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April 28, 2024
 

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TECH

Digital platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations and leading to widened social divides.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 28, 2024
How democratic states are regulating digital platforms
Some platforms have been flooded with disinformation, allowing foreign countries to conduct influence operations.
Apple and OpenAI have begun discussing terms of a possible agreement on how some artificial intelligence features would be integrated into the next iPhone operating system, sources have said.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 27, 2024
Apple intensifies talks with OpenAI for iPhone generative AI features
The latest development comes about a month and a half before an Apple conference where it's poised to introduce new AI software and services.
Four scam victims in Japan have sued Meta over fake online investment ads posted on Facebook that use images of celebrities.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2024
Meta sued in Japan over celebrity investment scams
Social media online hoaxes in Japan led to ¥27.8 billion in losses last year, according to the National Police Agency.
An image provided by Profluent Bio shows the physical structure of OpenCRISPR-1, a gene editor created by AI technology from Profluent.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 25, 2024
Generative AI arrives in the gene-editing world of CRISPR
AI has arrived on the scene of gene editing with the goal of outdoing billions of years of natural evolution.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government has so far shown restraint in responding to a drumbeat of U.S. trade curbs, but driving TikTok out of the U.S. could challenge that calibration.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 25, 2024
TikTok ultimatum puts U.S. firms in firing line for China response
Legislation approved on Wednesday would give parent company ByteDance nearly a year to divest the video-sharing platform before facing an outright ban.
Despite the potential benefits AI might have for bank customers, like finding the best interest rates, there are concerns about the destabilizing effects it may have on financial stability.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2024
Generative AI is coming for your bank. Maybe.
Tech investors reckon that supersmart agents will soon upend the business model of traditional banks, but there are caveats.
Sicily and organized crime have been synonymous since at least the 19th century. The island's mafia infiltration is extending beyond violence, manifesting in subtle economic coercion and sophisticated tax evasion schemes.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 23, 2024
Sicily's mafia is expanding its white collar crime
Economic inequality fuels mafia exploitation, with wealthy enclaves thriving while impoverished areas provide fertile ground for criminal activity.
A volunteer sits near a Starlink terminal constructed for local residents at a street in Kherson, Ukraine, in November 2022.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Apr 23, 2024
Starlink highlights economic security challenges facing democracies
The system has stirred a variety of debates over the issue of military application of civil technology.
The Fair Trade Commission took an administrative action against Google for using tactics that limited Yahoo Japan’s ability to compete in targeted search ads.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024
Japan watchdog says Google hurt local rival’s ability to compete
From 2015 to 2022, Google blocked Yahoo Japan from technology needed to receive targeted ad revenue from searches on mobile devices, the FTC said.
A robotics company’s research and development center in Shenzhen. Chinese firms struggle to attract the private equity and venture capital funds that U.S. companies enjoy.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2024
China needs a better innovation ecosystem
Chinese firms struggle to attract the private equity and venture capital funds that U.S. companies enjoy, putting a damper on their ability to innovate.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at an event held by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the U.S.-China Business Council on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024
Raimondo says Huawei’s chip breakthrough is years behind U.S. tech
Raimondo said the technology gap shows the Biden administration’s success in imposing export controls on China.
Many U.S. lawmakers from both the Republican and Democratic parties and the Biden administration say TikTok poses national security risks because China could compel the company to share the data of its 170 million U.S. users.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 22, 2024
TikTok braces for U.S. divest-or-ban law — and a fresh legal fight
The legislation has been fast-tracked and tied to a crucial aid package for Ukraine and Israel, which the Senate is set to vote on in the coming days.
Toshihiro Kinjo (center), a research support technician at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, inspects an audio recording device in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on April 3 as Masako Ogasawara, a research support specialist at OIST, looks on.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Apr 21, 2024
Hearing the impact of climate change in Okinawa, one bird call at a time
From Okinawa to Australia, “passive acoustic monitoring” projects are feeding scientists with data about changes to ecosystems and biodiversity.
Japanese businesses traditionally all hire graduates at the same time each year, but about one in 10 recruits fresh from college quit their jobs within a year, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 20, 2024
Japanese AI tool predicts when recruits will quit
The tool crunches data on employees at a company, from their attendance record to personal information such as age and gender.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks as he announces a preliminary agreement with Intel for a major CHIPS and Science Act award, during a visit to the Intel Ocotillo Campus in Chandler, Arizona, on March 20.
BUSINESS / Tech / ANALYSIS
Apr 19, 2024
Latest Biden chip deal highlights U.S. semiconductor successes
Samsung is the latest beneficiary of Washington’s efforts to shore up precarious supply chains and protect its national security interests.
One of the lawyers representing a group of doctors suing Google told a news conference that the main purpose of the lawsuit is not to seek compensation but instead to raise awareness over various problems with the Google Maps system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2024
In a first, Japan doctors sue Google over negative reviews on firm's map app
The suit is the first in Japan — and possibly the world — to target a platform rather than the individuals who posted the reviews, lawyers said.
Once one of the country’s biggest employers, Toshiba has been trying to cut costs in its sprawling operations and focus on its infrastructure and digital technology operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2024
Toshiba considers cutting thousands of jobs in Japan
The electronics and machinery maker plans to focus resources on its infrastructure and digital operations.
U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British leader Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the AUKUS partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego in March last year.
JAPAN / Politics / EXPLAINER
Apr 17, 2024
Benefits and risks: AUKUS looks to take gamble on Japan
The group sees potential benefits in tapping Japan’s strong industrial and technological capacity.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission may take administrative action against Google over its digital advertising business.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2024
Japan FTC may take administrative action against Google
The FTC suspects that Google is unfairly restricting transactions on Yahoo Japan and messaging app Line, in violation of Japan's antimonopoly law.
Kioxia Holdings plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as October.
BUSINESS
Apr 16, 2024
Kioxia plans to list as early as October as merger talks stall
Kioxia faces a June deadline to refinance as much as ¥900 billion worth of loans, and a public listing will help its negotiations with banks.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability
Vol. 34: Tokyo, a vanguard city for sustainability

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