple TV+ series “Pachinko” follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family as they move through the 20th century.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 26, 2024

Masterful and stirring, ‘Pachinko’ returns with more depth

The immersive historical drama is collaborative art at its very best — instead of offering tidy answers, it asks the most profound questions of our times.
Used cars are sold at high prices at a dealership in Nagoya as a surge in export demand has reduced supply on the domestic market.
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional voices: Chubu
Sep 2, 2024

Japanese businesses grapple with exchange rate swings

For the used car sector, the weaker yen has resulted in buyers being forced to pay higher prices due to increased export demand.
A grandmother fights back when the angry ghost of a social recluse starts killing off family members in “House of Sayuri.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2024

'House of Sayuri': J-horror fights ghosts with pitch-black humor

Koji Shiraishi’s horror comedy matches the darkness of the deeds on display with a fiery grandma who takes on a wicked spirit with her tai chi skills.
Ryobi Holdings has hired Kyosuke Suzuki, a former currency trader at Societe Generale, to set up an artificial intelligence-powered hedge fund specializing in forex.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 3, 2024

Bus group Ryobi sets up forex fund to survive population fall

The move follows its previous investments in real estate, supermarkets and other areas as it tries to secure funds to maintain its bus fleet and grow.
Elon Musk during an event in Manhattan in November 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 4, 2024

Musk’s Starlink backs down, vowing to block X in Brazil

Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink reversed course and said it would comply with an order by Brazil’s top court to block access to X.
Growing moves by companies to pass on higher costs to consumers amid accelerating inflation are believed to have led to the decrease in bankruptcies.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 10, 2024

Japan business failures log first drop in 29 months in August

The figure stood below 800 for the first time in four months.
A barista fills a customer’s order at a Starbucks in Odessa, Texas. Starbucks has more than 16,000 locations in the United States, including this one in Odessa.
BUSINESS
Sep 10, 2024

A funnel cake macchiato anyone? The coffee wars are heating up.

From the giant Starbucks to small coffee shops, the battle is on for who can come up with the craziest, calorie-laden, not-really-coffee drink.

Longform

Figure skater Akiko Suzuki was once told her ideal weight should be 47 kilograms, a number she now admits she “naively believed.” This led to her have a relationship with food that resulted in her suffering from anorexia.
The silent battle Japanese athletes fight with weight