Search - real_estate

 
 
Shoppers outside an office building in Beijing in August. China's overall public spending — which includes local governments — is shrinking, not growing. It contracted about 2% in the first seven months of 2024.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 12, 2024

China’s attempt to boost demand is stifled by wall of austerity

While finance chiefs in Beijing are testing new ways to boost the economy by encouraging demand, their counterparts in the provinces are in full belt-tightening mode.
Seibu Ikebukuro department store in Tokyo's Toshima Ward in September last year
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024

Seibu Ikebukuro department store to boost upscale brand lineup

The renovated store will feature about 60 cosmetics brands, while enhancing its basement food floor.
The construction site of the Rapidus chip factory in Chitose, in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. The Rapidus chip factory in Chitose is a collaboration with IBM and backed by billions of dollars in government funding.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 14, 2024

Japan tries to reclaim its clout as a global tech leader

To do this, Japan is working with foreign tech leaders — an outward-looking, collaborative approach that decades earlier would have been unthinkable.
President Xi Jinping last week appeared to signal tolerance for a rate slightly lower than 5%.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 16, 2024

China’s deepening slowdown tests Xi’s tolerance for growth miss

The People’s Bank of China signaled in a rare statement alongside disappointing credit data that fighting deflation would become a higher priority.
The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 15, 2024

EV charging faces deeper problems than we realize

The core issue holding back the quicker adoption of electric vehicles is the high cost and complexity of installing DC fast chargers, essential for quick EV refueling.
Tokyo's Ginza area marked the highest commercial land prices this year for the 19th consecutive year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 17, 2024

Japanese average land price rises for third consecutive year

Overall land prices showed the first increase in 32 years in locations outside the three metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
A woman shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote at a polling station during the first phase of the assembly election in south Kashmir's town of Bijbehara, India, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 18, 2024

Modi faces new test in Kashmir after bruising election battle

Elections will also take place over the next five months in two opposition-ruled states, Jharkhand and Delhi.
Toyota Gazoo Racing fans cheer on the team at the start of the 6 Hours of Fuji race on Sunday at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture.
MORE SPORTS / Auto Racing
Sep 20, 2024

For Toyota and its rivals, WEC becomes important arena amid major industry shift

Carmakers' involvement in endurance racing has taken on a new level of importance as the auto industry faces a once-a-generation sea change.
The People's Bank of China building in Beijing
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 24, 2024

China unleashes stimulus blitz in push to hit annual growth goal

The People's Bank of China has announced moves to boost banks’ lending to consumers and corporates, and a cut to its key short-term interest rate.
Japan's flag flies at half mast at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Thursday after a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death in the southern city of Shenzhen.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 24, 2024

The death of a Japanese school student: Is this just a tip of an iceberg?

Despite the fact that an innocent 10-year-old boy was brutally murdered, the reaction of the Japanese government and media was predictably restrained.
CCP Committee Secretary and People's Bank of China head Pan Gongsheng in Beijing on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 25, 2024

Xi’s economic adrenaline shot is only buying China a little time

The measures include interest rate cuts, more cash for banks, bigger incentives to buy homes and plans to consider a stock stabilization fund.
Japan's declining population has made it more difficult for convenience store operators to grow.
BUSINESS / Companies / FOCUS
Oct 1, 2024

Some 7-Eleven owners in Japan welcome foreign bid, hoping for change

Some franchisees are concerned about competition from rivals and say they are struggling with rising costs.
People walk on an overpass with a display of stock information in front of buildings in the Lujiazui financial district in Shanghai on Aug. 6.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 1, 2024

Global investors call time on their exodus from China

Beijing's moves to entice more cash into equities and jolt consumer spending have boosted the appeal of still-low Chinese company valuations.
While China's recent initiatives signal a willingness to address economic challenges, the road ahead remains difficult as the country's policymakers have yet to offer a clear road to success.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 3, 2024

A stimulus is good, but China still faces a hard slog

Beijing is back in investors' good books. To justify the euphoria, it needs some meaty goals.
Chinese Finance Minister Lan Fo’an (center) during a news conference in Beijing on Saturday
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 14, 2024

China leaves economists wanting more action to defeat deflation

The supportive measures announced by Finance Minister Lan Fo'an over the weekend gave little indication Chinese authorities feel any urgency to boost consumption.
Tokyo Metro priced its shares at ¥1,200 apiece. It is expected to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct. 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 15, 2024

Tokyo Metro raises $2.3 bln in Japan's biggest IPO in 6 years

The subway operator priced its shares at the top of its provisional range of ¥1,100 to ¥1,200, a regulatory filing from the company showed on Tuesday.
With projections indicating a population drop in Japan from around 125 million to 63 million by 2100, traditional solutions like immigration and labor reforms are unlikely to be effective in time.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 15, 2024

Japan should master, not resist, its demographic destiny

Japan needs a strategic reorientation toward accepting and mastering its demographic changes rather than resisting them.
The dining room at Ca'enne is as authentically rustic as the ingredients — all from Nagano Prefecture's Yatsugatake region — that chef Noriyuki Usui cooks with.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Oct 20, 2024

Ca’enne: Into the Yatsugatake mountains for Nagano’s freshest produce

For a restaurant that only uses ingredients from a landlocked region, there is a surprising amount of excellent fish on chef Noriyuki Usui’s menu.
A customer shops for tomatoes at the vegetable section of a supermarket in Beijing on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 18, 2024

China's third-quarter GDP hits weakest pace since early 2023

Authorities have sharply ramped up policy stimulus, but markets are waiting for a clearer road map to put the economy back on a solid longer-term footing.
A condo complex in Tokyo
JAPAN
Oct 19, 2024

Japan's land ministry eyes bill to prevent overpriced condo repairs

The ministry plans to impose supervisory penalties on companies that are found to be in violation of the rules.
A monitor shows Tokyo Metro's opening price on Wednesday morning in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 23, 2024

Tokyo Metro shares surge in trading debut after strong IPO

Proceeds from the IPO will redeem reconstruction bonds issued after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northeastern Japan that killed 18,000 people.
The International Monetary Fund headquarters during its spring meetings together with the World Bank Group in Washington in April 2023.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 23, 2024

IMF lowers global growth forecast for 2025, warning of growing risks

Global output will expand 3.2%, 0.1 percentage point slower than a July estimate, while inflation will slow from 5.8% in 2024 to 4.3% next year.
Ryoma Takeuchi (right) is perfectly cast as Kazuma Kiryu, a Jack Reacher-esque character of impermeable physicality in Amazon Prime’s new series “Like a Dragon: Yakuza.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 25, 2024

Amazon’s ‘Like a Dragon: Yakuza’ pulls its biggest punch

Amazon’s new series based on the long-running Ryu Ga Gotoku games flattens the quirkiest elements of the Kamurocho red-light district for a run-of-the-mill crime drama.
The number of female CEOs in Japan in 2024 rose 37,038 from the year before, or by 6%.
BUSINESS
Oct 25, 2024

Proportion of female CEOs in Japan breaks 15% for first time

Survey finds progress but notes that prejudice based on gender roles remains an issue.
People opposing tree cutting around Meiji Jingu Gaien stage a rally in the area on Monday.
JAPAN
Oct 28, 2024

Tree-cutting begins in Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment project

Under a revised plan, 619 trees will be cut down, fewer than the 743 under the former plan.
The monthly report identified higher interest rates in the U.S. and Europe, and stagnation in Chinese real estate market as downside risks for the Japanese economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 29, 2024

Japan continues to see moderate recovery but cuts factory output view

The government reiterated the need to pay close attention to potential global economic risks and financial market volatility.
Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (center) looks on at a court during her fraud case in Ho Chi Minh City on April 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Nov 4, 2024

Appeal begins for Vietnam death row tycoon

The appeal comes after the tycoon was convicted of money laundering and jailed for life in a separate case last month.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and senior officials and delegates at the National Peoples Congress in Beijing in March
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 4, 2024

China stimulus questions to persist long after meeting this week

It may be months before detailed plans to support consumption come into focus.
Donald Trump looks on as he speaks at a campaign rally in East Del Valle, Austin, Texas on Oct. 25
WORLD / Politics
Nov 7, 2024

Who has President-elect Donald Trump threatened to prosecute?

Trump has vowed to investigate or prosecute political rivals, election workers and left-wing Americans if he becomes president again.
Toshiyuki Nishida performs at a rock concert held in Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, in September 2011. Nishida appeared in many events and dramas filmed in Fukushima to help the prefecture recover in the aftermath of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Fukushima
Nov 18, 2024

In his home prefecture of Fukushima, actor Toshiyuki Nishida lives on

Friends and others who knew him paid tribute to the late actor, who was well known for his folksy charm.

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