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November 21, 2025
 

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AI

Investors appear to be skeptical that artificial intelligence will generate widespread prosperity despite its potential for significant profits in certain sectors.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 27, 2025
What does the market really think about AI?
Investors appear to be skeptical that artificial intelligence will generate widespread prosperity despite its potential for significant profits in certain sectors.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi looks on as Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders attend the opening of bloc's summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Oct 27, 2025
In diplomatic debut, Takaichi chooses continuity at ASEAN summit
New Prime Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi put fears of a more hawkish approach to China on the backburner as she promised boosted ties with Southeast Asia.
Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank is turning to expensive hybrid bonds and other financing methods to fund its $30 billion investment in OpenAI, as it faces growing pressure from high debt, low cash flow and competition from AI giants like Nvidia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2025
SoftBank’s OpenAI ambition is far too grand for banks
On a stand-alone basis, as of the end of June, the company held more than twice as many bonds as bank loans.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2019.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 23, 2025
Hopes for Xi-Trump summit dampened by tough Beijing moves and rising tension
Even if the talks get back on track, experts say a narrow deal on a few issues is the most likely outcome.
SoftBank has raised at least $24 billion in loans and bonds so far in 2025 and is seeking to raise more in the overseas bond market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2025
SoftBank seeks $2 billion in bond sales as it chases AI bets
The Japanese technology investment giant has raised at least $24 billion in loans and bonds so far in 2025.
OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a long-anticipated artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot, in a direct challenge to Google Chrome’s dominance.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 22, 2025
OpenAI launches AI browser Atlas in latest challenge to Google
The browser could accelerate a broader shift toward AI-driven search, as users increasingly turn to conversational tools instead of relying on traditional keyword-based results.
Scammers are using AI-generated content of baseball stars like Shohei Ohtani to pull in users.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 20, 2025
Scammers drawing in fans with fake AI content of MLB stars during playoffs
Experts warn that this strategy of pulling in users can be used to grow accounts that are later sold or rented to more nefarious disinformation campaigns.
In Japan, 55% were “equally concerned and excited” about the rise of AI in daily life, while 28% were “more concerned than excited.”
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 20, 2025
Japan leads in in-depth AI awareness, new global study finds
The survey also found that In Japan, 55% were “equally concerned and excited” about the rise of AI in daily life, while 28% were “more concerned than excited.”
AI’s potential to resolve advanced economies’ debt and growth issues is uncertain as it faces significant obstacles and may exacerbate political unrest, inequality and global conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Will AI pay off the West’s debts?
To be sure, a wildly upbeat assessment of AI’s potential impact on economic growth has propelled asset markets higher over the last few years.
Yukinori Takada, president of Sumitomo Life Insurance, is interviewed on Wednesday in Bellevue in Washington.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2025
Sumitomo Life to mull using AI tech to support sales agents
The comments followed a series of scandals in the industry that called into question the relationships between life insurance companies and their sales agents.
The precarious work of training AI, which generally pays just a few dollars, has sparked a movement for better wages and conditions globally.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 18, 2025
Grueling, low-paid human work behind generative AI curtain
The precarious work of training AI has sparked a movement for better wages and conditions stretching from Kenya to Colombia.
The age of sonic AI slop? No studio, no humans at the microphone, not even a recording — yet out comes a lively podcast, banter and all.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 17, 2025
Mass-produced AI podcasts disrupt a fragile industry
Virtual hosts are taking over podcasting, as AI-driven shows multiply and challenge what it means to create — or listen.
Tokyo police believe the man made about 20,000 sexually explicit images of 262 women, such as actors and idols, and amassed sales of ¥1.2 million between October last year and September this year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2025
Man held in Japan on suspicion of creating female celeb deepfakes made with AI
It is the first time for police in Japan to crack down on sexual deepfake images of celebrities created using generative artificial intelligence.
Sora 2, a short-form video app made by OpenAI, enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails — from a lack of copyright consideration to families of public figures upset by the reanimation of their loved ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s government asks OpenAI to seek permission amid Sora 2 copyright concerns
Sora 2 enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails.
Developers work inside the office of AI startup LimeChat in Bengaluru on Aug. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
India's IT sector faces seismic shift as AI displaces call-center workers
The outcome of India's gamble carries weight far beyond its borders — a test case for whether embracing AI-driven disruption can elevate an economy or render it a cautionary tale.
Anthropic said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
Anthropic aims to nearly triple annualized revenue in 2026
The AI startup said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
CEATEC 2025, a cutting-edge international digital technology exhibition, opened at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
CEATEC digital tech show kicks off near Tokyo
Companies featuring products and services that utilize artificial intelligence account for more than half of the 810 participants from Japan and abroad.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
Samsung rides global AI boom to its biggest profit since 2022
South Korea’s largest company reported an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won in the September quarter, according to a preliminary earnings report.
U.S. gross domestic product grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace in nearly two years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Oct 13, 2025
World economy faces triple risk of tariffs, AI bubble and soaring debt
Such concerns will dominate the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington this week.
Saury catches from August to the end of September this year totaled about 28,500 tons — a 2.4-fold increase from the same period last year.
JAPAN
Oct 12, 2025
Japan group to launch AI service for saury size predictions
Since 2020, AI has helped predict likely saury fishing spots based on seawater temperature changes and past fishing records.
Japanese court orders Cloudflare to pay ¥500 million over manga piracy
Cloudflare has been ordered to pay ¥500 million after four major publishing firms accused the firm of copyright infringement for its role in hosting sites that distribute pirated copies of manga titles.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Beware of China’s strategic distortion of reality
China holds a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in Beijing on Sept. 3. 
Yen rout brings talk of ¥160 to the dollar and possible intervention
The yen has been weak against the U.S. dollar in recent weeks, with some analysts expecting the retreat to continue.
China to reimpose ban on Japanese seafood imports amid row over Taiwan, reports say
A sign reading, "Suspend the sales of all fish products imported from Japan" is displayed in an area home to Japanese restaurants in Beijing in August 2023. China will reimpose a ban on imports of Japanese seafood, media reports in Tokyo said Wednesday, as a diplomatic spat between the two countries deepens.
First foreign president of Hosei University looks abroad for change
Hosei University President Diana Khor, who herself was an international student, aims to encourage students to look outward and cultivate a global mindset.
Japanese companies advised to change mindset about investment in Africa
Bernard Laurendeau, chief of Enkopa Lab Japan, in Tokyo last month
Munetaka Murakami headlines quartet looking to move to MLB via posting system
The Swallows' Munetaka Murakami has 246 career home runs in eight NPB seasons.
The reality of human trafficking in Japan
A view of Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward at night. Last year in Japan, 66 people were put in protective custody as victims of human trafficking. Among them, 58 — including all 41 minors — were Japanese nationals. International pressure to act on human trafficking led Japan to make efforts to crack down on the crime, such as a tightening of conditions in 2005 for entertainer visas.
Why we can’t get enough of the sham of the rental family
“Rental Family,” directed and co-written by the single-named Hikari, follows out-of-work actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser), who is hired as the “token white guy” at a Tokyo agency called Rental Family.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

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
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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