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Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2024

Cheap AI voice bots are suddenly everywhere in India

Startups may turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier of generative artificial intelligence products.
Black Myth: Wukong has sold over 10 million copies in less than a week — by far the best launch of a Chinese-developed single-player game in history.
LIFE / Digital
Aug 27, 2024

With Black Myth: Wukong, China is now a force to reckon with in AAA games

Can China’s first AAA gaming hit bear the weight of the cultural baggage it’s being burdened with?
A cardboard cutout of the Monkey King character, or Sun Wukong, from the Chinese action role-playing game Black Myth: Wukong is displayed on the day of its launch in Beijing on Aug. 20.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 27, 2024

Black myth, Black samurai and gaming nationalism

While China has to date enjoyed success in mobile and PC gaming, those lucrative sectors carry relatively little prestige. That makes Wukong’s breakout a landmark event.
Go Sugiyama, head of wealth management at Nomura Holdings
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 28, 2024

Nomura is hiring wealth managers after years of staff overhaul

Nomura’s wealth management segment that serves domestic clients has been a consistent performer over the years.
Attendees play the For All Time mobile game on smartphones at the NetEase Games booth at the Tokyo Game Show in the city of Chiba in September last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 30, 2024

Tencent and NetEase rethink Japan approach as game strategy stalls

The companies are reconsidering or scaling back many of their investments in Japanese studios, after years of spending yielded few hit games.
People walk in front of closed ticket gates for the Tokaido Shinkansen in Tokyo Station as train operations between Tokyo and Nagoya remain suspended due to Tropical Storm Shanshan on Saturday.
JAPAN
Aug 31, 2024

Tropical Storm Shanshan soaks Japan as flood and landslide risks rise

Shanshan was moving slowly south-southwest of Wakayama Prefecture on Saturday afternoon, bringing widespread torrential rain to much of the country.
Portable power supply devices at a Bic Camera electronics store in Tokyo
JAPAN
Sep 8, 2024

Sales of portable power supply devices surge amid heightened disaster preparedness

Jackery, a U.S.-based major portable power supply solution firm, saw a sharp climb in sales in Japan after the possible Nankai Trough quake alert issued on Aug. 8.
Cosplayer Xu Yunting (left), dressed as Jesse, a male character from the video game Light and Night, and video game enthusiast Feng Xinyu visit a crafts shop during their 'cos commissioning' date in Shanghai.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Sep 11, 2024

'Dream men': Female cosplayers in China fulfill fantasies for young women

A trend called "cos commissioning" is allowing young women in China to perform idealized heteronormative relationships — with other women.
Part of the tail section of a North Korean Hwasong-11 short-range ballistic missile in Kyiv earlier this year.
WORLD
Sep 12, 2024

North Korean missiles rain down on Ukraine despite sanctions

The Hwasong missiles found in Ukraine used common commercially available electronic components made by Western nations as recently as last year.
Canelo Alvarez celebrates after defeating John Ryder in Guadalajara, Mexico, on May 7, 2023.
MORE SPORTS / Boxing
Sep 13, 2024

Canelo Alvarez will try to score knockout blow against Edgar Berlanga in title defense

Alvarez, 34, brings a record of 61-2-2 with 39 knockouts into what promises to be an explosive confrontation at T-Mobile Arena.
Solar panels and wind turbines at a power plant in Hami in China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. and other countries have described China’s actions against Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region, a key cog in the cleantech supply chain, as a genocidal campaign aimed at erasing an entire culture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Sep 16, 2024

How China’s dominance of solar and batteries is impacting Japan’s energy transition

China has thrown its industrial might behind cleantech, putting Japan in a tough spot as it weighs human rights concerns against its climate targets.
A medium-range ballistic missile target is launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, before being successfully intercepted by Standard Missile-6 missiles fired from the guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, in Kauai, Hawaii, in 2017.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2024

U.S. gathers arsenal of anti-ship weapons to counter China

China will still have a large advantage in sheer numbers of anti-ship missiles, however.
A person walks through floodwater in an area near the Nysa Klodzka river in Lewin Brzeski, Poland, on Tuesday.
WORLD
Sep 18, 2024

Central European floods wreak havoc while new areas set to evacuate

Areas along the Czech-Polish border were among the worst-hit since the weekend.
One of the coffins is carried during the funeral of Mohammed Bilal Kanj, Mohamed Hassan Nour al-Din, Abbas Fadel Yassin and Mohammad Mahdi Ammar, son of Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament, Ali Ammar, who were killed amid the detonation of pagers across Lebanon, in Beirut on Wednesday.
WORLD
Sep 19, 2024

Hezbollah devices explode again in Lebanon, raising fears of wider Israel conflict

Lebanon's health ministry said 20 people were killed on Wednesday, while Tuesday's explosions killed 12 and injured 3,000.
The Typhon missile system at Laoag International Airport, in Laoag, Philippines, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 19, 2024

U.S. keeps missile system in Philippines as China tensions rise

China and Russia condemned the move — the first deployment of the system to the Indo-Pacific — and accused Washington of fueling an arms race.
Members of the Secret Service counterassault team keep watch as U.S. President Joe Biden arrives aboard Marine One in New Castle, Delaware, on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 21, 2024

Secret Service admits complacency over Trump shooting in July

A review "identified deficiencies in the advanced planning and its implementation," Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said.
Actor Zhu Jian, 69, rehearses with other actors on the set of a micro movie during a filming session at a banquet hall in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China, on July 16.
BUSINESS
Sep 23, 2024

Micro dramas shake up China's film industry, aim for Hollywood

The leader in the micro drama space is Kuaishou, an app that accounted for 60% of the top 50 Chinese micro dramas last year.
A user receives ¥50,000 of their salary through the PayPay app.
JAPAN
Sep 25, 2024

SoftBank makes first salary payments via its digital platform PayPay

Employees asking to receive part of their salaries via cashless payment services received the money through the PayPay platform, operated by a SoftBank Group affiliate.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tries on Orion AR glasses at the Meta Connect annual event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 26, 2024

Meta pitches augmented reality glasses as eventual smartphone rival

The firm's Orion prototype glasses, introduced Wednesday, have lenses that can display text messages, video calls and even YouTube videos in the user’s field of vision.
Tokyo Game Show opens to the public on Sept. 28 full of cosplayers promoting a full slate of new and upcoming titles.
LIFE / Digital
Sep 26, 2024

Tokyo Game Show 2024 stacked with big returns and hyped announcements

PlayStation returns to Tokyo Game Show for the first time since 2019 as Japan's biggest gaming show opens to the public on Sept. 29 and 29.
Having grown up in North Carolina, where people are chatty and friendly, Duane Levi says Kansai and Osaka in particular had a similar vibe.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 27, 2024

Duane Levi: 'Once you are able to create something that has sustainability … you’re going to get help and support.'

Unable to get a job in PA and recording, Duane Levi forged his own path in the Japanese music scene and has introduced many artists to the market here.
Debris from damaged houses and docks are pictured after Tropical Depression Helene hit Keaton Beach, Florida, on Friday.
WORLD
Sep 28, 2024

Dozens dead as Helene cuts destructive path through southeastern U.S.

The storm swamped neighborhoods, triggered mudslides, threatened dams and left more than 3.5 million homes and businesses without power.
An aerial view of damaged houses are seen after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Horseshoe Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
WORLD
Sep 29, 2024

U.S. southeast faces daunting cleanup from Helene as death toll rises

Damage estimates range between $95 billion and $110 billion, potentially making this one of the most expensive storms in modern U.S. history.
Search and Rescue personnel patrol a canal in Keaton Beach, Florida, on Saturday.
WORLD
Sep 30, 2024

Hurricane Helene kills at least 90 in U.S. as homes are washed away

The storm has also damaged water systems, communications and critical transportation routes across the region.
The Google campus in Mountain View, California, on May 2
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 1, 2024

Epic Games accuses Samsung and Google of scheme to block app rivals

Epic says it will also raise its competition concerns with regulators in the EU
A man walks across a makeshift walkway across a damaged bridge on U.S. Route 64 after the passage of Hurricane Helene, in Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Monday.
WORLD
Oct 1, 2024

Recovery efforts hampered by 'post-apocalyptic' destruction after storm Helene

As many as 600 people remained unaccounted for, with flooded roads and toppled cellphone towers isolating devastated communities.
JR Tokai officials send off the Nozomi No. 1 bullet train bound for Hakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, at Tokyo Station on Tuesday as the Tokaido Shinkansen marked the 60th anniversary of its services the same day.
JAPAN
Oct 1, 2024

Tokaido Shinkansen marks 60th anniversary

A commemorative ceremony was held by Central Japan Railway at Tokyo Station to send off the first train of the day.
Rikiya Morita, a suspect wanted in connection with a robbery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 4, 2024

Suspect in violent Kanto burglaries placed on public wanted list

Rikiya Morita and three other men allegedly broke into an elderly couple’s residence in the city of Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture.
Containers are stacked at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT) in Portsmouth, Virginia, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Oct 5, 2024

U.S. port strike throws spotlight on big union foe: automation

Companies view automation as a path to better profit while unions see it as a job-killer.
Aziz Ahmed talks about young language carers in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, on Sept. 18.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 5, 2024

Young language carer hopes to support others facing hardships in Japan

Aziz Ahmed came to Japan from Pakistan at the age of 9 and remembers the hardships he faced interpreting for family members who do not speak Japanese.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji