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August 29, 2025
 

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PHONES

The Toyoake Municipal Government in Aichi Prefecture is planning to enact an ordinance to urge all smartphone users in the city to limit screen time to two hours a day outside work or school.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 22, 2025
Japanese city proposes two-hour daily limit for smartphone use
Toyoake's cap will not be binding and there will be no penalties incurred for higher usage, according to a draft ordinance.
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Aug 22, 2025
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
One doctor says the symptoms of smartphone-induced tendonitis and arthritis are on the rise for those in the 20s, 30s and 40s.
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.
Three-quarters of the 317 surveyed Dutch high schools reported that the phone ban has had a positive effect on students' concentration.
WORLD
Jul 5, 2025
Study finds smartphone bans in Dutch schools improved focus
Three-quarters of the 317 surveyed high schools reported that the ban has had a positive effect on students' concentration.
Digital transformation minister Masaaki Taira obtains a certification document using a My Number personal identification card installed on an iPhone in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2025
Functions of Japan's My Number card now available on iPhones
The Digital Agency plans to gradually expand the smartphone-compatible functions of the card, including the ability to serve as a health insurance card.
Bicycle riders will be fined for minor traffic violations starting on April 1.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2025
Japan to fine riders ¥12,000 for using mobile phones while cycling
Fines between ¥3,000 ($20) and ¥12,000 will be imposed for 113 types of traffic violations.
With people growing increasingly wary of unknown callers and not answering their doors, more and more agencies and pollsters tasked with collecting data are using online surveys, though that comes with its own set of challenges.
WORLD / ANALYSIS
Jun 17, 2025
Faced with dwindling response rates, pollsters turn to online surveys for data
Problems with the new wave of online surveys include fresh biases in the data, confusion over questions that a computer cannot address and gaining trust.
Donald Trump Jr. attends a media event at Trump Tower in New York on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jun 17, 2025
Trump family launches branded mobile phone service in U.S.
The new venture stands to escalate concerns over how the president’s expanding business enterprises conflict with his government responsibilities.
IPhone users will soon be able to access the Mynaportal website for My Number-related administrative tasks and get copies of their public certificates at convenience stores.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2025
My Number Card functions to be available on iPhones
IPhone users will soon be able to access the Mynaportal website for My Number-related administrative tasks and get copies of their public certificates at convenience stores.
The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 launch event in Seoul in 2023. Studies have shown connections between social media use and eating disorders.
WORLD / Society
Jun 2, 2025
How social media can 'trigger' eating disorders in young people
The glorification of thinness and promotion of fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition push the vulnerable toward developing eating disorders.
Samsung and Perplexity are in talks regarding preloading Perplexity’s app and assistant on upcoming Samsung devices.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 2, 2025
Samsung nears wide-ranging deal with Perplexity for AI features
Samsung is planning to announce the Perplexity integrations as early as this year, sources said.
NTT Docomo will retire its iconic Docomo Emoji, ending a 26-year run that helped shape the visual language of mobile communication.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 22, 2025
NTT Docomo to retire iconic emoji set after 26 years
Beginning next month, newly released Android smartphones and feature phones sold by Docomo will no longer include the carrier’s original emoji.
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
The tariffs add another layer of uncertainty for consumers already hesitating due to the yen's weakness and inflation.
KDDI President and CEO Hiromichi Matsuda is interviewed in Tokyo last week.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
KDDI aims to use direct satellite link for drones
A direct link with satellites will make it easier to operate drones in mountainous areas and other regions where radio waves are hard to reach
The Google logo is seen at the company's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Japanese authorities on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order to Google over an alleged violation of the country's anti-monopoly law.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 16, 2025
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has accused the U.S. tech giant of violating the country's anti-monopoly law by forcing manufacturers to preinstall its apps in smartphones.
The survey showed that more children are starting to use social media at an earlier age.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 14, 2025
Two-thirds of fourth to sixth graders in Japan use social media, survey finds
The survey showed that more children are starting to use social media from an earlier age.
Shoppers outside an Apple store in New York on April 7
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 13, 2025
U.S. exempts tech imports in tariff backpedal
President Donald Trump's move offers relief to U.S. tech firms and partially dials down a trade war with China.
People walk through an Apple Store in Hong Kong on Friday.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 13, 2025
Apple was on brink of crisis before tariff concession from Trump
Donald Trump’s 125% tariffs on goods produced in China threatened to upend its supply chain as seriously as the COVID-19 snarls did five years ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump wants Apple to begin building iPhones in the United States. But Apple is unlikely to move production to the country in the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Apr 12, 2025
Why Trump’s dream of made-in-the-USA iPhones isn’t going to happen
Apple is unlikely to move production to the U.S. in the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons, including a shortage of facilities and labor.
A person walks past a logo of Samsung Electronics displayed outside a shop in Seoul on Tuesday. Shares in Samsung jumped after its profit for the first three months of 2025 handily beat expectations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 8, 2025
Samsung shares jump after profit gets boost from new Galaxy S25
Inventory stockpiling by Chinese buyers who hurried to secure supply of electronics before U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed new tariffs also provided support.
Philippine bid to acquire used Japanese warships gains steam
Tokyo is looking to transfer Abukuma-class vessels to the Philippines as part of broader efforts to boost the defense capabilities of like-minded neighbors amid growing Chinese military assertiveness in the region.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Akazawa's trip to Washington for tariff talks abruptly canceled
Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, had been set to fly to Washington on Thursday.
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Confusion over Japan’s ‘hometown’ plan overshadows African development event
First Lady Yoshiko Ishiba (center, in white and blue dress) hosts an event on Japanese culture with the first ladies of African leaders on the sidelines of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.
Mitsubishi’s wind-power retreat a blow to Japan's alternative-energy goals
Wind turbines in the town of Happo in Akita prefecture. Wind power is a key part of Japan's alternative energy drive.
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series “Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.”
Can anime carry the memories of World War II?
Many schools in Japan show "Grave of the Fireflies" as educational material to tell the emotionally grueling story of a boy who has no means to prevent his sister from starving to death.
Koshien’s dark summer forces reckoning for high school baseball
Koryo High School players greet their cheering section after beating Hokkaido’s Asahikawa Shiho in the first round of Summer Koshien on Aug. 7. The school withdrew three days later as a bullying scandal enveloped the team.
Is Kishida plotting a return of the king? Or would he rather stay a kingmaker?
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida chairs a plenary session at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama on Aug. 21.

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