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August 30, 2025
 

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STARTUPS

Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 20, 2020
Nissan said to be in talks with U.S. startup to electrify pickup truck
Nissan has never fared well in the competitive U.S. full-size truck market, and demand for the Titan plunged 38% last year.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 15, 2020
Japan’s startup gauge surges to 14-year high on retail demand
The coronavirus pandemic proved to be a blessing in disguise for many Mothers-listed companies as investors first poured their money into pandemic-themed stocks.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 9, 2020
PlayStation inventor starts new career making robots for no pay
Ken Kutaragi, 70, wants to make affordable robots that can safely move around and do physical work alongside humans in factories and logistics centers.
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: TECH
Sep 26, 2020
Tea, toys and tech on the go
Teplo personalizes your cup of tea; Digicoro makes playing with kid's apps more analog; and Keepack helps keep your items sanitized while on the move.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Sep 20, 2020
Startups race to develop tech that can clear workplaces of COVID-19
Smithfield Foods Inc. thought it was doing great. In the first quarter of this year, the pork giant’s earnings were up 190 percent over the same period in 2019. Then the pandemic hit, and the close quarters of meatpacking plants made them ideal places for the coronavirus to spread.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 20, 2020
Japanese startup raises $28 million to help fund moon mission
Ispace plans its first lunar landing mission in 2022, and another the year after to explore the moon's surface with a rover.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 5, 2020
SoftBank backs 29-year-old’s venture aiming to become Netflix for fiction
Radish's growing stable of in-house soap-opera scriptwriters conceive new episodes in various genres every four or six hours.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2020
Tech firms start to leave Hong Kong after Beijing enacts security law
About half of U.S. business people say they plan to depart from the territory, according to a recent survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2020
Japanese college dropout builds $560 million fortune through AI firm
AI inside Inc. has ambitious plans to expand outside Japan and into other business lines.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2020
SoftBank-backed DCM eyes China startups with $880 million fund
David Chao, a venture capitalist who has been on the ground floor of Asian companies worth a combined $206 billion, has raised money for a new fund with a China focus, a sign that rising U.S.-China tensions aren’t turning off foreign investors.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 27, 2020
Japanese startup creates 'connected' face mask for coronavirus new normal
As face coverings become the norm amid the coronavirus pandemic, Japanese startup Donut Robotics has developed an internet-connected "smart mask" that can transmit messages and translate from Japanese into eight other languages.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2020
SoftBank to invest in 14 startups run by minority founders
Companies will receive at least u00a516 million through an accelerator, with further capital available from a u00a510.6 billion fund for founders of color.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 11, 2020
Founder of software company who turned down SoftBank joins ranks of Japan’s billionaires
Masayoshi Son had offered to buy Shunji Sugaya's business idea for $2.8 million.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jun 4, 2020
SoftBank creates $100 million fund to back companies led by people of color
The effort stems from U.S. and international disgust with the death of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis cop knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Jun 1, 2020
E-ticketing platform Zaiko's livestream success sees unwelcome imitators
The ticketing company pivoted to livestreaming events when the coronavirus struck, a move that may change how we experience music in Japan.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / Food Sustainability in Japan
Apr 11, 2020
To meat, or not to meat: The future of Japanese cellular agriculture
Would you notice if the cubed meat in your cup noodle wasn’t “real” meat? If you did, would you care? What if the future of our meat supply counted on it?
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 12, 2020
Augmented reality startup Magic Leap to explore a sale
Magic Leap Inc., the startup that raised more than $2 billion to build an augmented reality device, is exploring options including a sale, according to people familiar with the matter.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 10, 2020
In Fukushima, a 'village' aims to lure young people back to disaster-hit town
In a deserted part of Fukushima Prefecture dotted with vacant lots, a sleek modern building stands out. In a workshop inside, a woman with a ponytail wearing purple protective eyeglasses carefully melts a tiny glass tube into the shape of a plum blossom.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 18, 2020
Masayoshi Son's big real estate venture with Oyo runs into real problems in Japan
Last March, months before the meltdown at WeWork, Masayoshi Son worked through the prospects for another one of his favorite portfolio companies — a startup from India called Oyo.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 13, 2020
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son considers new type of fund for startup investing
SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son said he is considering a new type of fund for startup investing, showing his determination to keep cutting deals after missteps with WeWork and several other companies.
Most Japanese teens struggling with school find end of summer ‘painful’
Some 93.1% of Japanese teenagers who struggle with school life said they felt like they “wanted to disappear from the world" at the end of summer vacation ahead of the start of a new term, according to a recent survey released by Yokohama-based nonprofit Daisan Kazoku.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Japan looks to build drone ‘shield’ in record defense budget request
A group of Ground Self-Defense Force service members discuss drone operations and capabilities at a joint static display during the Orient Shield 24 opening ceremony at the Yausubetsu Training Area in Hokkaido in July last year.
Jesse Kirkwood: ‘Languages are entire cultural universes with all sorts of baggage’
Jesse Kirkwood is part of a vibrant field of translators who have nurtured what might be called a “post-Murakami era of Japanese literature and translation,” one book at a time.
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.”

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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