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July 05, 2025
 

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STARTUPS

The listing ceremony of Ola Electric Mobility at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai, India, on Aug. 9
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 19, 2024
Mumbai debuts deliver for SoftBank after market retreat from AI trims gains
Three firms backed by SoftBank have made solid debuts in the past week, in a positive sign after the Vision Fund fell to a loss of ¥204.3 billion in the June quarter.
Polina Oba enjoys the food in Fukuoka, but still finds herself traveling to Tokyo often as that’s where most of the decision-makers are based. 
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Aug 12, 2024
Polina Oba: ‘Try quick, fail quick, learn quick and you need to always pivot’
Networking is at the core of Polina Oba's GourmetPro startup. Not only is it great meeting new people but you'll never know where those connections may lead.
Even small and indirect sums from the Government Pension Investment Fund would help startups to get their businesses going.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 29, 2024
Japanese pension funds tiptoe into moonshot tech investments
More sources of funding would help the country’s on-again-off-again quest to monetize pioneering research.
Joining the revolution brought by the era-defining release of ChatGPT requires a supply of cash that only tech behemoths like Microsoft can provide.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 29, 2024
AI startups swap independence for Big Tech's deep pockets
In the past few months promising companies have seen founders and key executives quietly exit the stage to join the world's dominant tech companies.
Ryo Ogawa (right), chief executive officer of Timee, and Tomoaki Yagi, chief financial officer, strike the trading bell during the company's listing ceremony at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 26, 2024
Shares of job app firm Timee jump in Japan stock trading debut
The stock surged to as high as ¥1,855 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Growth market.
Entrepreneurs who participated in the Beyond Japan Zero to X program last year share their experiences in the United States during a meeting in May in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 23, 2024
Japanese startups advised to internationalize to get some global mojo
Occupying the No. 1 spot in the Japanese market affords many comforts, but global dominance is unlikely to be one of them.
Goki Kusunoki, CEO and co-founder of Samansa, with the company's Loverse app in Tokyo on May 10. The app allows interaction only with generative artificial intelligence.
BUSINESS
Jul 21, 2024
Tiny Japanese startup is bringing AI dating to the masses
Loverse is the latest in a long line of digital solutions to Japan’s loneliness crisis.
An Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. facility in Fujairah, which uses technology developed by 44.01, a startup backed by Sam Altman
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 16, 2024
Sam Altman-backed startup scaling technology to store CO2 in rocks
A type of rock found under every continent holds the potential key to permanently trapping planet-warming carbon dioxide under the Earth’s surface.
Several support networks have launched to help startup founders in Japan whose native language isn't Japanese.
BUSINESS / Companies / Longform
Jul 8, 2024
As Japan's startup ecosystem grows, so does a supportive community of entrepreneurs
Interest in startups is outpacing ecosystem capabilities, which has led more founders to turn to each other for guidance and support.
A Maruti Suzuki India showroom in Chennai, India
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 5, 2024
Suzuki starts $40 million India fund to help rural startups
Suzuki is at risk of losing customers in India due to its paltry lineup of hybrid cars and lack of any electrified options.
Inside the TikTok office in Singapore in 2023
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 1, 2024
China’s AI startups head to Singapore in a bid for global growth
Singapore offers many Chinese artificial intelligence startup companies better access to global investors and customers than China does.
Health minister Keizo Takemi speaks to reporters in Tokyo in March.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 27, 2024
Panel sets out investment vision for Japan's health care startups
Since 2019, the number of health care startups established each year in Japan has declined to around 50.
Sakana AI, prospected to become the fastest-ever Japanese company to achieve unicorn status, aims to create energy-efficient AI models that tackle long-term national-level issues.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2024
What a Japanese AI unicorn can teach Silicon Valley
Sakana AI, prospected to become the fastest-ever Japanese company to achieve unicorn status, is taking a long-term approach to the development of AI for good.
Amid AI chip juggernaut Nvidia's staggering successes, startups seeking the attention of Silicon Valley venture capitalists are being asked to innovate — but without a clear indication of where the next chapter of AI will be written.
BUSINESS / Tech / FOCUS
Jun 23, 2024
Beyond Nvidia: the search for AI's next breakthrough
Startups are being asked to innovate — but without a clear indication of where the next chapter of AI will be written.
Film director Hirokazu Kore-eda (left) and actor Lily Franky arrive for a photocall to promote the Official Selection feature film "Shoplifters" at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September 2018.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 21, 2024
Japanese film startup aims to change industry working conditions
K2 Pictures is seeking to raise the money from domestic and foreign investors.
Tokyo has proved to be an attractive destination for Chinese entrepreneurs in recent times, away from the challenges hitting the economy at home.
BUSINESS
Jun 16, 2024
Chinese entrepreneurs bet on Japan
A Chinese-language MBA program has been catering to those seeking opportunities in Tokyo.
Tomohiro Fukuzawa, CEO of SkyDrive, shows a model of the firm's flying car during a news conference in February 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 16, 2024
SkyDrive gives up commercial use of flying car at Osaka Expo
Three other Japanese companies — made by Japan Airlines, ANA Holdings and Marubeni — will also operate flying cars at the event.
Employees of a seafood restaurant work in their kitchen space at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. Side gigs are becoming increasingly common in Japan as companies look for flexible sources of labor while workers look to top up income in their spare time.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 11, 2024
Japan spot work startup Timee targets July listing, sources say
The startup, founded in 2017, is aiming for a valuation of roughly $1 billion and the joint global coordinators are Daiwa Securities and Morgan Stanley, the people said.
SoftBank Group is in talks to acquire Graphcore, a struggling British semiconductor startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 9, 2024
SoftBank said to be in talks to buy troubled AI chip firm Graphcore
Graphcore reported just $2.7 million in revenue for 2022, a 46% drop from the prior year, according to its latest financial report.
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 9, 2024
Rice has a methane problem that a startup is promising to fix
Rice is responsible for about 10% of global methane emissions, due to the way it’s grown.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake jars Tokara Islands amid flurry of seismic activity
A strong quake struck off the Tokara Islands on Thursday afternoon, with the island chain having recorded around 1,000 earthquakes since a burst of seismic activity first began on June 21.
Japan to require flight passengers to keep power banks within sight
The transport ministry has announced new regulations requiring flight passengers to keep power banks within sight to mitigate fire risks while on board planes.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

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