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Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Sep 20, 2021

Sendai throws weight behind efforts to develop tech for disasters

Companies in the Tohoku region are developing apps to help with the distribution of relief supplies and the management of evacuation centers.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Sep 19, 2021

COVID-19 was expected to spur a remote-work revolution in Japan. What happened?

A lack of digital infrastructure and an archaic corporate culture that values long working hours and face-to-face meetings is slowing down the nation's push toward working remotely.
Japan Times
The Netherlands report 2021
Sep 10, 2021

Plugwise: Switching on energy-reduction solutions from the Netherlands to Japan

Driven by the concept that the greenest energy is the energy that is not used, Dutch company Plugwise is delivering innovative energy-saving products and solutions to customers across the world.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 27, 2021

Spies for hire: China’s new breed of hackers blends espionage and entrepreneurship

China's premier spy agency is increasingly reaching beyond its own ranks to recruit from a vast pool of private-sector talent.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 18, 2021

SoftBank-backed Karrot becomes $2.7 billion South Korean unicorn

Asia's fourth-largest economy is breaking away from family-controlled conglomerates and minting self-made billionaires faster than ever.
Zoom Video Communications has failed to impress investors with its latest sales forecast, who were expecting a bigger boost from the company’s expanded suite of products. An ongoing loss of consumers and small businesses from Zoom has also concerned investors, particularly since these customers are typically higher-margin than corporate clients.
BUSINESS / Tech
Nov 26, 2024

Zoom fails to impress investors with sales forecast for expanded lineup

While Zoom’s outlook met estimates, the stock had gained about 48% since the company’s last earnings report in August on optimism about the new products.
Emissions rise from the Royal Dutch Shell Plc Norco Refinery in Norco, Louisiana, on June 12, 2020.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 27, 2024

How AI and cloud computing may delay the transition to clean energy

The pace of clean-energy deployments is moving too slowly to keep up with the new technology's demands.
Packages move along a conveyor belt at an Amazon warehouse
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024

Japan investigating Amazon for allegedly bullying other businesses

Tactics allegedly employed by the retailer involve the squeezing of business partners in exchange for visibility.
Elliott Investment Management's stake in Tokyo Gas is centered around getting the utility to sell off its real estate holdings, including Shinjuku Park Tower, which houses the Park Hyatt Hotel Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2024

Real estate worth ¥25 trillion puts Japan companies in spotlight

The hidden value of property on corporate balance sheets is a theme behind some of the biggest activist campaigns and mergers and acquisitions in Japan.
Shiho Hanadate is part of a small yet growing number of young tappers pivotal in securing the future of domestic sap collection used in Japanese lacquerware.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Nov 30, 2024

The young sap collectors underpinning Japanese lacquerware

“You can’t cut into the core, so you have to judge the thickness of the bark,” says tapper Shiho Hanadate. “You have to develop a sense for it.”
Hiroyuki Fukuda is due to become the new president of Nippon Television Holdings in April.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 30, 2024

Four Nippon TV affiliates to integrate management in April

The aim of the merger is to stabilize their business base and address the increasingly tough business environment resulting from media diversification.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito greets supporters upon his arrival at the Hyogo Prefectural Government office in Kobe on Nov. 19.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 2, 2024

Lawsuit filed over Hyogo governor's alleged election law violation

A lawyer for Saito said that the president of a public relations company had engaged in activities as a volunteer, other than five items including making posters.
While FromSoftware's Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is a strong contender for game of the year, Black Myth: Wukong, the first AAA game made by a Chinese developer, offers some stiff competition.
LIFE / Digital / 2024 in Review
Dec 6, 2024

It’s Japan versus China for 2024’s game of the year

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree and Black Myth: Wukong both have a claim to the best game of 2024, a year marked by cultural scandals and lawsuits.
Filipino housekeepers undergo training to work for a Japanese staffing company. By applying the same criteria when hiring overseas and local workers, Japanese firms tend to underutilize the unique skills that foreign nationals can bring.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2024

Firms should quit turning foreign workers into Japanese ones

Many foreign nationals struggle with the idiosyncrasies of Japan's employment system. Firms tend to assimilate overseas personnel rather than utilize their unique skills.
A smartphone with a displayed Nvidia logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024

Nvidia hit with China probe in global tech war escalation

The move against Nvidia is Beijing’s latest riposte to escalating U.S. technology curbs.
X owner Elon Musk and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attend a viewing of the launch of a SpaceX test flight on Nov. 19.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024

Trump is on collision course with EU over big tech crackdown

In the coming months, several U.S. tech companies could face billions in fines or even mandatory divestment orders from EU investigations.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp speaks on a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Dec 10, 2024

Trump's Musk-led efficiency drive may spur defense-tech partnerships

Smaller tech firms to play a bigger role given that Musk, one of their own, is entering a position of enormous influence.
Signage at the Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen, China
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 11, 2024

Scrappy studio boss feeds Tencent’s lofty global game ambitions

"Arena Breakout: Infinite" is Tencent’s newest "Call of Duty"-style PC shooter, targeting a genre that typically tops spending charts.
The East Japan Railway Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Within the next 10 years, JR East will develop automated walk-through gate technology so that passengers can enter the train platform without having to tap their Suica card or phone on the ticket gates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2024

JR East announces 10-year plan to drastically overhaul Suica

Dubbed the "Suica Renaissance," the plan involves redesigned ticket gates, new payment features and a subscription service.
Bain Capital plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Dec 11, 2024

Bain raises offer for Fuji Soft in $4.3 billion contest with KKR

The Boston-based investment firm plans to pay ¥9,600 a share for Fuji Soft, it said in a statement.
A production line at Mazda's plant in Salamanca, Guanajuato state, Mexico
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 12, 2024

Mazda’s Mexico investment to hinge on Trump’s tariff decisions

Mazda joins a growing number of auto firms that have either paused or signaled they may reconsider plans in the country.
Nvidia will end the year with about 4,000 people in China, up from just about 3,000 at the start of 2024, people familiar with its operations said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 12, 2024

Nvidia steps up hiring in China to focus on AI-driven cars

The tech giant will end 2024 with about 4,000 employees in China, after starting the year with around 3,000.
A customer leaves a luxury eyewear shop in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 19, 2024

As bitcoin soars, luxury brands consider accepting crypto payments

Luxury labels have long sought to cater to affluent shoppers from the tech industry.
A limited edition of PlayStation 5 (PS5) Pro video game console
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 20, 2024

Sony’s record climb makes investors more bullish on gaming boom

Sony Group’s long-awaited rise to record highs has emboldened bullish investors and analysts, who see gains extending into 2025 on a robust outlook for video games.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (left), Honda CEO Toshihiro Mibe (second from left) and Takao Kato, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, hold a news conference on merger talks on Monday in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 23, 2024

Honda-Nissan megamerger in the works

Both carmakers are facing overcapacity and the need for huge investments related to electric-vehicle and self-driving technologies.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief on Friday urging the Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his Jan. 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 28, 2024

Trump asks Supreme Court to pause law threatening TikTok ban

Trump said the court should give him time after his Jan. 20 inauguration to "seek a negotiated resolution” of the dispute over the social media platform.
Sales of Ibiden's AI-use substrates are robust, with customers buying up all the company can sell.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 30, 2024

Nvidia supplier Ibiden weighs faster expansion for AI demand

Sales of the 112-year-old company’s AI-use substrates are robust, with customers buying up all that Ibiden can sell, CEO Koji Kawashima said in an interview.
A customer uses a bank card at a contactless payment terminal on a stall at the Bauveau Market in Paris on Feb. 15, 2023.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 30, 2024

Drama-prone fintechs face mixed regulatory environment in 2025

The incoming U.S. administration has made financial deregulation a policy priority for the next four years while European policymakers continue to take a cautious approach.
Tonoike Sake Brewery has been gearing their brewery toward tourism since the late 1980s, attempting to lure tourists to the town of Mashiko.
LIFE / Travel
Jan 3, 2025

Traveling for sake's sake: The emergence of brewery tourism in Japan

While sake consumption has declined in Japan, breweries across the nation are taking advantage of a rise in overseas interest to promote themselves as tourist destinations.
Kinoko no Yama wireless earbuds, which were released by Meiji in March and sold in limited quantities
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2025

Snack makers try to keep long-selling products 'fresh'

Related products and fan events are being offered by companies in a bid to engage with consumers.

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?