Business Jun 18, 2019
Ministry plan will see Japan's mobile phone carriers slash cancellation fees in fall
Under the approved plan, major mobile phone operators will be obliged to cut cancellation charges by 90 percent to ¥1,000 or less.
Business / Tech Apr 18, 2019
Ruling LDP calls for law to prevent tech giants strong-arming vendors in Japan
Concerns have been raised that the tech groups are abusing their dominant position with regards to smaller companies using their platforms.
Business / Corporate Apr 10, 2019
Japan's Docomo, KDDI, SoftBank and Rakuten get mobile phone 5G bands ahead of 2020 launch
The telecom ministry allocated Wednesday 5G frequency bands to Rakuten and three mobile carriers that will enable users to send and receive data 100 times faster than 4G.
Business / Corporate Apr 10, 2019
Rakuten, Booking.com and Expedia raided by Japan's antitrust watchdog over lodging price policy
Japan's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday raided the offices of Rakuten Inc. and two other online booking operators, alleging they hurt fair trade by requiring accommodation providers to offer their lowest prices on their platforms, according to a source close to the matter. The Fair Trade ...
Business / Corporate Apr 5, 2019
KDDI set to launch smartphone payment service, joining rivals SoftBank and Docomo
The au Pay service will utilize QR codes and loyalty points, and be available through its electronic money app, which is reloadable via bank accounts or other sources.
Business / Tech Mar 28, 2019
Japan's internet giants team up as mobile payments race intensifies
Line Corp. and Mercari Inc. are joining forces on mobile payments as the nation's internet companies race to dominate cashless transactions in the world's No. 3 economy. The operator of Japan's most popular messaging platform and the used-goods online marketplace app will let users shop ...
Business / Corporate Mar 20, 2019
Rakuten's Hiroshi Mikitani has a new goal for his 17,000 workers: Learn to code
by Pavel Alpeyev and Emily Chang
Less than a decade after stunning workers at his tech giant with an edict to learn English, billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani wants to do the same with computer programming. Rakuten Inc. may soon expect its more than 17,000 employees to know how a computer compiles a ...
Soccer | From the Spot Mar 6, 2019
With super club dreams, Vissel Kobe tries to rewrite history
by Dan Orlowitz
Most sports writers have their own personal pantheon of inspirations. At the top of mine is Hunter S. Thompson. The legendary gonzo journalist was never a soccer person ("Hey Rube," his published collection of essays for ESPN.com, mentions the sport just once in passing), but ...
Basketball / NBA Mar 5, 2019
Rockets, Raptors set for two games in Japan
by Kaz Nagatsuka
Well, it's only preseason contests this time, but Japan will host NBA games for the first time in 16 years when the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors face each other, the league announced at a Tokyo news conference on Tuesday. The teams will compete on ...
Business / Financial Markets Mar 2, 2019
Rakuten's Hiroshi Mikitani set to be big winner in Lyft's impending initial public offering
by Devon Pendleton, Tom Metcalf and Anders Melin
A Japanese retail billionaire, rather than a Silicon Valley wunderkind, is the biggest beneficiary of Lyft Inc.'s impending initial public offering. Hiroshi 'Mickey' Mikitani's e-commerce group Rakuten Inc. owns 13.1 percent of the ride-hailing company, offering documents show. That would be worth more than $2.9 ...