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May 06, 2024
 

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STARTUPS

Inspectors analyze saliva collected with test kits at SalivaTech.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jan 8, 2024
Tohoku startup offers way to detect cancer early using saliva
SalivaTech's SalivaChecker is a test kit that provides high-precision analysis of around 10 types of salivary metabolites.
A wafer is pictured at Semicon Taiwan in Taipei
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 30, 2023
This startup shows it won't be easy to contain China's chip industry
The story of Seida illustrates the challenges the West faces in thwarting Chinese development of advanced microchip technology.
A designer at work at Vietnamese internet firm VNG in Ho Chi Minh City
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 24, 2023
'Beyond our borders': Vietnam tech firm VNG takes on world best
Beyond gaming, VNG also dabbles in fintech and AI, with a mission to show the world what Vietnam and its engineers are capable of.
Bernadett Vejkey, marketing manager at Addionics, holds up a sheet of a porous, three-dimensional copper anode the battery materials startup has developed for electric vehicle batteries, at the company's lab in London.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2023
Fear of cheap Chinese EVs spurs dash for affordable cars
Legacy automakers are turning to suppliers to get their costs down and even steer clear of rare earths, a segment dominated by China.
Fibercraze President Shunya Chosokabe is interviewed in the city of Gifu in September.
BUSINESS / Tech
Dec 10, 2023
Japanese startup develops bug-repellent clothing
The company, Fibercraze, teamed up with firms across the country to develop textiles with microscopic holes that can be injected with chemicals.
Workers collect recyclable garbage including plastic bottles on World Environment Day in Tokyo in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 6, 2023
New solutions tackle Japan’s waste problem at its core
Issues like the plastics and climate crises seem insurmountable — until we apply "systemic design," as several Japanese initiatives are showing.
Officials from iQPS celebrate in the city of Fukuoka in June after the successful launch of a rocket carrying a small satellite developed by the firm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 6, 2023
Satellite imagery startup iQPS surges 82% in Tokyo debut
The stock opened at ¥860 per share versus its IPO price of ¥390, with trading delayed by nearly five hours due to a glut of buy orders.
The MP Materials rare earth open-pit mine in Mountain Pass, California, in January 2020. Western startups are focusing their attention on the process of refining rare earths — some of them pivoting from mining — that China has spent the past 30 years mastering.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 5, 2023
Western startups seek to break China's grip on rare earths refining
The companies are looking for faster, cleaner and cheaper ways to process the minerals that are critical for billions of electronic devices.
A coworking space at Tokyo Venture Capital Hub
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 3, 2023
Tokyo’s new venture capital hub aims to boost ties among investors
Mori Building hopes that the large-scale hub for venture capital firms will ratchet up investment for startups and strengthen cooperation among investors.
Christian Sinding, chief executive officer of EQT, in Tokyo in September
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 28, 2023
Private equity giant EQT buys stake in Japanese startup HRBrain
The purchase marks a rare attempt by a global private equity giant to boost returns through young enterprises in the Asian country.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is exploring more investments in mid- and late-stage tech startups, seeing room for expansion into a field that historically was shunned by relatively conservative giant lenders.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023
Top Japanese bank builds startup fund as policy push lures lenders
Mars Growth Capital, co-run by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, now has around 40 to 50 potential investment deals for its recently launched equity fund.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 22, 2023
OpenAI restores Sam Altman as CEO after his tumultuous ouster
In addition to Altman's return, the company agreed to partly reconstitute the board of directors that dismissed him.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol pose for a photo while wearing Stanford baseball caps with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a discussion on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, at Stanford University on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 18, 2023
Japan and South Korea float idea of stronger ties through startups
Both leaders stressed the need to cooperate on climate change solutions and quantum computing at a panel discussion Friday.
Tokyo-based Luup controls more than 90% of the country’s shared e-scooter market in terms of ride mileage.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 13, 2023
E-scooter startup wins over Japanese regulators who confounded Uber
Tokyo-based Luup controls more than 90% of the country’s shared e-scooter market in terms of ride mileage, based on government-compiled data.
SoftBank Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Masayoshi Son. Son's trust in his own intuition may have made him unwilling to heed red flags and opposition from his advisers regarding investments in WeWork.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 8, 2023
WeWork saga cost Masayoshi Son $11.5 billion and his credibility
WeWork's bankruptcy filing caps a yearslong saga that revealed breathtaking flaws in the Japanese billionaire's investment style.
NTT plans to test driverless vehicle technology with Toyota and invest in a U.S. startup.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 7, 2023
NTT to test driverless tech with Toyota and invest in U.S. startup
NTT aims to start tests with autonomous buses and taxis as early as 2025 and invest about ¥10 billion ($66.91 million) in U.S. startup May Mobility.
A used KIA electric car is seen for sale outside the showroom of a used car dealer in Manchester, Britain
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 23, 2023
The battery test race to work out what used EVs are really worth
There used to be no way to measure battery health. But that is changing as firms rush to scale up EV battery tests — some of which take just minutes.
The PayPay app now seeks to keep its pace of double-digit growth with help from other SoftBank portfolio companies.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 5, 2023
SoftBank’s PayPay app showcases Masayoshi Son’s clout in Japan
Seen to be next in SoftBank’s initial public offering pipeline, the startup now holds two-thirds’ share in QR-code payments in Japan.
Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group, speaks during the SoftBank World event in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 4, 2023
SoftBank’s Son tells Japan: Adopt AI or get left behind again
Japan, which largely missed the initial wave of growth from the internet, can’t afford to lose another three decades, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said.
The Nasdaq market site in New York. Dozens of Japanese startups are preparing to list on the Nasdaq in the next few years.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 2, 2023
Nasdaq helps Japan startups escape risk-averse home market
An unprecedented number of entrepreneurs turn away from an aging, risk-averse home market.
Japan says Biden's description of nation as xenophobic is 'unfortunate'
The National Diet building in Tokyo
G7 eyes plan on U.S.-led $50 billion aid package for Ukraine
A local resident visits the Lychakiv cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, on Thursday. The U.S. is in talks with close partners to lead a group of allies that would give as much as $50 billion in aid to Ukraine.
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
Japan drops to 70th in press freedom rankings
A businessman reads a newspaper outside a train station in Tokyo.
'Monster' Inoue ready to tear down Luis Nery in title defense at Tokyo Dome
Naoya Inoue (left) and Luis Nery following a pre-fight news conference in Yokohama on Saturday, two days ahead of their super bantamweight title fight.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
Sapporo court ruling on Ainu fishing rights presents tough questions
A traditional Ainu preserved food called <i>satchep</i> (dried fish) being made at the government-run National Ainu Museum and Park, nicknamed Upopoy, in the town of Shiraoi, Hokkaido, on Dec. 25. The Sapporo District Court ruled last month that the Raporo Ainu Nation's rights as an Indigenous people did not extend to having an inherent right to fish for commercial reasons.
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.

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[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
By Stephen Mansfield

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