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October 22, 2025
 

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TECH

An Amazon Web Services Data Center known in Ashburn, Virginia, on Monday
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 21, 2025
Amazon's AWS nears recovery after outage disrupts apps and services worldwide
It was the largest internet disruption since last year's CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports.
AWS provides on-demand computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies, governments and individuals.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 20, 2025
Many websites and apps go dark as Amazon's cloud unit reports global outage
AI startup Perplexity, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and trading app Robinhood attributed the outages to AWS.
Magnetic slices made from rare earth metals. Beijing last week announced a sweeping set of rules that are set to restrict the flow of rare earths worldwide.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 20, 2025
China’s rare earth restrictions aim to beat U.S. at its own game
The impacts of the Chinese licensing system would be much broader than U.S. technology controls, which have targeted only more advanced computer chips.
Scammers are using AI-generated content of baseball stars like Shohei Ohtani to pull in users.
BASEBALL / MLB
Oct 20, 2025
Scammers drawing in fans with fake AI content of MLB stars during playoffs
Experts warn that this strategy of pulling in users can be used to grow accounts that are later sold or rented to more nefarious disinformation campaigns.
In Japan, 55% were “equally concerned and excited” about the rise of AI in daily life, while 28% were “more concerned than excited.”
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 20, 2025
Japan leads in in-depth AI awareness, new global study finds
The survey also found that In Japan, 55% were “equally concerned and excited” about the rise of AI in daily life, while 28% were “more concerned than excited.”
AI’s potential to resolve advanced economies’ debt and growth issues is uncertain as it faces significant obstacles and may exacerbate political unrest, inequality and global conflicts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2025
Will AI pay off the West’s debts?
To be sure, a wildly upbeat assessment of AI’s potential impact on economic growth has propelled asset markets higher over the last few years.
Yukinori Takada, president of Sumitomo Life Insurance, is interviewed on Wednesday in Bellevue in Washington.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 19, 2025
Sumitomo Life to mull using AI tech to support sales agents
The comments followed a series of scandals in the industry that called into question the relationships between life insurance companies and their sales agents.
Silicon semiconductor wafers pass through a wet chemical cleaning machine at a Nexperia plant. The company is the latest to be caught in an escalating global trade spat leading up to China’s high-stakes talks with the United States.
BUSINESS
Oct 17, 2025
Carmakers push to secure chips as China trade spat escalates
While Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are to meet this month to hammer out a trade accord, both sides announced restrictions that have raised tensions.
The age of sonic AI slop? No studio, no humans at the microphone, not even a recording — yet out comes a lively podcast, banter and all.
LIFE / Digital
Oct 17, 2025
Mass-produced AI podcasts disrupt a fragile industry
Virtual hosts are taking over podcasting, as AI-driven shows multiply and challenge what it means to create — or listen.
Tokyo police believe the man made about 20,000 sexually explicit images of 262 women, such as actors and idols, and amassed sales of ¥1.2 million between October last year and September this year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2025
Man held in Japan on suspicion of creating female celeb deepfakes made with AI
It is the first time for police in Japan to crack down on sexual deepfake images of celebrities created using generative artificial intelligence.
Sora 2, a short-form video app made by OpenAI, enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails — from a lack of copyright consideration to families of public figures upset by the reanimation of their loved ones.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 16, 2025
Japan’s government asks OpenAI to seek permission amid Sora 2 copyright concerns
Sora 2 enables users to create realistic AI videos with text prompts, but critics say that there are insufficient guardrails.
Developers work inside the office of AI startup LimeChat in Bengaluru on Aug. 19.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
India's IT sector faces seismic shift as AI displaces call-center workers
The outcome of India's gamble carries weight far beyond its borders — a test case for whether embracing AI-driven disruption can elevate an economy or render it a cautionary tale.
Anthropic said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 16, 2025
Anthropic aims to nearly triple annualized revenue in 2026
The AI startup said its annual revenue run rate is approaching $7 billion this month, but declined to comment on future projections.
The market for ed tech, or educational technology, will grow some 1.4 times from fiscal 2021 to ¥362.5 billion in fiscal 2027, Nomura Research Institute estimates.
JAPAN
Oct 15, 2025
Japan taps education technology to help ease burden on teachers
The market for "ed tech" will grow some 1.4 times from fiscal 2021 to ¥362.5 billion in fiscal 2027, Nomura Research Institute estimates.
A worker inspects wafers at Nexperia Newport semiconductor plant in Newport, England. The European Union is considering new measures that would apply to companies seeking access to key digital and manufacturing markets like cars and batteries, requiring the firms to use a set amount of EU goods or labor, and to add value to the products on EU soil.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 15, 2025
EU considers forced tech transfers for Chinese investments
The measures would apply to companies seeking access to key digital and manufacturing markets like cars and batteries, according to people familiar with the plans.
Shenzhen International Airport. Chinese job seekers, worried about competition in tech fields, are upset about the new K visa, which allows foreign talent to work in China.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025
China’s visa uproar is part of a DeepSeek illusion
Some of the resulting backlash on Chinese social media against the new K visa has been downright xenophobic and even racist.
Instagram has tightened content filtering for teen accounts to be in tune with the U.S.' PG-13 rating standard used for films.
BUSINESS
Oct 14, 2025
Instagram accounts for teens to be in tune with U.S. PG-13 rating standard
The move comes as Meta and other social media platforms face pressure to show they aren't putting profit and engagement over the well-being of users, especially children.
CEATEC 2025, a cutting-edge international digital technology exhibition, opened at Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
CEATEC digital tech show kicks off near Tokyo
Companies featuring products and services that utilize artificial intelligence account for more than half of the 810 participants from Japan and abroad.
People walk past a large electronic screen showing the Samsung logo at a train station in Seoul on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 14, 2025
Samsung rides global AI boom to its biggest profit since 2022
South Korea’s largest company reported an operating profit of 12.1 trillion won in the September quarter, according to a preliminary earnings report.
Europe must break its dependency on U.S. tech monopolies by investing in decentralized, open-protocol social media platforms that empower users, foster innovation and protect democratic discourse.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 13, 2025
Europe can build its own social media
Europe’s systemic dependency on Big Tech’s social-media platforms threatens the continent’s digital sovereignty.
Takaichi makes history as Japan’s first female prime minister
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi reacts to applauding lawmakers after being elected prime minister at the Lower House on Tuesday.
Path clears for Takaichi to become PM as LDP and JIP agree to form coalition
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi (right) reaches out to shake hands with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition deal Monday evening in Tokyo.
Rare female yakuza walks path to redemption in Japan
Retired yakuza Mako Nishimura sorts fallen leaves during a clean-up activity at the Gifu Gokoku shrine in Gifu Prefecture on Sept. 28.
Takaichi government will likely spend less than expected
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi at the National Diet Building in Tokyo on Monday
Why I chose Japanese citizenship over permanent residency
Jon Heese (second left) takes part in a 2024 New Year's nihonshu barrel opening ceremony.
Nakatsu keeps its cool as gentrification looms
Shunsuke Takahashi, owner of the cafe Hood by Vargas, says the Osaka neighborhood of Nakatsu feels brighter and calmer with the influx of new businesses.
How Japan’s greatest psychological horror game came home
Series composer Akira Yamaoka and writer Ryukishi07 were integral figures in helping one of Japan's greatest horror gaming franchises land a Japanese setting.
Japan leads in in-depth AI awareness, new global study finds
In Japan, 55% were “equally concerned and excited” about the rise of AI in daily life, while 28% were “more concerned than excited.”
What does Jimbocho think of its unexpected ‘cool’ status?
Tokyo's Jimbocho neighborhood is a haven for book lovers, its rows of secondhand bookstores spilling over with printed materials.
What you need to see at this year's Tokyo film festival
Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet"

Podcast

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

Longform

Rock group The Yellow Monkey played K-Arena Yokohama in June as part of a nationwide tour. Concerts are increasingly popular in the age of social media as users value in-person experiences.
Inside Japan’s arena boom: Sports, sound and city-building
By Patrick St. Michel

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons
Maruhachi never sleeps in quest for better futons

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