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September 19, 2025
 

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APPS

India's parliament has passed a sweeping bill banning online gambling, after government figures showed companies had stripped $2.3 billion annually from 450 million people.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 17, 2025
India's online gambling fans eye illegal sites in wake of ban
India's parliament last month passed a sweeping law banning online gambling.
U.S. and Chinese officials have agreed on a framework to keep ByteDance’s TikTok app running in the U.S.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 17, 2025
TikTok lives: U.S. and China in deal for app to keep operating in United States
The agreement requires TikTok's American assets to be transferred to U.S. owners from China's ByteDance, potentially resolving a saga that has lingered for nearly a year.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to the media as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer looks on following U.S.-China talks on trade, economic and national security issues, in Madrid on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 16, 2025
U.S. and China reach framework deal on TikTok; Trump and Xi to speak Friday
It is the second time this year that the two sides have said they were nearing a TikTok deal.
Senior U.S. and Chinese led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang meet to discuss trade and economic issues in Madrid on Sunday.
BUSINESS
Sep 15, 2025
U.S. and China end first day of talks in Spain on trade and TikTok deadline
The talks mark the fourth time in as many months that the two nations have attempted keep their trade relationship from collapsing.
Australia’s plan to ban under-16s from using social media, including YouTube, has reignited debate over how best to protect kids online.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 14, 2025
Banning teens from YouTube won’t keep them safe
Part of the reason YouTube’s inclusion has struck such a nerve is because it’s impossible to overstate how intertwined it has become with pop culture.
Demonstrators gather outside Nepal's Parliament during a protest condemning social media prohibitions and corruption by the government in Kathmandu on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 9, 2025
Nepal's ban on major social media sites lifted after protesters killed
All major social media apps were said to be working as the government ordered a probe into the violence that saw police launch a deadly crackdown.
The ByteDance logo at the company's office building in Shanghai in 2023. The company plans to offer to buy back current employees shares at a price 5.5% higher than it offered in a previous repurchase program about six months ago.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 28, 2025
TikTok owner ByteDance sets valuation at over $330 billion in planned buyback
The latest buyback at a higher valuation will come as ByteDance consolidates its position as the world's largest social media company by revenue.
Elon Musk (left) in Los Angeles in 2024 and Open AI CEO Sam Altman in Seoul in February. Elon Musk's companies xAI and X filed a sweeping U.S. antitrust lawsuit on Monday against Apple and OpenAI, alleging the tech giants formed an illegal partnership to stifle competition in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 26, 2025
Musk sues Apple and OpenAI, saying they hurt AI competition
Musk is alleging the tech giants formed an illegal partnership to inhibit rivalry and innovation in artificial intelligence and smartphone markets.
Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s chief technology officer; Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and OpenAI’s former chief research officer; Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer; and Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer at a military ceremony in Arlington, Va., in June 2025. The four current and former executives were pronounced lieutenant colonels in a new unit, Detachment 201, which will advise the Army on new technologies for potential combat.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 11, 2025
Silicon Valley is in its ‘hard tech’ era
Instead of the tap-to-pay apps of a decade ago like Clinkle and Bump, young companies are now making unmanned aerial drones stocked with AI-guided Barracuda cruise missiles.
Shintaro Matsue (right), head of the International Furikake Association, holds an enlarged package of <i>furikake</i> in Jakarta on July 9.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
'Furikake' app to help manage children's health in Indonesian
After downloading an app featured on furikake product packaging, children input data like their height and weight, then do academic drills, with the reward being manga.
A new law set to take effect in December to promote competition in the smartphone app market bans Google and Apple from excluding other companies' app stores from phones that use their operating systems.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 30, 2025
Japan releases guidelines for IT giants regarding smartphone apps
The guidelines prohibit companies like Google and Apple from using data obtained through their operating systems to develop products with competitive advantages.
A high school student uses social media applications in November 2024.
WORLD / Society
Jul 15, 2025
EU states to test age-check app to limit children's access to online services
The European Commission has unveiled a prototype of the app that Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain will customize and launch within several months.
Grok, a chatbot made by xAI, on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on billionaire owner Elon Musk's social media platform, X.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 10, 2025
Europe’s clash with Musk’s xAI escalates after Grok’s rants
The chatbot on Tuesday made antisemitic comments on social media platform X.
Shingo Kato, assistant manager at Homechigiru Driving School in Ise, Mie Prefecture, rides in a training vehicle with a smartphone equipped with the school’s translation app.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jun 30, 2025
Translation apps help break language barriers at Chubu driving schools
Some driving schools have refused enrollment of foreign nationals with limited Japanese skills, sources have said.
Regarding news genres that respondents want to avoid, with multiple answers allowed, war and other conflicts were mentioned by 18.9%. "News that is meant to be touching or news that foments anger" was cited by 18%.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 26, 2025
Almost a fifth of people in Japan may avoid news, industry survey suggests
When asked why they avoid news, with multiple answers allowed, 60.8% of those surveyed said it makes them feel depressed and sick.
U.S. President Donald Trump is granting a third reprieve to TikTok from enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban that was supposed to take effect in January.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 18, 2025
Trump to extend TikTok sale deadline for third time, White House says
The U.S. president will extend the June 19 deadline for 90 days.
Japan will be the newest addition to the list of countries where TikTok Shop is available, which already includes the U.S. and the Philippines.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2025
TikTok Shop to launch e-commerce service in Japan as soon as this month
The service, already available in several other countries, allows users to purchase promoted products directly from the social media app.
A woman weeps as she holds a poster of TikTok star Sana Yousaf during a protest to condemn violence against women, after Yousaf was killed for rejecting a man's proposal in Islamabad.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jun 16, 2025
'This is a culture': TikTok murder highlights Pakistan's unease with women online
TikTok is wildly popular in the nation, and women have found both audience and income. But as views have surged, so have efforts to police the platform.
A registration system linking local governments with the so-called connected population — nonresidents who regularly interact with regional areas — is designed to encourage people living in urban areas to play active roles in rural communities amid their shrinking populations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 15, 2025
Japan considers new system to connect urban and rural populations
The system aims to help those in overpopulated cities to play more active roles in rural communities with shrinking populations.
A woman near the Kremlin in Moscow on May 19
WORLD / Politics
Jun 9, 2025
Russian intelligence says it collects WeChat data. What does that mean?
The disclosure highlights the rising level of concern about Chinese influence in Russia as the two countries deepen their relationship.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japan dispatches five language education 'partners' to India
Five members of the Japan Foundation's Nihongo Partners program (front) gather at the Japanese Embassy in New Delhi on Monday.
End of U.S. de minimis exemption causes headaches for some businesses in Japan
Proxy-shopping services — companies that ship Japanese products ranging from cosmetics and snacks to limited-edition stationery on behalf of customers abroad — are already feeling the impact of the U.S. suspending de minimis exemptions.
Over 90% of low-income families in Japan struggling to feed children
Save the Children Japan domestic program chief Sonoko Kawakami speaks at a news conference in Tokyo in July. A survey conducted by the group in June has found that over 90% of low-income households with children face food insecurity.
Struggling train firm in Chiba Prefecture turns to self-deprecating humor
"Laughter is important when you're in a difficult situation," said Katsunori Takemoto, president of Choshi Electric Railway, on Aug. 5 in Choshi, Chiba Prefecture.
Japan’s front-line researchers see bright path ahead for dementia treatment
A scientist looks at scans of grains at the Memory Centre at the Department of Readaptation and Geriatrics of the University Hospital (HUG) in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 6, 2023.
Still plenty to fight for, says Japan’s team leader at worlds
Race walker Hayato Katsuki earned bronze for Japan on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships on Saturday.
Wealthy foreign nationals picking up ultimate souvenir — a condo in Tokyo
A high-end property in the fashionable Daikanyama district in Tokyo
Japanese athletes inspired by raucous home fans at World Athletics Championships
Fans cheer on the home favorites during the women's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
Japan's major art events converge this fall
Shinji Ohmaki’s “Tokinokage” exhibited at Fuji Textile Week 2021 shows the use of fabric as art.

Podcast

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

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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