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September 22, 2025
 

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DIGITALIZATION

An MUFG Bank branch in Tokyo. The bank is stepping up its electronic trading capabilities.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 13, 2024
MUFG pushes to bring its trading into electronic age, except JGBs
MUFG is catching up to rivals, vying to become more competitive across fixed income and equities where electronic trading has taken hold.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone President Akira Shimada calls for a public debate on ending domestic telegram services.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2024
NTT should consider ending telegram services, firm's president says
Telegrams continue to be used in Japan to send messages for events such as weddings and funerals.
Digital transformation minister Taro Kono (left)
JAPAN / Society
Aug 2, 2024
Japan to digitize national qualifications processes
Individuals of certain professions will be able to obtain digital qualification certificates online by using their My Number cards.
An expert panel discusses the creation of a database for all civil court rulings, on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024
Japan expert panel calls for database of all civil court rulings
The ministry plans to submit a related bill during next year's ordinary session of parliament, with a view to launching the database in fiscal 2026.
China's official app for digital yuan is seen on a mobile phone next to 100-yuan banknotes
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2024
Trump’s disdain for digital dollar risks ‘Cold War era’ in money
His vow to never allow the dollar to be digitized may turn money into a new front in Trump's trade war with China.
An election observer (on the screen) remotely monitors early voting for the Kofu mayoral election in Kofu, Tottori Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 19, 2024
Tottori town becomes first in Japan to monitor voting online
Polling stations are decreasing as it is getting harder to find observers due to depopulation, and online monitoring is viewed as a possible solution.
Dai Nippon Printing's "Midokoro viewer" system displays 3D images of cultural assets on a touch screen.
JAPAN
Jul 19, 2024
Japan firms working on digital cultural assets
Major printing company Toppan has produced more than 60 virtual reality images since launching its digital cultural assets project in 1997.
Junior high school students taking entrance exams for public high schools enter a venue in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in March.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 12, 2024
Japan to test digital high school admissions
The Digital Agency estimates digital procedures will cut administrative work by 30-90 hours in junior high schools and 20-80 hours in high schools.
Electronic waste — also known as e-waste — from computers in a junk shop in Metro Manila, Philippines
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 11, 2024
U.N. warns digital economy drive is damaging the environment
The U.N. agency called for sustainable strategies to counter the growing environmental toll digitalization creates, particularly in developing countries.
A mystery-solving event with clues embedded in constellations projected on a dome is held at a planetarium in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 7.
JAPAN
Jul 10, 2024
Japan's planetarium operators shoot for the stars with new events
The number of planetarium visitors in fiscal 2022 totaled 7.9 million, recovering to about 90% of the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elementary school students take a nationwide achievement test in April. The education ministry has said such tests will go fully online in fiscal 2027.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2024
Japan's nationwide school achievement tests to go fully online from fiscal '27
The education ministry will make an official decision as early as autumn after hearing opinions from schools and boards of education.
One analyst argues that the billions of dollars flowing from Japan to the likes of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft might be more a positive than a negative in that more companies and individuals are using digital services.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 7, 2024
Japan’s digital deficit might be a good thing
The digital deficit indicates that digitalization has accelerated in the country, says Mitsubishi Research Institute researcher Kengo Wataya.
Japan has finally scrapped every regulation requiring the use of floppy disks for administrative purposes.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2024
Japan finally phases out floppy disks
One of the world’s most technologically advanced nations has held on to some of the most outmoded devices.
While the government aims to supply all public elementary school pupils with an electronic device for learning in school, communication between parents and teachers is still largely paper-based.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 17, 2024
Parents need digital tools to cope with 'first-grade barrier'
More flexibility and efficiency would lighten the load put on the families of public elementary school children, where paper-based communication is still too prevalent.
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsusaka
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 17, 2024
Microsoft’s Japan chief sees country accelerating its use of AI
Microsoft Japan President Miki Tsukasa sees AI as an inevitable and revolutionary new part of tech.
The iAEON app allows users to view their shopping history and save e-receipts on their smartphones to facilitate returns and act as proof of purchases.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 14, 2024
Aeon to roll out e-receipts nationwide
Customers can opt for e-receipts instead of paper ones when shopping by using the group’s iAEON app at participating stores.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and digital minister Taro Kono attend a digitalization panel in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jun 11, 2024
Japan's parliament faces a long road to digitalization
Concerns over decorum and the possibility of the use of electronic devices being obtrusive to proceedings are among reasons cited for maintaining restrictions.
In a bureaucratic blunder, a foreign resident was assigned the identity of a completely different person — who had the same name, same nationality and even the same birthday.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 4, 2024
It wasn't me: Similar strangers given same ID in Japan
The two individuals had the same name, same nationality and even the same birthday.
Digital transformation minister Taro Kono says the government plans to use My Number ID cards to track the evacuation status of disaster victims.
JAPAN
Jun 4, 2024
Japan to utilize My Number cards at evacuation centers
"We want to facilitate the response of local governments and residents in the event of a disaster," digital transformation minister Taro Kono said.
My Number cardholders will soon be able to save their identity verification information on smartphones.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 31, 2024
Japan enacts revised My Number law enabling info on smartphones
The move is expected to boost My Number cardholders' convenience.
Bank of Japan to start unloading ETFs in surprise move that rattles market
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda said it would take a century for the bank to sell all its ETFs at the pace proposed.
Japan may see its first female PM despite limited progress on gender gap
Hard-line conservative lawmaker Sanae Takaichi has consistently been a public favorite in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election scheduled for Oct. 4.
Boom in business class travel from Japan fuels airlines profits
A business class suite of an Airbus SE A350-1000 aircraft operated by Japan Airlines is seen during a media preview at the company's hangar at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in January last year.
40 years after Plaza Accord, Japan still at mercy of forex swings
The Plaza Hotel in New York, where finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of Five countries met and struck the Plaza Accord on Sept. 22, 1985.
Anime’s ‘Demon Slayer’ hit is a watershed for Japan
Channing Tatum, one of the English-language voice actors, and others attend the premiere of “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 9. Japanese anime has surged from niche fandom to global box-office powerhouse with the latest “Demon Slayer” installment.
Behold the glory of Japan’s fruit boxes
Otherwise common sights in Japan's supermarkets, the country's fruit and veggie boxes can hide surprising symbols of local pride.
How Yuki Joseph Nakajima turned failures into breakout success at Tokyo worlds
Yuki Joseph Nakajima after finishing sixth in the men's 400-meter final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Thursday.
Robot tour guides in Tokyo offer way for those with disabilities to work
Tours are being offered in Tokyo using a shoulder-mounted robot equipped with a camera, speaker and microphone. The robot twitches its wing-like arms, which it can fold together as if in prayer when visiting a temple.
World Athletics stars relish Tokyo atmosphere after COVID-hit Olympics
Organizers of the World Athletics Championships said over 500,000 tickets had been sold and that they are expecting to end the event in front of large crowds this weekend.
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.

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